Conservative Happenings

Monday, December 23, 2013

OUT OF TOUCH CORPORATIONS ABANDON DUCK DYNASTY AND BOY SCOUTS

In the same week that Cracker Barrel abandoned Duck Dynasty, Lockheed Martin abandoned the Boy Scouts. The details of the two issues were different, but the cause was the same--an out-of-touch corporate mentality.

As Breitbart News reported on December 21, Cracker Barrel climbed aboard the anti-Duck Dynasty bandwagon on December 20th by pulling "selected products which [they] were concerned might offend some of [their] guests."

A day earlier Lockheed Martin halted donations to the Boy Scouts because they were offended over the Boy Scouts' ban on gay Scout Leaders. As Breitbart News reported, Lockheed Martin said they believe the Boy Scouts accomplish good in our communities but "their policies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and religious affiliation conflict with Lockheed Martin policies."

Intel, Merck & Co., and UPS Inc. have abandoned the Boy Scouts as well.

The actions of all these businesses and corporations are of a cloth with those A&E took on December 18th, when they abandoned Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson because he answered a reporter's question honestly.

A GQ reporter asked Robertson to describe something that "he found sinful" and he did. Afterward, A&E suspended him "indefinitely."

The corporate mentality driving these moves is completely out of touch with the very Americans these corporations claim they are trying not to offend.

Via: Breitbart

[VIDEO] Utter Chaos: White House Exempts Millions From Obamacare's Insurance Mandate, 'Unaffordable' Exchanges

It’s hard to come up with new ways to describe the Obama administration’s improvisational approach to the Affordable Care Act’s troubled health insurance exchanges. But last night, the White House made its most consequential announcement yet. The administration will grant a “hardship exemption” from the law’s individual mandate, requiring the purchase of health insurance, to anyone who has had their prior coverage canceled and who “believes” that Obamacare’s offerings “are unaffordable.” These exemptions will substantially alter the architecture of the law’s insurance marketplaces. Insurers are at their wits’ end, trying to make sense of what to do next.

Previous fixes were failing

Here’s how we got to where we are. As many as six million Americans who purchase health coverage on their own have seen their plans canceled, because they don’t comply with Obamacare’s newly-imposed regulations. On the other hand, the bungled rollout of the law’s healthcare.gov website has meant that only tens of thousands of Americans have been able to enroll in new coverage under the law. This means that by January 1, 2014, less people will have health coverage under Obamacare than before.

Via: Forbes

Continue Reading....

The REAL Obama Christmas Card

When it comes to his signature epic health care failure, there’s nowhere to hide, not even Hawaii, for President Barack Obama.

Perhaps that’s why Barack and Michelle are wearing such sour expressions and being told to “Cheer up, Mr. President, it’s Christmas!” on the cover of today’s Drudge Report.

If you can believe the mainstream media, exhaustion trailed Obama all the way to Hawaii where he is taking a 17-day timeout in sunshine happy Lei Land.

Not only crashing down to 37% in popularity polls trumping the legendarily loathed George W. Bush in popularity, more software foul-ups bedevil Obama, who is learning the bitter lesson that You Can Run but You Can’t hide, even in far-from-Beltway Hawaii.

The Hawaii Free Press is reporting that a new director taking over the Hawaii Health Connector immediately crashed the website.

Via: Canada Free Press

A&E, Duck Dynasty, and the Climate of Intolerance in America

A&E enjoys rights to free contract and free speech in determining whom they employ and what they allow them to say. But just because you have a right to do something doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

In a series of instances we have seen the gatekeepers of civil society attack those who hold Biblical views about marriage and sexuality—Chick-fil-A, Barilla Pasta, Craig James who was fired from ESPN, and now Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty.

It is even worse, of course, when it is the government that penalizes those who hold Biblical views. That should be anathema in America. While A&E exercised its rights, in a growing number of incidents, government has not respected the free-contract and free-speech rights of Americans.

In August, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect a photographer’s right to decline to take pictures of a same-sex commitment ceremony — even though doing so would violate the photographer’s deeply held religious beliefs as a Christian.

Christian adoption and foster-care agencies have been forced to stop providing those services because they object to placing children in same-sex households. Other cases include a baker, a florist, a bed-and-breakfast, a T-shirt company, a student counselor, theSalvation Army, and more.

These and other laws are creating a climate of intolerance and intimidation for citizens who believe that we are created male and female, that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and that sexual relations are properly reserved for marriage. These state and local laws are used to trump fundamental civil liberties such as freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.

Via: The Foundry

BREITBART/JW POLL: MORE THAN HALF SKEPTICAL OBAMACARE WILL LOWER COSTS

A new Breitbart/Judicial Watch Poll reveals more than half of Americans are skeptical that the “Affordable Care Act” will lower their health insurance costs. Fifty-four percent say so, while only one-quarter believe their health insurance cost will decrease if they sign up for one of the government’s health plans.

As you may know, a law was passed in 2010 that makes major changes to the country's health care system. Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statement. “My healthcare insurance costs will decrease if I enroll in one of the government’s new health insurance plans.”

25% TOTAL AGREE (NET)

12% STRONGLY AGREE

12% SOMEWHAT AGREE

54% TOTAL DISAGREE (NET)

13% SOMEWHAT DISAGREE

40% STRONGLY DISAGREE

21% DO NOT KNOW

1% REFUSED

Democrats are more likely to be optimistic about Obamacare's cost-saving ability than Republicans. Even so, Democrats are not overwhelmingly optimistic, rather, they are split on the question. Independents are more in line with the GOP (72%) as 54% of Independents doubt that Obamacare will lower their healthcare costs should they sign on to the program.

Expectations are different along racial lines and more likely to be divided on the issue of cost decreases. African-Americans are split along with Hispanics on the cost saving aspect of Obamacare. Forty-three percent of African-Americans do not expect their costs to decrease and 37% of Hispanics say the same, significantly lower than whites.

Via: Breitbart

Obamacare’s New Year’s Surprise…Billions In Home Health Care Cuts For Millions Of Poor And Sick

As if ObamaCare’s botched website, coverage cancellations, and higher costs were not bad enough, the Obama Administration has quietly dealt yet another blow – this time striking millions of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors. Specifically, the Obama Administration has decided to deeply cut funding for the Medicare program’s home health benefit as a way to help pay for ObamaCare.

The Administration made this announcement very quietly, waiting to do so until the very end of the last Friday before Thanksgiving, perhaps thinking that most people would not be looking.

To be sure, the timing of the Administration’s quiet announcement did keep it out of sight – for a while. That ended on December 12th, however, when the Washington Examiner broke the story in an article headlined “ObamaCare forcing 14 percent cut in Medicare’s home health program.” FOX News and the Daily Caller have also picked up this story, so full attention is now being paid to this unprecedented cut – and the harm it will do to frail seniors across America.

As the Examiner’s Richard Pollock wrote, “An estimated 3.5 million poor and ill homebound senior citizens will wake up on New Year’s Day to discover ObamaCare has slashed funding for their home health care program.” He’s right: on January 1st, the Obama Administration will sharply cut Medicare funding for home healthcare services.

Totaling a whopping 14 percent between 2014 and 2017, this cut is the maximum allowable under the ObamaCare law. The Administration had the discretion to cut less, or even to make no cuts at all. But they decided to impose the deepest cut made possible by the Affordable Care Act (shouldn’t we be calling this the “Horrible Care Act”?) legislation. And in doing so, they will shift billions of dollars from Medicare to ObamaCare.

Via: Weasel Zippers

[CARTOON] Obamacare Exception

Via: California Political Review

Latest Obamacare Fixes Unnerve Insurance Industry on Deadline Day

The health insurance industry is uneasy over the Obama administration's announcement Thursday that individuals who lost existing coverage under the Affordable Care Act will not be obligated to purchase coverage by Monday.

Insurers were counting on these customers for their bottom line, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement said: "If you have been notified that your individual market policy will not be renewed, you will be eligible for a hardship exemption and will be able to enroll in [bare-bones] catastrophic coverage."

Monday, Dec. 23, is the last day to sign up through the Healthcare.Gov and state health exchanges for insurance coverage beginning Jan. 1. For the coverage to take effect, policyholders must pay their first premium directly to the insurer by Jan. 10, USA Today reported.

Consumers will have until March 31 to purchase coverage for 2014 without having to pay a penalty.

The insurance industry's chief Washington lobbyist, Karen Ignagni, is concerned that exempting people from having to be in the exchanges is an erosion of the "individual mandate" requiring Americans to have health insurance.

Thursday's HHS announcement "was of particular concern because we were worried about the message with respect to individuals having a path around the mandate; that was the first time that the administration had said anything like that," Ignagni told the Journal.

The industry had opposed the Affordable Care Act when it was first proposed. After it became law in 2010, Ignagni said insurers "mobilized our best people . . . to provide thoughtful advice."

Nearly 750,000 people had visited the federal HealthCare.gov site over the weekend through Sunday afternoon.

Via: Newsmax

Continue Reading....

[VIDEO] George Will: Obama would be better off today if Supreme Court voted down Obamacare

BACK TO BREITBART TV

George Will said Sunday that President Obama

would be in a better position today if the Supreme Court ruled his health care law was unconstitutional in 2012.

“By now it seems to me fair to say three things,” Will said on “Fox News Sunday,” speaking of the implementation of the president’s health

care law. “First: If he told the truth about the law — about keeping your doctor and your health care — he probably wouldn’t have been elected in 2012. Second: He’d be better off today if in 2012 the chief justice had voted the other way and [the Supreme Court] had struck down the law. It wouldn’t be such a burden on this presidency.”

“But beyond that, we’ve now added to incompetence and dishonesty, naked unfairness,” Will continued. “When he says, ‘if you had health insurance and it was canceled, you’re preferred. If you didn’t have health insurance you could still be punished by the government for not getting it.’ People just think it’s … unfair.”

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading....

[VIDEO] ‘WE HAVE A DUTY TO CONTINUE TO PUSH’: GUESS WHICH MAINSTREAM MEDIA JOURNALIST IS SAYING THAT

Take a moment to read the following quote in the Washington Post, and then try to guess who it comes from:

“I believe we have to be willing to ask tough questions but also not always be willing to accept a non-answer. When the answer is not responsive, I think we have a duty to continue to push. I don’t see it as going in there to be confrontational [but] as being pretty insistent about getting straight answers.”

That may sound like the life mission statement of a conservative journalist, vowing to be a watchdog of a liberal administration.

But it’s not — at least in the traditional sense.

Jonathan Karl (Source: ABC News)

It’s from Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl at ABC, which has never had to defend itself as a stalwart of conservatism. But Karl’s many run-ins with Press Secretary Jay Carney — and his defense of such actions — has him sounding more like a red-leaning writer than the liberal Boogey Man that many conservatives fear dominate the White House press room.

Professionally, Karl has been unafraid to challenge Carney. Case in point: Nov. 4. That’s whenCarney got so upset with Karl’s probing on the failed Healthcare.gov rollout that he openly mocked him:

And then there was Dec. 18, where Karl mocked the recent “brosurance” ads featuring colloquial language and attempts at being hip.

Via: The Blaze

Sharpton’s Town Hall Erupts Into Revolt Against ‘Chicago Machine’ Politics

(Breitbart)

On Thursday, a town hall meeting hosted by Al Sharpton and the National Action Network to address gun violence exploded into a revolt against “Chicago Machine” politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the aldermen in City Hall, with panel and audience members calling to vote out their elected officials.

One 82-year-old preacher even called for “Tea Party” style meetings in some of Chicago’s south side communities such as Altgeld Gardens and Trumbull Park.

“This was a historic event,” Paul McKinley of V.O.T.E. (Voices of the Ex-Offender) and former 2nd Congressional District GOP nominee to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr. told Breitbart News. “Not because of Al Sharpton coming to town,” he continued. “This was first time since electing Mayor Harold Washington in the eighties that all of these grassroots groups and community organizers have come together under one roof to talk about the problems plaguing our community.”

Via: Fox News

Has A&E Awakened a Sleeping Giant?

While the Japanese were celebrating the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the mastermind of that attack, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, had a sobering message for his countrymen. "We have awakened a sleeping giant," he said.

Even before the war began, the admiral had warned his emperor that Japan would enjoy early victories in any war with the United States, but that winning streak would last only six months to a year, after which American industrial might would inevitably overwhelm the small island nation.

He was right. For the first few months of World War II, the Japanese war machine steamrolled over the Pacific, humiliating and defeating the best that the United States and its allies (British Commonwealth and Dutch) could throw against it, winning battle after battle. To some, it seemed hopeless to resist.

Then came the Battle of Midway, where the Japanese Navy suffered its first catastrophe, and the long, bloody road to Allied victory began.

For years now, the gay lobby has steamrolled over the Christian conservative movement, humiliating us and defeating us in battle after battle. Then came the battle of "Duck Dynasty," and the gay lobby suffered a major backlash. Have they finally met their Midway?

Via: American Thinker

Continue Reading....

Susan Rice: NSA Officials Didn’t Lie, They ‘Inadvertently Made False Representations’

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

National Security Advisor Susan Rice appeared on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes with Lesley Stahl, and one of the issues she addressed was the continued fallout from the Edward Snowden NSA leaks. Rice argued that NSA officials didn’t lie about intel dragnets, they just “inadvertently made false representations.” This statement comes as House Republicans are demanding a criminal probe for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper for his flat-out denial in March, three months before the Snowden leaks began, that the NSA collects data on hundreds of millions of Americans (a denial that Clapper later categorized as the “least untruthful”answer he could have provided).

RELATED: Reliable Sources Panel Knocks 60 Minutes: ‘Who Deputized CBS’ to Tell NSA’s Side of the Story?

After expressing the opinion that Snowden should “be sent back” to the U.S. and “face justice,” Rice faced Stahl’s questioning about whether NSA officials have lied to Congress or not. Here’s the exchange:

STAHL: “Officials in the intelligence community have actually been untruthful both to the American public in hearings, in Congress, and to the FISA court.”

RICE: “There have been cases where they have inadvertently made false representations, and they themselves have discovered it and corrected it.”

Rice also asserted that NSA surveillance has been worth is and “the fact that we have not had a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11 should not be diminished.”

The segment elicited some criticism (though not as much as last week’s NSA puff piece) on Twitter, including from Glenn Greenwald and actor John Cusack.

Watch the video below, via CBS:

VIA: MEDIAITE.COM

[VIDEO] Log Cabin Republicans Denounces Gay Stereotypes Promoted by Obamacare Advocates

Today Log Cabin Republicans, the only LGBT advocacy organization on the Obamacare Repeal Coalition, denounced a video advertisement by Out2Enroll exploiting gay stereotypes to encourage gay men to enroll in the Affordable Care Act.

“This cynical ad betrays the depths Obamacare advocates will sink to in order to pad their pathetic enrollment numbers,” Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo declared. “As a self-proclaimed ‘fierce advocate’ of gay equality, President Obama would do well to distance himself from this nonsense and denounce it immediately. This ad is also an example of the left promoting harmful stereotypes that gay men are nothing more than sex-crazed lechers. If anyone on the right made such a comparison, liberals would be apoplectic. At a time when left-wing propagandists are decrying Duck Dynasty‘s Phil Robertson for equating homosexuality with promiscuity and deviance, Out2Enroll and others should take a look in the mirror and ask if the truth is that they are the ones responsible for promoting such harmful stereotypes.”

Via: Log Cabin Republicans

Democratic senator says Obamacare could have 'meltdown,' hurt party

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's healthcare law could have a "meltdown" and make it difficult for his Democratic Party to keep control of the U.S. Senate next year if ongoing problems with the program are not resolved, a Democratic senator said on Sunday.

Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has urged delaying a penalty for people who do not enroll for health insurance in 2014 under the law, told CNN that a transitional year was needed for the complex healthcare program, commonly known as Obamacare, to work.

"If it's so much more expensive than what we anticipated and if the coverage is not as good as what we had, you've got a complete meltdown at that time," Manchin told CNN's "State of the Union" program.

"It falls of its own weight, if basically the cost becomes more than we can absorb, absolutely."

The White House has been scrambling for months to control the damage from the botched October 1 launch of the law, formally called the Affordable Care Act, which aimed at making sure that millions of Americans without health insurance are able to receive medical coverage.

There have been complaints from consumers about higher premiums than they previously had to pay for health insurance after their old plans were canceled because of new standards under the law, as well as lingering problems with the main web portal used to sign up for insurance, HealthCare.gov.

Manchin said Senate Democrats who are up for re-election next year are "feeling the weight" of the program's woes and could have trouble keeping their majority in the chamber.

Via: Yahoo News

[CARTOON] Obamacare Christmas

Via: Californian Political Review

White House: No backup plan if Obamacare fails

When Obamacare implementation began, its supporters said the program needed about seven million people to enroll by next March. Of that number, advocates said, a large portion -- about 40 percent -- had to be young and healthy, to cover the costs of insuring older, less healthy Americans.

As Obamacare's problems mounted, and it became more and more likely the system would not hit those marks, supporters began to lower their standards. First, they said Obamacare will be fine even if far fewer than seven million sign up. Then they said it will be fine even if far less than 40 percent are young and healthy.

Now, it's becoming apparent why Obamacare advocates are putting on such a confident face: They have no backup plan if their national health care scheme fails.

Last Wednesday Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, joined the Washington think tank Third Way for a wide-ranging discussion. Near the end of the session, Third Way scholar Bill Schneider brought up Obamacare. "Does the administration have any kind of backup plan — if not enough young healthy people sign up for the Affordable Care Act, what's going to happen?" Schneider asked. Noting that he teaches college classes, and his students don't seem particularly well-informed about Obamacare, Schneider continued, "What are you going to do if they don't sign up in large numbers? The numbers don't look that good for young healthy people."

Thurman's response was not particularly encouraging for the administration. "We actually don't have a great demographic breakdown," he said, "but what we do know is that there was a big increase in enrollment in November relative to October, and we've seen increasing demand in December, although we don't have the final numbers and we don't have the demographic breakdown."

Via Washington Examiner

Sunday, December 22, 2013

ObamaCare’s New Year’s Day Surprise: Deep Cuts to Medicare

by Andrew Mangione – As if ObamaCare’s botched website, coverage cancellations, and higher costs were not bad enough, the Obama Administration has quietly dealt yet another blow – this time striking millions of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors. Specifically, the Obama Administration has decided to deeply cut funding for the Medicare program’s home health benefit as a way to help pay for ObamaCare.

The Administration made this announcement very quietly, waiting to do so until the very end of the last Friday before Thanksgiving, perhaps thinking that most people would not be looking.

To be sure, the timing of the Administration’s quiet announcement did keep it out of sight – for a while. That ended on December 12^th, however, when the Washington Examiner broke the story in an article headlined “ObamaCare forcing 14 percent cut in Medicare’s home health program.” FOX News and the Daily Callerhave also picked up this story, so full attention is now being paid to this unprecedented cut – and the harm it will do to frail seniors across America.

As the Examiner’s Richard Pollock wrote, “An estimated 3.5 million poor and ill homebound senior citizens will wake up on New Year’s Day to discover ObamaCare has slashed funding for their home health care program.” He’s right: on January 1^st, the Obama Administration will sharply cut Medicare funding for home healthcare services.

Via: AMAC

Continue Reading....u

Monday, December 23, 2013

In the same week that Cracker Barrel abandoned Duck Dynasty, Lockheed Martin abandoned the Boy Scouts. The details of the two issues were different, but the cause was the same--an out-of-touch corporate mentality.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Popular Posts