Wednesday, May 21, 2014
$340 Billion in CA Debts
A high-profile new report showed California still faces massive liabilities extending far into the future. The study, released by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, tallied over $340 billion in debts, deferred payment and other budgetary burdens “that will affect the state’s financial health in the future.”
According to the report, “Addressing California’s Key Liabilities,” there was some good news mixed in with the bad. The LAO was relatively sanguine toward a substantial portion of California’s long-brewing public pensions crisis. The report’s Executive Summary lauded “recent actions taken by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) board … to address the unfunded liability for state employee pension benefits in about 30 years.”
Given the legal controversy surrounding CalPERS’ role in city bankruptcies, however, the LAO’s praise may not go far. Litigation concerning the bankruptcy of Stockton, for instance, has pulled CalPERS back into potential liability. “Even though the city decided not to try to cut its CalPERS payments,” the Sacramento Bee reported, “Judge Christopher Klein said he could rule that the pension fund could be treated like other creditors.”
That’s significant because a ruling along those lines would affect CalPERS statewide. CalPERS is locked in a closely watched mediation process with the city of San Bernardino, which hopes to avoid millions in back payments to CalPERS as a consequence of declaring bankruptcy.
CalPERS, however, isn’t the only pension system at the center of the LAO report. There’s also CalSTRS, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. There, the LAO fingers “$200 billion in liabilities” that “merit further legislative attention.”
In his revised May budget, Brown has a plan to address the shortfall. It’s already drawing criticism. He aims to make a down payment on CalSTRS’ $74 billion shortfall — followed by $5 billion in increased funds every year for 30 years, once it’s fully phased in after seven years of stepped-up payments. Notably, $3.7 billion a year will be expected to come from school districts themselves — not a popular policy at the local level.
HHS Confirmation Hearings: 49,000 Words, Zero on Abortion-Drug Mandate
Two Senate committees held hearings this month on the nomination of Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell to succeed Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services, the federal agency most responsible for overseeing implementation of Obamacare.
In these two hearings, according to transcripts published by CQ Transcriptions, the senators and the nominee spoke approximately 49,000 words. Not one of these words directly addressed the contraception-sterilization-abortion-inducing drug regulation that Sebelius issued under Obamacare and that is now the target of more than 90 lawsuits.
The closest anyone came was Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who told Burwell he was going to ask her a question in writing in "regard to abortion coverage transparency for insurance plans offered in the federal exchanges."
The central question in the lawsuits filed against Sebelius is whether the federal government can force Americans into complicity with the taking of innocent human life by compelling them to buy or provide health insurance that covers abortion-inducing drugs.
Pelosi Names Five Democrats to Serve on Benghazi Committee
Nancy Pelosi has officially chosen five House Democrats to serve on the House select committee on Benghazi, alongside the seven Republicans already serving. This comes on the heels of a report that after hesitation on the matter, the Democrats would fully participate in the Benghazi hearings to make it a fairer process.
A press release from Pelosi’s office lists the five Democrats who will participate: Elijah Cummings, Adam Smith, Adam Schiff, Linda Sanchez, and Tammy Duckworth.
These Democrats will join the committee process headed by Republican Trey Gowdy, a decisive turnaround after rumblings from Democratic leaders that they should boycott the Benghazi hearings out of protest that the Republicans want to keep making an issue out of it.
Gore, Obama and Socialist LibDems Back on Big Lies Again
Science derives its objectivity from robust logic, honest evidence, not just those paid to support administration's version of Global Warming, Climate Change, Climate Disruption
They’re baaaaaaaack. The people from the left, or as they say more properly in Latin, la sinistra, or ‘sinister ones’, are back at their lies, cheating, duplicity and sheer untrustworthiness.
As Jennifer G. Hickey writes online in Newsmax.com on 18 May 2014 in ‘Scientists Rebut White House Global Warming Claims’, “A group of independent scientists, economists and meteorologists has issued a pointed response to the scientific foundation of the Obama administration’s claims that humans are drastically changing the climate by burning fossil fuels.”
I am personally pleased that the Libs, the “lyin left” as we so better know them, have stopped blaming George W. Bush for all the imaginary visions these people suffer through just to not have to face the truth of their failings not only of themselves but of their dealings with the whole socio-communist Party so improperly named Democrat, a derivative of the word democracy which today is totally foreign to them.
No, their left-minded actions now blame Republicans and Conservatives for all the ineptness and floundering of their Islam-Communist-inspired Party leadership from Farrakhan, Alinsky, Soros, Obama, etc. No longer do we hear, “It’s all Bush’s fault.” Now we hear and read in the newspapers’ ‘Letters’ columns, that the declining economy is all the fault of the Republicans. Those writers have yet to hear about the staggering national debt that Obama has amassed. Typically, though, they ignored Obama’s VA, which allowed war veterans to die for lack of VA care.
Hollywood showdown: Lawmakers threaten industry’s tax breaks
WASHINGTON — From Capitol Hill to state capitals, real-life Hollywood cliffhangers are being played out over tax breaks designed to woo the motion picture and television industry.
Lawmakers are re-evaluating the generous tax incentives they provide the film industry. Many say it’s not worth the money, especially when governments are facing tight budgets and the Hollywood is enjoying a record $35.9 billion in worldwide box office receipts _ $10.9 billion alone from the United States and Canada.
“They’re learning that the incentives don’t live up to the claims of their proponents,” said Scott Drenkard, an economist for the Tax Foundation, a longtime critic of the breaks. “The main reason they are popular is they’re a little bit sexy. They give politicians the ability to rub elbows with movie stars.”
The industry and its allies are fighting back, though, saying they bring jobs and tax revenues anytime they produce a movie or TV show in a U.S. location.
“Tax incentives are creating jobs and promoting economic activity,” said Vans Stevenson, the senior vice president for state government affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America. “You see so many success stories because there is a significant return on investment, and that is true across the country.”
Nationwide, the MPAA said, the television and film industry supported 1.9 million private-sector jobs and $43.1 billion in wages in 2011, the most recent figures available.
Thirty-nine states and Puerto Rico offer film and television production incentives. Ten states alone provide the film industry with $1.4 billion a year in tax breaks, according to a report that California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office released last month.
But some states now are saying “cut” to tax breaks.
Dem Congressman: ‘We’ve Proved That Communism Works’
Democratic Florida Rep. Joe Garcia — fresh off being caught eating his own earwax on camera — was caught red-handed (or is it yellow-fingered?) in another gaffe this week, claiming that low crime rates in border cities with lots of federal immigration workers is proof that “Communism works.”
Garcia made the comment during a Google hangout he convened last week to talk about comprehensive immigration reform with supporters. The Democrat attempted to point out how, for all their talk about limited government, many Republicans are fine spending loads of government money on border security.
“Let me give you an example, the kind of money we’ve poured in,” he said. “So the most dangerous — sorry, the safest city in America is El Paso, Texas. It happens to be across the border from the most dangerous city in the Americas, which is Juarez. Right?”
“And two of the safest cities in America, two of them are on the border with Mexico,” Garcia continued. “And of course, the reason is we’ve proved that Communism works. If you give everybody a good government job, there’s no crime.”
“But that isn’t what we should be doing on the border,” he continued. “The kind of money we’ve poured into it, and we’re having diminishing returns.”
The video was uploaded to YouTube by the America Rising PAC, a Republican PAC founded in 2013 and dedicated to opposition research. It’s also the same group that originally uploaded Garcia’s earwax snafu.
Via: Daily CallerContinue Reading....
$250,000 FINE FOR LYING ON OBAMACARE APPLICATION
Obamacare customers caught lying on their applications in an effort to bag bigger taxpayer-funded subsidies could get slapped with a $25,000 to $250,000 fine.
Page 409 of the recently released Health and Human Services regulations states that "any person who fails to provide correct information" on the Obamacare application "may be subject to a maximum civil money penalty of $25,000 for each application." Anyone who "knowingly and willfully provides false information" is subject to a "maximum civil money penalty of $250,000 for each application."
A recent Washington Post investigation of internal Obama administration documents determined that "potentially hundreds of thousands of people are receiving bigger subsidies than they deserve" because they "listed incomes on their insurance applications that differ significantly--either too low or too high--from those on file with the Internal Revenue Service."
So will the Obama administration actually slap hundreds of thousands of Obamacare customers with $25,000 to $250,000 fines for submitting incorrect information on their Obamacare applications to score lower taxpayer-funded health insurance premiums?
No, says University of Michigan assistant law professor, Nicholas Bagley.
"The money at stake in any given case is too small, and the process for imposing civil money penalties too cumbersome, to justify much in the way of governmental enforcement," Bagley told Vox.
Obamacare will cost U.S. taxpayers $2.6 trillion over the next ten years.
Obama Hasn't Met One-On-One With VA Secretary Shinseki In Two Years
Last formal one-on-one meeting:July 26, 2012: The President meets with Secretary Shinseki
Their most recent interactions were on
April 17, 2014: Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride
November 28, 2013: Obama, DOD, VA Chiefs Salute Troops, Vets on Thanksgiving
November 13, 2013: White House Tribal Nations Conference
Via: Fox Nation
Continue Reading....
Michelle’s meals turn off the kids
More than a million kids confronted by healthier school lunches are turning up their noses, leaving the cafeteria and heading out to get a burger instead.
The difficulty in getting students to eat lower-fat, lower-sodium meals is at the center of a food fight between House Republicans and first lady Michelle Obama that erupted this week.
Childhood obesity has spiraled in recent decades, and the first lady has made the fight against it a signature issue. Democrats say stemming the epidemic will cut healthcare costs and keep the armed forces functioning.
But Agriculture Department statistics show the number of school children in the National School Lunch Program dropped from 31.8 million in 2011 to 30.7 million in 2013.
School boards are asking Congress to allow schools to opt out. Some schools are raiding their teaching budgets to cover the costs of mounds of wasted fruits and vegetables, Lucy Gettman of the National School Boards Association said.
“Every school is probably impacted a little bit differently ... there isn’t comprehensive data available,” she said. She noted that one school district in Alaska reported having to transfer $135,000 from its education budget to meet the new requirements — and that the incident was far from unique.
Diane Pratt-Heavner of the School Nutrition Association, which represents nonprofit lunch providers in the National School Lunch program, said data show 1,445 schools have dropped out of the program since the standards went into effect as costs mount.
Lawmakers acted this week. A House spending bill approved by a subcommittee on Tuesday would force the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give a temporary waiver to school lunch programs that can show they were operating at a net loss for the last six months. That provision is supported by the National School Boards Association, as well as the School Nutrition Association. They also support other efforts, including a bill by Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) to stop imposition of more stringent standards coming down the pike.
Via: The HillContinue Reading....
House Democrat Unloads On Obama And The VA: 'Very Disappointed! There Was No Urgency, Mr. President! Roll Up Your Sleeves And Get Into These Hospitals! 'They Told A Damn Lie!'
Democratic Congressman David Scott chided the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Obama Administration on the House floor Wednesday afternoon.
The Democrat from Georgia heatedly criticized the administration's failure to provide prompt and adequate healthcare to our nations heroes.
Scott also took President Obama to task over statements made in his press conference addressing the controversy earlier in the day.
Scott said “I listened to the President today, and I was very disappointed with President Obama today,”
“There was no urgency. Mr. President, we need urgency, we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these hospitals!”
Rep. David Scott: Thank you very much mister speaker. The issue here before us on this bill and first let me say that I’m a proud co-sponsor of this bill to replace and be able to fire people. But the problem is the first person we need to fire is the Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs Mr. Shinseki himself. Now we respect him, we respect his sacrifice for this country and everything else but the buck starts at the top. Here are the facts, five thousand, six hundred veterans are committing suicide every year. That is almost twenty every day, under his watch, under his watch at my own hospital in Atlanta four of our soldiers committed suicide in the hospital. And the very Inspector General of the VA laid the blame directly at the foot of the VA administration for the lack of management, for the death of these soldiers. And when Chairman Miller and I went down and visited them we asked is there one more, is there any more that’s committed suicide, ‘no, there’s been no more’ and they told a damn lie. Because the very next day it was exposed that there was another soldier that committed suicide and they covered it up. This has been a pattern that has been going on ever since General Shinseki has been the Chairman there. I respect his sacrifice, I respect what he did but it’s under his watch that we are in this situation in the hospital. Out in the western part of this country, where the Washington Post has accurately reported that forty of our soldiers lost their lives, died because they couldn’t get service. Our veterans are the heart and soul of this country. They are precious and we must not turn our backs on them. I listened to the President today and I was very disappointed with President Obama today. There was no urgency, Mr. President we need urgency. We need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these hospitals. We need you to set a pattern, if the VA hospitals can’t handle it let’s get partnerships, can I get another minute, let’s get partnerships (crosstalk)
(crosstalk)
God bless you because there are some things I want to say. Reports are out that the taxpayers are going to have to pay or have paid one billion dollars for medical malpractice of a reputable news organization cox media, WSB television down in Atlanta went all over this country, one billion dollars the taxpayers are paying because of the VA cut off the wrong arm, cut off the wrong leg, the wrong tentacle, the wrong kidney. Let me tell you all something folks, time that’s what I so disturbed about the President, we don’t have time for any more investigations. The reports are in. Jesus Christ himself said there is no greater sacrifice than to give your life for your friend. Our soldiers have given their lives on the battlefield for them (crosstalk) We need to give our lives up here and give our veterans the respect they deserve
(crosstalk)
God bless you because there are some things I want to say. Reports are out that the taxpayers are going to have to pay or have paid one billion dollars for medical malpractice of a reputable news organization cox media, WSB television down in Atlanta went all over this country, one billion dollars the taxpayers are paying because of the VA cut off the wrong arm, cut off the wrong leg, the wrong tentacle, the wrong kidney. Let me tell you all something folks, time that’s what I so disturbed about the President, we don’t have time for any more investigations. The reports are in. Jesus Christ himself said there is no greater sacrifice than to give your life for your friend. Our soldiers have given their lives on the battlefield for them (crosstalk) We need to give our lives up here and give our veterans the respect they deserve
Would You Have Voted for ObamaCare? Georgia Dem Gives AGONIZINGLY PAINFUL Answer
27 Seconds Is All It Takes to Realize This Is One of the Most Confusing Obamacare Answers Out There
By Mike Opelka, The Blaze
It was a simple question posed by NBC correspondent Kasie Hunt to Georgia Democratic Senate hopeful, Michelle Nunn. Hunt was speaking with Nunn in a one-on-one interview and asked the question: “Would you have voted for the Affordable Care Act?”
The candidate’s answer was not a “yes” or “no.” In fact, it was so confounding that MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, during an appearance on “Morning Joe,” called it “terrible,” adding, “Boy, nothing screamed ‘practiced politician’ like that answer Michelle Nunn gave on health care.”
“It just doesn’t come across as credible,” he said.
What was Chuck Todd talking about? It might have been the initial 27 seconds of circuitous language heard from Nunn. Her exact words:
“At the time the Affordable Health Care Act was passed, I was, uh, working for Points of Light (a non-profit organization where Nunn served as CEO, earning $300,000/year) . So, I think it’s hard to go back…to look back retrospectively. But when I look at it, I think about…what do we need to do going forward? I look at it, I come at it from the perspective of someone who made payroll, who saw rising healthcare premiums, who believes we actually need to work together to make changes where it’s not working and improve the things that already are working.”
Nunn followed her initial response with more standard Democratic talking points about healthcare, citing the protections given to people with pre-existing conditions and children under 26 years old.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Sen. Udall Urges for Billions More in Wind Subsidies
Sen. Mark Udall is pleading for an extension for billions in subsidies to prop up the wind industry, a fight to protect tax credits utilized by Warren Buffett and one of the Colorado Democrat’s top donors.
The Production Tax Credit (PTC), a corporate tax credit that provides 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour of energy generated by wind farms, expired at the beginning of 2014. Now, Udall and his fellow Coloradan senator Michael Bennett (D.) are asking for a 10-year extension of the program.
Udall was “extremely disappointed” when a bill that would have provided nearly $13 billion for wind energy stalled in the Senate last week, arguing that the subsidies support jobs in Colorado. Udall and Bennett told Denver’s 9NEWSthat the PTC is necessary for Vestas American Wind Technology, which operates four wind farms in the state.
Warren Buffett, who has invested billions into wind farms, said recently that the industry is not viable without government assistance.
“I will do anything that is basically covered by the law to reduce Berkshire’s tax rate,” he said earlier this month. “For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”
Buffett donated $2,300 to Udall’s campaign in 2008.
Wind energy production declines significantly absent the subsidy, as seen when it last expired in 2013. According to the Independence Institute, a free market think tank based in Colorado, total available wind energy output decreased 92 percent that year.
Issa Subpoenas DOJ After ‘Election Crimes’ Director Refuses to Answer Critical Questions 34 Times
(CNSNews.com) – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) subpoenaed the Department of Justice today for documents after the DOJ’s Election Crimes Branch director, Richard Pilger, refused to answer critical questions 34 times, as advised by a DOJ lawyer, about the IRS-Tea Party scandal.
“The Department’s refusal to allow Mr. Pilger to testify about matters highly relevant to the Committee’s investigation unnecessarily delays and frustrates the Committee’s Constitutional oversight obligations,” said Chairman Issa in a letter sent with the subpoena.
“The Department’s obstruction in this regard, coupled with its failure to produce any relevant material to date, leads the Committee to conclude the Department is not seriously committed to cooperating with the Committee’s investigation on the Committee’s terms,” said Issa.
The subpoena follows on the heels of an Apr. 23 letter from 17 members of the committee to the DOJ for materials “concerning the Department’s involvement in efforts to scrutinize tax-exempt applicants after emails surfaced between Pilger and the Internal Revenue Service’s Lois G. Lerner where they discussed singling out and prosecuting tax-exempt applicants, at the urging of a Democraic senator,” reads a statement from the committee issued today. (See Lerner-Pilger.pdf)
Dr. Ben Carson Lays Out Rx for Health Care Reform, Talks 2016 on ABC's 'The View'
Facing a respectful if at times skeptical panel as he promoted his just-released book, One Nation, on ABC's The View today, world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson described his prescription for fixing health care in America, which revolves around market-oriented changes which empower consumers rather than bureaucrats.
Asked about his presidential aspirations, Carson made clear he doesn't desire to seek office and hoped a solidly conservative candidate would enter the race, but, failing that, "as a patriotic American, I certainly have to think about" running. Carson received a rousing round of applause from the audience after his brief appearance, whic
Via: NewsbustersContinue Reading.....
Dem Mayor Who Helped Sebelius Push Obamacare Charged With Fraud
A Democratic mayor who appeared alongside U.S. Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius earlier this year to promote Obamacare has been charged with wire fraud in connection with an $8 million mortgage scheme.
Lucie Tondreau, who has been marred by scandal since she was elected mayor of North Miami last year, will be charged in the conspiracy alongside three other suspects.
According to the indictment, between 2005 and 2008, Tondreau conspired with the president of a South Florida mortgage company to recruit straw borrowers to obtain mortgages.
Tondreau and the mortgage company president aired advertisements on a radio show that they hosted to help prop up the scheme, the indictment alleges. The duo “recruited and paid some of the listeners who responded to those advertisements, as well as other individuals, to pose as borrowers to purchase properties”.
The indictment also alleges that the co-conspirators fabricated HUD-1 Settlement forms which misrepresented that straw borrowers had made down payments and closing payments on homes.
The fraudulent loans were made for 20 properties.
In February, Tondreau, North Miami’s first Haitian-American mayor, helped the Obama administration and HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius promote Obamacare. Both spoke at a National Youth Enrollment Day event to increase awareness of Obamacare among young people six weeks before the March 31 sign-up deadline.
Even before Monday’s indictment and February’s appearance with Sebelius, Tondreau was the center of another fraud probe.
Via: Daily CallerContinue Reading.....
Van Jones: Dems Should Be Concerned GOP Doing ‘Pretty Well’ with Women
With Republican “establishment” candidates appearing set to emerge victorious over a variety of tea party insurgents on Tuesday night, a CNN panel dug into the issue of whether or not the Republican Party had learned the lessons of 2012 and 2010 when exotic candidates lost to unpopular Democratic incumbents. CNN host and former White House official Van Jones warned that, along with nominating stronger candidates, the GOP has also been nominating and electing more women to high office than in the past.
Jones made this comment after CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin asked why a variety of northeastern states had never elected a female governor in their histories. Jones said that was a “crime” and a “shame,” but said that he thought Democrats were poised to address that disparity.
“Also, the Republicans have been doing pretty well these past couple of years with regard to women,” Jones added. “Democrats can’t rest on that forever.”
“I think the same thing holds for Hispanics,” CNN contributor Ana Navarro added. “A lot of that has to do with diversity of thought when it comes to Hispanics in the Republican Party. In the Democratic Party, they run in districts specifically drawn for them.”
Obama criticizes Republicans for focusing on Benghazi, Obamacare
"The debate we're having now is about what, Benghazi? Obamacare? And it becomes this endless loop. It's not serious. It's not speaking to the real concerns that people have," Obama said.
He was speaking to more than 60 people at a fundraising dinner for Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives.
The event took place at a physician's home in the Washington suburb of Potomac, Maryland, as Obama seeks to persuade Democrats to organize for a voter turnout effort to prevent Republicans from ousting Democrats from control of the Senate and from building on their majority in the House.
Republicans in the House have begun a new investigation of the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans during a militant attack on September 11, 2012.
The new probe was spawned by the disclosure of an email from Obama national security aide Ben Rhodes. Rhodes used the email to prepare Obama aide Susan Rice for television appearances, telling her to stress that the protests rocking the Muslim world at the time were not rooted "in a broader failure of policy."
Republicans have also directed election-year fire at Obama's Affordable Care Act, focusing on the rocky rollout of the law last October.
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