Conservative Happenings

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

About That Other Debacle For ObamaCare, it's only the end of the beginning.

If you're the kind of driver who can't help but gawk at the wreckage when you pass an accident--and honestly, who isn't?--you'll enjoy today's lengthy account in The Wall Street Journal of the runup to last week's Putin-Assad triumph.

Right off the bat we learn, which is to say our suspicion is confirmed, that this was a case of a willful president with atrocious political instincts. When Obama consulted his cabinet and top staffers about the idea of seeking congressional approval for a strike in Syria, "senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer pegged the chances of Congress balking at 40%. . . . Mr. Obama took the gamble anyway and set aside the impending strikes to try to build domestic and international support for such action."

In retrospect, it seems clear that while Pfeiffer was on the right track in warning that Congress might scuttle the plan, he underestimated the probability of that outcome. Given the political obstacles that stood in the way of the president's call for authorization to use force--Republican control of the House, Democratic misgivings about military intervention, and, most important, crosspartisan public misgivings--it seems absurd to suggest Obama was ever likelier than not to win a vote.

In fact, one could make a case that the probability of gaining congressional assent was already so low as to be indistinguishable from zero on Aug. 31, when the president announced his request. The best counterargument is that in the ensuing days, Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry did such an inept job making their case that they worsened the odds. That would imply they had at least a slim chance of success to begin with.

"Leadership as we experience it in life is usually more declarative," observes the Washington Post's David Ignatius with considerable understatement; "Leaders take action, and people follow. But Obama's style is different. As we've learned after nearly five years, he's more cautious and deliberative." We don't think we take any substantive liberties when we rephrase Ignatius's statement more bluntly: What he is saying is that Obama's manner of executing his official duties, in this instance for sure, is unrecognizable as leadership by any ordinary understanding of the term.

Via: WSJ

Health care in Syria is 'hell on earth,' doctors say

DO I HEAR OBAMACARE???

Syria’s once sophisticated health system is “at breaking point” and parts of the country are completely cut off from any kind of medical service because of “deliberate and systematic attacks” on medical facilities and staff, senior doctors said on Monday.

Horrific injuries go untended, women are giving birth with no medical care and patients battling cancer, diabetes and heart disease, as well as victims of sexual violence, have nowhere to turn, 55 medical professionals from across the world said in a joint letter in The Lancet medical journal.

More than half of Syria’s hospitals have been destroyed or badly damaged in attacks, nearly 470 health professionals are imprisoned, and about 15,000 doctors have been forced to flee abroad, said the letter’s signatories.

“Such attacks are an unconscionable betrayal of the principle of medical neutrality,” wrote the doctors, who include Gro Harlem Brundtland, former director-general of the World Health Organization and Hany El Banna, founder of the Humanitarian Forum and Islamic Relief.

Of the 5,000 physicians in the city of Aleppo before the conflict started, only 36 remain, the letter said.

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading....

‘You’re a Lousy Parent’: Ed Shultz Insists Parents Tolerant of GTA 5 ‘Play a Role’ in Mass Violence

IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL NEWS THESE DAYS? HE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER JOB!!!!

On Tuesday, MSNBC host Ed Schultz tore into what he saw as hypocrisy in the national debate about how best to stem violence in the United States in the wake of the attack on the Washington Navy Yard on Monday. Schultz attacked parents across America who might be allowing their children to purchase and play Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5.

“It’s a dandy,” Schultz said, holding up a picture of the game which he noted cost $250 million to produce. “It’s called Grand Theft Auto.”

“It’s got stealing cars, shooting people, and beating up hookers,” he continued. “If you’re a parent and you allow your son or daughter to watch this – even if they’re beyond 18-years-old, you’re a lousy parent in my opinion.”

‘You play a role in this,” he insisted. “We all play a role in this.”

Shultz questioned why the “freedom of speech” enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution which protects the right of game makers to make and sell products like Grand Theft Auto 5 is not an unlimited right.

“When did the First Amendment and responsibility part ways?” he asked. “If you think as a parent this is good for your kid, you’re wrong. It’s not.”

“Oh, by the way, the guy that did the shooting yesterday – he was a big fan of this kind of stuff,” Schultz added.

Via: Mediaite.com

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Forbes: 7 Ways to Fix Obamacare

Congressional Republicans should develop their own healthcare proposal as an alternative to Obamacare, banking on the deepening public opposition to the president's healthcare law, according to former presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

In an article for Forbes Magazine, he says that crafting a pro-patient, pro-free-market healthcare package will not only be popular, but will avoid the political backlash associated with plans by some GOP lawmakers to defund Obamacare and cause a government shutdown.

"Obamacare is becoming more unpopular as people realize that it increases medical expenses and restricts their choice of doctors and where they get treated," Forbes, the magazine's editor-in-chief, writes.

Editor's Note: Obamacare Secrets Revealed in New Book, ObamaCare Survival Guide. Get It Here!

"Defunding this monstrous legislation, however, is even more unpopular than the bill itself. People feel that would be underhanded: If it's bad, repeal it or substantially change it. The problem, of course, is that the Democrat-controlled Senate would block any such move, and the president would veto it, even if Congress passed it.

"So what should the GOP do? It should take the president up on his taunt that the Republicans have no alternative: 'There's not even a pretense now that they're going to replace it with something better.'"

Forbes outlines seven key guidelines that should be part of a GOP proposal. They would:

Allow interstate shopping for insurance;
Give tax deductions for insurance premiums currently limited to businesses and the self-employed to everyone;
Prevent Medicare money from being used to fund Obamacare;
Stop the exemption of Congress and staff from Obamacare;
Encourage high-risk pools to lower costs for everyone else;
Push medical malpractice reform; and
Eliminate Obamacare's mandated benefits and let people decide what coverage they want.

Forbes concludes by saying, "GOP House leaders, apparently having done nothing on this front so far, may say there's no time left to craft such legislation. Well, then, take up a batch of individual bills covering these areas and offer them as a package."

Via: Newsmax

[VIDEO] Priebus: Obama is orchestrating a government shutdown

On Hugh Hewitt’s radio program on Monday night, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus fired a couple of salvos at President Barack Obama

for what appears to be his desire for a government shutdown.

But Priebus told Hewitt that strategy, along with his foreign policy, could backfire on Obama

and his fellow Democrats.

“I think you’re exactly right,” Priebus said. “I think he wants this thing to happen — a shutdown of the government

. I’m totally cynical on the thing. I think that’s exactly what he wants. I in fact think he’s got a bunch of Democrats that are sick and tired of it as well because they’re sitting in red states and they’re nervous as anything they’re going to get stuck with Obamacare then they’re going to have to go out there and defend it. I think it’s actually going to be a big problem in the end though, Hugh, for the Democrats.”

“I think he’s being cute by half, and the biggest albatross around his neck is not only the economy but Obamacare,” Priebus continued. “It’s his foreign policy. He picked the absolute worst time in the agenda to come across as weak and you know he’s not only doing his best to humiliate himself but he’s doing his best to humiliate this country and I think it’s going to come back to bite him.”

Listen:

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading....

Washington Navy Yard Already Suffers the Restrictions That Gun Control Advocates Favor

FBIYet another mass shooting, and flags fly across the country at half-mast to mourn the 13 dead at the Washington Navy Yard—well, 12 of them, anyway, since one of the bodies was that of the murderer. Gun control advocates wasted no time in demanding new restrictions on the means of self-defense. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who used to carry a pistol for her own defense, responded to the crime by saying, "Congress must stop shirking its responsibility and resume a thoughtful debate on gun violence in this country. We must do more to stop this endless loss of life." But the unhappy truth is that the scene of the crime, the Washington Navy Yard, is subject to many of the restrictions that gun control advocates favor. And the perpetrator, Aaron Alexis, had passed a background check for a security clearance. Unfortunately, laws and databases don't create magic forcefields against criminal intent.

Navy public affairs officers have full voicemail boxes, today, for obvious reason, so it's difficult to learn if there were specific restrictions that applied to the Washington Navy Yard or to Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters, where the shootings took place. But military installations, despite their obvious role in waging war, come pretty close to being gun-free zones, given the rules by which personnel and visitors must abide. Or, if not strictly gun-free-zones, they're subject to tight regulations that keep most (law-abiding) people largely disarmed.

Via: Reason

Heritage’s Obamacare “Crystal Ball”

If you find yourself in New York City’s Times Square this week, look up. That’s where, all month, you’ll see Heritage’s six-story warning about Obamacare.

“Warning: Obamacare may be hazardous to your health,” it reads, placed where 1.5 million people can see it every day.

But more than your health is at risk. Fox News’s Eric Bolling called the billboard a “crystal ball” in this segment of Fox Business Channel’s “Cashin’ In.” That is because the examples of Obamacare’s hazards are piling up: Universal Orlando, Sea World, and Trader Joe’s are just some of the employers cutting hours for part-time workers so they can stay beneath the 30-hour threshold Obamacare imposes for health care coverage.

“What’s it going to take for the folks in D.C. to wake up and realize this warning sign has become a reality: Obamacare is a hazard for all hard-working Americans,” Bolling says. Americans get it: Two new polls over the weekend from NBC News/Wall Street Journal andUSA Today/Pew Research Center show the law is still unpopular with large numbers of Americans.Heritage’s answer is to defund it now. The crystal ball says it could get a lot worse.

Via: Heritage Foundation

Reid: ‘We Don’t Have the Votes’ for Background Checks

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that he would need to have enough votes for any gun control legislation before bringing another bill to the floor, while leaving open the option for a narrower measure than the failed background check bill from earlier this year.

“We’re going to move this up about as quickly as we can, but we’ve got to get the votes first. We don’t have the votes,” Reid told reporters in the Capitol, just a day after a mass shooting at Washington’s Navy Yard claimed the lives of 13 people, including the shooter.

The Senate could not clear a 60-vote hurdle on a background check bill in April, falling five votes short. Reid was then asked whether he could support advancing a narrower, mental-health-related measure and the majority leader indicated he wasn’t even sure there would be votes for such a bill but did not close the door to it, saying Congress should do “anything we can to help prevent” future mass shootings.

“I was asked, what about mental-health provisions, which is something we worked hard on. Sen. [Debbie] Stabenow worked really hard on that and that’s something we’ll look at, but I think to show how elementary this is … we want to stop individuals with mental illness from buying guns. We want to stop people who are felons from being able to purchase a gun. That’s what that’s all about,” Reid said, alluding to the popular-with-the-public background check provisions.

Other senators expressed a weariness about yet another mass shooting, yet a certain resignation to futility pervaded the Capitol, with lawmaker after lawmaker shrugging his shoulders at the idea of finding enough votes to pass a bill. Top Democrats Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who chairs the committee of jurisdiction, seemed to think that Monday’s shooting did not change the Senate vote calculus. Neither did No. 2 Democrat Richard J. Durbin.

Less-battle-hardened members tried to express optimism while acknowledging the realities of a divided Congress.

Via: Roll Call

Catholic University to Welcome Communist Leader

With no room for opposing views or questions, Seattle University is planning to host a talk, complete with a book signing and reception for Angela Davis, on October 17. The event is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Justice in Society.

“It would be difficult to find a speaker who contradicts the teaching of the Catholic Church on more levels than Angela Davis. Stalin, maybe? She is a notorious feminist, Marxist, communist, socialist who engages in pro-abortion, pro-same-sex “marriage” activism,” James Bascom wrote for TFP Student Action, a group whose goal is “Defending Moral Values on Campus.”

Founded in 1973, the American TFP, now numbering 120,000 members nation wide, was formed “to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property”.

TFP members, who reached all the way into Canada for help on their petition, must have been reading Fr. Paul Nicholson’s homilies and watching Michael Voris Vortexvideos:

“Hello, Whatever attention you can give to this issue would be greatly appreciated.” John Ritchie, TFP Student Action Director wrote Canada Free Press

Via; Canada Free Press

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

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