The Outrage Arrives

You can't keep your insurance because Democrats don't want you to control your own health-care spending.

The White House has issued a clarification. When the president said if you like your insurance plan you can keep it, what he meant was you can keep it if he likes it.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans who are getting policy cancellation notices this month can't be as surprised as they pretend to be. President Obama made it clear at his 2010 health care summit what he thought of their taste in insurance.

"It's the equivalent of Acme Insurance that I had for my car. . . . It's basically not health insurance," he explained. "It's house insurance. . . .

"I'm buying that to protect me from some catastrophic situation; otherwise, I'm just paying out of pocket. I don't go to the doctor. I don't get preventive care. There are a whole bunch of things I just do without. But if I get hit by a truck, maybe I don't go bankrupt."

Notice his disdain for those who buy high-deductible policies to protect themselves only from unexpected and unmanageable health-care costs. They are too cheap or too dumb to reach into their own pockets for necessary care that isn't covered by their policy or triggers the deductible.

These customers might like their plan. Their plan might even be the best cure, as many experts believe, for what ails our health-care system, namely too much incentive for Americans to over consume health care. But Mr. Obama doesn't like their plans so they can't keep them.

Democrats at least are consistent. Back in 1993, during the fight over HillaryCare, Mrs. Clinton explained Democratic reasoning to then-House GOP Leader Denny Hastert. If Americans are allowed too much discretion over how they spend their health-care dollars, Mrs. Clinton said, "We just think people will be too focused on saving money and they won't get the care for their children and themselves that they need . . .

"The money has to go to the federal government because the federal government will spend that money better."

Via: WSJ

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RED SOX WIN WORLD SERIES 4 GAMES TO 2.

The Red Sox magical season ended with a 6 -1 win in game six of the World Series.  The Red Sox have now won three world series in 9 years, but this is the first they have won at Fenway Park since 1918.

[VIDEO] Leno Tougher on How President 'Lied' About ObamaCare Than NBC Reporters

On Tuesday's NBC Tonight Show, host Jay Leno provided harsher criticism of President Obama falsely claiming that Americans could keep their current health insurance plans under ObamaCare than any of the network's reporters. Leno told the audience: "Well, it's being reported that the President has known for three years that people would lose their coverage. The press is now saying the President lied." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Leno setup a mock defense of Obama: "But today the White House said that's not true. He did not lie. And they released this tape from three years ago to prove it. Here's what he said three years ago." A comically dubbed-over sound bite followed of Obama saying people "cannot" keep their doctors and health insurance.

Today co-host Savannah Guthrie appeared later on the show, but neither her nor Leno made any mention of the disastrous ObamaCare rollout.

NBC's only direct mention of the administration knowing that millions would be kicked off their existing health care plans came during a report on Monday's NBC Nightly News when White House correspondent Peter Alexander provided a mere twenty-one seconds to the network's own scoop.

Tuesday's Today ignored the story, but senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers – who broke the news – did appear on that evening's Nightly News to discuss the fallout from her reporting. However, she never actually repeated the headline, the charge that the White House knew the President's claims about ObamaCare were untrue.
Myers began the segment by explaining: "So far almost 2 million of the 14 million Americans who buy individual coverage have gotten letters that their policy is cancelled or has to change because of the law. Still, the white house insists the President did not mislead Americans when he promised everyone could keep their insurance."

She then highlighted one of those casualties of the new law: "That doesn't sit well with George Schwab who is retired, started a new business, and been told because of the new health care law his current policy is no longer available because it doesn't meet minimum standards. His new policy comes with a premium increase of more than 400%."

Via: Newsbusters

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Take Note: Complete List Of The 87 Republican Congressmen And 27 Republican Senators Who Voted To Fund ObamaCare

(CNSNews.com) - Eighty-seven Republicans in the House and 27 in the Senate joined with President Barack Obama on Wednesday evening to enact a continuing resolution that funds the government, including the implementation of Obamacare.

No congressional Democrats voted against the CR.

The vote in the House was 285-144, with the 285 in the majority including 87 Republicans and 198 Democrats. All 144 opponents were Republicans. One Republican and two Democrats did not vote on the measure.

In the Senate, the final vote was 81-18. The 81 senators who voted for the CR included all 54 Democrats and 27 Republicans. All 18 opponents were Republicans. Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma did not vote.

In the House, the majority of Republicans voted against their own party leadership. House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R.-Va.), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R.-Calif.) and Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R.-Wash.) all joined with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) and 197 other House Democrats to vote for the CR that funded Obamacare. Two House Democrats and one House Republican did not vote on the measure.

House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan voted with the majority of House Republicans in opposition to the CR that funds Obamacare.

In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a key architect of the CR that funds Obamacare, led the 27 Republicans who joined with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in voting for it.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, also voted for the CR that funds Obamacare.

Via: Pat Dollard

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The EPA Coal Tour

A “listening tour” that is bypassing coal-producing and -consuming areas.

This week bureaucrats from the Environmental Protection Administration have embarked on a “Listening Tour” of eleven cities to solicit feedback on their on-going campaign to shut down the nation’s coal industry.

The cities they will be visiting over the next two weeks are: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, Lenexa, KS, Dallas, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. Do you notice anything unusual about those cities? They are all outside the nation’s coal consuming and producing regions. Only two cities — Denver and Lenexa — get more than half their electricity from coal and most don’t have a coal plant within 50 miles. The entire West Coast consumes less than 1 percent of the nation’s coal as opposed to 35 percent consumed in the Industrial Belt stretching from Detroit to Birmingham, represented here only by one city, Chicago.

What the EPA is “listening” for, of course, is adulation from urban elites who don’t know anything about energy but are happy to hear about how the federal bureaucrats are dealing with the world-threatening catastrophe of global warming. Here’s how the cities on the list get their electricity:

• Boston. Coal accounts for only 3 percent of Massachusetts’ electricity, 6 percent of New England’s. The Brayton Point Coal Station, 50 miles south of Boston, largest of six remaining plants in the region, will close in 2017 because of the EPA regulations. In July, Scientific Americanreported that coal has become “virtually extinct in New England.”
• New York. New York City gets none of its power from coal. The closest coal plant on the New York grid is in Watertown, 320 miles to the north, near the Canadian border.
• Philadelphia. All the coal plants in the Philadelphia area have been closed down. Electricity now comes from natural gas and nuclear. Pennsylvania’s remaining coal plants are in the Pittsburgh region.

Via: American Spectator

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Michelle Obama dreams of kids begging for fruits and vegetables instead of cookies and candy

First lady Michelle Obama teamed up with "Sesame Street" characters to promote fruits and vegetables to children on Wednesday.

Obama argued that if children saw fruits and vegetables branded with "Sesame Street" Muppets stickers, they would be more attracted to the products.

“Just imagine what will happen when we take our kids to the grocery store, and they see Elmo and Rosita and the other Sesame Street Muppets they love up and down the produce aisle,” she said. “Imagine what it will be like to have our kids begging us to buy them fruits and vegetables instead of cookies, candy and chips.

The Sesame Workshop and the Produce Marketing Association joined the Partnership for a Healthier America to utilize "Sesame Street" characters to deliver messages about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables.

Via: Washington Examiner

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DSCC Spreads Wealth to State Parties for 2014

Senate Democrats have quietly started implementing their plan to keep the majority by transferring funds to state parties with top races in 2014.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has begun making monthly transfers to these organizations to help construct first-rate, on-the-ground affiliates ahead of the midterms.

Democrats must defend a large number of seats — nine of the cycle’s 11 most competitive Senate races — to retain their majority. Democratic incumbents are running in five of these races, providing the party a prime opportunity to coordinate at the state level early in the cycle.

Battle-tested communications operatives have already been sent to state parties in Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina — homes of some of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats seeking re-election. Including those three states — but not counting the Massachusetts special election earlier this year — the DSCC has transferred a total of $84,000 to state parties as of Sept. 30, according to figures compiled by Political MoneyLine.

Via: Roll Call

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[VIDEO] SEBELIUS: 'MEN OFTEN DO NEED MATERNITY CARE'

During Wednesday's congressional testimony, a heated exchange occurred between Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over one of the still-unexploded controversies in the ObamaCare law: the fact that ObamaCare's so-called "robust" coverage is in reality your government forcing you to pay for coverage that includes expensive services millions will never need. Ellmers called Sebelius out specifically for forcing men to buy maternity coverage.

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Ellmers: You also brought up the issue that when you were in Kansas [as health Commissioner and governor] that you fought against discriminatory issues… As far as [ObamaCare's] essential health benefits, correct me if I'm wrong: do men not have to buy maternity care?

Sebelius: Policies will cover maternity coverage. For the young and healthy, uh, under ythirty year-olds will have a choice also of a catastrophic plan that has no maternity coverage.

Ellmers: But men are required to purchase maternity coverage.

Sebelius: Well, an insurance policy has a series of benefits whether you use them or not…

Ellmers: And that is why health care premiums are increasing, because we are forcing them to buy things that they will never need. Thank you.

Sebelius: The individual policies cover families. Men often do need maternity care for their spouses and for their families, yes.

Ellmers: A single male, aged 32, does need maternity coverage. To the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?

Via: Breitbart

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‘We can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices.’ Says who?!

Eighteen months of continued oil boom prove reveal the predictable flaws of Leftist energy dogma.

But you and I both know that with only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices – not when consume 20 percent of the world’s oil.

– Barack Obama, March 10, 2012

Oh, really?

That was the refrain during the election season of 2012, with average gasoline prices crowding $4.00 per gallon and no relief in sight. Democrats painted Republicans as wackos for thinking $2.50/gallon gasoline possible. But eighteen months have passed since the President’smisleading pronouncement: the U.S. is now poised to surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the the world’s #1 producer of oil and natural gas. The boom in domestic production continues, with oil production at levels not seen in a generation. Demand is soft, oil inventories are high and there is refinery capacity to spare.

And guess what? Gasoline prices are dropping. Color me unsurprised.

Source: Energy Information Administration
(http://www.eia.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_gasoline.html)

The scale of that graph masks the fact that the average price of gasoline is down 33¢ per gallon over the last 12 months and 70¢ per gallon since the spring of 2012. The reader should also bear in mind that the retail price of gasoline has embedded state and federal taxes which vary from 35¢ to 70¢ per gallon, depending on jurisdiction.

Via: Red State

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The Thuggery of Obamacare Czarina Kathleen Sebelius by Michelle Malkin

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is allergic to the truth. She is the ruthless enforcer of Obamacare's Jenga tower of lies upon lies upon lies. Now that this fatally flawed government edifice is collapsing, you can expect Sebelius to do what she has done her entire career: blame, bully and pile on more lies.

Three years ago, when insurers and other companies had the audacity to expose Obamacare's damage to their customers and workers, Sebelius brought out her brass knuckles. Remember? As I reported at the time, the White House coordinated a demonization campaign against Anthem Blue Cross in California for raising rates because of the new mandate's costs. Obama singled out the company in a "60 Minutes" interview, and Sebelius sent a nasty-gram demanding that Anthem "justify" its rate hikes to the federal government.

A private company trying to survive in the marketplace was forced to "explain" itself to federal bureaucrats and career politicians who have never run a business (successful or otherwise) in their lives. Sebelius went even further. She called on Anthem to provide public disclosure of how the rate increases would be spent -- a mandate that no other private companies must follow.

Via: Townhall

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[VIDEO] GOP Rep. Tears Into Sebelius: ‘Why Aren’t You Losing Your Health Insurance?’

During Wednesday morning’s House hearing on the Obamacare site, Republican Congressman Cory Gardner (R-CO) and HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius engaged in a highly-contentious debate over why the latter has not enrolled herself in the insurance exchanges established by the law she oversees.

The Republican lawmaker held up a letter from his private health insurer notifying his family that their healthcare policy had been cancelled, as it no longer qualifies under the Affordable Care Act. While scolding Sebelius for the administration’s previous promises that “you can keep your plan,” Gardner asked, “Why aren’t you losing your health insurance? Why aren’t you in the exchange?”

When Sebelius explained that she’s part of the federal employees benefit plan, Gardner pushed harder: “You’re literally in charge of this law. Should you be any different than any of the other Americans out there who are losing their insurance today?”

After some more pressing, Sebelius told the congressman: “I am not eligible for the exchange.”

A baffled Gardner replied: “I went into the exchange. You could decide to drop your coverage of your employer. You have the choice.”

“That is not true, sir,” the HHS secretary responded. “If I have affordable coverage in my workplace, I am not eligible to go into the workplace.”

“With all due respect,” Gardner fired back, “I would encourage you to be just like the American people and enter the exchange and agree to find a way to do that.” Applause broke out in the gallery among several members.

“It’s illegal,” the administration official responded.

Gardner then turned his attention to the infamous “Brosurance” ad used by the Colorado state government to promote the new healthcare law to college-aged males. Holding up the famous poster depicting a college student doing a keg stand, the congressman asked whether Sebelius approves of this sort of advertising. She repeatedly told him she has no authority over what the states do with their promotional materials.

During that exchange, an aide whispered in Gardner’s ear, sending him back to the first topic: “You have the ability to opt out, by the way, as a federal employee,” he said. “You can take the insurance.”

Watch below, via Fox:

Via: Mediaite.com

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[VIDEO] Watch Neil Cavuto’s FANTASTIC monologue summing up how American’s feel about Obama…

Mark Levin played Neil Cavuto’s monologue on his show because he felt Cavuto summed up very well why people don’t trust Obamacare. And I have to agree. As Cavuto points out, Americans just don’t trust the man who gave them Obamacare.

Watch:

Via: The Right Scoop

Issa Subpoenas Web Firm with Ties to Obama Bundler

The Obamacare website contractor that was issued a subpoena by Rep. Darrell Issa is owned by a company with a major donor and bundler for Barack Obama's presidential campaign among its executives.

Issa, a California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, subpoenaed Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI) on Tuesday for documents regarding the development of the Obamacare website. 

Anthony Welters is the executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, which purchased QSSI in 2012, and was a major campaign bundler for Obama during his 2008 campaign for president, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org.

Editor's Note: 22 Hidden Taxes and Fees Set to Hit You With Obamacare. Read the Guide to Protect Yourself. 

During the 2008 election cycle, Welters and his wife Beatrice raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama's campaign, and an additional $300,000 for the Obama inaugural committee. They donated $100,000 themselves to the committee.

The contributions paid off for Beatrice Welters, who served as the ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago until her resignation in 2012.

In addition to the Welters' activity for the Obama campaign, their sons Andrew and Bryant have given generously to Democratic campaigns and interests. 

OpenSecrets.org found they have donated $258,000 since 2007, including $30,800 donations to the Democratic National Committee in 2012.

QSSI, which spent more than $2.5 million on lobbying this year, won a large contract in January to build a federal data services hub to help run the complex federal health insurance exchange.

Via: Newsmax

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THE ENTIRE OBAMACARE WEBSITE DEBACLE SUMMED UP IN ONE PICTURE

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!!!

As Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified Wednesday before Congress on the failed Obamacare website rollout, CNN ran a split-screen of her testimony with an image of the crashed site.

Image source via @zbyronwolf

“I would suggest the website has never crashed,” Sebelius said during Wednesday’s House Commerce and Energy Committee hearing. “It is functional, but at a very slow speed and very low reliability, and has continued to function.”

Naturally, the image of the CNN split-screen started to circulate on social media. And some have noted that it just doesn’t look good for Sebelius or anyone involved in the mess that has been healthcare.gov

Via: The Blaze

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CUCCINELLI: MCAULIFFE REPRESENTS DC POLITICS, DETROIT FINANCES, HOLLYWOOD VALUES

On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125, Virginia attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli slammed Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe as a liar who represents the worst of Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Hollywood.

"If you like Washington, D.C. politics, Detroit finances, and Hollywood values, Terry McAuliffe is your man," Cuccinelli said. "He brings it all. He's the whole package on that front."

Cuccinelli also emphasized that there is "not one plan" McAuliffe "has laid out for Virginia that he has explained." He said McAuliffe "lies like he's taking a drink of water" and added that he has never seen a campaign "so disconnected from the truth."

Cuccinelli emphasized to host and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon that the race should be a referendum on Obamacare and mentioned that he was the first attorney general in the nation to fight the law and win the "right of the states to make their own decisions" like whether they would participate in the Medicaid expansion. He said that would be the single largest budgetary decision before the next governor. 

"A no vote on Obamacare is a yes vote for Ken Cuccinelli," he said. 

Via: Breitbart

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Nancy Pelosi says she’s ‘proud’ of Obamacare

As Obamacare continues to come under bipartisan attack, Nancy Pelosi offered a full-throated praise of the law, saying she wished it would’ve gone further.

The House minority leader, speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, said she wants to “say every chance I get how proud we are of” Obamacare.

“It was a heavy lift to pass,” Pelosi said of the 2010 law, which she helped write and shepherd through the House. “I myself would’ve preferred single payer or public option, but this was a compromise, this is a compromise. But it does many of the things that we would’ve done under a public option. So we have a plan that is named affordable. That’s a very important word. Affordable. Because no matter what people say about whether they like their plan or not, their plan was not going to be their plan. Everybody’s premiums were going up.”

Pelosi’s defense came as Health and Human Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was testifying about the law’s glitches to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

(Also on POLITICO: Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi split on staffers’ health coverage)

House Republicans are not only seizing on the flawed website – which the Obama administration says they will fix – but also that some Americans appear to be getting kicked off their current insurance plans, despite promises from President Barack Obama that that wouldn’t happen. Pelosi said that represents a small portion of Americans, who shop for insurance on the individual market.

“In terms of this 5 percent, the fact is the president said if you like your plan, you can keep your plan and they had a plan in 2010, they can keep their plan,” Pelosi said. “They can still keep their plan, but if they want all of the benefits at a lower, more affordable cost then they have options available to them. And for some of them, it may even involve a subsidy, that depends on their income and their financial situation. I’m thrilled about the overarching plan. This is life, a healthier life, liberty to pursue your happiness, as our founders promised.

Glitches will be worked out, and again, there’s a lot of education that has to be done on something that is new.”

Via: Politico

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Forced Unionization on Farm Workers

Thousands of farm workers in the Central Valley object to unionization under a collective bargaining agreement with the United Farm Workers. But they’re being forced into the agreement anyway.

On Monday, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board turned down the farm workers’ petitions, delivered last Friday, to decertify the UFW. The farm workers also will not be allowed a vote on union representation, despite an ALRB rule which stipulates, “Under the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, farm workers have the right to choose whether or not they wish to be represented by a union by voting in a secret ballot election.”

Gov. Jerry Brown appointed all the current ALRB members. And a former UFW lobbyist, Martha Guzman Aceves, was appointed by Brown as his deputy legislative secretary for agriculture, environment and natural resources, working in Brown’s Capitol office. As I detailed in an Oct. 14 story, Guzman-Aceves has a long history of working for the UFW and has close ties to other pro-UFW organizations. Yet Brown delegated to her dealing with the pleas of the rebel farm workers. Monday’s petition rejection was the second time the ALRB rejected a petition by the farm workers. The first time was on Sept. 19.

Questions have been raised about the relationship between the ALRB, a government agency, and the UFW. During an August 21, 2013 court proceeding, Judge Jeffrey Y. Hamilton said, “So the Court is very suspect of, one, the ALRB’s position here.  It almost seems like it’s in cahoots.  And the Court finds it very troubling that the ALRB is taking such a position, especially sitting in a prosecutorial role.” (See copies of excerpts of the court transcript, below.)

The new Cesar Chavez

Because of her relentless championing of the rights of farm workers, Silvia Lopez has been called the new Cesar Chavez. Ironically, she is fighting against the union Chavez co-founded; but which has fallen far from his lofty ideals, according to a 2012 article in The Nation, a liberal magazine, “Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers: What Went Wrong?”

Via: California Political Review

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[FLASHBACK] [VIDEO] Obama's Campaign to Transition to Single Payer Health Care

President Barack Obama made it no secret he was a proponent of a single payer health care system in America when he first came on to the national scene. However, he explained to his supporters over the years that a "potential transition" would be necessary to break away from the current system. 

Interestingly, as the implementation of the Obamacare exchanges face problems and millions begin to lose coverage from their private insurers, something President Obama promised would not happen, Democrats and their liberal alliesare now beginning to suggest a single payer system as a solution to the rickety exchanges.  

Rep. John Larson (D - CT) told Breitbart News last Wednesday that under a single payer system Americans would not be losing their private health care coverage, claiming, "You would be covered automatically. But that’s not the law. The law is that it’s a free enterprise system and they have the right not to enter into the exchange or not to provide for you in the exchange. That is their right." 

The video below shows clips of Obama explaining to supporters  his views over the years about how he would transition a single payer system into the United States. At the same time he criticizes his detractors, saying the Affordable Care Act is not a "government take over" of American health care. 

Obama - Remarks to AFL - CIO

"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer health care plan. The United States of America--the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent--14 percent of its gross national product on health care and cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody and that's what Jim is talking about when he says, 'Everybody in. Nobody out.' A single payer health care credit--universal healthcare credit. That's what I'd like to see, but as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House and we've got to take back the Senate and we've got to take back the House."

Via: Breitbart

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