Obama Concedes Massive Problems With Obamacare Rollout; Republicans Denounce 'Fiasco'

President Barack Obama on Monday said there was "no excuse" for the cascade of computer problems that have marred the rollout of key elements in his healthcare law, but declared he was confident the administration would be able to fix the issues. 

"There's no sugarcoating it," Obama said. "Nobody is more frustrated than I am."
The president said his administration was doing "everything we can possibly do" to get the federally run websites up and running. And he guaranteed that everyone who wants to get insurance through the new healthcare exchanges will be able to.

Editor's Note : Video Exposes Dangers of Obamacare Law

Obama's event in the White House Rose Garden had the feeling of a healthcare pep rally, with guests applauding as Obama ticked through what the White House sees as benefits of the law. The president was introduced by a woman who had successfully managed to sign up for health insurance through the marketplaces in her home state of Delaware.

The president insisted that his healthcare law is about more than just a website.
"The essence of the law, the health insurance that's available to people, is working just fine," he said.
The White House says more than 19 million people have visited HealthCare.gov since the site went live on Oct. 1. Officials also say a half million people have applied for insurance on the federal- and state-run websites.

Administration officials initially blamed a high volume of interest for the frozen screens that many people encountered when they first logged on to the website. Since then, they have also acknowledged issues with software and some elements of the system's design.

In a memo released Sunday, the administration said it was also putting in place "tools and processes to aggressively monitor and identify parts of HealthCare.gov where individuals are encountering errors or having difficulty using the site, so we can prioritize and fix them."

Via: Newsmax

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Obamacare Raising Premiums, Hurting Middle, Lower Class

Andrew Herndon knew it was coming.

Herndon, a Charlotte, N.C. resident who has a health and life insurance license but works in sales, fully expected that his health insurance premiums would rise after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The only question was by how much.

He recently learned in a letter that monthly premiums for his individual market plan, which also covers his wife and two kids, will increase to $810 next year, a $547 or 280 percent increase from his current plan, after the ACA’s health insurance exchanges begin offering coverage.

“I can’t pay $800 a month for insurance,” he said in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon.

“Basically the government is making me choose between paying for my mortgage and buying food and paying for insurance,” he said. “[My wife and I] are both in our 50’s. We have two children. We’re not going to have more children. We don’t need maternity. We don’t see the doctor that much. We don’t use medication.”

“There’s no way we can pay that and live.”

Herndon is not the only American facing higher premiums because of the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare. Premiums for plans in the exchanges will climb in 45 states compared to plans offered in the individual market before Obamacare’s implementation, according to a study released Wednesday by the Heritage Foundation. States like Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, and Vermont will see triple-digit percentage increases.

Via: WFB

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POLL: Majority believe healthcare website problems indicate broader issue with law

Most Americans say the rocky start for HealthCare.gov is a harbinger of bigger problems for the Affordable Care Act, according to results of a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York in this October 2, 2013 photo illustration. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Fifty-six percent of Americans say the website problems are part of a broader problem with the law’s implementation while just 40 percent see the website problems as an isolated incident. Reaction to federal insurance exchange website are deeply rooted in partisanship. More than eight in 10 Republicans say website troubles are a sign of broader implementation problems, while most Democrats call it an isolated incident. Independents resemble the public overall, with 55 percent seeing broader problems with implementation.

President Obama is clearly aware of that conflation and the dangers it presents for the law. “We did not wage this long and contentious battle just around a website,” he said at a speech Monday at the White House.

Via: Washington Post

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[VIDEO] DOCTORS SUCCESSFULLY OPERATE 25-WEEK UNBORN BABY'S HEART

Doctors at CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles performed heart surgery on a 25-week old unborn baby to open up a narrow aortic valve.

The Los Angeles Times reported that after practicing with a model of jello and a grape – with the grape standing in for the tiny heart and the jello representing the surrounding body – the doctors performed the procedure on September 25th using a wire the width of a hair, a balloon a few millimeters wide, and a needle measuring 11 centimeters exactly.

The procedure, known as fetal aortic valvuloplasty, was the first ever performed in Southern California.

The ultrasound video below shows a portion of the surgery in which the surgeon is manipulating a needle through the baby’s heart, and stopping when it is directed toward the narrow aortic valve.

Fetal cardiologist Dr. Jay Pruetz of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles diagnosed the unborn baby as having severe aortic stenosis, a condition in which the aortic valve is very tight. Blood had been backing up in the left ventricle of the baby’s heart, keeping it from pumping normally.

Without surgery, the left ventricle would not develop properly, and the baby would most likely be born with a life-threatening condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

Via: Breitbart

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'No se puede' ObamaCare website but 'Si se puede' spying on the Mexican president

Thank God that something works in Washington.  We can't do a website site for ObamaCare but we can get in the Mexican president's system and read his emails.

This is from Spiegel & news reports:

"The National Security Agency (NSA) has a division for particularly difficult missions. Called "Tailored Access Operations" (TAO), this department devises special methods for special targets. That category includes surveillance of neighboring Mexico, and in May 2010, the division reported its mission accomplished. A report classified as "top secret" said: "TAO successfully exploited a key mail server in the Mexican Presidencia domain within the Mexican Presidential network to gain first-ever access to President Felipe Calderon's public email account."

According to the NSA, this email domain was also used by cabinet members, and contained "diplomatic, economic and leadership communications which continue to provide insight into Mexico's political system and internal stability."

The president's office, the NSA reported, was now "a lucrative source."

This operation, dubbed "Flatliquid," is described in a document leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, which SPIEGEL has now had the opportunity to analyze. The case is likely to cause further strain on relations between Mexico and the United States, which have been tense since Brazilian television network TV Globo revealed in September that the NSA monitored then-presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto and others around him in the summer of 2012. Peña Nieto, now Mexico's president, summoned the US ambassador in the wake of that news, but confined his reaction to demanding an investigation into the matter."

Via: American Thinker

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The message was delivered, but was it received?

New order of the ages: New order is not one inspired by God, but by the angel of darkness

Following the vote to suspend the debt ceiling last Wednesday night, 48 year-old Dianne Reidy, a floor stenographer for the U.S. House of Representatives for the last 8 years, surprised everyone when she briefly but unexpectedly took over the microphone on the House floor at about 10:00 pm.

C-Span footage shows her calmly walking to the dais where she began making statements about God, the founding of the United States, our Constitution, and the influence that Freemasonry played in the founding of our country. She warned House members that they could not serve two masters and that God will not be mocked. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Reidy was whisked from the dais and ultimately taken to George Washington University Hospital for “mental evaluation.” She was released after about two hours of evaluation.

The media, including nearly all conservative and even Christian reporters, columnists and pundits who even bothered to cover the story, portrayed Diane Reidy as someone who suffered a humiliating and very public mental breakdown. They used patronizing language and empathetic inflection usually reserved for the most fragile mental patients, attributing her actions to long hours and stress. They have not only dismissed the actions of Diane Reidy, but dismissed her message as well, even as they continue to decry the state of our nation.

Obviously they did not pay attention to her message, nor did they listen to the interview of her husband by Rick Wiles of TruNews the next day. Mr. Reidy revealed critical details about events that led to her actions on the House floor, providing important context not just to her actions, but to the content of her message.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Dem Rep Calls Tea Party Republicans ‘Domestic Enemies’

Tennessee Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen called tea party congressional Republicans “domestic enemies” against which he must defend the country, describing them as rabid, sophomoric and in ambitious pursuit of their policies.

“I obviously do not have an opportunity to go within the conference, the Republican — we call it a caucus, they call it a conference,” Cohen said on Saturday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Up with Steve Kornacki.” “But I know some of the members there — and a lot of those members — they’re rabid, they’re sophomoric, literally, they’re second term in Congress, never worked in politics before, and they think they are somehow like — it’s all talked in military terms. They think they’re some kind of guerrillas there to strike a blow for freedom.”

Via: Fox News

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Food stamp benefits going down before the holidays

Millions of American families could face a sparse holiday table when food stamps benefits get reduced in November, and that could be just the start of deeper cuts to the program to feed poor families.

The modern-day food stamp plan, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is scheduled to scale back benefits for all recipients on Nov. 1 because a recession-era boost in benefits is expiring.

The cut comes as lawmakers also are considering billions of dollars of reductions to the overall SNAP program, which has grown substantially in recent years amid the weak economy and high unemployment.

The program is now serving more than 23 million households, or nearly 48 million people, according to the most recent government data through June. The USDA says the average monthly benefit is about $275 per household.

The exact reduction depends on the recipients’ situation, but a family of four with no other changes in circumstances will receive $36 less per month, according to the USDA. At today's average prices, that translates to four fewer whole chickens each month.

Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that can be a major hit for a family that is already struggling with such low wages that they can’t afford food on their own.

Via: NBC News

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Under Boehner: Debt Up $3T In Under 3 Yrs--Enough to Buy Every Household 3 Yrs Tuition at State College

(CNSNews.com) - Since John Boehner became speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 5, 2011, the debt of the federal government has increased by $3,064,063,380,067.72. That is more than the total federal debt accumulated in the first 200 years of the U.S. Congress--during the terms of the first 48 speakers of the House.

It also equals about $26,722 for each of the 114,663,000 households the Census Bureau estimates are now in the United States.

The $26,722 in new debt per household accumulated under Speaker Boehner would have been more than enough to buy every household in the United States a minivan or pickup truck--or to pay three years of in-state tuition (not counting room and board) at the typical state college.

The Republicans won a majority of the House in the November 2010 elections. On Jan. 5, 2011, the new Republican majority elected Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as speaker. At the close of business that day, the federal government's debt was $14,011,526,727,895.85, according to the U.S. Treasury.

On Oct. 17, 2013, the most recent day reported by the Treasury, the federal debt was $17,075,590,107,963.57. That means that since Boehner became speaker, the federal debt has increased $3,064,063,380,067.72.

Via: CNS News

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At President’s Urging, People Call Exchange Hotline But Can’t Get Through - Update - Lines are down

President Obama emerged on Monday to assure Americans that the “kinks” surrounding the federal and state health-care exchanges are improving and urged consumers to call the exchange hotline if they continue to encounter problems online. Shortly after he made the suggestion, Twitter lit up with reporters and others who attempted to do so but failed to get through to a navigator as promised. After dialing the number, some callers got a busy signal, others received an automated message, and yet others were referred back to Healthcare.gov.

In his speech, President Obama said that there was “no excuse” for the problems plaguing the website and assured Americans, “These problems are getting fixed.” He also said that the issues with the online exchanges do not reflect flaws in the legislation itself, which he said offers a high-quality product.

Via: NRO

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California Media at a New Low

If you were a resident in the state with the nation’s highest poverty rate, wouldn’t you think you’d be aware of that fact? That a higher percentage of your family, friends, neighbors and others in your community struggled to make ends meet than the same folks in any of the other 49 states?

Of course. But here in California, where the incompetence of the media can scarcely be exaggerated, almost nobody is aware that the Golden State is no. 1 in economic misery.

This malpractice is nothing new. On the debate over whether California should encourage hydraulic fracturing of its massive oil reserves, the state media never note that the Obama administration considers fracking safe. On the debate over education policy, the state media never note that Gov. Brown’s prescription for education reform — local control — is the same flawed, status-quo-reinforcing policy choice that led to the two big education reform moments of the past 30 years. On AB 32, the state’s landmark 2006 climate-change law, the Los Angeles Times waited until March 2012 to note that it was a risk to California’s economic competitiveness to force its energy costs to be higher than rival states and nations. On this front, the L.A. Times trailed the New York Times by years.

So on the economy, why would the fact that California has the highest effective poverty rate in the nation be mentioned? If key details are routinely ignored on other big stories, why change the template on poverty and human misery?

The governor thinks he’s the bomb. Why won’t media push back?

Which brings me to my Sunday U-T San Diego editorial.

“… what one would never guess from his press clippings is that Brown presides over the state with by far the nation’s highest poverty rate. According to a 2012 Census report, once the cost of living is factored in, nearly one in four state residents — 23.5 percent — live below the poverty line. And according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measure that includes those who have given up looking for work, California has the second worst unemployment rate in the nation. More than one in six Californians who want to work full-time — 18.3 percent — can’t find such jobs.

Via: California Political Review

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Obama's Job Approval Declines for 3rd Straight Quarter to Near-Record Low

(CNSNews.com) - President Obama's approval rating has taken another hit, dropping for the third quarter in a row, this time to 44.5 percent between July 20-Oct. 19, Gallup reported on Monday.

That's a three point decline from the previous quarter, and it is the third largest quarter-to-quarter decline of his five-year (19-quarter) presidency.

Obama's highest approval rating (63 percent) came during his first quarter as president, and by the fifth quarter, it had dropped to 48.8 percent. Obama's lowest quarterly approval rating, 41 percent, came in the 11th quarter (third year) of his presidency.

Looking at the most recent quarter, Gallup says Obama's daily job approval rating dropped in August and September amid criticism over his call for military action in Syria and Russia's intervention to prevent it. The partial government shutdown that began on Oct. 1 and Obama's refusal to negotiate over that and the debt limit sent his job approval rating as low as 41 percent in the current quarter, before it rebounded slightly.

Gallup notes that three post-World War II presidents -- Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, and Bill Clinton -- had significantly higher 19th quarter averages than Obama, all near 60 percent. Two presidents had lower 19th quarter averages than Obama: Richard Nixon, whose 19th quarter came during the Watergate investigations, and Lyndon Johnson, attributable mostly to the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War - See more at: 

Via: CNS News

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