Obama On Obamacare: "This Is Like Having A Really Good Product And The Cash Registers Don't Work"

BUT THE REGISTER CAN BE FIXED!!!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Now, I am the first to say that the first month I have not been happy with. You've all heard about the website woes. Nothing drives me more crazy than the fact that right now, there is great insurance to be had out there -- choice and competition -- where people can save money for a better product, except too many folks have not been able to get through the website.

Now, this is like having a really good product in the store and the cash registers don't work and there aren't enough parking spots and nobody can get through the door. And so we are working overtime to get this fixed. And the website is already better than it was at the beginning of October. And by the end of this month, we are anticipating it will be working the way it is supposed to. Alright? Folks are working 24/7 to make sure that happens.

But, remember, the insurance is already there. And if people can't get through to the website, they can get on the phone to the call center and people can take their application and walk them through the process. And people can apply in person if they've got committed folks who are out there helping people to sign up. And that is what all of you have been committed to doing. It is so important. (Dallas, Texas, November 6, 2013)

Via: Real Clear Politics

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Tom Price’s Alternate to Obamacare

Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.) is tired of hearing that the GOP is not proposing alternatives to Obamacare.

Price has proposed variations of comprehensive health care reform during three different Congresses. The first proposal came in 2009, then again in 2011, and most recently inJune 2013.

“You can’t beat something with nothing,” Price told the Free Beacon. “I think you always have to have that contrasting positive, principled solution and that’s what we’ve been putting forward.”

Price’s latest bill, the Empowering Patients First Act of 2013, has 40 cosponsors and is currently in a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.

To date, none of the proposals have made it out of committee or enjoyed support of GOP leadership. However, as the Affordable Care Act faces a turbulent rollout, Price’s legislation seems increasingly well positioned to warrant reconsideration.

“There’s not unanimity [within the GOP] about whether there should be a comprehensive Republican plan. I’ve been pushing for it since the very beginning, as have some of the people […] and we’ll continue to push,” Price said.

“I understand why it’s difficult to move forward when you’ve got a law that is currently in place that is garnering so much attention. Folks’ attention isn’t that great unless there is a crisis. The crisis is coming and so I think there will be greater attention paid to the alternatives available,” he said.

A key difference, and perhaps the most marketable, between Price’s legislation and the current health care law is the method employed to encourage individuals to purchase insurance.

Via: WFB

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Twitter's huge rally draws its share of skeptics

Twitter's debut as a publicly traded stock couldn't have gone much better Thursday, yet market pros remained cautious about its future.

In fact, it was the ferocity of the share price increase that scared even those who are bullish on the microblog social media network.

"Twitter the product is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in 31 years of tech investing," Roger McNamee, Elevation Partners co-founder, said on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report." "It just came out of nowhere."

However, investors know there's a difference between a great company and a great stock, and Twitter watchers fretted that enthusiasm may be outpacing fundamentals.

It's a trading stock today. Maybe it will be a trading stock for a while," McNamee added. "Me personally, I wouldn't buy here. Then again, I would never buy on the day of any IPO. That's just not how I work. I wait until things settle out and people have figured out what it's really worth. Once the emotions come out of it, that's the time I look to buy a stock like this."

Bob Peck, the first analyst to put a "buy" rating on the stock, told CNBC investors shouldn't be overly impressed with the debut and understand instead that they'll need to be in it for the long haul if they want to get real value.

He spoke as Twitter rolled to a 72.7 percent single-day gain to close at $44.90 after pricing at just $26.

The boom drew its share of skepticism, with Pivotal Research christening the stock with its first "sell" rating, based primarily on valuation. "With a price that pushes into the high 30s and beyond, Twitter is simply too expensive," the firm said.

Via: CNBC

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Botched NC Traffic Alert Warns Of ‘Women Drivers, Rain, Obama Care’

Raleigh, N.C. (CBS CHARLOTTE) – The North Carolina Department of Transportation sent out a traffic alert, warning people of female drivers, rain and Obamacare.

The North Carolina DOT sends out routine alerts to drivers about accidents and road work using email and Twitter messages.

On Wednesday, the NCDOT sent out an alert which reads: “A High severity incident has been Added for I-40 Eastbound in Wake County in Raleigh,” before going on to list the incident as “Vehicle Accident: Women Drivers, Rain, Obama Care.”

The message then advised drivers: “Stay Home.”

WTKR NewsChannel 3 reached out to the NCDOT officials who said the erroneous message occurred due to a botched test of the system. According to the transportation officials, the systems were being analyzed at the time of the incident and messages were only supposed to be sent internally. The IT contractor reportedly did not follow protocol, and the alerts were sent to the public mistakenly.

Via: CBS Charlotte

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After last month’s shopping frenzy, Louisiana governor looks to strip food stamps from abusers

The Louisiana governor's office said Wednesday night that it would strip food stamp benefits from anyone who took advantage of an EBT card malfunction that in some cases caused an all-out shopping frenzy in some stores across the state, The Advocate reported.

It is unclear how many recipients stand in line to lose benefits for a year, but more than 12,000 received an insufficient funds notice when the EBT card system was corrected on Oct.12, the report said.

"We must protect the program for those who receive and use their benefits appropriately according to the law. We are looking at each case individually, addressing those recipients who are suspected of misrepresenting their eligibility for benefits or defrauding the system," Suzy Sonnier, the secretary of state at the Department of Children and Family Services, said in a statement.

The frenzy at some stores was likened to the busiest shopping day of the year. "It was worse than any Black Friday,” Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd told local station KSLA-TV.

Shelves were picked clean in a mob scene that left employees rattled. Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling told the station the company made a conscious decision to keep ringing up goods rather than to cut people off.

Via: Fox News

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‘SHUT THE F*** UP’: YOU MAY JUST START LAUGHING AT HOW WORKED UP SOME ON THE LEFT ARE OVER CMA AWARDS MOCKING OBAMACARE

Though video of the CMA Awards’ opening act mocking Obamacare went almost immediately viral, not everyone thought the skit was funny. In fact, some on the left were downright furious that the awards show dared to mock President Barack Obama and his signature health care law.

As reported by TheBlaze, country music superstars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood performed “Obamacare by Morning,” a spoof based on George Strait’s remake of Terry Stafford’s 1973 classic “Amarillo by Morning,” after Paisley faked a back injury. The crowd erupted in applause and sent the Internet buzzing. Even the “Duck Dynasty” crew made a surprise appearance.

Co-hosts Brad Paisley, left, and Carrie Underwood perform at the 47th annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Wade Payne/Invision/AP)

Here are the people who didn’t enjoy the show (WARNING: Very strong language):

Via: The Blaze

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Orrin Hatch to Newsmax: Obamacare Problems 'Worse by the Day'

Sen. Orrin Hatch claimed to Newsmax TV on Wednesday that testimony by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed that "Obamacare's implementation challenges are getting worse by the day."

"She tried to put a good face on it, but HealthCare.gov is plagued with delays, errors, and faulty information," the Utah Republican told Newsmax in an exclusive interview. He was referring to the main Obamacare website, which serves the 36 states that lack their own health exchanges.

"It's been over a month since its launch, and even though the administration has brought in the so-called best and brightest to fix this mess, the website hit another 90-minute power outage on Monday," he said.

Editor's Note: Video Exposes Dangers of Obamacare Law

Hatch, 79, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, underscored the problems with the website when he questioned the embattled Sebelius in her testimony before the Senate Finance Committee.

Via: Newsmax

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Finding the way out of the dark

Democrats, Republicans, The Fundamental Restoration of a Transformed America

It’s always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, as Eleanor Roosevelt famously pointed out.  But cursing the darkness instead of shining the light seems to be what we’re all doing these days.

Even shining a penlight into the inky darkness of political life in Washington, DC would show that we’ve been forced into the role of audience to the well-orchestrated Act that life in public office has gained over citizenry.

It starts by recognizing that the public office of the day is an entire, well-scripted, ongoing Act; an Act that keeps 90 percent of an unsuspecting and unwitting public at large in the dark without a match.

Don’t buy for even a nano second that Democrats hate Republicans and Republicans hate Democrats.

That’s the Act they use to keep you enthralled; the political game that is being played out to keep the masses from ever realizing that they are being played as pawns in an end game that is ruling civil society in every human aspect imaginable.

With no class themselves and driven by power lust, greed and deceit, the politicians have placed the people they were elected to serve, in a class that unwittingly pays the freight for all their disastrous, self-serving policies.

Politicians of the day in the U.S., and in other Western countries like Britain, have captured their constituents, duct-taped their mouths shut and are holding them hostage.

Let’s take a brief look at some of their scripted theatre in action:

Barack Obama loathes Speaker John Boehner and Boehner hates Obama right back. Right?

Wrong!

Via: Canada Free Press

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[VIDEO] Obama: No Reason We Can't Do Amnesty Before End of Year

I'LL GIVE YOU 11 MILLIONS REASONS WHY WE SHOULD NOT "EVER" !!!!

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking to a group of business leaders at the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said he did not see any reason a "pathway to citizinship" for illegal aliens could not be enacted before the end of this year.

To make his point, he argued that there are "some very conservative folks" who "believe that now is the time to get this done."

Obama said that businesses "understand" the economic benefits of legalizing people who are currently breaking U.S. immigration law.

"These businesses understand that," he said. "They understand that if we are serious about border security, if we do a better job of streamlining the legal immigration system, if we are holding employers who aren’t doing the right thing accountable, and we provide a pathway to citizenship for those who have paid a fine, learned English, are getting to the back of the line, taking their responsibilities--that all together, these businesses are going to have more customers, we’re going to see people who are currently working here, out of the shadows, paying taxes and getting right with the law."

Obama further said that providing an amnesty to illegal aliens--n.b. a "pathway to citizenship"--would grow the U.S. economy above "the growth that's already taking place," and reduce the federal deficit.

Via: CNS News

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[VIDEO] Rep. Honda apparently dozing at town-hall meeting

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The Democratic challenger to Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) blasted out a video of the seven-term congressman apparently dozing off at a town hall in September. 

The one-minute video — embedded in a state political blog and sent to reporters by Ro Khanna’s campaign — shows Honda at a town-hall meeting take off his glasses, throw his hands behind his head, and close his eyes while an individual talks about the new healthcare law. 

He then opens his eyes and looks around when the speaker finishes. 

Via: The Hill

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FEDS COME AFTER TRANS FAT

Heart-clogging trans fats have been slowly disappearing from grocery aisles and restaurant menus in the last decade. Now, the Food and Drug Administration is finishing the job.

The FDA announced Thursday it will require the food industry to gradually phase out artificial trans fats, saying they are a threat to people's health. Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the move could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths each year.

Hamburg said that while the amount of trans fats in the country's diet has declined dramatically in the last decade, they "remain an area of significant public health concern." The trans fats have long been criticized by nutritionists, and New York City and other local governments have banned them.

The agency isn't yet setting a timeline for the phase-out, but it will collect comments for two months before officials determine how long it will take. Different foods may have different timelines, depending how easy it is to find a substitute.

"We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods. Still, he says, the food "industry has demonstrated that it is, by and large, feasible to do."

Though they have been removed from many items, the fats are still found in processed foods, including in some microwave popcorns and frozen pizzas, refrigerated doughs, cookies, biscuits and ready-to-use frostings. They are also sometimes used by restaurants that use the fats for frying. Many larger chains have phased them out, but smaller restaurants may still get food containing trans fats from suppliers.

Via: Breitbart

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California: Getting Criminals Out of Schools

A new bill would keep pedophiles and violent criminals out of our schools; teachers unions balk. California law firm decides to try an end run.

A couple of weeks ago in Washington, D.C., the House of Representatives passed a bill by a simple voice vote, which stipulated that public schools would be barred from employing teachers and other school employees who have been convicted of sexual offenses or violent crimes against children.

“Keeping children safe is not a partisan issue,” said the chief sponsor, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. “It’s a moral obligation.”

“Every school employee, from the cafeteria workers to the administrators, to janitors to the teachers, principals and librarians, that everyone” is subject to background checks including the FBI fingerprint identification system to the national sex offender registry, said Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind.

Now just whom do you suspect might take issue with such a law?  

Go to the head of the class if you responded “teachers unions.” Both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers sent letters to Congress complaining about the proposed legislation. The NEA missive starts off with,

On behalf of the more than three million members of the National Education Association and the students they serve, we would like to offer the following views on H.R. 2083 to require criminal background checks for school employees, which will be voted on tomorrow. (Emphasis added.)

On behalf of students? Did I miss something here? Has NEA forced students – as they do teachers in 26 states – to become beholden to the union? The rest of the letter is no better, and includes one truly bizarre comment. “…criminal background checks often have a huge, racially disparate impact.”

They do? Which race should get a pass? Would NEA be more in favor of the bill if it had a racially proportionate number of pedophiles? (Note to teachers: ya think maybe it’s time to stop supporting the loopy antics of NEA?)

Via: California Political Review

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