U.S. Has Cash to Close Memorials, Can’t Afford Enforcing FOIA

The U.S. government can spend money shutting down and barricading memorials around Washington D.C., but it won’t dedicate the necessary resources to obey transparency laws, using the shutdown as an opportunity to ignore the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Without the accountability and transparency that FOIA is meant to provide, the government will essentially operate in secrecy. Nothing, not even a temporary, partisan impasse among lawmakers, should justify a furlough in the enforcement of government transparency laws. But that’s exactly what’s happening, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a decades-old nonprofit that works to protect journalists’ FOIA rights.

“Parts of the federal government have declared transparency non-essential, deciding requests under the Freedom of Information Act will go unprocessed during the shutdown,” the group says in an announcement posted on its website this week. “Some agencies have indicated they won’t even accept FOIA requests until everything is back to normal and have suspended their websites.”  Additionally, those seeking information from federal agencies should be “prepared for longer than usual delays in receiving the requested records,” the group says.

Among the federal agencies that have officially announced they won’t process FOIA requests during the shutdown are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Others—like the Agriculture, Interior and Transportation departments—have simply disabled their FOIA websites without notifying the public. Some have confirmed “reduced FOIA operations.” They include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Government Information Services and the National Security Administration (NSA).

Even when FOIA is supposedly in full force, stonewalling and unnecessary delays are the norm when requesting public records from the government. Judicial Watch knows this firsthand because FOIA is a valuable tool in our work and JW files dozens of requests with a number of federal agencies every year. Generally the government must respond to a FOIA request within 20 days, though that rarely occurs and JW must take legal action to force compliance.

Just this week JW filed a FOIA request with the Department of the Interior for information related to blocking public access to national monuments in Washington D.C. due to the federal government shutdown. JW also seeks all records related to the cancellation of planned visits by veterans’ groups to the National World War II Memorial due to the shutdown. In the official request JW reminds the agency of a 2009 memorandum issued by President Obama. It states: “All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA…The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.”

Via: Judicial Watch

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HHS-Run Website Hacked; Now Selling NFL Jerseys, Ugg Boots, Armani Fragrances

A portion of the website of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) was apparently hacked as long as two months ago.  SAMHSA is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS also runs the new Obamacare insurance marketplace, Healthcare.gov.  

Dozens of pages hawking retail merchandise have been uploaded to the SAMHSA site, ranging from NFL jerseys to Ugg shoes to Armani fragrances.  Screen captures of the various pages are shown here:

Clicking on the pages in some cases takes users directly to an external website; other times, certain functions seem to operate within the samhsa.gov site. Of the websites investigated, two domains are registered in the United States and one in China.

Via: The Weekly Standard

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The Budget Fight and Obama’s Vindictive Streak

The president thinks negotiating with his “ideological” opponents on the budget is beneath him. 

Shutting down the government in an effort to use a budget fight to get rid of Obamacare is not the strategy I would have recommended for the GOP. And while Republicans can be blamed for starting the shutdown, it’s increasingly apparent that President Obama and the Democrats deserve the lion’s share of blame for not only prolonging it but also making it as painful as possible.

Obama has always had a bit of a vindictive streak when it comes to politics. I think it stems from his Manichaean view of America. There are the reasonable people — who agree with him. And there are the bitter clingers who disagree for irrational or extremist ideological reasons.

In his various statements over the last week, he’s insisted that opponents of Obamacare are “ideologues” on an “ideological crusade.” Meanwhile, he cast himself as just a reasonable guy interested in solving America’s problems. I have no issue with him calling Republican opponents “ideologues” — they are — but since when is Obama not an ideologue?

The argument about Obamacare is objectively and irrefutably ideological on both sides — state-provided health care has been an ideological brass ring for the Left for well over a century. But much of the press takes its cues from Democrats and sees this fight — and most other political fights — as a contest pitting the forces of moderation, decency, and rationality against the ranks of the ideologically brainwashed.

What’s unusual is the way Obama sees the government as a tool for his ideological agenda. During the fight over the sequester, Obama ordered the government to make the 2 percent budget cut as painful and scary as possible.

“It’s going to be very painful for the flying public,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Americans.

Via: National Review Online

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Blue Ridge hotel defies Park Service shutdown

The Pisgah Inn, a private hotel that holds a concession on the Blue Ridge Parkway, has become a national sensation as it defies “intimidation” and a National Park Service order to close its doors.

After a tumultuous few days, inn owner Bruce O'Connell told The Washington Times on Friday morning that he had just reopened his doors for customers, despite the park service telling him he had to shut down. He says he’s essentially private property, on a road that’s still open, and uses no government personnel, so he sees no reason to quit operating.

“I’m questioning their authority to shut me,” Mr. O'Connell said.

The National Park Service is involved in several high-profile battles during the shutdown, including having barricaded open-air monuments and memorials in Washington. Veterans busted through barricades at the National World War II Memorial earlier this week, gaining national attention.

But the Park Service closures extend throughout the country, shuttering parks — and many of the private businesses that run concessions in them, such as City Tavern in Philadelphia, and Nauset Knoll Motor Lodge on Cape Cod.

Pisgah Inn, which Mr. O'Connell described as one of the last mom-and-pop places along the Blue Ridge, is just southwest of Asheville, N.C. And while most national parks are closed, the Park Service has deemed the Blue Ridge Parkway a thoroughfare and has left it open.

Mr. O'Connell said since the road is open, and he uses no federal personnel — even his fire and police services would come from town — he isn’t drawing on federal resources and sees no reason he should have to shut down.

Via: Washington Times

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Another Obamacare Exception for Congress: Taxpayers Could Pay for Abortion Coverage

According to the Obama Administration’s latest eleventh-hour purported rulemaking, Members of Congress and their staff will be able to enroll in taxpayer-subsidized health plans that include coverage of elective abortions.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a final rule this week that will allow Members of Congress and their staff to choose health care plans on Obamacare’s state health insurance exchanges while receiving generous federal premium support. It is clear that the OPM does not even have statutory authority to provide premium support for exchange plans. Further, the final rule disregards longstanding, bipartisan federal prohibitions on the use of taxpayer funds to pay for elective abortions.

For decades, Members of Congress and their staff have enrolled in health plans through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), receiving significant federal taxpayer contributions toward premium payments. In almost every year since 1983, Congress has attached an amendment, authored by Representative Chris Smith (R–NJ), to the Financial Services appropriations bill, which funds the FEHBP, prohibiting the expenditure of those federal dollars to pay for elective abortions or health plans that provide coverage of abortions.

Yet because the Obamacare exchanges are governed by a separate law, the OPM claims that FEHBP enrollees are allowed to choose plans that provide abortion services. In fact, Obamacare explicitly forbids Members of Congress and their staff from continuing to participate in the FEHBP, forcing them to instead enroll in health plans on state insurance exchanges with their own funds.

Via: The Foundry

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Wait a sec: The OFA volunteer who managed to sign up for ObamaCare hasn’t actually signed up yet?

So says his own father in an interview with Reason’s Peter Suderman.

A committed young Democrat and OFA volunteer wouldn’t fudge the facts to gin up some much-needed good press for The One’s pet program, would he?

Chad’s story was tweeted out by the official Obamacare Twitter feed. It was promoted to the media by Enroll America, a health-care activist group headed by a former White House communications staffer, as a sign of Obamacare’s success. Henderson told reporters at multiple news outlets that after a three-hour wait to sign up online, he enrolled around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning in an unsubsidized private insurance plan that would cost him about $175 a month. He also said that his father enrolled in separate coverage plan that would cost about $250 a month after factoring in the subsidies for which his father qualified on his approximately $24,000 annual income…

Bill Henderson told me that both he and his son were interested in getting coverage, but that they had not enrolled in any plan yet, and to his knowledge, neither had his son. He also said that when they do enroll, getting the most coverage for the least money would be the goal, and that he expects that he and his son will get coverage under the same plan…

Other details from Chad’s story were also difficult to verify. He said his premium was unsubsidized, and cost around $175 a month for the cheapest Bronze coverage plan available. He told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he got his coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield. But the cheapest unsubsidized Bronze exchange plan at Blue Cross Blue Shield’s online Quick Quote system offers for a 21-year-old in Flintstone, Georgia is $225.09 a month.

Additionally, Chad could not have purchased a separate plan for his father from his own login to HealthCare.gov, the website for the federal exchanges. A customer assistance representative on HealthCare.gov’s LiveChat system told me that purchasing separate plans for a son and a father in Georgia would require two separate logins. Which means that Chad would have had to successfully create two different accounts, and complete enrollment twice, at a time when almost no one was able to get through on the system.

Suderman notes, drily, that Chad Henderson told WaPo that he was sharing his story — which included cc’ing media outlets in his tweets about enrolling to make sure they paid attention — because “I’ve read a few articles about how young people are very critical to the law’s success. I really just wanted to do my part to help out with the entire process.” Could be, of course, that his old man is simply misinformed and that Chad really did sign up, but what are the odds of that given the extent of the media attention over the past 24 hours? At some point Henderson Jr would have dialed up Sr and said, “Hey, I got us enrolled!”, right? In fact, per Bill Henderson, Chad did tell him that “there’s different plans. And we haven’t decided which plans to enroll in yet.”

Via: Hot Air

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Poor Obama: Nets Fret Over Shutdown That Left Obama With 'No Choice' on Canceling Summit

The three network morning shows on Friday worried about President Obama and the fact that he had "no choice" but to cancel an Asian summit as the government shutdown drags on. On ABC's Good Morning America, Jon Karl lamented, "These were two significant summits in Brunei and Indonesia. The White House says he could legally have gone, but he needs to be here to push for reopening the government and dealing with the pending possible default of the government." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Reiterating, Karl again noted that these are "significant summits" and the "White House did not want to cancel this trip." Karl read a lengthy statement from the White House (with accompanying onscreen graphic) blaming the "House Republicans for forcing a shutdown." GMA co-anchor George Stephanopoulos agreed that the "President really had no choice." At no time did anyone on the program put the responsibility on Obama for not engaging the GOP. One good question might have been: Why stay home from a summit if you aren't going to negotiate over the financial stalemate?

The best Karl could allow is to parrot, "...The White House is saying they won't give anything in exchange for the debt ceiling."

On NBC's Today, Chuck Todd commiserated with Obama, noting, "Third time in three years that something political has caused the President to cancel a trip to Indonesia." Todd even helpfully explained the political reasons why the President stayed home: "But they just thought the look and feel of the President being out of the country while the government is shutdown, he using government resources overseas, that wasn't a smart move politically."

But he didn't blame Obama for the shutdown or lack of progress in bringing it to a speedy conclusion. Instead, he said of the GOP: "Perhaps they'll come up with a new strategy or tactic to decide whether they try to end this now."

In an 8am update, Natalie Morales at least allowed equivalency. She pointed out: "The President says Boehner won't call a vote on a temporary spending bill because he doesn't want to extremists in his party who are demanding changes to ObamaCare. She then highlighted John Boehner labeling ObamaCare  "a train wreck."

CBS This Morning anchor Norah O'Donnell called the cancelled summit "another casualty" of the shutdown. The Bill Plante full report featured five clips (total) of Obama, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Harry Reid.

Plante allowed a solitary example of Republican Congressman Eric Cantor blasting the President: "The president’s refusal to work in a bipartisan way has led us to this shutdown." Later in the show, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared for more slanted coverage of the shutdown.

Via: Newsbusters

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99% of Obamacare applications hit a wall

It's a batting average that won't land the federal marketplace for Obamacare into the Healthcare Hall of Fame.

As few as 1 in 100 applications on the federal exchange contains enough information to enroll the applicant in a plan, several insurance industry sources told CNBC on Friday. Some of the problems involve how the exchange's software collects and verifies an applicant's data.

"It is extraordinary that these systems weren't ready," said Sumit Nijhawan, CEO of Infogix, which handles data integrity issues for major insurers including WellPointand Cigna, as well as multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates.

Experts said that if Healthcare.gov's success rate doesn't improve within the next month or so, federal officials could face a situation in January in which relatively large numbers of people believe they have coverage starting that month, but whose enrollment applications are have not been processed.

"It could be public relations nightmare," said Nijhawan. Insurers have told his company that just "1 in 100" enrollment applicants being sent from the federal marketplace have provided sufficient, verified information.

Via: CNBC

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United States v. $35,651.11 (The cash in the account of Schott's Supermarket) Feds Seize Family Grocery Store’s Entire Bank Account

Can the government use civil forfeiture to take your money when you have done nothing wrong—and then pocket the proceeds?  The IRS thinks so.

For over 30 years, Terry Dehko has successfully run a grocery store in Fraser, Mich., with his daughter Sandy.  In January 2013, without warning, the federal government used civil forfeiture to seize all of the money from the Dehkos’ store bank account (more than $35,000) even though they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.  Their American Dream is now a nightmare.

Federal civil forfeiture law features an appalling lack of due process:  It empowers the government to seize private property from Americans without ever charging, let alone convicting, them of a crime.  Perversely, the government then pockets the proceeds while providing no prompt way to get a court to review the seizure. 

On September 25, 2013, Terry and Sandy teamed up with the Institute for Justice to fight back in federal court.  A victory will vindicate not just their right to be free from abusive forfeiture tactics, but the right of every American not to have their property wrongfully seized by government.

Via: Institute for Justice

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Megyn Kelly Previews 'The Kelly File'

 FOX NEWS INSIDER - On Monday, October 7, Megyn Kelly is making the move to primetime! The Kelly File debuts at 9p ET, and Insider caught up with Megyn for a sneak peek at the new show.

“I’m excited, my team’s excited […] We can’t wait to get this thing on the air. We have been working on this for months!”

The show will bring you the news of the day, with Kelly’s typical no-nonsense take. “My obligation as the host of The Kelly File is to make sure the viewers hear it straight. I’m not going to let anybody come on and give me talking points.”

After taking maternity leave following the birth of her third child, Kelly is thrilled to reunite with the Fox News audience. “We have the best viewers anywhere. That’s our blessing and that’s our privilege as the anchors here at FNC. When you know that they are trusting you to inform them of what the news is, you have an obligation out there to get the news, get it right, hopefully get it first.” 

Tune in to The Kelly File Monday, October 7th at 9p ET.

Plus, on Friday, October 4 at 3p ET, join Megyn for a LIVE Twitter chat. Tweet your questions and comments using #kellyfile. 

Via: Fox News

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[VIDEO] John McAfee on Obamacare: ‘This is a hacker’s wet dream’

On Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto” on Wednesday, computer programmer and founder of McAfee, Inc. John McAfee said the online component of Obamacare “is a hacker’s wet dream” that will cause “the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities.”

For starters, McAfee said the way it is set up makes it possible for fake websites be set up to fool people to think they’re signing up for Obamacare.

“It’s seriously bad,” McAfee said. “Somebody made a grave error, not in designing the program but in simply implementing the web aspect of it. I mean, for example, anybody can put up a web page and claim to be a broker for this system. There is no central place where I can go and say, ‘OK, here are all the legitimate brokers, the examiners for all of the states and pick and choose one.’”

“Instead, any hacker can put a website up, make it look extremely competitive, and because of the nature of the system — and this is health care, after all — they can ask you the most intimate questions, and you’re freely going to answer them,” he continued. “What’s my Social Security number? My birth date? What are my health issues?”

Watch:

 According to McAfee, there’s not a quick fix — and as long as it set up this way, it could be a playground for computer hackers.

Via: The DC

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