MARK STEYN: Why does Obama get a pass for sending a stuntman to sign him up for Obamacare?

Mark Steyn says that despite the stated need for Obama to sign up for Obamacare in person due to the complexity of it, he still sent a stuntman to do it. Steyn wonders why Obama should get a pass for this when no one else can forgo the burdens of signing up for Obamacare.

But to make an even bigger, more profound point, Steyn says this:

“Is the ruling class bound by the laws it imposes on you, because if it’s not then it’s not any kind of Republic except for the Banana kind.”

Via: The Right Scoop

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Marc Siegel: The Death of the Bedside Manner

ObamaCare is speeding the decline in the quality of medical practice.

'It is as painful perhaps to be awakened from a vision as to be born," James Joyce wrote famously in his masterpiece "Ulysses." I recently had such an experience when my office manager—who protects me from the daily insurance grind of referrals and approvals and pre-certifications and blood drawing—was out sick. Thus the veil was lifted from my eyes, and I awoke to the harsh realities of our medical future.

One patient was severely depressed and needed medication and a referral to a psychiatrist. Another was having trouble breathing from asthma that requires inhalers. A third had a faded rash on her arm that she was ready to call a spider bite until she showed me a two-day-old iPhone photo. It was the angry red rash of Lyme disease. Each problem had an effective treatment but each visit took over half an hour to carefully complete.

The appointments were gratifying, in an old-fashioned way. Patients still have the expectation that their doctor will be patient and listen carefully, but one by one doctors and patients are awakening from that comforting vision of the past to the rushed, restricted world of the ObamaCare future. Thanks to that eye-opening week without my office manager, when I ran hours behind, I was forced to forfeit the vision I had of myself as an old country doctor practicing in a big city.

For me and many of my colleagues, the real practice of medicine is supposed to involve an intimate encounter with each patient and a diagnosis of illness leading to a potential cure. In the future, however, a diagnosis of Lyme disease or the severity of a patient's depression may be missed because showing the photo or taking an extensive mental-health history doesn't fit squarely into the 10-minute visit authorized by insurance, along with mandatory computer documentation, insurance verifications and appointment scheduling.

These problems predate ObamaCare, but the new law brings more regulations and low-quality insurance at a time when we are already struggling to comply with the electronic health-record mandate.

Via: Wall Street Journal

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Senate Conservatives Fund Ramps Up Earmarking Effort

Using a special method of fundraising that permits moving large amounts of funds to a candidate, a federal PAC has collected and forwarded more than $500,000 in earmarked contributions for five conservative Senate and House candidates.

The Senate Conservatives Fund, a federal PAC that already gives contributions and makes independent expenditures for federal candidates, has reported collecting and forwarding $541,565 in earmarked contributions since May. During November they reported forwarding $201,460 to candidates.

The PAC was founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and seeks to elect conservative candidates, but does not support liberal Republicans, and is not affiliated with the Republican Party or its campaign committees.

Individuals may earmark their original contribution for a specific candidate, and pass it through a PAC, who then forwards the contribution to that specific candidate. The contribution is considered from the original donor and does not count toward the PAC’s contribution limit. The individual gets the credit for the contribution, and the PAC gets the credit for the soliciting, collecting and forwarding of the funds.

Matt Bevin, R-Ky., who is running against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., received $304,132 in earmarked contributions from individuals that were collected through the PAC. This includes $173,579 in October and $130,552 in November.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., who is running for re-election, received $70,008 in earmarked from the PAC.

Col. Rob Maness, R-La., who is running against Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has received $63,983 in earmarked funds collected by the PAC. This includes $40,979 in October and $23,004 in November.

Conservative commentator and State Senator Chris McDaniel, R-Miss., who is running against Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has received $58,750 in earmarked contributions from the PAC. This includes $33,954 in October and $24,796 in November.

Midland University president Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., has received $44,692 in earmarked contributions for the PAC. This includes $30,439 in October and $14,253 in November.

In 2012, former Sen. Jim DeMint cut his formal ties with the Senate Conservatives Fund, and started a separate Super PAC, Senate Conservatives Action, that makes only independent expenditures and is not bound by limits on contributions or spending.

Via: Roll Call

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Mary Landrieu expected for Energy chair, #Keystone approval, defeat in re-election.

Some people might think that this news might disappoint me, given that I am of course a partisan hack.

Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will probably become the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee early next year, giving the gavel to a lawmaker with deep ties to home-state oil producers and refiners. The shift stems from President Barack Obama’s nomination of Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana to be U.S. ambassador to China, and the likelihood that the current energy panel chairman, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, will replace Baucus at the head of the Senate Finance Committee.

[snip]

The energy committee’s top Republican, Lisa Murkowski, hails from another oil and gas producing state, Alaska. That may improve chances for bipartisan alliances around industry priorities such as expanded exports of natural gas sought by Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG:US) and Dominion Resources (D:US) Inc., as well as TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Actually, it pleases me greatly. Senator Landrieu’s weakness this election cycle is not due to her energy policy positions; it’s because she’s a Democrat who provided the crucial 60th vote on Obamacare. Trying to get out of the way of that rapidly-approaching career-killer – and trust me: Obamacare is hurting Democrats most wonderfully dreadfully – by embracing the Keystone Pipeline will be very useful to the GOP, without noticeably changing the electoral calculus.  The truth of the matter is, Barack Obama rather badly wants to sign off on that stupid pipeline; the only reason that he hasn’t yet is because if Obama does then radical Greenies will rant and rave at the perceived slight to their religion.  Better by far if the Senate gives him a fait accompli. The President can blame the Senate, and Senate Democrats can shrug and piously claim that none of the environmentalist faithful voted for the pipeline.  Everybody wins.  Well, except for Landrieu in the long term.

And radical Greenies, of course.  And the best part?  There’s no reasonable chance that the radical Green movement can actually stop Landrieu from becoming Energy chair in the first place.  All bark, no bite from those guys.

Via: Red State

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CHICAGO: AS CITY CYCLING GROWS, SO DOES BIKE TAX TEMPTATION

CHICAGO (AP) -- Early blasts of snow, ice and below-zero temperatures haven't stopped a surprising number of Chicago cyclists from spinning through the slush this winter, thanks in part to a city so serious about accommodating them that it deploys mini-snow plows to clear bike lanes.

The snow-clearing operation is just the latest attention city leaders have lavished on cycling, from a growing web of bike lanes to the nation's second largest shared network of grab-and-go bicycles stationed all over town. But it also spotlights questions that have been raised here, a city wrestling with deep financial problems, and across the country.

Who is paying for all this bicycle upkeep? And shouldn't bicyclists be kicking in themselves?

A city councilwoman's recent proposal to institute a $25 annual cycling tax set off a lively debate that eventually sputtered out after the city responded with a collective "Say what?" A number of gruff voices spoke in favor, feeding off motorists' antagonism toward what they deride as stop sign-running freeloaders. Bike-friendly bloggers retorted that maybe pedestrians ought to be charged a shoe tax to use the sidewalks.

Via: AP

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NY judge rules NSA phone surveillance is legal

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Friday found that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records is legal and a valuable part of the nation’s arsenal to counter the threat of terrorism.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley said in a written opinion that the program “represents the government’s counter-punch” to eliminate al-Qaida’s terror network by connecting fragmented and fleeting communications.

In ruling, the judge noted the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and how the phone data-collection system could have helped investigators connect the dots before the attacks occurred.

“The government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program — a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data,” he said.

Pauley’s decision contrasts with a ruling earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, who granted a preliminary injunction against the collecting of phone records of two men who had challenged the program. The Washington jurist said the program likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search.

Pauley dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

Via: Chicago Sun-Times

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Target: Customers’ encrypted PINs were obtained

ATLANTA — Target says that customers’ encrypted PIN data was removed during the data breach that occurred earlier this month.

The company issued a statement Friday that additional forensic work has shown that encrypted PIN data was removed along with customers’ names and card numbers. But Target says it believes the PIN numbers are still safe because the information was strongly encrypted. It says the PIN can only be decrypted when received by its independent payment processor.

Via: Chicago Sun-Times

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Menendez: Make stores responsible

Following the Target hacking, he said firms must be accountable for stolen information.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. Sen. Robert Menendez wants the federal government to hold companies accountable when their customers' financial information is stolen.

The New Jersey Democrat is taking on the topic after last week's revelation that information about 40 million Target customer accounts had been stolen.

At a news conference Thursday outside a Target store in Jersey City, Menendez said he wanted to make sure retailers are "putting their customers ahead of profits." He announced that he had requested details from the Federal Trade Commission on whether it can fine firms for security breaches and whether laws should be changed to protect consumer data.

"We need to know if the FTC has the teeth to hold retailers who failed to protect consumers' information accountable," Menendez said.

The senator said he "has a feeling" that the agency will not be able to levy fines or penalties against companies. When a data breach occurred at Marshalls and T.J. Maxx in 2006, the FTC wasn't able to fine the stores' parent company as part of a settlement agreement.

"Our country's consumers depend upon safe and secure transactions, and especially at this crucial time of year, our country's retailers must commit to fulfilling that expectation," Menendez wrote to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.

Menendez said he wanted the FTC to recommend if further legislative action is needed to help protect consumers against having their financial information stolen.

Via: Philly.com

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Fuss and Feathers: Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson is not the worst news for gays.

It’s amazing how much this Christmas season has been dominated by the words of a big man with a fulsome head of hair and a huge, flowing beard. Santa Claus? No, Phil Robertson.

The “reality TV” star landed in a cauldron of duck soup thanks to his comments on homosexuality. How odd that so many fret so much about his views and so little about others who target gay people.

Robertson told GQ, “Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God.” The leading man of A&E’s Duck Dynastyadded: “It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

Fair enough. Like karaoke, the male posterior is not for everyone. But Robertson would have suffered less grief had he focused on religion and not drifted into sexual mechanics. Still, this story should not have exceeded 90 seconds on Entertainment Tonight.

Amid transcontinental flights, Christmas carols, and family gatherings, America became obsessed with the pronouncements of a man who resembles Mullah Omar. (Why is someone so epically ungroomed in GQanyway?) Is Phil Robertson the governor of Louisiana? Is he a U.S. senator? Does he run Apple?

Nope. Robertson makes duck calls.

Whether he finds male anuses erotic, repugnant, or neutral — as Hillary Clinton might ask — “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

Indeed, America has bigger ducks to shoot.

Via: NRO

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Your Money in Pictures: The Top 5 Charts of 2013

As part of our countdown to the new year, here are Heritage’s top five must-see charts of 2013.

5. What If a Typical Family Spent Money Like the Federal Government?
While middle-class families are still plagued by a sluggish recovery in the Obama economy, this is what their finances would look like if they spent money like the government—and it’s not a pretty picture. Most families understand that it is unwise to constantly spend excessive amounts compared to what they take in, but the government continues its shopping spree on the taxpayer credit card with seemingly no regard to the stack of bills that has already piled up.

Via: The Foundry

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Millions in CA Will Remain Uninsured, Despite Obamacare

A new report from the California Healthcare Foundation offers several sobering statistics about the uninsured population in California, just as some of those who have signed up for health coverage through Covered California will see their coverage begin Jan. 1.

“California’s Uninsured: By the Numbers” contains several data points that cast doubt on the Golden State’s image as a progressive utopia.

According to the report, California’s working population is less insured than its overall population. While around 20 percent of the state’s residents are uninsured, about one in four of those that work don’t have health insurance.

This may be a result of declining employer coverage. In 2012, some 54 percent of California residents got coverage through their employer (the most common way to get health coverage in the United States). But that number is smaller than it was in 1988, when 63 percent of California’s got health insurance from their employer.

“Employees in businesses of all sizes are more likely to be uninsured in California than in the United States,” the report stated. “In businesses with fewer than 10 employees, 40 [percent] of workers are likely to have no insurance.”

And 62 percent of the children without health insurance had a parent in their household who worked full time. Almost a third of the uninsured population had a household family income of $50,000 or more.

Via: California Political Review

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