Obama administration was warned of healthcare.gov liabilities in March

Senior White House and Department of Health and Human Servicesofficials were told last spring of problems that could derail the launch of healthcare.gov, according to a report compiled for the Obama administration and obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Even though senior administration officials repeatedly gave assurances about the readiness of the Obamacare website, they were privately told by outside consultant McKinsey & Co. of risks threatening the functionality of the online marketplaces.

A 14-slide presentation warned of “insufficient time and scope of end-to-end testing,” that the website would launch at “full volume” rather than staggered over time, so-called “stacking” of all phases and “significant dependency on external parties/contractors.” The report also flagged “multiple definitions of success” and “evolving requirements” for the website.

According to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which provided the report to theExaminer, White House and HHS senior officials were briefed on the findings between March 28 and April 8.

White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park attended a meeting about the report on March 28. Among those present at an April 4 briefing were Health and Human Services SecretaryKathleen Sebelius and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. Jeanne Lambrew, Obama's health policy adviser, and then-White House deputy chief of staff Mark Childress were briefed on the report April 8 at the White House, according to the House committee.

For weeks, President Obama has been on the defensive over the problem-ridden healthcare.gov website and his broken promise that all Americans could keep their current insurance plans under Obamacare. The president's approval ratings have hit all-time lows in a series of recent polls.

White House officials, however, dismissed GOP attempts to pounce on the previously undisclosed report.

“As we have said many times now and as has been frequently reported, flags were definitely raised throughout the development of the website, as would be the case for any IT project this complex,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

Via: Washington Examiner

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California: Politicians Party In Paradise

Suppose you have been scrimping for years so that you and your family could finally enjoy a Hawaiian vacation. Winging your way high over the Pacific, visions of palm trees, white sandy beaches, crystal clear water and maybe even hula dancers pass through your head.

Disembarking at Honolulu International Airport what do you see? Politicians. Lots of politicians. Lots of California politicians.

The California politicians are making their annual pilgrimage to paradise. And while you are paying for your own accommodations, the California lawmakers scheduled to attend the Independent Voter Project (IVP) conference scheduled to begin November 17, will have most of the bill for their suites at the 5-star Fairmont Kea Lani picked up by others. Among the dozens of interests providing hospitality to legislators are a host of corporations and even one of the most powerful public employee unions in California.

However, not to worry. No lobbying will take place according to Dan Howle, a Lilly USA executive who helped organize the event. “It gives the sponsoring companies an opportunity to talk about what their business is like in California,” Howle told the Los Angeles Times. Still, suspicions are high that between panel discussions there will be plenty of time for the politicians to enjoy golf, snorkeling and the other pleasures of the resort. And, as to the discussions themselves, it is a safe bet that the voices of citizen taxpayers and consumers will be missing.

Let’s speak directly. These conferences are nonsense and in spite of self-serving justifications, the exotic location and sumptuous accommodations are nothing more than an enticement to put lawmakers in the position of being a captive audience for special interest pleaders. Saying these gatherings are legitimate legislative business does not pass the “laugh test.”

Via: California Political Review

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Iran building secret new nuclear site, exiled dissidents sayIran building secret new nuclear site, exiled dissidents say

An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Monday it had information about an underground nuclear site being built in Iran and that this was among a number of secret venues for an atomic bomb program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed Iran'suranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy-water facility at Arak in 2002. But analysts say the NCRI has a mixed track record and a clear agenda of regime change in Tehran.

The Islamic Republic and six world powers will resume negotiations on Wednesday aimed at agreeing the first stage towards a comprehensive deal to end a decade-long standoff with Tehran defusing fears that it could develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian authorities deny any such intention, saying their nuclear program is for peaceful energy only. A diplomatic window to a peaceful solution of the dispute was opened by the election in June of moderate Hassan Rohani as president.

The Paris-based NCRI said members of its affiliated People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) inside the country had obtained reliable information on a new and covert site designated for Iran's nuclear project. But it had no details of what kind of nuclear activity was being carried out there.

"According to specific information obtained by the Iranian resistance, the clerical regime is establishing or completing parallel secret and undeclared sites for its nuclear project," NCRI official Mehdi Abrichamtchi told reporters.

Via: Haaretz

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The Obamacare albatross for congressional Democrats

Never before has President Obama’s signature health-care law been so politically toxic for congressional candidates, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows.

Nearly four in 10 voters (39 percent) say they would be more likely to oppose a candidate for Congress who supports the law. Just under a quarter (23 percent) say they would be more likely to support a candidate who backs the law, according to the survey. Thirty-six percent of voters say a candidate’s position on Obamacare would not make a difference in their vote.

The support/oppose gap is much wider than it’s ever been in Post-ABC polling, including four months before the 2010 midterm elections in which Republicans made historic gains. In that July 2010 poll, voters split, with 39 percent saying they would be more likely to support a candidate who backed health-care reform and 37 percent saying they were more likely to oppose. In July 2012, the support/oppose split was an even 28 percent among voters.

The poll also comes as overall views of the law and the president’s handling of its rollout have cratered. Fifty-seven percent of Americans oppose the law, compared to just 40 percent who support it. And more than six in 10 Americans (63 percent) say they disapprove of the way Obama has handled the law’s implementation, nearly double the 33 percent who say they approve.

Via: Washington Post

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Karl Rove: Obamacare Will Devastate Democrats in 2014

Just a few short weeks ago, Republican elders could only hope that time would make voters forget about the government shutdown the party engineered in October.

Now, with millions of Americans in an uproar over health insurance policies canceled because of President Barack Obama's health care law, Republicans believe they could seize control of the Senate and build on their majority in the House of Representatives in the November 2014 congressional elections.
Republican strategist Karl Rove, architect of George W. Bush's two presidential victories, said Obamacare could hurt Democratic candidates more than in 2010.

Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll 

"In 2014, it's likely to be a bigger, more obvious and equally deadly issue for Democrats, especially incumbent Democrats in red, even purple states and districts who voted for the monstrosity," he told Reuters.

Groups allied to Republicans are already running digital ads against vulnerable Democrats, with TV ads coming in the months ahead.

"2014 will be a referendum on the failures of this administration," said Rep. Greg Walden, head of the House Republican campaign committee.

Some in the party, however, are warning conservative Tea Party Republicans not to push the government into another shutdown or risk a debt default in upcoming budget talks, out of fear of voter backlash.

"Republicans need to play it smart," said Republican strategist Charlie Black. "We can shift the focus to our own vulnerabilities if we participated in another government shutdown or resisted extending the debt limit."
Democrats already would have to beat historical odds to pick up congressional seats next November, since the party that controls the White House usually loses seats in these so-called mid-term elections.

Via: Newsmax

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[VIDEO] Boehner: Obamacare Needs To Be Scrapped Now

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
November 19, 2013 10:47 am

Citing “a pattern of broken promises” from the Obama administration, Speaker o John Boehner recommended that Obamacare “be scrapped” Tuesday morning.

Boehner explained that Promise #1: “If you like your plan, you can keep it” is false because millions of health insurance plans have been dropped due to strict requirements set by Obamacare.

Promise #2 “If Obamacare is passed, premiums will go down,” Boehner continued, is not true because premiums have actually skyrocketed.

This entry was posted in Issues, Uncategorized and tagged John Boehner, Obamacare. Bookmark the permalink.

Via: WFB

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Morose Obama asks his base for psychological intervention

A downbeat President Barack Obama repeatedly asked his worried supporters Monday night to help resurrect his spirits, following weeks of political disasters and personal humiliations caused by the cascading collapse of Obamacare. The distracted president railed against opponents and at one point appeared to forget the number of people in the Obamacare system during the rambling quarter-hour address.

“My main message is I’m going to need your help, your energy, your faith, your ability to reach out to neighbors, kids and friends [and] co-workers,” he told listeners to the Internet broadcast arranged by his grassroots group, Organizing for Action.

But his worried followers would also benefit from proselytizing for Obama and Obamacare, Obama suggested.

“I’ve never lost faith in our ability to get this done… you guys have lifted me up, and lifted each other up at every step of the way, and I know you’re going to just keep on doing that,” he said during his 14-minute sermon.

‘We have experienced discouragement and setbacks and naysayers every step of the way, but you know when you’re on the right side of something, then it gives you energy, it gives you motivation,” he said.

“All the people out there who need help, everybody out there who is working hard but just finding that the system kinda feels rigged against him… that’s got to motivate us,” he said.

During his monologue, he made a mistake that illustrates the strain he’s facing while trying to save his Obamacare network.

“In the first month alone, we’ve seen more than 100 million Americans already successfully enroll in the new insurance plans,” he said, inaccurately referring to the 106,000 Americans who managed to pick a health-benefit plan via the cripple website.

Via: Daily Caller

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Michelle Obama: 'Barack Hasn't Done Any of This Alone'

(CNSNews.com) - "Write the biggest check you can possibly write," First lady Michelle Obama told a gathering of female Democratic senators in New York City on Monday.

She said her husband needs these women to "dig deep" so the "right people" -- Democrats -- will be elected in the 2014 midterms.

Touting the nation's economic recovery, Mrs. Obama said, "Barack hasn't done any of this alone, just sitting by himself in the Oval Office. So sad," she joked.

She said her husband "needed Congress" to pass the stimulus law, a fair pay law, and the Affordable Care Act. 

And then she talked about "frustrating defeats," and two situations where President Obama "had to sign an executive order."

"The DREAM Act -- an act that gives immigrant kids a fair shot, kids brought here by their parents through no fault of their own -- this act failed, once by just five votes in the Senate, and once by just four. So the President had to sign an executive order to finally get these kids some relief. 

Via: CNS News
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Is Our Government Still "Of the People"?

Seven score and 10 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln delivered the greatest speech in American history. Standing on the bloodied battlefield of Gettysburg, Lincoln urged the fractured nation to dedicate itself to the “unfinished work” of the battle. In only 10 sentences—272 words in all—he made clear the far-reaching implications of the Civil War: “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

It took a long Civil War and hundreds of thousands of dead, but America eventually rid itself of the scourge of slavery and the democratic cause triumphed, thereby confirming Lincoln’scontention that “ballots are the rightful, and peaceful, successors of bullets.”

The challenge to democratic government, however, would not disappear. In the late 19th century, the Progressive movement emerged in America. The Progressives, like their liberal heirs today, had a paradoxical relationship to democracy.

On the one hand, they championed democratic reforms, like the referendum, the ballot initiative, and the direct election of Senators (liberals today favor the popular election of the President).

On the other hand, the Progressives—again like their liberal heirs—harbored a deep-seated distrust of the unwashed masses.

Via: The Foundry

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Woman Obama cited as evidence Obamacare is working is victim of website screw-up

The irony is just too delicious. Remember when President Obama rounded up some of the few people who were able to sign up for Obamacare, and one of them fainted? He also cited a letter he got from a Washington State woman, Jessica Sanford. Libertyfirstnews summarizes:

Obama related Sanford's story in remarks from the Rose Garden last Oct. 21: "I recently received a letter from a woman named Jessica Sanford in Washington state, and here's what she wrote. 'I am a single mom, no child support, self-employed, and I haven't had health insurance for 15 years because it is too expensive. My son has ADHD and requires regular doctor visits, and his meds alone cost $250 a month. I have had an ongoing tendinitis problem due to my line of work that I have to have treated. Now, finally, we get to have coverage because of the ACA for $169 a month. I was crying the other day when I signed up. So much stress lifted.'

The president went on: "Now, that is not untypical for a lot of folks like Jessica who have been struggling without health insurance. That is what the Affordable Care Act is all about."

Sanford's story might be typical, all right - but not in the way anyone thought, not anyone at the White House, and certainly not Sanford herself.

Via: American Thinker

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