The Obama Administration's Ethics Problem

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki cannot get a handle on the recent scandalous treatment of veterans in VA hospitals, where more than 40 sick men were allowed to die without proper follow-up treatment. A cover-up allegedly followed. When the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal broke under the George W. Bush administration, heads rolled. So far, Shinseki seems immune from similar accountability.

Almost nothing that former secretary of health and human services Kathleen Sebelius promised before, during, or after the implementation of the ill-starred Affordable Care Act came true. She was also cited by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for violating the Hatch Act, as she improperly campaigned for Obama’s reelection while serving as a cabinet secretary.

Former IRS official Lois Lerner used the federal tax-collection agency to go after groups deemed too conservative. She invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid telling Congress the whole truth.

Susan Rice, former U.N. ambassador and now national-security adviser, flat-out deceived the public in five television appearances about the Benghazi catastrophe. She insisted that the deaths of four Americans were due to a spontaneous riot induced by a reactionary video maker — even though she had access to intelligence fingering al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists as the culprits who planned the attack on the anniversary of 9/11.

Rice recently blamed Obama foreign-policy failures on domestic political polarization. But that is best described as the give and take of democracy and was once thought to be our foreign-policy strength.

Rice also knows little history. In 2007, in the midst of the surge, when Americans were fighting for their lives to stabilize Iraq, then-senator Hillary Clinton implied that the commanding general in Iraq, General David Petraeus, was a veritable liar. Senate majority leader Harry Reid agreed and declared that the war was already lost. Then–presidential candidate Barack Obama prematurely wrote off the politically inconvenient surge as a failure. Was Rice then shocked that “polarization” affected foreign policy?

Via: Real Clear Politics

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McConnell vows ‘free-wheeling’ Senate under his leadership

Fresh off his resounding Republican primary victory Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday laid out a broad vision of what the Senate would look like under his control.

Bottom line, McConnell, wouldn’t run the way Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., runs it now, the Kentucky Republican told the center-right American Enterprise Institute.

‘A Senate majority under my leadership would break sharply from the practices of the Reid era in favor of a more free-wheeling approach to problem solving,’ McConnell said in a speech. ‘I would work to restore (the Senate’s) traditional role as a place where good ideas are generated, debated and voted upon. We’d fire up the committee process. We’d work longer days and weeks, using the clock to force consensus.’

And McConnell’s money shot: ‘In marked contrast to the Reid era, we would allow an open amendment process – ensuring senators on both sides a chance to weigh in on legislation and alleviating the frustration that inevitably results when they can’t.’

McConnell and Republicans believe the Senate is within their grasp this election year. They need a net gain of six seats in November to gain control of the chamber.

Last November, Reid and the Democratic-controlled Senate changed the chamber’s long-standing rules to strip the Republican minority of its filibuster power to block many presidential nominations, a move that makes it easier to confirmed President Barack Obama’s appointees but increased partisan tensions in an already acrimonious chamber.

Via: McClatchy

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/05/22/228196/mcconnell-vows-free-wheeling-senate.html?sp=/99/104/244/112/#storylink=cpy

Harry Reid Offers 2017 Effective Date for Immigration, Sets August Deadline

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered to make 2017 the effective date for an immigration overhaul Thursday so Republicans no longer can use President Barack Obama as an excuse not to pass a bill — and set an August deadline for the House to act.

“Let’s pass immigration reform today. Make it take effect in 2017. Republicans don’t trust President Obama,” Reid said. “Let’s give them a chance to approve the bill under President Rand Paul or President Theodore Cruz. To be clear, delaying implementation of immigration reform is not my preference. But I feel so strongly that this bill needs to get done, I’m willing to show flexibility.”

House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, has repeatedly said that most Republicans want to act on immigration but don’t trust the president to enforce the law — a view he repeated again Thursday.

Reid warned that if Republicans don’t take the offer and pass a bill by August, President Barack Obama would go as far as he could to act on his own.

“If they don’t take our offer, then we’re going to have to go to the second step, which is not my preference,” Reid said. “Administrative rules cannot trump legislation but we’re going to have to do what we have to do as we proved with DACA,” he said, referring to Obama’s program to grant deportation relief and work permits to young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children.

Reid’s offer of a 2017 effective date mirrors a suggestion that had been made by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

In the press conference with Reid, Schumer, Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., Schumer suggested there was a six-week window for action after Republican primaries on June 10 and before the August break.

Schumer was asked about Republican response to 2017 compromise after the press conference and he said, “We haven’t gotten yes and we haven’t gotten a no.”

Schumer also put the kibosh on smaller immigration patches, like the ENLIST Act that would allow young illegal immigrants to get legal status by signing up for the military.

“We are not going to go along with minor fixes that fail to address the huge systematic problems in our immigration system today,” Schumer said. “If the oil is leaking in your car, your muffler has a whole in it and you have a flat tire, you don’t change the windshield wipers. But that’s what they want to do with this ENLIST Act. Republicans are barely even considering that but it doesn’t even scratch the surface of our immigration system. We support giving those that serve in the military the opportunity to earn citizenship, but we also want to fix our agriculture worker programs, secure our borders … and provide a pathway for the 11 million that live in the shadows.”

The senators’ threats come as House Republicans continued Thursday to demand a public display of trust-building from the president before they take up any changes to the immigration system.

Via: Roll Call

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The Sign Is Clear: ‘No Weapons, No Concealed Firearms’ — Why Didn’t These Three Thugs Obey Gun-Free Zone?

Despite a sign posted outside designating the business a so-called “gun-free zone,” three thugs reportedly assaulted restaurant employees during a robbery attempt in Durham, North Carolina, earlier this week.

At around 9 p.m. on Sunday, three men wearing hoodies and armed with handguns invaded a newly-opened barbecue restaurant in Durham through the back door, according to police. The thugs reportedly forced employees to the ground, assaulting two of them. Thankfully, they were not seriously injured.

While the robbery occurred in the kitchen, patrons in the restaurant were able to safely escape through the front door.

Restaurant owner Greg Hatem told WTVD-TV that he’s offering $2,000 for the “arrest and conviction of these guys.”

“We want to make sure our guests and our staff are taken care of,” he said.

Pro-gun advocates have criticized the restaurant’s “gun-free zone” policy and argue allowing citizens to protect themselves in the establishment is a much more effective way to ensure their safety. Second Amendment supporters have repeatedly argued that “gun-free zones” only entice criminals because they know they will likely face minimal opposition.

A recent study out of Purdue University found that all but two mass shootings since the 1950s have occurred in locations where victims were restricted from carrying weapons for self-defense

Via: The Blaze

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Sens. Rockefeller and Johnson Battle over Whether Obamacare Opposition Is Racist

Two U.S. senators, a Republican and a Democrat, got into it on Thursday over whether opposition to Obamacare has to do with the color of the president’s skin. Democrat Jay Rockefeller strongly suggested it was, and Republican Ron Johnson fired back by scolding Rockefeller for his “very offensive” comments.

Rockefeller said plenty of people have already “made up their mind” that they don’t want Obamacare to work “because they don’t like the president, maybe he’s the wrong color.” He asserted that he’s personally “seen a lot of that, and I know a lot of that to be true.”

Johnson jumped in to blast Rockefeller’s “regrettable” decision to “play the race card.” He said, “I found it very offensive that you’d basically imply that I’m a racist because I opposed this health care law. That is outrageous.”

Via: Mediaite

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SARAH PALIN: OBAMA TOO 'LAZY' TO HOLD OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE FOR VA SCANDAL

On Wednesday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said President Barack Obama does not hold officials in his administration accountable for their scandals because he is lazy. 

SARAH PALIN ON 'HANNITY,' 5/21/14

Sarah Palin on 'Hannity,' 5/21/14

“When you hold someone accountable, it takes energy and resource, and Barack Obama is lazy," Palin said on Fox News' Hannity. "In fact, he warned us that he was lazy, and he attributed that to having been brought up in Hawaii. It’s his words, not mine."

In a 2011 interview with Barbara Walters, Obama did, in fact, say he was lazy, as Palin noted. 

"There is a deep down, underneath all the work I do, I think there's a laziness in me," Obama said then, as Politico reported. "It's probably from, you know, growing up in Hawaii, and it's sunny outside and sitting on the beach."

Obama said he learned via the television about the scandal in his Veterans Administration. Forty people reportedly died after being placed on secret waiting lists. And Palin said things like the disastrous Obamacare rollout, Benghazi, and the VA scandal occur "when you have a commander-in-chief that is not engaged."

Palin said Obama will just spew "more rhetoric," and she expressed her belief that "nothing is going to happen when Obama is in charge of the military, the VA, and the federal government in general."

"And another thing is that Barack Obama still doesn’t see what the main problem is," she continued. "The main problem is government. It’s not the solution, like Ronald Reagan said; it is the problem."

She said since Obama does not recognize this, "government is going to continue to grow" under him and "will create and perpetuate" more problems.

Palin asserted that America's veterans "have earned the benefits that we should be providing them and they have been promised," and she blasted the media for continuing to let Obama off the hook by "not holding him accountable."

Via: Breitbart

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Sen. Coburn Demands Pentagon Show How $500B Budget Is 'Squandered'

Retiring Sen. Tom Coburn has called on Congress to force the Pentagon to start showing American taxpayers exactly where the military is spending – and overspending – its $500 billion annual budget.

In a commentary for The Washington Times, the Oklahoma Republican said the Department of Defense is violating the Constitution by never having "passed a single audit," while also attacking the agency for its "wanton mismanagement" of government money.

Coburn wrote that the Pentagon is the only government agency that cannot produce auditable financial statements "in accordance with the law."

"Not knowing where this money is going isn’t just lawless, it is a threat to both our economic and national security," he said, adding that "Congress is fully complicit in this scam on American taxpayers."

He said that without an annual financial audit, the Pentagon has no idea where its tax dollars are going, whether it’s getting good value for money or even if it got what it paid for last year.

"Sadly, few in Congress seem to care that untold billions are squandered every year through wanton mismanagement and neglect," wrote the senator, who was diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer last year and is stepping down after the November elections, two years before his term expires.

"The only way this cycle can be broken is for the American people to demand that Congress use its power of the purse to demand accountability at the Defense Department, rather than simply rubber-stamp the defense budget."

In his guest column, Coburn said that an "open amendment process" would result in the push for an annual Pentagon audit being debated in Congress.

He singled out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for criticism, saying that the Nevada Democrat would not even allow amendments to be introduced and debated on the nearly $700 billion, 600-page annual defense authorization bill.

Via: Newsmax
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Pitts: Top 10 unanswered questions about Obamacare

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, led by Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R.-Pa.), rebooted and restated its oversight of the implementation of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with the release of May 19 10 ignored official requests for information from President Barack Obama and his team.

Certainly, the list is an homage to the brilliant May 14 press conference held by Rep. Harold W. “Trey” Gowdy III (R.-S.C.), when he challenged reporters to answer simple questions about #Benghazi.

If anything, the last five years of the Age of Obama has been a sensory overload of scandals, debacles and crisis after crisis. It seems almost by design that the White House intends to overwhelm us to the point of eventful unintelligence.

There is no better example than how the PPACA was legislated and enacted. But, maybe Pitts and his fellow Republicans, like the full committee’s chairman Rep. Frederick S. Upton (R.-Mich.) are tired of playing Whac-A-Mole.

Putting out this list is a good first step.

Via: Canada Free Press

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A “Left-Right Alliance” Against Public Sector Unions?

Consumer advocate and left-wing activist Ralph Nadar has just written a book entitled “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.” In a Salon interview published on May 2, Nadar lists five areas where the left and right can agree on policy goals: (1) controlling security state overreach, (2) eliminating corporate welfare, (3) fighting military overspending and waste, (4) cracking down on Wall Street financial fraud, and (5) revisiting international agreements that undermine American sovereignty.

Populist right-wing commentator Patrick Buchanan has taken notice. In a column published on May 19th entitled “A Left-Right Convergence?,” Buchanan identifies the rift within conservative ranks that provides an opening for convergence with the left. He writes:

“Undeniably, there has been a growing gap and a deepening alienation between traditional conservatives and those Ralph calls the ‘corporate conservatives.’ And it is not only inside the conservative movement and the GOP that the rift is growing, but also Middle America.”

As for the left? Here are two easily identified, escalating rifts that are dividing liberals: The first, construction unions vs. environmentalists, as exemplified by their conflict over the Keystone Pipeline. The second, public sector union Democrats vs. progressive Democrats. As San Jose’s mayor Chuck Reed, a Democrat, puts it:

“There’s a difference between being liberal and progressive and being a union Democrat.”

This second rift has immediate importance in California, and it has immediate potential for what could become California’s regional version of a left-right alliance. Here are three areas where California’s left and right can unite:

(1) Charter schools: California’s public schools have failed millions of students. Charter schools, unconstrained by union work rules, have become laboratories of innovation. They have consistently delivered better educational outcomes at lower cost. Their proliferation should be encouraged.

(2) Pension reform: California’s cities, counties and state agencies now face unfunded pension liabilities that – depending on what assumptions you make – total between $200 and $500 billion. Annual pension contributions now consume as much as 25% of the general fund budget in major cities. Reform is vital.

Via: California Political Review

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Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove (see trends).

The latest figures include 22% who Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president and 37% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15.

Results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).

Twenty-nine percent (29%) think the United States is headed in the right direction. 

Following the U.S. government’s indictment of five Chinese military hackers for stealing commercial secrets, 45% believe a cyberattack by another country poses a greater economic threat to America than a traditional military attack. 

Just 18% of homeowners now think their home is worth less than when they bought it, unchanged from March and the lowest level of pessimism measured since regular tracking on this question began in April 2011.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) expect their home’s value to go up over the next year. That ties the highest level of confidence since early 2009.

Via: Rasmussen 

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[CARTOON] Obama’s View

Via: California Political Review
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IRS Approved $2.3 Billion in Fraudulent Alimony Deductions

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) authorized $2.3 billion in alimony deductions for divorced persons last year that did not match with their ex-spouses’ income, according to an audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

The audit, released last week, found that nearly half of all alimony deductions in 2010 were improper.

“In Tax Year 2010, a total of 567,887 taxpayers claimed alimony deductions totaling more than $10 billion,” TIGTA said. “An alimony income reporting discrepancy occurs when individuals claim deductions for alimony which they did not pay or individuals do not report alimony income they received.”

Persons who pay alimony are allowed to deduct their payments on their tax return to reduce their tax burden. However, the payments must be accounted as added income for the recipient of the alimony.

TIGTA examined 567,887 returns with an alimony deduction claim in 2010, and found that 266,190—or 47 percent—had income from claimed alimony deductions that were not reported or were inconsistent.

“There is a discrepancy of more than $2.3 billion in deductions claimed without corresponding income reported,” the audit said.

TIGTA noted that the IRS does not have a system in place to address improper alimony claims.

“Apart from examining a small number of tax returns, the IRS generally has no processes or procedures to address this substantial compliance gap,” the audit said.

Via: WFB

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Marine Can’t Find Doctor Due to Obamacare

A California veteran is having trouble finding a doctor because of a faulty Obamacare plan.

Kyle, affected by chronic Lyme disease he contracted while on active duty, is frustrated with the lack of doctor availability on his Anthem BlueCross insurance plan. “I was on the phone with Anthem for two hours while they were trying to find me a doctor within 20 miles. Finally a supervisor came on the phone and said ‘Sir, we have to go, we have other people to help’ and advised me [that] I need to cancel my plan,” he told KPIX.

State law stipulates that insurers must have enough doctors to enable patients to get an appointment within 15 days within 15 miles of their home. Kyle was not able to find a doctor under these requirements and neither was Anthem. Inaccurately listed doctors are considered a violation of the law. The list of doctors given to CoveredCalifornia was incorrect.

“If we determine that a health plan has violated the law, we will take action,” Marta Green of Department of Managed Health Care said in response.

Internal emails reveal one individual’s warning about listing doctors that are not actually on insurance plans “I suspect that we are going to have a network adequacy issue very soon.”

Kyle advised CoveredCalifornia not to negotiate with Anthem. “I would tell them to get rid of Anthem BlueCross.”

Via: WFB

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[VIDEO] Teacher Says He Helped Write Common Core to End White Privilege

A teacher told attendees at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics Monday night that he helped write the controversial Common Core education standards to end white privilege.

Dr. David Pook, a professor at Granite State College and chair of the History department at The Derryfield School in Manchester, New Hampshire, argued in favor of Common Core.

“The reason why I helped write the standards and the reason why I am here today is that as a white male in society I am given a lot of privilege that I didn't earn.”

Ironically, the $28,535 per year Derryfield School that Dr. Pook teaches at considers the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) inferior and does not use them on the student body that is 91% white.

Via: Campus Reform

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Obama Administration Just Got Caught in a Massive Lie ...

WVOC.com: The LA Times has been as friendly as possible to the Obama administration, but they can't ignore this. Today they broke the story that another massive lie around Obamacare has been told to the Congress and the American people. As you know "If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan" was ranked as the biggest lie of the year by the Washington Post.  Well here comes an early contender for this year's award.

The Republicans have been accusing the Obama administration of building into Obamacare an insurance plan for the insurance companies. A bailout if the insurance companies lost money under Obamacare. Their claim was that in the law was something called the temporary risk corridor program. Under that Republicans said the administration had allowed themselves a way to take tax dollars and bailout an insurance company that lost money. But the administration and the Democrats have denied that. Apparently the administration and the Democrats had been telling the truth...and didn't like it.

The LA Times reports that late last week hundreds of pages of new regulations were added to Obamacare. Their reporters went through it and found a few key paragraphs. The change in regulations essentially provides insurers with another backup: If they keep rate increases modest over the next couple of years but lose money, the administration will tap federal funds as needed to cover shortfalls. This could be hundreds of billions of dollars!

This is a classic bait and switch. The middle class will feel like they're getting a break on insurance premiums. As long as they don't look at the governments check book, they'll believe the Affordable Health Care Law is working. It only unravels if they realize they are paying double for their insurance, because the increase is being charged to their account in the form of more debt.

The Republicans are expected to go nuts over this, and the Democrats will point at the scene they are making and say 'look how fanatical those people are'. I would warn Republicans against making a big deal out of this.

Via: Fox News

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How Obama Became the Superhero of Excuses

You helped elect an untested presidential candidate, a man almost as liberal as you. He promised to heal the oceans, make health care an inalienable right, and transform Washington's toxic culture. You mocked Republicans, independents, and squishy Democrats who had the audacity to criticize your guy, much less doubt the inevitability of his victory. President Obama won—twice—and then didn't live up to anybody's expectations, including his own.

What do you do? Well, if you're Ezra Klein and a coterie of inflexibly progressive pundits, you repurpose an attack used against President George W. Bush's bombastic approach to geopolitics. You call anybody who questions Obama's leadership style a Green Lanternist. In a post for Vox stretching beyond 2,500 words, Klein makes his case against Obama critics.

"Presidents consistently overpromise and underdeliver," he begins, a fair start. Surely, the editor-in-chief of Vox is going to make the obvious point that presidents and presidential candidates should know enough about the political process (including the limits on the executive branch) to avoid such a breach of trust.

Klein is a data guy. He must know that the public's faith in government and politics is on a decades-long slide, a dangerous trend due in no small part to the fact that candidates make promises they know they can't keep. In Washington, we call it pandering. In the rest of the country, it's called a lie. Klein yawns.

Now, wait. A Harvard-trained lawyer and constitutional scholar like Obama didn't stumble into the 2008 presidential campaign unaware of the balance of powers, the polarization of politics, the rightward march of the GOP, and other structural limits on the presidency. He made those promises because he thought those goals were neither unreasonable nor unattainable. Either that, or he was lying.

Via: National Journal

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GOP Establishment Reigns; Upstart Dems Shake Up Primaries

They call themselves the Tea Party, but for the loosely associated small-government groups that have upended Republican politics during the last five years, there was no cause for celebration when the results of Tuesday's primaries came in.  

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- who began this election cycle as a slow-moving target for grassroots conservatives -- highlighted the GOP establishment’s biggest round of victories yet during a primary season in which the Tea Party has repeatedly fallen short. 

McConnell’s win was expected, but his 60 percent-35 percent thrashing of challenger Matt Bevin in Kentucky was emblematic of the establishment’s resurgence within the party. 

Suffering anemic approval ratings and having to fend off millions of dollars in attack ads from outside spending groups, McConnell worked relentlessly to portray Bevin -- who created plenty of problems on his own -- in a negative light.  

After coasting to the nomination largely unscathed, McConnell will now build upon the conservative support he brought together in the heavily Republican state as takes on Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes in the general election.  

In the other marquee Republican matchup on Tuesday, establishment fears that a weak candidate would be nominated to run against Democrat Michelle Nunn in the Georgia Senate race proved unfounded.  

In a crowded contest that included a pair of marginal general election prospects, businessman David Perdue and U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston emerged as the top two contenders, who will square off against each other in a July runoff.  

Both men enjoy support from a broad range of Republicans in the state, and each is considered a strong opponent for Nunn, who has enjoyed surprisingly robust early poll numbers in hypothetical general election matchups.  

Via: Real Clear Politics

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This is a perfect example of how the government wastes billions of dollars

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the government decided to build a brand new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security in southeastern Washington, D.C. The idea was that a centralized physical location would help close up the gaps between national security and intelligence agencies that allowed the attack to occur. The project was supposed to cost $3 billion and be completed by this year.

But so far virtually nothing has been built, according to The Washington Post; indeed, there is talk that the project will be canceled altogether. And yet the bill has already ballooned to $4.5 billion. It is a classic case of Washington dysfunction:

Bedeviled by partisan brawling, it has been starved of funds by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress and received only lackluster support from the Obama administration, according to budget documents and interviews with current and former federal officials.

The crippling shortfall in funding has created a vicious cycle, causing delays that in turn inflated the projected price tag as construction costs escalated over time and DHS agencies — still scattered in more than 50 locations across the Washington area — have been signing expensive temporary leases. [The Washington Post]

Via: Washington Post

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Sen. Ted Cruz GRILLS FBI Director on IRS investigation

Sen. Ted Cruz went after FBI Director James Comey, who promised a year ago that the IRS investigation would be a very high priority. Yet today, as Comey sits before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he won’t answer whether a single person has been interviewed or, really, much else about the investigation, hiding behind the fact that it’s an ‘ongoing investigation’.

What I like about this clip is the passion with which Cruz questions the FBI Director.

He also hits back at Leahy, the committee chair, when he’s basically told to accept the witness’ non-answer. Cruz pretty much tells Leahy that he can accept the FBI Director’s answer if he wants, and he understand the non-answer might be good enough for them because many Democrats don’t really care about getting answers in the IRS investigation. Leahy noted that his motives had nothing to do with it, but that the non-answer given by Comey was appropriate. Cruz fired back, to make his point, that when he sought to criminalize the targeting of anyone by the IRS based on their political views, Democrats on that committee voted it down.

Via: The Right Scoop

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Where VA has taken veterans, Obamacare is leading all Americans: Kevin O'Brien

The White House says Americans can't draw any conclusions yet about just how screwed up is the Department of Veterans Affairs medical care system.

Well, yes, Americans can. And if they have any sense — always a debatable proposition — Americans will.

One conclusion we can draw is an old, familiar one: No matter what the issue or activity, bureaucracy's first and strongest instinct is to protect itself in the face of a perceived threat.

Another conclusion is probably just dawning on those Americans with the wit to see it, because so very few of us have had a brush with a medical system of which government is the sole proprietor: Putting a government bureaucracy in charge of one's health is a gamble likely to end badly.

And yet, if Obamacare stands, that is precisely the gamble each and every American eventually will take.

There is no better predictor of the course of a single-payer medical system in the United States than the VA system, because it is a single-payer system.

If an enrolled patient needs something done, he or she applies to the government-run system for approval; waits until the government-run system is ready to act; accepts the government-run system's solution or, if dissatisfied, appeals to that same government-run system for relief. Because the bureaucracy pays the bill, the bureaucracy makes the decisions — when or if treatment will be given, and whether or not the patient has been well enough served.

Via: Cleveland.com

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