Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Boehner Seeks to Force Senate Health Care Vote in Budget Debate

House Republican leaders said they will try to force the Democratic-led Senate to vote on defunding President Barack Obama’s health-care law before the House will agree to enact a stopgap government-funding measure.

“Our goal here is not to shut down the government,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters in Washington today. “Our goal is to cut spending and to stop Obamacare.”

Boehner said he wants to send a bill eliminating funds for the health-care law to the Senate and “force them to actually have a vote on getting rid of Obamacare.”

The move hasn’t yet received the backing of rank-and-file House Republicans, many of whom want to see a binding measure to eliminate funding for the Affordable Care Act. The House plan would allow a short-term spending measure to be enacted even if the Senate voted not to strip health-care funding.

Congressional leaders of both parties plan to meet Sept. 12 to discuss government funding and the U.S. debt ceiling, House members of both parties said following morning caucuses. Congress must enact a spending measure to keep the government operating beyond the end of September. The U.S. is projected to reach its debt limit in mid-October
.
Representative Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said party leaders today will be assessing members’ support of the plan to pair the health-care and spending-bill votes. Rogers, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said he supports the strategy because it satisfies members’ needs for up-or-down votes on health care and a spending bill.

‘We’ll See’

Asked whether it would have enough support to pass, Rogers said, “we’ll see.”

Via: Newsmax


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Intelligence insider speaks on the record about false flags & government lies

Our nation and all of humanity stands at a critical crossroads in history, with Syria as the epicenter of a looming global conflict that will leave no one untouched. Despite a nearly unanimous consensus of the American people against military action in Syria, elements of our government are determined to override the will of the people and push us headlong into war in Syria, which will lead to a much greater conflagration than most are willing to believe or imagine.

As I have extensively written over the last 12 months, we are being pushed into World War III. This war, like others in the past, is based on lies and “false flag” operations, some of which have occurred, some thwarted, and others that loom just over the horizon.

Regular readers of my columns and listeners to my talk show know that the information I’ve provided about Syria and Benghazi has not only been proven accurate, but provided months in advance of the reports by the corporate media and even most conservative talk show hosts. I mention this not for self-aggrandizement, but to validate the credibility and authenticity of my “intelligence insider” who has provided me with this information. He has been extremely accurate on every aspect of what is taking place behind the veil of lies packaged for Western consumption. For the first time ever, this insider has agreed to speak on the record in an exclusive 90-minute interview about what is really taking place behind the curtain of lies and deception.

Despite the risks, he has agreed to lend his voice to the growing opposition to the madness we see taking place at the highest levels of our government, and tell us exactly what appears to be playing out in real-time. The Western-backed uprising in Syria has claimed the lives of around 150,000 men, women and children, and displaced some five million people. If permitted to continue, some estimate the deaths of four million people in Syria alone, with death spread on a wholesale level across the globe. And it’s being done in your name.


The Mythical Public-Sector Collapse

At The Atlantic, there is a story discussing private- and public-sector job-creation under Obama relative to the other presidents since Reagan.  The Atlantic's coverage of this topic illustrates once again the need to normalize data when making comparisons.
Over at this other publication, the equivalent of the figure on the left shown below is provided -- which illustrates absolute cumulative private sector job creation since taking office for Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama.
Looking at the data this way suggests that Obama's administration has seen net private-sector job-creation on the order of 3.25 million jobs.  It also suggests that Obama's job-creation record is in the ballpark (i.e., about half) of Reagan's at the same point in their respective terms.
But this fails to account for population growth.  When we normalize the data to population, we get the plot above on the right.  Obama is still well into the job-creation hole, and not even close to where the Reagan recovery was at this point in time.  When Reagan took office, there were 326,000 private-sector jobs per million population.  At this point in his term, that had already increased to 340,000, heading up to 363,000 by the time he left office.

Via: American Thinker


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Obama is a laughing stock: Column

AP_APTOPIX_RUSSIA_G20_SUMMIT_OBAMA_58204066Remember that dumb cowboy George W. Bush, who alienated all our allies and dragged us into wars of choice in the Mideast? And remember that goofball Mitt Romney, whom Joe Biden a year ago accusedof wanting to go to war in Syria?
Both of them must be having a big laugh over the way things are going for Obama now. When I wrote last week on our bumbling Syria diplomacy, it seemed that things couldn't possibly go further downhill. Boy, was I wrong.
Last week, it seemed our only ally was France. But now the French are having second thoughts. Obama's efforts to get support at the G20 conference came to nothing. Even the pope is undercutting him.
Meanwhile, at home, polls show Americans are against a strike, and Obama is facing double-digit defections among Democrats in the Senate. The outlook for passage in the House, meanwhile, looks so bad that a resolution to authorize war may not even make it to a vote. If it's sure to fail, why force members -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- to go on record? You can bet they don't appreciate Obama putting them in this position.The Pentagon isn't happy, and even The Atlantic'Ta-Nehisi Coates, a reliable Obama supporter, calls his policy "dumb."
Some critics are even comparing the collapse of American influence under Obama to the end of the Soviet Union. Well, that may be an exaggeration -- but Obama promised a "fundamental transformation," after all..

[CARTOON] Congressional Recess Coming to an End

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Via: California Political Review

Laura Ingraham: Obama’s ‘Community Organizer’ Foreign Policy ‘Looks Ridiculous’

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham expressed skepticism about the so-called Russian solution to the crisis in Syria. She said that she was not certain that the offer to monitor the surrendering of Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons into international custody will resolve the crisis. Furthermore, Ingraham said, President Barack Obama, given his background as a “community organizer,” appears incapable of managing America’s affairs abroad. 
“The bottom line is the president has an escape hatch, right?” Gretchen Carlson asked.
“We’ll see,” Ingraham replied. She said that Sec. John Kerry “stumbled” into allowing the Russians to embarrass Washington and boost their own stature by making it appear as though Kerry’s off-the-cuff hypothetical was a real policy proposal that Moscow could facilitate.
Brian Kilmeade noted that even the State Department attempted to walk back Kerry’s accidental policy proposal before it was embraced as a path to peace by the White House.
“This is an example of what happens when a community organizer, who is used to doing the razzle-dazzle with Oprah and all of his celebrities, thinks by just through the sheer force of personality and magnetism he can somehow change the chess pieces on the board,” Ingraham later said.
“When you’re dealing with someone like Russia — it’s a great world power, even with all of the struggles — or China, this is not something that you can just stumble into,” she insisted. “This is something that has to be incredibly well thought out and from the beginning. It was not.”
Ingraham insisted that she did not think the Russian solution would save Obama from a political defeat, and that he “looks ridiculous” pursuing it.
Watch the clip below via Fox News Channel:

[VIDEO] Warning: Obamacare May Be Hazardous to Your Health

We’ve talked a lot about Obamacare’s costs—how it will hurt the economy, kill jobs, and cost you and your family more when you pay for health care.
But there’s an even more important cost: your health.
Obamacare will affect the quality of care in this country. It will limit the choices we have in doctors, hospitals, and treatments. People are already learning that their trusted doctors aren’t going to be available to them in the new insurance plans Obamacare is forcing them into.
And disrupting your relationship with your doctor is not how health care reform should be.
The Heritage Foundation, our experts, and our 600,000+ members believe so strongly that Obamacare is bad for your health that we’re putting this message front and center in Times Square.

Putin Didn't Save Obama, He Beat Him

Vladimir Putin, RussiaWith the Russian proposal on Syrian chemical weapons, the United States is being escorted out of the Middle East.

Maybe Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin really did discuss the idea of putting Syrian chemical weapons under international control last week on the sidelines of the G20 conference. Putin sure doesn’t care that Obama’s taking credit for the proposal, or that the administration is posturing like a Mob enforcer.  “The only reason why we are seeing this proposal,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney, “is because of the U.S. threat of military action.”
Right, Putin is laughing to himself. Whatever. If Obama wants to sell it like a Christmas miracle on Pennsylvania Avenue that’s fine with Putin, because Putin won.
Reset with Russia was originally a strategic priority for the Obama administration because it saw Moscow as the key to getting Iran to come to the negotiating table. Putin, from the White House’s perspective, was destined for the role of junior partner. Now Putin has turned “Reset” upside down. By helping Obama out of a jam with Syria, Putin has made himself the senior partner to whom the White House is now beholden. Accordingly, when Putin proposes the same sort of deal with Iran, with Russia having established its bona fides as an interlocutor for Syria, Obama is almost certain to jump at it.
What’s unclear is whether Obama understands that his foreign policy legacy will be to have ruined the American position in the Middle East, our patrimony of the last seven decades. If the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran signaled weakness, the Russian deal screams surrender. The real surprise is that it’s not Iran kicking the United States out of the region under Obama’s watch, but Putin.

How the Obama administration commemorates the anniversaries of 9/11 and Benghazi terrorist attack

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has zero respect for the four courageous Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who lost their lives in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, one year ago tomorrow.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be the one to honor former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with this year’s Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center, today, on the eve of the first anniversary of the Benghazi terrorist attack.

What’s with the Philadelphia-based National Constitution Center allowing the Liberty Medal to be awarded to Clinton on the very eve of the day before she allowed Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty and Sean Smith to die with no help from the administration she was serving?

Where is the National Constitution Center’s on-the-books protocol?

It seems that everything that comes from the Obama administration has an added sting to human dignity.

The day after Hillary Clinton shamefully accepts the Liberty Medal from sycophant Jeb Bush, this is what the Obama administration has lined up for tomorrow, the 12th anniversary of 9/11:
Susan Rice will be in front of TV cameras reading CIA talking points on Syria.

“About a year ago, the White House put Susan Rice, then the ambassador to the United Nations, on TV to read CIA talking points that turned out to be false about the attack in Benghazi, Libya. The b
acklash poisoned her relationship with Republicans in Congress and dashed her chances of becoming secretary of state. President Obama instead named her national security adviser, which didn’t require Senate confirmation,” Dana Milbank at the Washington Post writes today.



Congressmen, Veterans Criticize VA for Mismanagement


APExecutives in charge 
during deadly bacteria 
outbreaks 
received bonuses
William Nicklas entered the Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs hospital due to nausea on Nov. 1. He was a former Navy sailor, and he thought that he would receive the best possible care at the VA hospital. William died less than a month later from a Legionnaires’ infection contracted at the hospital—an outbreak that had already claimed four lives.
Two regional VA executives received hefty bonuses in the middle of the outbreak. Earlier this year, one of those executives received the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for his work, which came with a 35 percent bonus.
The Nicklas family told this story at a House Veterans Affairs hearing Monday morning in Pittsburgh. The committee convened the field hearing to examine management and safety failures in multiple VA facilities, including the Pittsburgh hospital and parallel executive bonuses for those overseeing the failures.
“A rash of preventable veteran deaths, suicides, and infectious disease outbreaks at several [Veterans Health Administration] facilities throughout the country has put the organization under intense scrutiny,” said Rep. Jeff Miller (R., Fla.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, in prepared remarks obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
“Despite the fact that multiple VA Inspector General reports have linked a number of these incidents to widespread mismanagement at VHA facilities, the department has consistently given executives who presided over these events glowing performance reviews and cash bonuses of up to sixty-three thousand dollars,” Miller continued.
The Nicklas family testified that maintenance, communication, and management failures led to William contracting Legionnaires’ infection. VA administrators were aware of previous infections, but they did not take the steps to correct the problems, the family said.

AFL-CIO nearing formal criticism of ObamaCare

LOS ANGELES — Unions, after a contentious and difficult process, are on the cusp of issuing formal criticism of ObamaCare at the AFL-CIO convention.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council is expected to consider a resolution, subject to fierce internal debate, that will call for changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — setting up a potential floor vote this Wednesday before the convention closes. Frustration has grown within labor as the Obama administration has failed to offer a fix to temper union worries over the law.

A copy of the draft resolution, obtained by The Hill, praises aspects of ObamaCare and states that the AFL-CIO supports the law’s goal of providing healthcare coverage for all. But the four-page document lays out a laundry list of complaints against ObamaCare — at times taking aim at the administration.

The draft resolution says that “federal agencies administering the ACA” are “threatening the ability of workers to keep health care coverage through some collectively bargained, non-profit health care funds” under their interpretation of the law.

In addition, the resolution claims “some workers might not be able to keep their coverage,” and the law will be “highly disruptive” to union members’ health plans, known as multi-employer or Taft-Hartley plans. ObamaCare “will effectively use taxpayer dollars to subsidize employers that refuse to take responsibility for providing their employees health care” while taxing nonprofit plans to benefit insurance companies.

Via: The Hill


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LEFTIST POLICIES ALIENATE BIG LABOR FROM OBAMA AND MEAN LESS PROSPERITY FOR ALL

Obama laughingBig labor unions that supported Obamacare are learning the meaning of “you reap what you sow” the hard way.  Teamsters, UNITE-HERE, and the United Food and Commercial Workers are among many unions that worked for the passage of Obamacare.  But now relations between Big Labor and President Obama have soured – and that’s putting it lightly.
Why are union members so angry?
Obamacare!  Obamacare is a threat to union members’ jobs, and it is already endangering generous health care plans that unions have negotiated for their members.  Obamacare means higher taxes, onerous regulations, oppressive mandates, and higher health care costs for unions.  Consequently, it also means fewer full-time jobs and less hours of work.
But Obamacare isn’t the only leftist policy infuriating unions. 
The Washington Free Beacon (WFB) reports that labor groups are also angry about the “administration’s aggressive Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations.”
Indeed, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) found that America has lost between 13,000 and 17,000 coal jobs due to EPA regulations.  Pennsylvania lost and estimated 3,000 coal-related jobs in Obama’s first term.

iPhone 5C? Everything we know about Apple's big announcement

It's almost time for Apple's latest, highly anticipated media event, where the tech company is expected to reveal a new batch of iPhones, new iPads -- and hopefully a few surprises as well. Ahead of the 1PM EST conference, we round up the rampant rumors circling the web to show what to expect.
  • 1C is for color

    Martin Hajek/www.martinhajek.com
    Last week, Apple sent invitations to an event on Tues., Sept. 10 -- all but announcing new products. Along with the email, the tech giant teased recipients with a colorful message reading "This should brighten everyone's day."
    The mysterious message only further fueled rumors that Apple will be releasing a new set of brightly colored phones to be added to the iPhone family (seen here in conceptual renderings from Apple fan Martin Hajek). The iPhone 5C, as the product is rumored to be called, will likely come in a rainbow of options, according to multiple leaks.
    3D artist, Martin Hajek created several renderings of what he thinks the new shades will look like.
    The update is expected to only be superficial; don't expect much of a software upgrade for the iPhone.

PALIN: 'BOMB OBAMACARE'

Former Alaska Governor and Tea Party darling Sarah Palin had a simple message on the eve of President Barack Obama's address to the nation on Syria and the "Exempt America" rally: "Bomb Obamacare."

Palin tweeted the call to action the night before Tea Party Patriots and ForAmerica's blockbuster rally on Capitol Hill for defunding Obamacare, which Breitbart News will broadcast from 10AM EDT to 5PM EDT on Breitbart.com Tuesday. 
Palin linked to a SarahPAC video that shows footage of Obama calling her a liar for claiming Obamacare had "death panels." Palin galvanized the Tea Party against the Affordable Care Act, leading up to the historic 2010 midterm elections which saw Democrats lose the House of Representatives. 
The video shows liberal anchors like Ed Schultz and Keith Olbermann mocking her and others citing Politifact, which claimed Palin's "death panels" talking point was the "lie of the year" in 2009.

New book takes you behind the scenes of the constitutional challenge to Obamacare

The opportunity to stop Obamacare has largely passed, argues Josh Blackman, author of the new book, ”Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare.”
“Despite efforts to defund or stop Obamacare now, the time to stop this law was in 2008. Or 2010. Or 2012,” Blackman told The Daily Caller in an interview about his new tome, which tells the inside story of the legal challenge to overturn President Obama’s health-care law.
“There were three elections that could have stopped the law. If the Republicans had one more vote in the Senate in 2009, they could have filibustered the law, and stopped it dead in its tracks. If the GOP had taken over the Senate and the House in 2010, they could have delayed, or perhaps halted implementation of the parts until after the 2012 election. Had Mitt Romney won the presidency in 2012, he could have signed into law a repeal of Obamacare, before it was implemented. But none of those things happened. In the end of this unprecedented journey, Obamacare survived, and we hurtle towards its implementation in the coming months.
Nonetheless, Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law whose friends and colleagues were instrumental actors in the legal fight to overturn Obamacare, says several legal challenges to the law are still on-going.
“There are a few legal challenges remaining against Obamacare,” he said.
“One suit alleges that Obamacare does not permit the federal government to pay out subsidies to people enrolled in the health-care exchanges in states that did not opt into the Medicaid expansion. If this suit is successful, it would halt the Obamacare exchanges in states that are not participating in the expansion. Another suit alleges that because the individual mandate was a tax (as rewritten by the Chief Justice), and because the Constitution requires that all taxes originate in the House, and Obamacare began in the Senate, the law is unconstitutional. If this suit is successful, the mandate would be unconstitutional. Though, a federal judge has already dismissed this suit and it is being appealed.”
Even though the Supreme Court did not overturn President Obama’s health-care law in its 2011 decision, Blackman says determining who actually won the legal battle remains “complicated.”
“It’s complicated on a few levels,” Blackman explained.
Via: The Daily Caller

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Flailing Obama slumps to lowest ratings of his presidency, as US voters see him as ‘a weak and indecisive leader’

On Tuesday night President Obama will deliver one of the most important political addresses of his presidency, trying to convince a war-weary American public to support his call for military intervention in Syria. Having casually drawn a red line in the sand on the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, Obama’s own credibility – not that of the United States – is on the line. But he faces an uphill struggle to win over public opinion, and is almost certainly heading for a heavy defeat on Capitol Hill, where opposition is mounting among Members of Congress.
The scale of the challenge for Mr. Obama is encapsulated in a new poll released by Fox News (conducted by both Democratic and Republican pollsters), which shows the president’s approval rating falling to 40 percent, the lowest level of support in his presidency (on par with December 2010). Obama’s disapproval stands at 54 percent, the highest negative rating he has received since taking office.
There is no doubt that Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis, and his handling of foreign policy in general, is helping drive the president’s unpopularity. According to the Fox poll, 68 percent of likely voters believe the US “should not be more involved in Syria,” with just 26 percent in favour of greater involvement. Only 36 percent agree that “President Obama (has) adequately explained for you the reasons US military action against Syria is necessary,” and just 27 percent “believe President Obama has clearly identified what the US goals and objectives would be in taking military action against Syria.” 55 percent of those surveyed disagree with the assertion that “the reasons for taking military action in Syria are stronger than they are in Iraq,” and 74 percent believe military action against Syria “is more likely to provoke additional violence in the Middle East.” Overall, 60 percent of voters disapprove of Obama’s handling of the Syria issue, compared to just 29 percent who back him.

Obamacare Regulations Are 8 Times Longer Than Bible

Obamacare Regulations Are Eight Times as Long as Bible(CNSNews.com) – Since March 2010, when President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and its companion Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA), the administration has published in the Federal Register 109 final regulations governing how Obamacare will be implemented.
These regulations add up to 10,516 pages in the Federal Register—or more than eight times as many pages as there are in the Gutenberg Bible, which has 642 two-sided leaves or 1,286 pages.
Using the regulations.gov website and the Federal Register itself, CNSNews.com found 109 distinct regulations for the implementation of PPACA and the health-care related provisions of HCERA that had been finalized by various federal agencies and published in the Federal Register as of Sept. 9, 2013

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