Saturday, November 9, 2013
Media Pans Obama´s "Apology"
◼ The president's passive-voice expression of vague regret was so half-assed and self-serving that conservatives can simply sit back and let the mainstream media tee off on its inadequacy. - Guy Benson/Townhall
◼ Here are the first ones to turn. We await the rest. - Discussion at Lucianne
◼ "The lowest low of the Obama presidency." - Chris Cillizza/Washington Post
◼ I'm sorry you campaigned for reelection on the famous false promise: "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. Period." - Ron Fournier/National Journal
I'm sorry your aides debated whether to tell the full truth (that people could keep their insurance only if it hadn't changed and if it met your standards) and decided instead to institutionalize the lie.
I'm sorry that when Americans recognized the deception you tried to reinvent history: "What we said was you can keep it if it hasn't changed since the law passed." No, no, no, no, no—that's not what you guys said.
I'm sorry you didn't trust Americans with the truth.
◼ I bought a catastrophic health policy for $170/mo when I left MSNBC. Obamacare cancelled the policy. New rate $600/mo. Thnx Mr. President! - Dylan Ratigan/MSNBC
◼ A remarkable feature of Todd’s interview with Obama — whose hair is noticeably grayer — is the president’s inability to sincerely express empathy. I know he tried, but is that the best he’s got? Given that people are freaking out when they get a notice their policies are being dropped — a horrible, frustrating life experience. - Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun Times
“Our premium for next year is going up to over $1,000 a month for two of us and we’re two fairly healthy individuals”
Wagner and her husband retired early. She was a nurse for 35 years and championed Obamacare, until she received a letter from her insurance company saying it was canceling her policy.
“I was really shocked … all of my hopes were sort of dashed,” Wagner said. “’Oh my gosh President Obama, this is not what we hoped for, it’s not what we were told.’ “
She was shocked further to learn that for the same coverage she would pay 35 percent more and have a higher deductible.
Ask actor Vince Vaughn about his political views and he’ll proudly tell you he’s conservative – and he doesn’t really care what Hollywood thinks.
◼ Carolla claimed that he was not conservative, but he “has been made conservative by the direction the country’s been going.” - The Blaze (image source)
Vaughn talked about growing up in Chicago, with a father who came from a working class family that leaned more democratic....
When Vaughn was asked if his conservatism runs along the lines of fiscal issues, social issues or both, he mentioned Ron Paul, the Constitution, and a lack of trust in government.
“I really like Ron Paul…I think that when you get older, you just get less trust in the government running anything. And you start to realize…when you go back and start to look at the Constitution and the principles of liberty, the real purpose of government is to protect the individual’s right to, you know, sort of think and pursue what they have interest in,” Vaughn replied.
Obama’s Massive Fraud
Attorney General Eric Holder’s minions have recently sued Bank of America and UBS. The complaints filed in court by prosecutors allege that these financial institutions defrauded investors in the sale of mortgage-backed securities by failing to disclose important facts about the underlying mortgages. Indeed, prosecutors asserted that financial institutions’ statements about these securities were both lies and, even where arguably true, material omissions. That’s because the statements withheld from investors the fact that the institutions well knew, based on internal analyses, that many of the mortgages backing the securities would go into default.
Recall that President Obama knew three years ago, based on internal analyses, that because of his administration’s own regulation-writing, millions of Americans would lose the health plans he nonetheless continued to promise they could keep. The president hid the data . . . just as did those financial institutions that his trusty attorney general has sued. Comparatively speaking, though, the financial institutions defrauded significantly fewer victims....
The Justice Department is notoriously aggressive when it comes to material omissions by public corporations. Any public statement — not just in a required SEC filing but in any public context — may be deemed actionable if its purpose is to deceive the general public about a company’s condition. For example, as I’ve noted before, the Justice Department indicted Martha Stewart for fraud over press statements that did not disclose damaging information about her company.
Ms. Stewart, naturally, was fearful that truthful statements would send the stock price plummeting. Obama, by comparison, was not lying merely to prevent a company from losing value. His fraud was, first, to induce passage of a plan designed gradually to destroy the private health-insurance market — a plan that barely passed and never would have been enacted if he’d been honest. And later, his fraud was to procure his reelection and the guaranteed implementation of Obamacare; had he been honest, he would have been defeated and Obamacare forestalled.
It is highly unlikely that Barack Obama will ever be impeached. It is certain that he will never again be trusted. Republicans and sensible Democrats take heed: The nation may not have the stomach to remove a charlatan, but the nation knows he is a charlatan. The American people will not think twice about taking out their frustration and mounting anger on those who collaborate in his schemes. (Read the whole piece, click here)
◼ Obama is sorry Americans aren't smart enough to grasp what he really meant when he lied 'lo these past 3 years - Andrew Malcolm/IBD
In his NBC interview Obama, who like Congress is exempt from ObamaCare's provisions, said the usual feel-good non-specifics about asking "my team" to examine ways to ameliorate the pain for millions of Americans losing their existing plan.
And he even emphasized his belief that ultimately the new forced policies would be upgrades. No sedative now for anyone saying goodbye to their existing, affordable plan, unable to shop on Obama's crippled, half-billion-dollar website, facing much higher prices for plans including options they don't want and facing federal financial penalties for non-compliance....
◼
An independent journalist has released – into the public domain – a list of
“Dan from Squirrel Hill” ◼ has a blog at WordPress where he regularly writes on conservative issues. His list is complete, authoritative and well-sourced.
The simple question that will determine Obamacare's fate
The program will not be politically viable if it hurts more people than it helps, and probably not even if it helps a few more than it hurts. If that turns out to be the case, there will be hell to pay politically for the president and his fellow Democrats, likely for a very long time.
◼ Obama: I'd fix HealthCare.gov myself, "but I don't write code" - CBS
Biggest storm in history: Millions flee and more than 100 are dead as 147 195 mph winds smash into the Philippines forcing the evacuation of 800,000 people
◼ Typhoon Haiyan was a maximum category-five storm with ground winds of up to
It was the most powerful storm to ever land.
A monster typhoon, with winds reaching 147mph, killed more than 100 people, tossed houses into the sea and sent millions fleeing for shelter in the Philippines yesterday.
The poverty-stricken country has already endured almost a year of earthquakes and floods with no fewer than 24 disastrous weather events.
The category-5 super typhoon Haiyan – Chinese for ‘sea bird’ – smashed into the eastern islands of the Philippines with winds nearly 150mph stronger than the St Jude storm which struck the UK in late October.
◼ Official: Super Typhoon Death Toll Could Reach 1,200
There is more bad news for the Philippines as a tropical disturbance, perhaps becoming a tropical storm, will reach the nation during the middle of next week.
◼ Philippines typhoon leaves an estimated 1,000 dead in one coastal town alone, report says (Video)
◼ Heartbreaking: Powerful images of children in typhoon-devastated Philippines [photos] - Twitchy
◼ Filipinos are just now beginning to pick up the pieces following Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, which by the latest reports might have left 10,000 dead on the eastern island of Leyte alone. - Twitchy
OBAMA DIDN’T EVEN WAIT FOR NEGOTIATIONS TO BEGIN CAVING ON IRAN SANCTIONS
And Michael Rubin does not exaggerate when he says “it looks like the White House is willing to give up on the effort to stop Iran’s nuclear program; it is, in effect, allowing Iran to have all the components necessary to complete a bomb when and if the Iranian government makes the decision to pursue that end.”
And now comes word, via Obama secretly lifted Iran sanctions months ago...◼ Eli Lake and Josh Rogin, that Obama began to cave — from a position of enormous strength, given the crippling nature of the sanctions — without even waiting for negotiations to begin. Lake and Rogin report that “the Obama administration began softening sanctions on Iran after the election of Iran’s new president in June, months before the current round of nuclear talks in Geneva or the historic phone call between the two leaders in September.”
In other words, Obama seized upon the election of Rouhani to begin easing sanctions without having negotiated any concessions in return.
◼ Netanyahu: 'THIS IS A VERY, VERY BAD DEAL'
◼ OMINOUS: Experts opine on a possible Obama-Iran nuclear deal - Doug Ross
Congress should reject any deal with Iran that doesn't provably eviscerate its nuclear weapons program.
Failure to do so will come back to haunt us, that much is certain.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Obama laments HealthCare.gov, but not cancelled plans
WATCH: Barack Obama laments the Obamacare website, but not cancelled health insurance plans http://t.co/T7jb7aii59
— POLITICO (@politico) November 9, 2013
◼ OBAMACARE HEADACHES GO BEYOND A WEBSITE THAT JUST WON’T LOAD – HERE ARE FEW MORE EXAMPLES - The Blaze
The Boston Herald reported Friday on “infuriating computer flaws that cut off people with hyphenated names and force others to falsely say they are prison inmates or mental patients before they can finish their applications,” based on the newspaper’s review....
Another example was Nancy Wilde, who the paper said lived in a Boston suburb. She clicked “No” to the incarceration question on the website. She was then asked if she was locked up in a mental hospital or awaiting arraignment.
Two women posted to the Connector’s Facebook page that the site wouldn’t let them complete their applications because their last names are hyphenated. The Connector suggested one of them call customer service....
Uber-bully/sex columnist Dan Savage: abortion should be mandatory for 30 years
◼ Dan Savage Suggests 'Mandatory Abortion' for 30 Years, Draws Outrage - Tavernkeepers
...Seriously, how does one say that a woman should have control over her body and then state that the government should mandate the murder of unborn children for 30 years that are inside said bodies? Its typical progressive thinking that relies on hitting the fears and emotions of the audience to invoke a response without serious thought. There are places in the world such as China where abortion is mandatory. There, women are kidnapped off the street and forced to have an abortion if they are pregnant, already have 1 child, and are unable to pay a large fine. As we have stated before, China’s one child policy began as a program offering free birth control to women. The policy is always nudge, shove, shoot. The nudge stage is giving women or whoever the government decides needs to change a behavior the illusion that they are making the desired decision. When it doesn’t happen or doesn’t happen fast enough, laws are passed making it illegal to not exhibit that behavior....
Humboldt needs more medical providers, but they aren't exactly tearing down the redwoods to get here
...If a doctor does make the jump to Humboldt, studies suggest he or she will jump again within a few years. According to a July 2012 study by recruiting firm Jackson & Coker, more than half of the doctors it surveyed stuck it out in their first job for just one to five years.
This does not bode well for Humboldt County, which harbors an unhealthful share of aging, sick, poor, busted-up residents in a remote region infused with an entitled drug culture.
How do you market that to a fresh young doctor, or an experienced one looking for a change?
Because market we must — we're facing a doctor shortage that providers fear might only get worse....
"We have an older population," says Mark Pardoe, a plastic surgeon who is president of Humboldt Medical Specialists, a newish foundation associated with St. Joseph Health System. "We also have a lot of drug use — a lot of meth and heroin use. We have a lot of heart disease and lung disease. We have a lot of people that struggle from a social and mental health standpoint. ... We have a lot of accidents — logging accidents, car wrecks, ATV accidents; there's a lot of bone-breaking here."...
And we don't have enough doctors — of numerous types, says Pardoe, including primary care, orthopedics, nephrology, OB-GYN, anaesthesiology, general surgery and neurosurgery. This means, among other things, that emergency call at the hospital is divided among fewer doctors who are struggling to get by in smaller practices.
LIBERALS HATE OBAMACARE, TOO
Salon.com, a website established apparently for Obama cheerleaders, printed maybe its harshest-ever critique of the Commander-in-Chief when it published a piece entitled:
◼ “Obamacare is a mess, and liberals need to fix it.”
◼ HuffPo said Obamacare’s broken website “imperils the largest expansion of the American safety net since the Great Society,” and called it “disastrous.”
◼ Ezra Klein, progressive Washington Post columnist and Obama coffee-dater, said that Obamacare “is a disaster” and that the administration “did a terrible job.” Ouch.
(Comedian Jimmy) Kimmel: ”They’re saying that if you are in need of healthcare, you have two choices, you can wait for them to get the site fixed, or you can enroll in medical school, graduate, and then just take care of yourself.”
◼ Howard Dean Says There’s Another Obamacare Crisis Coming. It’s Not the One You Think It Is. - Bryan Preston/PJMedia
◼ Website spews garbled computer code at frustrated users... - DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR/Daily Mail
◼ link
◼ North Carolina Health Exchange: Only 1 Person Signed Up So Far, But Hasn't Paid - CBS Charlotte
◼ Only 5 in DC exchange? - Politico
Only five people have fully completed the enrollment process in the D.C. insurance exchange, according to information compiled by lawmakers from four of the insurance companies participating in the exchange.
Two people enrolled in CareFirst BlueShield plans during October and three enrolled in Kaiser Permanente plans during the month. No enrollment data has been collected by UnitedHealthcare or Aetna as of Nov. 4 or Oct. 24, respectively, the companies said.
◼ Poll: 78% of Uninsured Not Interested in ObamaCare - John Nolte/Breitbart
...One of the major selling points for using ObamaCare to disrupt our health care system (that polls showed up to 80% of Americans were satisfied with) was to insure the uninsured. But according to this poll, only a very small minority of that small minority is even interested in obtaining insurance.
Even more troubling is the realization that a month ago, that number was double; a full 44% of the uninsured said they would purchase insurance though the exchanges.
Over the course of a month, however, the reality of ObamaCare scared off half of that 44%. The high cost of premiums, the high deductibles customers have to pay regardless of any tax subsidy, and the unforgivable bungling of the rollout only discouraged those who we blew up a perfectly good health care system to help....
◼ Former NBC News host has insurance cancelled for much more expensive plan - Young Conservatives
I bought a catastrophic health policy for $170/mo when I left MSNBC. Obamacare cancelled the policy. New rate $600/mo. Thnx Mr. President!
— Dylan Ratigan (@DylanRatigan) November 8, 2013
Why Obama's non-apology won't work
And now that millions of Americans have been receiving cancellation notices from their health insurers, the media has finally awakened to the fact that he was lying all along.
So, when Obama sat down for an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd Thursday, there wasn't much that he could say that could improve his situation. This didn't stop Obama from spinning webs....
Prompted to offer an apology by Todd, Obama eventually said of those with cancelled insurance, “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me.”
That passively-phrased statement isn’t likely to reassure those who are worried about losing their coverage....
Looking back, Obama said, “if we had to do it all over again, that there would have been a whole lot more questions that were asked in terms of how this thing is working.”
Seriously? This is Obama’s leading priority — the goal of liberal policy reformers for decades — and he just now figured out that he should have been more on top of the implementation process?
Perhaps even more mind-blowing for a president whose driving ambition was to prove to Americans that big government can be effective, Obama blasted the federal procurement for technology projects when asked why the Obamacare website didn’t function as well as his campaign website.
“When it comes to my campaign, I’m not constrained by a bunch of federal procurement rules,” Obama said.
He later said of the federal process, “When we buy IT services generally, it is so bureaucratic and so cumbersome that a whole bunch of it doesn’t work or it ends up being way over cost.”
◼ REPORT: 52 million Americans have lost or will lose health insurance... - Kevin G. Hall and Anita Kumar/McClatchy Washington Bureau
Obama insisted anew Thursday that the problem is limited to people who buy their own insurance. “We’re talking about 5 percent of the population who are in what’s called the individual market. They’re out there buying health insurance on their own,” he told NBC.
But a closer examination finds that the number of people who have plans changing, or have already changed, could be between 34 million to 52 million. That’s because many employer-provided insurance plans also could change, not just individually purchased insurance plans
Administration officials decline to say how many employer-sponsored plans could change. But those numbers could be between 23 million to 41 million, based on a McClatchy analysis of estimates offered by the Department of Health and Human Services in June 2010.
◼ Krauthammer On Obama's Apology: "The President Now Is Toxic" - Real Clear Politics
◼ Obama is sorry Americans aren´t smart enough to grasp what he really meant - IBD
◼ Fact-Checking The President´s Kind-Of Sort-Of ´Apology´ ForObamacare-Driven Insurance Cancellations - Avik Roy/Forbes
◼ Obama offers fauxpology for 'situation' - Thomas Lifson/American Thinker
...One note on media coverage of the fauxpology: most outlets, including NBC News itself in its online transcript, have cleaned up the president's words, omitting his "errs," and "you knows." But not the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin and several other outlets. For tea leaf readers, this is evidence that some of the establishment media have gotten fed up with the lies and are no longer as actively covering for Obama. A small point, but something to keep in mind, because the problems with Obamacare are not only not solved, they have only just begun.
◼
An independent journalist has released – into the public domain – a list of
“Dan from Squirrel Hill” ◼ has a blog at WordPress where he regularly writes on conservative issues. His list is complete, authoritative and well-sourced.
CBS 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan Apologizes for Erroneous Benghazi Survivor Report: ‘We Were Wrong’
◼ CBS in Damage Control Over Error-Filled Benghazi Report - TREVOR LOUDON/NEW ZEAL ◼ Inside the '60 Minutes' Benghazi breakdown - Politico ◼ Is Hillary's little Mother's Helper David Brock behind the scenes on this one? Heads up, 60 Minutes team. - Discussion at Lucianne ◼ Benghazi Story Exposes CBS Corruption - Larry Johnson/No Quarter
For the moment, many on the left are celebrating the 60 Minutes debacle as a stake thru the heart of further investigations into Benghazi. But not so. Aaron Klein astutely notes that the document leaked by State Department sources to discredit Davies actually ends up discrediting the Obama Administration’s initial account about Benghazi...
CBS NEWS: OBAMACARE ABOUT TO HIT EMPLOYER-PROVIDED INSURANCE
...in the years to come, some workers with employer-provided benefits will see their benefits scaled back because of an Obamacare tax. That portion of the law -- known as the "Cadillac tax" -- isn't set to take effect until 2018, but it's already influencing the benefits packages that employers offer.
...The effect ObamaCare will have on the employer-based market -- over a hundred million people -- is not limited to this Cadillac Tax. The White House itself estimated that tens of millions could be dropped by their employers and shoved into these ObamaCare exchanges. This could mean losing your doctor and having your health care options limited in a traumatic way, especially if you are already ill.
...The carnage that has already blindsided millions of middle class families in the individual market is only the beginning of the financial chaos ObamaCare is almost certain to rain down on tens of millions who made the mistake of taking a president at his word.
◼ link - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
HEARTACHE: Cancer patient says new insurance SO EXPENSIVE he’s just going to let “nature take its course”
◼ A cancer patient on Megyn Kelly’s show tonight said that he voted for Obama because he was promised that he would be able to keep his doctor and keep his insurance – insurance that paid for so much of his cancer treatment – and now it’s been canceled. - Video at The Right Scoop
He said his new insurance will cost him $1,500 per month with a $13,000 deductible and he simply refuses to put his family in that kind of debt for his health. When asked what he’s going to do, he said he’s decided to pay the fine and just let nature take it’s course.
◼ Is ObamaCare Pulling The Plug On Medical Innovation? - Megan McArdle/Bloomberg ◼ via Instapundit
Obama secretly lifted Iran sanctions months ago...
'THIS IS A VERY, VERY BAD DEAL'
A very unusual statement from the Israel prime minister on the eve of a possible nuclear detail between the U.S. and Iran:
"I met Secretary Kerry right before he leaves to Geneva," said Netanyhau. "I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. That the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge. But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years. Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and it pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to sign, to wait, to reconsider, to get a good deal. But this is a bad deal--a very, very bad deal. It’s the deal of a century for Iran; it’s a very dangerous and bad deal for peace and the international community."
◼ Furious Israel confronts USA... - Reuters
Obama secretly lifted Iran sanctions months ago...◼ Daily Beast Exclusive: Exclusive: Obama’s Secret Iran Détente - Eli Lake, Josh Rogin/Daily Beast
A review of Treasury Department notices reveals that the U.S. government has all but stopped the financial blacklisting of entities and people that help Iran evade international sanctions since the election of its president, Hassan Rouhani, in June.
...“Sounds like Obama decided to enter the Persian nuclear bazaar to haggle with the masters of negotiation.”
◼ Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, warns that US and West are handing Iran the 'deal of the century'.
"I understand that the Iranians are walking around very satisfied in Geneva, as well they should be, because they got everything, and paid nothing, they wanted. They wanted relief from sanctions after years of a gruelling sanctions regime," Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.
He called the proposed short-term agreement "a very bad deal" and said Israel "utterly rejects it".
◼ While Geneva talks make progress towards agreement, Iranian state television broadcast simulated missile attack on Israel (Video at the link, unable to turn off autoplay, so it is not embedded here - YNet
The hour-long documentary program included segments about the capabilities of Iranian missiles and the possibility of their use in response to foreign threats. The program included a video simulation of a potential response by Iran to an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities. ◼ “WE ABANDON ISRAEL” – Lt. Col. Ralph Peters says nuke deal with Iran ‘IDIOTIC’ - The Right Scoop
Lt. Col. Ralph Peters says Obama’s foreign policy is always the same, he promises a Ferrari and delivers a bicycle with 2 flat tires.
◼ "How can we let a president who has lied dozens of times about our healthcare negotiate something as cataclysmic as nuclear weaponry with Iran? How can we possibly trust him?" - Roger L Simon/PJMedia
Experience came in dead last in the New York election, both literally in Lhota's case, and in the exit polls, which showed voters ranking experience somewhere between a dead zebra and a mugger on the C train. 34 percent wanted someone who shared their values. 30 percent wanted change. And an unspecified number of right-wing lunatics wanted experience.
Voting is starting to look a lot like dating. A big chunk of the electorate doesn't just want someone to manage a government. They want someone who will make them feel special, share their values and love them back.
Government is becoming more personal, even as it's becoming more impersonal. Newly hatched ducks development an attachment to their wire mothers. Children neglected by their parents fixate on their nannies. And what of a generation of broken families?
What else is there for all the Julias to do but turn to the man whom Indian chiefs used to call the Great White Father in Washington. And what is there for all the Chads to do but look for love from the bureaucratic wire mother of the Nanny State?
Children's Hospital Sues After Obamacare Cuts Children's Access
◼ As millions lose their insurance nation wide and are forced into plans with significantly higher premiums, the reality of rationed care, initially denied by adamant supporters of the bill, has now hit the country’s most vulnerable, with doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital speaking out. - My Daily Soapbox
Seattle Children’s Hospital filed suit against Washington State’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner this week, after Obamacare implementation caused the hospital to be cut from four of the six insurance plans offered by the new Washington Health Benefit Exchange.
“There becomes a point when if you start denying access to care, that you can hurt children and children’s health and that’s what we believe is at risk here,” said Dr. Sandy Melzer, the hospital’s chief strategy officer and senior vice president.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Married to the State
◼ link - Conn Carroll/TownHall
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) upset quite a few liberals last week, when she asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “A single male, aged 32, does not need maternity coverage. To be the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?”
...Unfortunately, the decline of marriage as an institution, and the growing number of single households, signal that the Democrats are succeeding in replacing marriage with the state.
◼ OFA Truth Team praises Obamacare for ‘fixing’ maternity coverage gap - twitchy
@OFATruthTeam @obamacare How much of that 62% were policies covering males?
— Sarah Lise (@Saerise) November 7, 2013
@OFATruthTeam @obamacare Um, I am 56 and my wife is 54. We have two grown children. Tell me again how you are "fixing" maternity care 4 us?
— Bob Doty (@bobdoty) November 7, 2013
@OFATruthTeam @obamacare So my 52 year old sister who had her uterus removed must now get maternity care? You are truly Obama's brownshirts.
— AJ's Puffy Scamper (@TobytheBeagle1) November 7, 2013
Obamacare will soon be debuting on your TV! Writers and producers given $500,000 to promote Obamacare in the plot lines of your favorite programs.
The California Endowment, a private foundation spending millions to promote President Barack Obama’s signature law, recently provided a $500,000 grant to ensure TV writers and producers have information about the Affordable Care Act that can be stitched into plot lines watched by millions.
The aim is to produce compelling prime-time narratives that encourage Americans to enroll — especially the young and healthy, Hispanics and other key demographic groups needed to make the overhaul a success.
Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley “Feud,” Take Shots at Miley Cyrus, Twerking
◼ Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley kicked off the 2013 CMAs with a monologue and not one, not two, but three songs. - gossipcop.com
◼ ‘Hope this show is 11 hours long!’ CMA Miley Cyrus twerking mockery scores [pics] - Twitchy
I like how the cma's pretty much thanked Taylor Swift for not turning into a tweaking weirdo like Miley Cyrus. #wifemademewatchit
— Joe Chevalier (@JoeChevy29) November 7, 2013
Meet Virginia’s New Sleazebag Governor
On Tuesday the Commonwealth of Virginia elected Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic fundraiser and failed businessman, as the state’s next governor. ...Here’s what you should know.
◼ McAuliffe’s connections to shady businesses are legion....
◼ He invested in a Rhode Island estate-planning firm that turned out to be a front for a giant insurance scam....
◼ According to The New York Times, McAuliffe tried to strong-arm several officials at the Department of Homeland Security, including Janet Napolitano, into approving various Chinese investments in his electric-car company, GreenTech Automotive.
◼ He and his father-in-law Richard Swann used a workers’ pension fund—which they persuaded to take on several bad investments—to make $2.4 million for themselves.
◼ He abandoned his sobbing wife and newborn son in a parked car so that he could attend a fundraiser....
◼ Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones says that McAuliffe used her former Washington Post colleagues to interfere with her investigation into his various business connections... Good luck, Virginia. MUCH MORE AT THE LINK.
◼ ‘Seriously?’ Lefty hacks admit McAuliffe is a ‘sleazebag’ — after it’s too late - Twitchy
Gawker: the place to find news that you coulda used but now it's too late. MT @Gawker: Meet VA's new sleazebag gov http://t.co/gVOkXJlX8x
— Film Ladd (@FilmLadd) November 7, 2013
◼ I Can’t Believe Terry McAuliffe Is Going to Be Governor of Virginia - —Stephanie Mencimer/MOTHER JONES
No experience in office? Check. Sketchy business partners? Check. Media manipulation? Check.
Even liberal @motherjones can't stand @TerryMcAuliffe. Of course they wouldn't admit it until almost after the fact. http://t.co/IzIz8VVZiS
— Peter A. Finocchio (@PeterAFinocchio) November 7, 2013
That iceberg? That would be the reality of ObamaCare, as it sinks in and destroys peoples' lives and Democrat approval ratings. It's the massive all encompassing game changer that the establishment failed to capitalize on in 2012 in their rush not to offend moderate soccer moms. It's what they missed years ago when they were so embarrassed of Sarah Palin -- they doubted her wisdom on death panels
While the Republican establishment was obsessing over the government shutdown, the evils of Ted Cruz, and the latest Jurassic media poll designed specifically to fool them, they remained blind to the massive iceberg that was about to nearly destroy the McAuliffe money machine campaign. As such, they missed a golden opportunity to nudge Ken Cuccinelli across the finish line -- an opportunity the GOP base understood.
250,000 Colorado healthcare plans cancelled under Obamacare
So far, just 3,408 Coloradans have purchased new insurance plans on the exchange; many more, 34,168 Coloradans, have enrolled in Medicaid since the program expanded under the law.
“To have almost a hundred health plan cancellations for every exchange sign up in Colorado under Obamacare is exponentially worse than even the most extreme skeptic could have predicted,” said Kelly Maher, executive director of the group Compass Colorado.
◼ Orrin Hatch to Newsmax: Obamacare Problems 'Worse by the Day' - Todd Beamon and John Bachman/Newsmax
◼ Obamacare Shouldn´t Have Been Managed like A Campaign - Megan McArdle/Bloomberg
◼ Bad decisions were made to avoid Republican criticism. Anyone see a pattern here? Fast and Furious...Benghazi...IRS... - Discussion at Lucianne
◼ Access shock a bigger problem for Obama than lost insurance - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner @philipklein
◼ Wait until the Doc-Lock dawns. That's when the explosions begin. - Discussion at Lucianne
◼ And the number of people who have enrolled in Delaware’s Obamacare exchange is… FOUR. - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin
Four. How many people in Delaware have lost their insurance because of Obamacare?
The Rise and Fall of New York
The middle class voters in Queens pleading with Joe Lhota to protect them from Bill de Blasio’s red plague are part of the older New York; that city of gruff accents but kind hearts, loquacious taxi drivers and busybody tenement grandmothers that appears so often on television and in movies that even most New Yorkers still confuse it with reality… even though it hardly exists now.
Bill de Blasio, with his Park Slope digs, represents the city’s new Yuckie overlords, yuppie hippies with Subarus, six- figure salaries, leftist politics and Whole Foods reusable bags full of tofu for the kids. It was only a matter of time until the college kids who moved to the city to slum and protest before finding profitable work formed alliances with minority community groups that would allow them to take over.
...Bill de Blasio’s victory isn’t an endorsement of his program, but of the manipulation of the political system by the powerful special interests bringing the city to the brink of bankruptcy and of the short memories of city residents voting in more of the same two decades after the Dinkins nightmare ended.
New York City’s meteoric rise from the slums was a national story. Its descent back to the slums will be local crime coverage.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Edie Littlefield Sundby may not have thought she´d ignite a national debate when the stage-4 cancer survivor asked us to publish her Monday op-ed on losing her oncologist due to the Affordable Care Act. But she certainly has, and it´s important to understand why.
Edie Littlefield Sundby may not have thought she'd ignite a national debate when the stage-4 cancer survivor asked us to publish her Monday op-ed on losing her oncologist due to the Affordable Care Act. But she certainly has, and it's important to understand why. Mrs. Sundby and millions like her must be denied their medical choices if ObamaCare is going to work as its liberal planners intend.
Mrs. Sundby's seven years of gallbladder cancer treatment have been underwritten by a policy known as preferred provider organization coverage, or a PPO, from UnitedHealthcare. She says she bought the product on the individual insurance market for herself and her family in large part because it offers more choice in medical care. PPOs cost more than health-maintenance organizations (HMOs), for example, but they offer access to more doctors and hospitals.
...The choices she has under her PPO have literally extended her life for seven years.
But in July UnitedHealthcare announced that it is withdrawing from the California individual market, and Mrs. Sundby's policy will be cancelled on December 31....
Dan Pfeiffer, President Obama's chief political spinner, sent out a now infamous tweet on Monday linking to a left-wing website that blamed Mrs. Sundby's policy loss on UnitedHealthcare. The White House default is always to blame the insurers. But UnitedHealthcare only fled the state because ObamaCare's subsidized exchanges are meant to steal their customers. As more people are pulled into government coverage, policies like Mrs. Sundby's are harder to sustain economically, so insurers bail....
The reason goes to the political control that is the animating purpose of ObamaCare....
...Mrs. Sundby's crisis is one story among millions, but it illustrates Nietzsche's aphorism that convictions are more dangerous than lies. Critics are rightly noting that Mr. Obama sold reform with the falsehood that Americans could keep their policies if they liked them. But the scary part is that Mr. Obama and his health planners truly believe that everyone should receive the same medical care and pay for it the same way.
The reason Edie Sundby had to lose her plan is because her needs, and her measure of her own well-being, are different from Mr. Obama's, and that is now unacceptable.
◼ You Also Can't Keep Your Doctor - Edie Littlefield Sundby/Wall St. Journal
I had great cancer doctors and health insurance. My plan was cancelled. Now I worry how long I'll live.
◼ Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer has drawn scorn for his tweet about Edie Littlefield Sundby’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal - NY Daily News
"That's right. Attack a cancer patient. Classy," one angered Tweeter wrote in response to his posting, with another adding "you have to smear a cancer patient for picking the wrong insurance company? Nice touch."
◼ Despicable: WH smears cancer survivor who lost her insurance plan due to Obamacare
@michellemalkin @KristinnFR Also smears an ins co for not being able to 'compete' against insidious forced gov't takeover of ins industry
— Catherine (@museofhistory) November 4, 2013
◼ Cancer sufferer who took on Obamacare slams White House official for 'snotty' tweet, and says Obama's family and staff should all sign up if they support it - DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR/Daily Mail (image source)
Pressed to look over the horizon, Sundby warned that the U.S. is pointed toward reproducing Britain's National Health Service.
'We're headed in that direction, and I don't think it's good,' she told MailOnline.
'The people who come from all over the world and sit with me in the waiting rooms of these cancer centers, they come here because we have the most cutting-edge medical care in the world. And that's so expensive. When we focus too much on cost-cutting, well, there it goes.'
◼ BOOM! Edie Sundby fires back at White House: The biggest loser is trust and respect in government leaders, Watch: - The Right Scoop
Edie Sundby told Megyn Kelly that it’s absurd and condescending for the White House to claim that all insurance plans being cancelled are substandard.
Clunker progressivism
◼ Barack Obama’s presidency has become a feast of failures whose proliferation protects their author from close scrutiny of any one of them. - George F. Will/Washington Post
“Cash for Clunkers” was born with Obama’s administration as a component of his stimulus. Its fate is a window into both why the recovery has been extraordinarily weak and what happens when progressives’ clever plans collide with recalcitrant reality....
Cash for Clunkers lasted 55 days and ended with confusion that was a preview of things to come. The New York Times explained in August 2009 the final surge of demand for clunker funds:
“Around the country, dealers had put off the laborious task of applying for the rebates . . . which requires entering the 17-character identification numbers of each vehicle to be scrapped, scanning images of proof of insurance and filling out other paperwork. The computer system was overloaded, according to the dealers. They said they would finish one page in the application, hit enter and nothing would happen. Eventually a message would appear notifying the dealer that the page had ‘timed out.’ Tom Frew, the business manager at Galpin Motors in Los Angeles, said that he needed 35 tries to register just one of the company’s 11 dealerships on the day that the program opened because of problems with the government Web site. On Friday, he spent an hour processing just one rebate application, he said.”The recovery from the recession began in June 2009; 53 months later, vehicle sales still have not yet reached the pre-recession peak. Cash for Clunkers was prologue for the government’s vastly more ambitious plan to manage health care’s 18 percent of the economy....
The present, too, is prologue. There is heated debate about Common Core, whose advocates say it merely involves national academic targets and metrics for primary and secondary education. Critics say it will inevitably lead to a centrally designed and nationally imposed curriculum — practice dictated by targets and metrics. Common Core advocates say, in effect: “If you like your local curriculum, you can keep it. Period.”
Montage: Obama's "If You Like Your Plan Keep It" Lies
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An independent journalist has released – into the public domain – a list of
“Dan from Squirrel Hill” ◼ has a blog at WordPress where he regularly writes on conservative issues. His list is complete, authoritative and well-sourced.
CUCCINELLI LOSES BY 3 POINTS IN VIRGINIA AFTER ASTOUNDING COMEBACK
◼ As the post-election spinning and tea-leaf-reading commences, it should be a matter of simple, non-partisan observation to note that Republican Ken Cuccinelli’s 48-45 loss to Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia on Tuesday night was an astounding comeback for Cuccinelli. He was behind by double digits in almost every poll going into the homestretch. - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o
The Clinton money man outspent him by an incredible $15 million. A third-party spoiler funded by Obama money men, fake Libertarian Robert Sarvis, pulled over 6 percent of the vote – perhaps not decisive, given that many of his votes were young people who might otherwise have chosen McAuliffe or stayed home, but in a race this close, it was surely a factor.
...There’s no honest way to portray a 3-point win under those circumstances as a triumph. Cuccinelli is the “Tin Cup” candidate. Like Ken Costner’s character in that film about golf, his comeback and narrow loss will be studied long after McAuliffe’s corruption scandals catch up with him.
◼ Some reflections on the Virginia and New Jersey elections - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner @michaelbarone
1. The Obamacare rollout fiasco and Obama's lies hurt Democrats....
2. The government shutdown didn’t much hurt Republicans.
3. Millennials are souring on Democrats.
4. Hispanics and Asians didn't rush out for Democrats.
◼ LIBERTARIANS, INDEPENDENTS, AND THE RESISTANCE - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o
It’s difficult to make a case from exit-poll results that Libertarian candidate Bob Sarvis threw the Virginia governor’s race to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Sarvis drew off plenty of likely McAuliffe voters, too. There are some exit polls that suggest Sarvis hurt McAuliffe more. He did well with the youth demographic, which might otherwise have been expected to go Democrat, or stay home during a low-turnout election.
That might not be the way Savis’ campaign was supposed to shake out. The Blaze ran an eleventh-hour expose on his funding that revealed a top Obama money man was one of the Libertarian’s prime benefactors – a revelation that might have made a significant impact on such a close race, if it had come earlier....
Sincere Libertarians aren’t going to like hearing that they’ve been used as stalking horses by Democrats looking to split the small-government vote....
But everyone who fancies themselves politically “independent” should take a step back and ask themselves exactly how they will remain independent in any meaningful way, if the growth of the State is not effectively resisted, immediately. The traditional liberal siren song of social license – vote against those mean old Bible-thumping prudes who want to legislate morality! – grows increasingly faint, drowned out by the thunder of their monster government, which you might have noticed is quite active in our bedrooms, along with every other room in the house.
The State is aggressive. Do nothing, and it will take over more of your life. If you sit out the next political battle, you will not be treated as a political non-combatant and spared from the hunger of government. Active, politically meaningful resistance is the only option for the true libertarian, whether his “L” is capitalized or not. Sadly, that might just mean choosing the lesser of two evils in some unsatisfactory races. If there are enough Republicans in power, the squishes will squish along with the committed small-government conservatives. As for those awful social conservatives – what designs do you imagine they have, what agenda do you think they would enact, that would be half as overbearing and destructive of liberty as ObamaCare?
...At this point, all that matters is whether you’re part of the Resistance, or willing to submit in exchange for your little piece of the pie. Disengagement is equivalent to submission.
◼ Barone Report: Base Instinctively Ahead of GOP Establishment - C. Edmund Wright/American Thinker
Cuccinelli Beat McAuliffe 51% to 42% Among Women - WHO ARE MARRIED
◼ Cuccinelli also defeated McAuliffe among married men, 50 percent to 44 percent, with Sarvis taking 6 percent... - Terence P. Jeffrey/CNS
Thus, according to the exit poll, Cuccinelli was the clear victor among married people (defeating McAuliffe 50 percent to 43 percent among this demographic), and was slightly more popular among married women than among married men.
However, McAuliffe won a 62 percent to 29 percent landslide among unmarried Virginians.
The Democrat was especially popular with unmarried women, defeating Cuccinelli among that group 67 percent to 25 percent, with Sarvis taking 9 percent. Among unmarried men, McAuliffe bested Cuccinelli 58 percent to 33 percent, with Sarvis taking 9 percent.
One reason the race was so close was because about twice as many married people went out to vote as unmarried people. According to the exit poll, 35 percent of Virginia voters were married women, 32 percent were married men, 18 percent were unmarried women and 16 percent were unmarried men.
◼ Women, Unmarried Voters Key To McAuliffe's Virginia Victory - Huffington Post
The division along the lines of marital status was especially stark.
Obama-linked firm received ‘unauthorized’ $100,000 contract for Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity effort
According to Judicial Watch, the contract violated federal contracting laws.
In addition to SS+K’s participation with Obama for America, according to Judicial Watch, at least two of the SS+K employees working on “Let’s Move” also worked on Obama political campaigns.
Union leaders wrote a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, warning of “nightmare scenarios” for millions of union workers' health plans if Obamacare is not changed. “Congress wrote this law; we voted for you,” they wrote. “We have a problem; you need to fix it.”
he Obama administration has found a way to give unions relief from an Obamacare tax nearly three weeks after Republicans rejected a Democratic push to include the labor carve-out in the latest budget deal.
The Department of Health and Human Services quietly released a final rule last week that includes an intention to exempt some union insurance plans from a substantial new tax known as the reinsurance fee.
As part of Obamacare, the tax was supposed to be levied against all insurance plans to share the risk for insurers taking on the sickest patients next year.
...“It's outrageous that the Obama administration is ignoring the plain language of the law he insisted on to deliver another bailout to the union bosses,” said Fred Wszolek, spokesman of the Workforce Fairness Institute. “Either follow the law and tax every insurance plan, or repeal the whole thing, but there's no legal basis for another expensive favor for big labor.”
The reinsurance fee is $63 per person covered by an insurance plan per year, and is expected to raise $25 billion over three years. Exempting unions in 2015 and 2016 from the tax would protect their plans from taking a major hit, although they would have to pay it in 2014, when the tax will be the greatest during the first year Obamacare is in effect.
HHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
California still has highest poverty rate under new method
The Census Bureau report, issued Wednesday, says that nearly a quarter of California's 38 million residents live in poverty by the alternative method - almost 9 million - and the state's 23.8 percent rate is approached only by Washington, D.C.'s 22.7 percent.
Among other states, the second highest alternative poverty rate is found in Nevada at 19.8 percent while the lowest rates are found in Iowa (8.6 percent) and Wyoming (9.2 percent). Nationally, the alternative rate is 16 percent.
California's official poverty rate is 16.5 percent and while higher than the national official rate of 15.1 percent, it is surpassed by those of many other states.
The official rate is based on half-century-old criteria that have been criticized as being obsolete, leading the Census Bureau to develop the alternative method that uses broader indices, including the cost of living. The official rate assumes, in essence, that the cost of living is the same nationwide....
◼ REPORT: 49.7 Million Americans Living in Poverty... - AP
Administration officials have declined to say whether the new measure eventually could replace the official poverty formula, which is used to allocate federal dollars to states and localities and to determine eligibility for safety-net programs such as Medicaid.
Congress would have to agree to adopt the new measure, which generally would result in a higher poverty rate from year to year and thus higher government payouts for aid programs
Tim Donnelly to run for governor
◼ The 2014 gubernatorial campaign officially began Tuesday, with tea party favorite Tim Donnelly, a Republican assemblyman from the Inland Empire, announcing that he is running for governor. - LA Times
"I want to let Jerry Brown know that … not only are we coming for him, but the people of the state of California are coming for their freedom back," Donnelly said, flanked by his wife, three of their five children and dozens of supporters at a sawdust-covered furniture factory in Baldwin Park.
"We are going to take it back in 2014!" the lawmaker said.
Donnelly cited California's rates of poverty, unemployment and taxation to argue that Brown, who has governed as a moderate, does not deserve another term.
"This epic experiment in socialism under Jerry Brown has been an epic fail," he said. "You know we need to get California working again. We need to unleash California's prosperity by getting government out of the way. We need to liberate California from oppressive taxes and regulations."
Donnelly, a former Minuteman border patrol leader who was detained at LA/Ontario Airport last year after a loaded gun was found in his carry-on, is an unabashed social conservative popular among the most conservative GOP stalwarts.
◼ Tim Donnelly campaign video shows apocalyptic view of state - LA Times
◼ Republican Tim Donnelly announces bid for California governor - Sacramento Bee
Tenoch Flores, spokesman for the California Democratic Party, said California is in the "best shape it's been in over 10 years" and that Republicans so far are demonstrating they "can't mount a credible campaign against Brown."
Of Donnelly, he said, "You're talking about running a tea party Republican candidate statewide in the bluest state in the country."
◼ electtimdonnelly.com
NOVEMBER 5TH ELECTION RESULTS
AMBER WOODWORTH, parentEureka City Schools Board Member, Trustee Area 1
CURTIS CROSS, incumbent
NICHOLAS N. ENTSMINGER, graduate student
LISA OLLIVIER, statisticianFerndale Unified School District Board Member
STEPHANIE KOCH, incumbentMcKinleyville School District Board Member
JERRY HANSEN, incumbent
KEN RICHARDSON, business owner
TIM HOOVEN, incumbentNorthern Humboldt (NHUSD) Board Member
MARY MCCARTHY, retired teacher/attorney
JOHN MCCARTHY, retired teacher/principal
COLLEEN TOSTE, appointed incumbentRedwoods Community College District, Trustee Area 2
MIKE PIGG, incumbent
BRIAN LOVELL, school administrator
THOMAS R. ROSS, incumbentManila Community Services District Board Member, 2 year term
SALENA KAHLE, resource center managerManila Community Services District Board Member, 4 year term
JOHN WOOLLEY, governing board memberMcKinleyville Community Services District Board Member
DENDRA DENGLER, incumbent
GEORGE A. WHEELER, retired
DAVID R. COUCH, incumbent
DENNIS MAYO, incumbent
Arcata Fire Protection District Board Member, Division 1 (Vote for one):Arcata Fire Protection District Board Member, Division 2 (Vote for one):
DENNIS LINDSTROM, appointed incumbent
LINDA SUNDBERG, insurance brokerFieldbrook Glendale Community Services District: o YES Measure K
On the Campaign Trail for a Better California
Abel Maldonado for Governor
◼ Maldonado campaign with first video release: "On the Campaign Trail for a Better California"
California's former Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado naturally connects with people and in his first campaign video, it shows. The Abel Maldonado for Governor Campaign today officially released "On the Campaign Trail for a Better California."
"Abel Maldonado is an extraordinary candidate. He connects with people on a very personal level, and that really shows," said Rick Tyler, Senior Vice President of the Strategy Group for Media, which produced the spot, an early version of which was previewed to select audiences at the GOP convention last month. "Abel shares many of the same experiences of most Californians and can understand their struggles, making him the polar opposite of Jerry Brown. The contrast couldn't be clearer."
The video follows Abel Maldonado for a day on the campaign trail, beginning in the early morning in Santa Maria followed by stops and visits in Ventura County, Orange County, Long Beach, and San Diego. He is shown listening to the concerns of voters and demonstrating his commitment to supporting the Republican team in 2014.
"We wanted people to see Abel for who he really is, and how authentic and real he is when meeting with people," said Ron Nehring, former California Republican Party Chairman now senior advisor to Maldonado. "We're excited about the opportunity to highlight how Abel connects so strongly with people. No one ever accused Jerry Brown of that."
MSNBC’s Alex Witt: ‘Does It Matter’ That Obama Lied About ObamaCare?
◼ Leave it to MSNBC weekend anchor Alex Witt to continue marching forward, carrying the flag of ObamaCare as the rollout phase sputters along at a crawl. - Paul Bremmer/Newsbusters
Witt began her show by interviewing Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of both ObamaCare and Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health care plan. After playing a brief compilation of President Obama insisting, “If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan,” Witt asked Gruber, “When you heard these words, did you know that what the president was saying may not present the whole picture, and does it matter?”
...Gruber, a healthcare spinmeister in his own right, insisted that Obama presented “the vast majority of the picture” and that he, Gruber, didn’t think it mattered, arrogantly explaining it away....
Obama’s Tour of Lies
President Barack Obama is a liar. Not a person who “misspoke,” as the New York Times editorial board ridiculously asserted last Sunday. His promise that if Americans liked their healthcare plan they could keep it — made on at least 23 separate, videotaped occasions — was not the ”half true” statement the equally corrupt politifact.com website contended it was. Nor did the president make a ”campaign pledge which did not hold up to the realities of governing,” as shameless TV host Bill Maher declared, before further noting it was a “moral complexity” he is “okay with ’cause I’m not twelve.” It was a bald-faced lie. And on at least one occasion in June of 2009, it included a completely unambiguous qualifier: “if you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan, period.” (Italics mine). Yet Monday, in an Orwellian moment that provided the public with an unprecedented look at the president’s utter lack of credibility, Obama insisted he never made any such promises.
...Thankfully, it is an effort being undermined by revelation after revelation. On Monday, the AP revealed at least 3.5 million Americans have had their insurance policies cancelled so far.
◼
An independent journalist has released – into the public domain – a list of
“Dan from Squirrel Hill” ◼ has a blog at WordPress where he regularly writes on conservative issues. His list is complete, authoritative and well-sourced.
KERRY: QUESTION OF WOMEN DRIVING 'BEST LEFT TO SAUDI ARABIA'
◼ On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi King Abdullah to try and warm relations between the two countries. “A true relationship between friends is based on sincerity, candor and frankness,” said Prince Saudi al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, after the meeting. - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart
But Kerry certainly wasn’t frank about Saudi Arabia’s brutal treatment of women; according to The New York Times, “Wary of inflaming Saudi sensitivities, Mr. Kerry sidestepped a reporter’s question about whether Saudi women should be allowed to drive, casting the debate as one ‘best left to Saudi Arabia.’”
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Humboldt County Election Results
◼ Election Night SECOND REPORT: Unofficial 9:45 PM
◼ Election Night THIRD REPORT: Unofficial 10:22 PM
◼ Election Night FINAL REPORT: Unofficial 11:21 PM
Through the night:
◼ Mad River Union: This includes absentee ballots only. There are more votes to be counted!
◼ Election 2013: Humboldt and Beyond - Kym Kemp/Lost Coast Outpost
Oh my: Obama falls to 39% job approval in new Gallup poll
...He’s had a horrendously bad month, from the shutdown to the Healthcare.gov nightmare to the new wrinkles about NSA spying to, of course, the fiasco of “if you like your plan” having been exposed as a grand lie....
"Obamacare is a trainwreck — there’s a growing consensus about that. Now the question is: How can we stop it?"
...Republicans may disagree about the tactics. But we must not lose sight of the target. For millions of Americans, Obamacare means premium hikes and cancellation notices. Families are hurting, and businesses are being destroyed.
But there are no shortcuts to full repeal. So we must go after unpopular provisions, highlight their flaws, and lay the groundwork for the law’s replacement.
We can ask Obama why he refuses to give families the same relief he gave big businesses. We can remind the president he broke his promise that if you liked your health care plan, you could keep it. And we can show the country this law just doesn’t work.
At the same time, we've got to argue for real, patient-centered reforms. If Americans are given an honest choice, they'll make the right one. They'll give us a mandate to replace this costly and unjust mistake.
The 2014 congressional elections will be about many things: jobs, spending, energy. But our priority must be to end Obamacare — and to put a real alternative in its place.
The work of constitutional politics is neither quick nor easy. But it’s still the best solution — and the only one worthy of a self-governing people.
With Obamacare, everyone loses.
In response to the wave of insurance cancellations hitting millions of Americans, and the admission by some on the left that President Obama’s “if you like your plan” promise was false, Obamacare’s defenders are now taking a different tack.
While the law’s supporters finally admit that some people will be worse off under the law, they now claim that those “losers” will be few and far between....
The idea that “only” 3 percent of Americans will end up on the short end of a 2,700-page law remaking the nation’s health care system seems as fanciful as the President’s pledge that anyone who likes their current plan could keep it.
The facts are clear: Obamacare isn’t just unfair for a small percentage of Americans; it’s unfair for the entire country.
The American people deserve better.
YOUR VOTE -- should you cast it -- carries special weight today
...The Humboldt County Clerk/ Recorder's Office says that 67,450 of you are eligible to vote in today's election. Recent history says most won't.
Any one of you can help change that.
And so your vote -- should you cast it -- carries special weight today. Your voice -- should you raise it -- is sure to ring a little clearer. Many -- but by no means enough -- of your neighbors have already by now mailed in their ballots.
Today is your last chance to join them, to stand up and be counted.
Today, yours could be the vote that helps shape your home, your neighborhood, your county.
Schools, water, firefighting and sewage are at stake.
If you need to find your polling place, visit ◼ SmartVoter.org or call the county Clerk/Recorder's Office at 707-445-7481.
CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT ELECTION -- WHAT'S ON THE BALLOT?
Bridgeville School District Governing Board Member (Vote for no more than three):
AMBER WOODWORTH, parentEureka City Schools Governing Board Member, Trustee Area 1 (Vote for one):
CURTIS CROSS, incumbent
NICHOLAS N. ENTSMINGER, graduate student
DIANA BENNETT, Head Start teacher
LISA OLLIVIER, statisticianFerndale Unified School District Governing Board Member (Vote for no more than three):
JOHN FULLERTON, incumbent
STEPHANIE KOCH, incumbentMcKinleyville School District Governing Board Member (Vote for no more than three):
JERRY HANSEN, incumbent
JOANNE FARLEY, incumbent
KEN RICHARDSON, business owner
TIM HOOVEN, incumbentNorthern Humboldt Union High School District Governing Board Member (Vote for no more than three):
JUSTIN ZABEL, incumbent
MARY MCCARTHY, retired teacher/attorney
JOHN MCCARTHY, retired teacher/principal
COLLEEN TOSTE, appointed incumbentRedwoods Community College District, Trustee Area 2 (Vote for one):
MARK SUCHANEK, transportation engineer
DANA SILVERNALE, incumbent
MIKE PIGG, incumbent
BRIAN LOVELL, school administrator
MIKE WELLS, retired educatorManila Community Services District Governing Board Member, 2 year term (Vote for one):
GINGER OLSEN, nurse/counselor/teacher
THOMAS R. ROSS, incumbent
DANIEL E. O'LEARY, retired veteranManila Community Services District Governing Board Member, 4 year term (Vote for no more than two):
SALENA KAHLE, resource center manager
MICHAEL FENNELL, governing board member
VIOLET GLASS, motherMcKinleyville Community Services District Governing Board Member (Vote for no more than three):
JOHN WOOLLEY, governing board member
DENDRA DENGLER, incumbent
GEORGE A. WHEELER, retiredArcata Fire Protection District Governing Board Member, Division 1 (Vote for one):
BILL WENNERHOLM, incumbent
DAVID R. COUCH, incumbent
DENNIS MAYO, incumbent
RENE GEORGIANNA CAMPBELL, retired bankerArcata Fire Protection District Governing Board Member, Division 2 (Vote for one):
DENNIS LINDSTROM, appointed incumbent
JEFF SCHWARTZ, business managerFieldbrook Glendale Community Services District: Vote YES or NO on Measure K: Special tax for fire protection and emergency services: Shall a special tax be levied for fire protection, emergency medical services and an expansion of the fire house by the Fieldbrook Glendale Community Services District of $75.00 per assessor's parcel in Zone Two (2) in the District, such tax to continue for ten (10) years? If passed the special tax will supersede and replace the existing assessment.
LINDA SUNDBERG, insurance broker
Source: Humboldt County Elections & Voter Registration via Times-Standard
Today on WhiteHouse.gov: If You Like the Insurance You Have, Keep It: Nothing in the proposal forces anyone to change the insurance they have. Period.
◼ The lie is still there
The Obama plan - Lie, Blame, Campaign...repeat.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 5, 2013
◼ Mika Brzezinski Literally Hits Herself in the Face After Watching Obamacare Promises Montage (Video) - Mediaite