Confirmed: Palin actually helped McCain in 2008

With the media hailing Obama like a Messiah, it would have been hard for anybody to beat Obama in 2008. The weak part of the ticket wasn't Palin. it was McRino. He never took the fight to Obama. 

Via Washington Examiner:

It’s been debated for five years, and the conventional wisdom has generally concluded that Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, hurt Sen. John McCain’s chances to beat then-Sen. Barack Obama for the presidency with her outsized and controversial personality.
But now a comprehensive new analysis of the so-called “Palin Effect” finds that in the final analysis, the former Alaska governor helped McCain by attracting more voters to the ticket, crushing a mainstream media view.
What’s more, while she attracted wider press attention than most prior veep candidates, her actual impact for a No. 2 was about average.
“Palin had a positive effect on McCain,” according to the new Palin analysis in the authoritative Political Research Quarterly.
Digesting mountains of data, two political science professors from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., said their findings showed that the conventional wisdom that independent voters ran from the McCain-Palin ticket was wrong. They found that independent voters had the same reaction to Palin as Republicans, who largely liked her.
“Palin did not have a negative effect on McCain’s voter share overall, nor did she result in eroded support for McCain among critical swing voters such as independents and moderates,” the duo wrote.
Keep on reading…

CBO: Obamacare to add 9 million to medicaid rolls...

It doesn't add any new doctors...

SAN DIEGO — Dr. Ted Mazer is one of the few ear, nose and throat specialists in this region who treat low-income people on Medicaid, so many of his patients travel long distances to see him.
But now, as California’s Medicaid program is preparing for a major expansion under President Obama’s health care law, Dr. Mazer says he cannot accept additional patients under the government insurance program for a simple reason: It does not pay enough.
“It’s a bad situation that is likely to be made worse,” he said.
His view is shared by many doctors around the country. Medicaid for years has struggled with a shortage of doctors willing to accept its low reimbursement rates and red tape, forcing many patients to wait for care, particularly from specialists like Dr. Mazer.
Yet in just five weeks, millions of additional Americans will be covered by the program, many of them older people with an array of health problems. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that nine million people will gain coverage through Medicaid next year alone. In many of the 26 states expanding the program, the newly eligible have been flocking to sign up.

Keep on reading…

Image of the Day: Almost 1000 record lows set last week...

Via Climate Depot:

Anti-Walmart protester admits he is being paid...

Walmart Protester:

“I Would Not Tolerate This Protest If I Were Not Being Paid”

Unbelievable: Cancer patient who spoke out against Obamacare suddenly gets audited by the IRS...

Is anyone surprised?  Under the Obama administration, the IRS has become a political tool.

Via FPM:

Bill Elliot was a cancer patient who lost his insurance due to ObamaCare and couldn’t pay the expensive new premiums. He was talking about paying the ObamaCare fine, going without health insurance and “letting nature take its course.”
He went on FOX News where his story was picked up by C. Steven Tucker, a health insurance broker who helped him keep his insurance.
Now suddenly Bill Elliot is being audited for 2009 with an interview only scheduled in April 2014. Assuming he lives that long. That might be a coincidence, but Tucker is being audited back to 2003.
That’s a rather strange coincidence.
Keep on reading…

Chinese women coming to America for "Birth Tourism."

This is shameful. We should deny visas to foreign women who are pregnant and turn them back at the border.

Via Time:

Jiang Wenjun was getting ready to go to America. His wife, due to give birth to their son any day, was already there. Like any expectant parents, the Shanghai couple agonized over how best to prepare for the arrival — and upbringing — of their firstborn child. American citizenship, they decided, was one of the finest gifts they could bestow. “America is the strongest country in the world,” says Jiang, whose son was born just days after he eventually arrived in California this month. “We want our child to have the best future.”
The U.S. is one of the few nations where simply being born on its soil confers citizenship on a newborn. That policy has spawned a birth-tourism industry, in which pregnant foreigners flock to American hospitals to secure U.S. passports for their babies. Although the foreign couple can’t acquire U.S. nationality themselves, once their American-born offspring turn 21 they can theoretically sponsor their parents for future U.S. citizenship. Another perk: these American-born kids can take advantage of the U.S. education system, even paying lower in-state fees for public universities, depending on where they were delivered. (California is a popular birth-tourism destination because of its well-known university system.)

Tweet of the Day: Cher slams Thanksgiving...

Cher needs to ease up or something...

.@slivingston7 I DON’T ! 4 me & my Family,it’s a day,When every1 is free 4Diner & a movie,Not 2 celebrate the beginning of a GREAT Crime😤
— Cher  (@cher) November 28, 2013

AMS Survey: 48% of members do not believe in man-made global warming.

Interestingly, those with “liberal political views” were mostly likely to be believers.

Via Daily Caller:

Not all scientists agree that global warming is man-made. Nearly half of meteorologists and atmospheric science experts don’t believe that human activities are the driving force behind global warming, according to a survey by the American Meteorological Society.
The survey of AMS members found that while 52 percent of American Meteorological Society members believe climate change is occurring and mostly human-induced, 48 percent of members do not believe in man-made global warming.
Furthermore, the survey found that scientists who professed “liberal political views” were much more likely to believe in the theory of man-made global warming than those who without liberal views.
“Political ideology was the factor next most strongly associated with meteorologists’ views about global warming. This also goes against the idea of scientists’ opinions being entirely based on objective analysis of the evidence, and concurs with previous studies that have shown scientists’ opinions on topics to vary along with their political orientation,” writes survey author Neil Stenhouse of George Mason University.

Keep on reading…

The Real Story Behind Thanksgiving

The real story of Thanksgiving was of the triumph of capitalism over communism.

The Real Story Behind Thanksgiving



Did you know that the first [Plymouth Colony Pilgrim's] Thanksgiving was a celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative?



William Bradford was the governor of the original Pilgrim colony, founded at Plymouth in 1621. The colony was first organized on a communal basis, as their financiers required. Land was owned in common. The Pilgrims farmed communally, too, following the "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" precept.



The results were disastrous. Communism didn't work any better 400 years ago than it does today. By 1623, the colony had suffered serious losses. Starvation was imminent.



Bradford realized that the communal system encouraged and rewarded waste and laziness and inefficiency, and destroyed individual initiative. Desperate, he abolished it. He distributed private plots of land among the surviving Pilgrims, encouraging them to plant early and farm as individuals, not collectively.



The results Communism didn't work any better 400 years ago than it does today. By 1623, the colony had suffered serious losses. Starvation was imminent....Read more here

.

Colorado dem facing recall over stricter gun control laws resigns...

It's a dirty trick to allow demos to keep their one-vote majority in the state Senate.

Via TPM:

Colorado state Sen. Evie Hudak (D), who was facing a potential recall election over her vote in favor of stricter gun control laws, will resign Wednesday, Denver television station KDVR reported.
Hudak’s decision assured that Democrats would hold onto their one-vote majority in the state Senate, according to the TV station, with a Democratic committee being allowed to pick her replacement.

After negotiating with Iran, Obama is downgrading relations with the Vatican...

Is Obama returning to his Muslim roots?

Via The Washington Times:

The Obama administration, in what’s been called an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican, has moved to shut down the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See — a free-standing facility — and relocate offices onto the grounds of the larger American Embassy in Italy.
The new offices will be in a separate building on the property, Breitbart reported.

And while U.S. officials are touting the relocation as a security measure that’s a cautionary reaction to last year’s attacks on America's facility in Benghazi, several former American envoys are raising the red flag.

It’s a “massive downgrade of U.S.-Vatican ties,” said former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it’s] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”

Border agents attacked on the border by crowd form Mexico...

Shoot them...

Via LA Times:

More than 100 people pelted U.S. Border Patrol agents with rocks and bottles during a rowdy confrontation Sunday afternoon along the U.S.-Mexico border, federal authorities said.
Nobody was seriously injured and it’s not clear whether the crowd was trying to enter the U.S. illegally or hold a demonstration, but the sight of a large crowd surging beyond the border rattled nerves.
Agents said it harked to the days in the 1990s when migrants would run across the border en masse, in so-called banzai runs that would overwhelm agents. As the crowd on Sunday crossed the Tijuana River into California, more than one dozen agents responded to the border fence atop the levee and deployed pepper spray to hold them back, triggering the melee.
Several agents were hit in the arms and legs with rocks and one agent was hit in the head with a filled water bottle, officials said. The crowd eventually dispersed.
“It was extremely unusual,” said agent Timothy Hamill, an agency spokesman. “It was dangerous, very dangerous.”

Video: If You Like Your Plan You Can Keep It: The Rap (w/ Remy)

If You Like Your Plan You Can Keep It: The Rap (w/ Remy) 

U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly declined in November

There is that "unexpectedly" word again. Working in the automotive sector, I can tell you inventories at dealers have risen rather sharply in the last month too.

Via Bloomberg:

Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly declined in November to a seven-month low as Americans grew more pessimistic about the labor-market outlook.
The Conference Board’s index fell to 70.4 from a revised 72.4 a month earlier that was stronger than initially estimated, the New York-based private research group said today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 78 economists called for a November reading of 72.6.

Tweet of the Day: Hassan Rouhani brags about out negotiating Obama...

Geez...

Enrichment, which is part of our rights, will continue. It continues today and will continue tomorrow. #100DayReport
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) November 26, 2013

Latest Obamacare Glitch: Disappearing enrollment reports

So, many people think they are signed up, but they really aren't? They are going to be really pissed come January. 

Via WaPo:

. . . “The system will not work perfectly on Dec. 1, but it will operate much better than it did in October,” Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency in charge of HealthCare.gov, told reporters on Monday.
Even if it does work better for consumers, there are still problems — particularly the scrambled reports insurers are getting about people who have signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov. Insurers say they are getting duplicate records and reports that misstate family relationships, such as listing a child as a spouse.
In some cases, enrollment reports are disappearing. With these “orphan records,” insurers have no way of knowing whether a person is signed up for coverage, unless a new customer happens to call the company with questions.
“The biggest concern is that there are going to be people showing up to get their care,” said one person close to the insurance industry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. “Then [the doctors or hospitals] call us and we have no record, and then the consumer is left frustrated and worried and scared.”
Until such errors stop, “you can’t open the floodgates” to large numbers of Americans using the Web site to sign up for coverage

Newest Obamacare Lie: Anyone making less than about $45,900 a year can get a subsidy

A CNN analysis finds this just isn't true.

But a CNN analysis shows that in the largest city in nearly every state, many low-income younger Americans won’t get any subsidy at all. Administration officials said the reason so many Americans won’t receive a subsidy is that the cost of insurance is lower than the government initially expected. Subsidies are calculated using a complicated formula based on the cost of insurance premiums, which can vary drastically from state to state, and even county to county.
That doesn’t change the fact that in Chicago, a 27-year old will receive no subsidy to help offset premiums of more than $165 a month if he makes more than $27,400 a year.
In Portland, Oregon, subsidies for individuals making just $28,725 a year phase out for those younger than 35 years old.

Obamacare forcing companies to reduce their healthcare benefits...

Obamacare imposes a 40% tax on health plans that are deemed to be too generous. This is the so called Cadillac tax and it goes into effect in 2018. Most people don't have this level of plan. The exceptions are mostly some unions and Obama may grant them another exemption. Here is the problem for everyone else. The Cadillac tax is indexed to inflation. Inflation for the general economy is much less than inflation for medical care. Your Chevy plan may be a Cadillac plan by 2018 if nothing changes. Companies are analyzing this now and may be forced start downgrading their employee health insurance. 

For 75 million Americans who get their insurance through large companies, the Affordable Care Act is a mixed bag. Experts tell NBC News the new healthcare law is only slightly increasing premiums next year, but causing some companies with the most generous plans to reduce their employees’ benefits.
Aaron Baker, 36, his wife Billie and their two young children are covered under a generous health insurance plan offered by the private Midwestern university where he’s worked for 10 years. When they opened their benefits notice this year, they were pleased to see their $385 premium is only up by four dollars next year. However, they were shocked to discover that instead of covering the first dollar they spend with no deductible, the Baker’s plan now includes a $1,000 deductible and a $2,500 out of pocket maximum. They also will still have small co-pays for services.
According to the enrollment notice, the changes are “to relieve future health plan trend pressure and to put the university in a position to avoid the excise tax that becomes effective in 2018.” The 40 percent excise tax—often called the “Cadillac tax”— is part of Obamacare and is levied on the most generous health plans. It’s designed to bring down overall health costs by making companies and workers more cost-conscious. The thinking is that if consumers have to pay more expenses themselves, through higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, they’ll avoid unnecessary or overly costly procedures. And that is supposed to make care more affordable for everyone.
Billie Baker doesn’t think much of that concept. “I think that saying that your insurance is too good so we’re going to give you a penalty,” she said, “is sort of outrageous to me.”

The President who changes or ignore laws he doesn't like claims, " we are a nation of laws."

Unbelievable...

"If I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress than I would do so," said the pres, "But we are a nation of laws."
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 25, 2013

Demo Pollster on Obamacare: “Anybody who is halfway intelligent knows this is a big … problem for us."

Obviously...

Via Politico: 

“We’re trying to deny what everyone knows is happening,” said one Democratic pollster who is a veteran of competitive congressional races. “Anybody who is halfway intelligent knows this is a big … problem for us. It’s impossible not to see. We can try to hide our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not a problem, but it is.”
Keith Frederick, another Democratic pollster, was more diplomatic.
“I think if you’re the leaders of the party you have to keep a positive message as long as possible,” he said.

MoveOn.org doesn't care about the people losing their health insurance policies

So much for liberal compassion...

Via MoveOn.org (email):

Why are we so fixated on 4 million insured people who may lose their current and mostly sub-standard health insurance policies and ignoring the fact that 48 million people who have never had health insurance will finally be able to buy health insurance?
The 4 million insured have had the ability to purchase insurance all along. Now, due to circumstances beyond their control, including the greed of insurance companies, they could potentially lose their current policy. But they still have the option to get another plan.
The 48 million people that have never had coverage would not be able to get any health insurance coverage if it were not for the Affordable Care Act. End of story!
Tell your lawmakers to stop putting politics ahead of the needs of the majority—that is not the way a democracy is supposed to work.
Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.
Thanks!
–Jim Frost

What is up with the Sun?

If we are headed to a new "Maunder Minimum," we will need to accelerate CO2 production...

AFP via Yahoo:

Cycle 24 has also diverged from the norm in another surprising way.
Typically, around the end of each 11-year sunspot cycle, the sun's magnetic fields switch direction. The northern and southern hemispheres change polarity, usually simultaneously.
During the swap, the strength of the magnetic fields drops to near zero and reappears when the polarity is reversed, scientists explain.
But this time, something different seems to be happening. The north pole already reversed its polarity several months ago -- and so it's now the same polarity as the south pole.
According to the most recent satellite measurements, "the south hemisphere should flip on the near future," said Todd Hoeksema, director of the Wilcox Solar Observatory at Stanford University.
He didn't seem concerned about the phenomenon.
But scientists are watching the sun carefully to see whether cycle 24 is going to be an aberration -- or if this solar calmness is going to stretch through the next cycle as well.
"We won't know that for another good three or four years," said Biesecker.
Some researchers speculate this could be the start of a prolonged period of weak solar activity.
The last time that happened, during the so-called "Maunder Minimum" between 1650 and 1715, almost no sunspots were observed. During the same period, temperatures dropped sharply on Earth, sparking what is called the "Little Ice Age" in Europe and North America.

As the sunspot numbers continue to stay low, it's possible the Earth's climate is being affected again.

NASA video explains the Suns cycles.

Video of the Day: Rise of the Machine | Marines Test Load-Bearing Robotic Mule for First Time

I salute our new robotic pack mules...

Rise of the Machine | Marines Test Load-Bearing Robotic Mule for First Time 

The carbon credit market continues it's slow death...

I'll bet Al Gore has already cashed out...

Via Financial Times:

At least 10 London banks have scaled back or closed their carbon trading desks amid turmoil in the European emissions trading scheme.
The fledgling market was once seen as a promising growth area, with the City of London Corporation predicting in 2006 that London would become the leading provider of services to the “mushrooming” sector.
But the number of City workers employed on carbon desks has fallen by 70 per cent in the past four years, according to Anthony Hobley, president of the Climate Markets & Investors Association.

Remember when Bill Clinton made a deal with North Korea to stop their nuclear weapons program?

It seems we have made a deal with Iran that is alleged to stop their nuclear weapon ambitions. This is a good time to remember when Bill Clinton made a similar deal with North Korea. How did that work out for us? 

Via LA Times:

WASHINGTON — President Clinton on Tuesday approved a deal reached by U.S. negotiators in Geneva to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, saying the agreement “will make the United States, the Korean peninsula and the world safer.”
Clearly delighted by what he considers a victory for his foreign policy, the President appeared before television cameras to hail the agreement as “the first step on the road to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.” He instructed Special Ambassador Robert L. Gallucci, the Administration’s lead negotiator with North Korea, to sign the accord Friday in Geneva.
However, the White House refused to release the text Tuesday, and Administration officials said that it will not be made public until after it is signed. Instead, Gallucci and other U.S. officials briefed reporters on what they said are its principal elements.
The accord, concluded Monday in Geneva, gives North Korea a series of economic and political benefits in exchange for promises to freeze and eventually dismantle its current nuclear facilities, which the CIA believes have been used to make the material for one to two nuclear weapons.
“The North Koreans do have an interest in a political and economic opening. They do have long-term energy needs. And we are addressing those needs,” Gallucci told reporters at a White House briefing. “They are giving up a nuclear program that posed an enormous risk to South Korea, to Japan, to Northeast Asia and to the international non-proliferation regime.

Amusing: Crack smoking Toronto mayor has a higher approval than Obama...

This will leave a mark...

Is it possible for a politician who admitted to smoking crack cocaine and was reportedly heard threatening to kill someone to be more liked than the President of the United States? According to the latest polls and surveys, the answer is yes.
Based on the latest poll done by Forum Research, Rob Ford, the foul-mouthed, irascible Toronto mayor continues to enjoy a 42 percent job performance rating, while a CBS poll released this week had President Barack Obama’s approval rating at an all-time low of just 37 percent.

Tweet of the Day from Rep. Steve Stockman

Just a few weeks ago even suggesting moving Obamacare deadlines was "arson" and "terrorism." Now it's White House policy.
— Rep. Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) November 22, 2013

Fear: Sen. Al Franken now ready to delay Obamacare...

You can smell the fear coming from democrats up for re-election...

The Washington Post reports:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) says he would be open to a brief delay in the individual mandate if the problems with HealthCare.gov aren't fixed by the end of the month, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

"I think then we have to consider extending the deadline for the mandate, but let’s hope that doesn't happen," Franken told MPR.

Franken has so far been relatively quiet about potential changes to the health-care law, but he now joins a growing group of Senate Democrats in seats that could be targeted by the GOP in 2014 who are speaking up on the issue.

Hilarious: Hitler finds out he can't keep his doctor under Obamacare

Hitler finds out he can't keep his doctor under Obamacare 

#LOL Great Obamacare Musical Parody Video

This is three weeks old, but I don't think many have seen it. The singing won't win a Grammy, but it's great anyway.

Via Michigan Republican Party:

Green Fail: Taxpayers take $139 million haircut on failed Fisker Automotive loan

Wonderful...

Via the Daily Caller:

The Energy Department has sold off its $192 million loan guarantee to Fisker Automotive to Chinese billionaire Richard Li for $25 million — the biggest taxpayer loss on a green loan since the failure of Solyndra.

The Energy Department will announce the “selling of the promissory note” to Hybrid Tech, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Richard Li, according to sources familiar with the sale. The DOE sold the loan to Li for $25 million after lending the financially troubled green automaker a total of $192 million since 2009.[...}

Including the $25 million loan sale, the DOE has recovered only $53 million of the original $192 million disbursed — netting taxpayers a $139 million loss.

Tom Brokaw Claims Conservatives Rejoiced At News of JFK Assassination…

Douchebag...

Amusing: Demo congressional chief of staff Minh Ta on Obamacare exchange prices: “Simply unaffordable,”

Via The Hill:

Older congressional staff say their out-of-pocket healthcare costs will rise three or four times after they enter the ObamaCare insurance exchanges.
The economic shock has led Democratic chiefs of staff to call for changing the rules so that their staffers won’t take the economic hit.
The chiefs of staff have expressed support for a change that would allow congressional offices to re-classify their workers as non-official staff so that they can avoid the higher costs.
“Simply unaffordable,” Minh Ta, chief of staff to Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), wrote in an email to fellow Democratic chiefs of staff on Thursday afternoon.
Ta’s email, sent to other House Democratic chiefs of staff, said staffers above the age of 59 felt a “shock to the system” upon seeing plan prices on the District of Columbia’s new insurance marketplace. [...]

Get ready for the Obamacare doctor shortage...

Republicans waned about this. Everything else they warned about has come true...

WASHINGTON — Many doctors are disturbed that they’ll be paid less – often a lot less – to care for the millions of patients who are projected to buy coverage through the health law’s new insurance marketplaces.
Some have complained to medical associations – including those in Texas, California, Georgia, Connecticut and New York – saying the discounted rates could lead to a two-tiered system in which fewer doctors participate, perhaps making it harder for consumers to get the care they need.
“As it is, there is a shortage of primary care physicians in the country, and they don’t have enough time to see all the patients who are calling them,” said Peter Cunningham, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington.
If providers are paid less, he said, “Are (enrollees) going to have difficulty getting physicians to accept them as patients?”
Insurance officials acknowledge that they have reduced rates in some plans, saying they are under enormous pressure to keep premiums affordable. They say physicians will make up for the lower pay by seeing more patients, since the plans tend to have smaller networks of doctors.
But many primary care doctors say they barely have time to take care of the patients they have now.

Flashback to 2005: Sen. Obama claims nuclear option "...not what the Founders had in mind...will poison Washington.”

Flashback to 2005: Sen. Obama claims nuclear option "...not what the Founders had in mind...will poison Washington.”

Flashback to 2005: Harry Reid defends filibuster for stalling executive nominees...

Harry Reid is a piece of excrement... 

Sen. Harry Reid, Floor Remarks, 5/18/05

Harry Reid goes nuclear...

Democrats will regret this when Republicans control the Senate and White House...

Via Fox News:

Senate Democrats bowled over Republicans on Thursday to win approval for a highly controversial rule change which would limit the GOP's ability to block nominees, in a move Republicans called a "raw power grab."
"It's a sad day in the history of the Senate," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said after the vote.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., moving quickly following days of speculation, used the so-called "nuclear option" to pass the change. Typically, major changes like this take 67 votes, but he did it with just a simple majority.
With Republicans fuming, the change weakens the power of the minority to stall nominations for top positions. Instead of needing 60 votes to break a filibuster, the change means Democrats will now need just 51.

Amusing Video: Obama and Democrats don't like the term Obamacare anymore...

When Obama and Democrats thought the program would work, they embraced the Obamacare label. Now that it is an unmitigated disaster, they want to call it the Affordable care Act again. 

Video: Enroll America Director Conspires to Release Private Data for Political Purposes

Via Project Veritas:

Tweet of the Day: James O'Keefe tweets Sebelius

Hmm...

Might want to cancel your plans tomorrow, @Sebelius. It's going to be a busy day. @Project_Veritas
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 19, 2013

Obamacare disapproval hits new high...

A CBS News Poll finds 61% disapprove of Obamacare. This is a new high.

Via CBS:

A rocky beginning to the opening of the new health insurance exchanges has also taken its toll on how Americans perceive the Affordable Care Act. Now, approval of the law has dropped to 31 percent – the lowest number yet recorded in CBS News Polls, and a drop of 12 points since last month. Sixty-one percent disapprove (a high for this poll), including 46 percent who say they disapprove strongly.
Republicans are nearly unanimous in their disapproval of the law, and now more than two-thirds of independents agree. Almost six in ten Democrats continue to support the law, but their support has dropped 16 points from last month – from 74 percent in October to 58 percent today. Support has dropped 11 points among independents and five points among Republicans.

Obama's HHS spending $7 billion to find ways to save money on Obamacare

Only in a weird liberal alternate universe is it a good idea to spend billions to study how to save money.

Via Weekly Standard:

The Department of Health and Human Services revealed on Wednesday a plan to spend up to $7 billion to find ways to reduce spending under the Affordable Care Act while maintaining or improving the quality of health care.  The solicitation for bids for this wide-ranging project appeared today on the Federal Business Opportunities website:
“The purpose is to develop a Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design, and Analysis (RMADA) IDIQ [Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity] to respond to expanded needs of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care ACT (ACA) and Health Care reform ACT (HCERA). The work awarded under the RMADA will involve the design, implementation and evaluation of a broad range of research and/or payment and service delivery models to test their potential for reducing expenditures for Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and uninsured beneficiaries while maintaining or improving quality of care.”
Keep on reading…

Amusing Video: Healthcare.gov website crashes during Sebelius PR event

Sebelius couldn't buy a break. The website seems to crash everytime she gets near a computer.

At a second table, the secretary met Carmen Salero who was trying to sign up online. As the secretary and Salero made small talk, CBS4′s Brian Andrews noticed the site crash on the lap top in front of them.
“The screen says I’m sorry but the system is temporarily down,” Andrews pointed out. “Uh oh,” responded the secretary. “That happens every day,” said Salerno, “it must mean a lot of people are on there trying to get coverage.”

CMS tech officer: Roughly 30-40 percent of the ObamaCare exchange system still needs to be built...

 Start at the 2:35 mark if you are in a hurry.

This tweet sums up the revelation in this video better than I ever could.

It's just mind-boggling. If the payment system isn't even built, how in the world did HHS or the WH think this thing could go live on Oct 1?
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) November 19, 2013

We were told only 26,794 people enrolled in the federal exchange, but that number included people who had not checked out yet, but had a plan in their outbox. Did anyone actually check out an Obamacare plan? How did they pay? I did a search of the term "check out" on healthcare.gov and the results don't refer to how to out a plan.

Don't let your Congress critter tell you he is in the same health insurance boat you are...

Lawmakers may have to buy Obamacare, but it isn't the same. First, Obama gave them  an exemption that allowed their employer, the taxpayers of this country, to pay 70 percent of their insurance premium. No one else is allowed to have their employer subsidize their exchange premium on the exchanges. That isn't the only perk Congress gets that you don't.

Via The NY Times:

Members of Congress like to boast that they will have the same health care enrollment experience as constituents[...]

That is true. As long as their constituents have access to “in-person support sessions” like the ones being conducted at the Capitol and congressional office buildings by the local exchange and four major insurers. Or can log on to a special Blue Cross and Blue Shield website for members of Congress and use a special toll-free telephone number — a “dedicated congressional health insurance plan assistance line.”

And then there is the fact that lawmakers have a larger menu of “gold plan” insurance choices than most of their constituents have back home.

While millions of Americans have been left to fend for themselves and go through the frustrating experience of trying to navigate the federal exchange, members of Congress and their aides have all sorts of assistance to help them sort through their options and enroll.

Barack Obama: “People call me a socialist sometimes, but you’ve got to meet real socialists"

Obama denies he is a socialist.

Via US News:

Obama also defended himself against charges that he’s a socialist.
“People call me a socialist sometimes, but you’ve got to meet real socialists, you’ll have a real sense of what a socialist is,” he said. “I’m talking about lowering the corporate tax rate, my health care reform is based on the private marketplace, the stock market is doing pretty good the last time I checked and it is true that I am concerned about growing inequality in the system, but nobody questions the efficacy of a market economy in terms of producing wealth and innovation and keeping us competitive.”

He was a candidate for the socialist-leaning New Party of Chicago in the 1990s.

 
Who was the New Party?

Via NRO:

The documents reveal that the New Party’s central aim was to move the United States steadily closer to European social democracy, a goal that Mitt Romney has also attributed to Obama. New Party leaders disdained mainstream Democrats, considering them tools of business, and promised instead to create a partnership between elected officials and local community organizations, with the goal of socializing the American economy to an unprecedented degree.
The party’s official “statement of principles,” which candidates seeking endorsement from the Chicago chapter were asked to support, called for a “peaceful revolution” and included redistributive proposals substantially to the left of the Democratic party.
To get a sense of the ideology at play, consider that the meeting at which Obama joined the party opened with the announcement of a forthcoming event featuring the prominent socialist activist Frances Fox Piven. The Chicago New Party sponsored a luncheon with Michael Moore that same year.

Change: Sebelius walks back the 30th of November HealthCare.gov website fix date...

It's a moving target...

Via Associated Press:

The HealthCare.gov website will still be a work in progress beyond the end of the month, Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday, appearing to soften a promise that the site will be working by then for the vast majority of users.
“The 30th of November is not a magic go, no go date. It is a work of constant improvement. We have some very specific things we know we need to complete by the 30th and that punch list is getting knocked out every week,” Sebelius told The Associated Press.
Sebelius made stops in Orlando and Miami on Tuesday to address the fallout over the new health care law’s paltry enrollment figures and continuing website problems.
The Obama administration has staked its credibility on turning HealthCare.gov around by the end of this month. From the president on down, officials have said the website will be running smoothly for the “vast majority of users” by Nov. 30, but have been vague about what that actually means.
Keep on reading…

Amusing: Obamacare fan-girl finds out she is on the hook for the full ticket price...

No subsidy for you!

Via Washington State Wire:

Jessica Sanford, the Federal Way woman who got a shout-out from President Obama last month with her fan letter for the Affordable Care Act, got a rather rude awakening last week. Turns out she doesn’t qualify for a tax credit after all.
At least that’s what the letter said that she got from the state. Now she says her dream of affordable health insurance has gone poof. She can’t afford it. She’ll have to go without. “I’m really terribly embarrassed,” she says. “It has completely turned around on me. I mean, completely.”
Chalk it up to a bollixed-up state website that apparently still has major problems. Originally it said Sanford and her child would get a whopping tax credit that would reduce their total premium to $169 a month. Now the state is telling her it goofed – twice – and she has to pay full ticket.

Was the Census jobs report faked before the 2012 presidential election?

Hmm...

Via The NY Post:

In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.
The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.
And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it.
Just two years before the presidential election, the Census Bureau had caught an employee fabricating data that went into the unemployment report, which is one of the most closely watched measures of the economy.
And a knowledgeable source says the deception went beyond that one employee — that it escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.

Flashback to September-Obama on Obamacare opponents -If it actually works, they will look pretty bad (Video)

How's this comment working out for Obama now?  

So if it actually works, they will look pretty bad. If it actually works, that will mean that everything they saying really wasn't true and they were just playing politics."

Fail: Al Jazeera America averaging just 13,000 viewers a day

Hey, that's half as many as signed up for Obamacare on the Federal Exchange in October...

Via NY Post:

After just two months on the air, Al Jazeera America is losing ground in the US.
The US offshoot of the Mideast news outfit managed fewer than half of the viewers who tuned in to its predecessor, Al Gore’s Current TV.
Al Jazeera America has averaged just 13,000 viewers a day since its Aug. 20 launch — on par with a public access channel. In the 25- to 54-year-old audience sought by advertisers, it drew 5,000 viewers.
The ratings are so low, they are considered a “scratch” and aren’t reported by Nielsen.
“We are making large investments in programming and marketing,” an Al Jazeera America spokesperson said Sunday.
By comparison, 31,000 viewers tuned into Current TV a year ago.
Currently, Al Jazeera America is carried in about 44 million US households. The network lost millions of households when Time Warner Cable dropped it shortly after its debut.

Is Obama getting ready to give up on the federal exchange?

The Obama administration is considering letting big insurers to directly sign up people who qualify
for tax credits. That doesn't sound like they are confident the exchange will be functioning well at the end of the month.

Via CNBC:

On a mission to help people bypass distressed health-insurance websites, the Obama administration said it may allow big insurers to directly sign up those who qualify for tax credits, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Currently, customers who are eligible for subsidies can get them only when purchasing coverage on the exchanges. The Obamacare website was launched on Oct. 1 and since then has had various technical problems.

The new concession can help some people work around troubled insurance websites, including HealthCare.gov. The administration said it is working with insurers to eliminate the technical hurdles for the plan, according to The Journal.

Chart of the Day: Number of people who think government should ensure Americans have healthcare declines...

Barack Obama hardest hit...

Via Gallop:

Obama's hometown newspaper calls for Obamacare do-over...

In case you missed this juicy morsel during your busy weekend...

Via Chicago Tribune:

As Friday dawns, here’s what a health insurance crisis looks like to many millions of Americans: Barely six weeks shy of 2014, they do not know whether they will have medical coverage Jan. 1. Or which hospitals and doctors they might patronize. Or what they may pay to protect themselves and their families against the chance of medical and financial catastrophe. How much, that is, they may pay in order to satisfy the Democratic politicians and federal bureaucrats who are worsening a metastasizing health coverage fiasco.

For perhaps 5 million of those Americans thus far — estimates vary — the Washington-ordered cancellation of their policies is especially maddening. In the past these people took responsibility for their coverage and bought policies that balanced their needs, finances and personal choices. Congress and President Barack Obama, by enacting the Affordable Care Act, in effect ordered insurers to dismantle many of those individual plans — and cancel those policies.

...Obama doesn't want to reopen this law for fear that Republicans and some Democrats will substantially rewrite it. But that's what has to happen.

Keep on reading…

Get prepared for the Obamacare insurance exchange rate death spiral...

Early results indicate young people aren't interested. When it comes to a new iPhone or health insurance they think they don't need, young people are getting an iPhone. 

In California, the state with the largest uninsured population, most of those who applied were older people with health problems. In Kentucky, nearly 3 of 4 enrollees were over 35. In Washington state, about 23 percent of enrollees were between 18 and 34. And in Ohio, groups helping with enrollment described many of those coming to them as older residents who lost their jobs and health coverage during the recession.
"They have been putting off treatment for a long time, just praying they live until they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare," said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which received federal grant money to help people establish coverage.
That people with serious health conditions would be the first to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act was expected. But that direction must shift.
In general, someone in his 60s uses $6 in health care services for every $1 tallied by someone in his 20s... Keep on reading...

Scary: California shuts down 10 fake "Covered California" websites...

There are more than 700 fake Obamacare websites. The feds are hesitating to take them down because they have signed up more people that the real site. (snark)

(Reuters) - Authorities in California shut down 10 fake Obamacare websites, amid nationwide concern among law enforcement officials about potential fraud during the program's rollout, the state's attorney general said on Thursday.
The sites, which mimicked the official "Covered California" affordable health insurance website, were removed from the internet in an effort to stop fraud connected to the rollout, said a spokesman for California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who ordered the sites to close after a month-long investigation.
"These websites fraudulently imitated Covered California in order to lure consumers away from plans that provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act," Harris said in a statement. "My office will continue to investigate and shut down these kinds of sites."

Nancy Pelosi Sputters For Spends 3 Minutes Trying To Rewrite Her Own Broken ObamaCare Promise (Video)

Shameful...

Chart of the Day: Obama's Three Week Job Approval Meltdown...

Let's just say the last three weeks have been really bad for Obama.

Via RCP:

When will Obama apologize for his other big whopper: "If you are a family making less than $250 thousand, my plan will not raise your taxes. Period."

Yes. Obama used the "period" word.



The truth is Obamacare raised taxes on suntans, medical devices and so-called "Cadillac health plans." All these hit the middle class. Of course, the SCOTUS ruled the penalty was actually a tax too.

Alec Baldwin suggests he may quit showbiz...

Image Wikimedia Commons

Be still my beating heart...

Via Breitbart:

In a post under his blog byline at The Huffington Post, actor and MSNBC host Alec Baldwin suggests that he would quit show business for the sake of his family: 

"I am concerned for my family. In Bloomberg's New York, forty or fifty paparazzi are allowed to block streets, inconvenience homeowners, workers and shoppers, and make life miserable for my neighbors. Photographers have tripped and fallen on babies in strollers on my block. They have nearly struck my wife in the face with microphones. They provoke me, daily, by getting dangerously close to me with their cameras as weapons, hoping I will react. When I do, the weapon doubles as a device to record my reaction. And then, apparently, I lose every time. If quitting the television business, the movie business, the theatre, any component of entertainment, is necessary in order to bring safety and peace to my family, then that is an easy decision."

D.C. insurance commissioner pushes back against Obamacare "fix." Gets fired immediately...

Thou shalt not question the liberal Messiah... 

Via WaPo:

A day after he questioned President Obama’s decision to unwind a major tenet of the health-care law and said the nation’s capital might not go along, D.C. insurance commissioner William P. White was fired.
White was called into a meeting Friday afternoon with one of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s (D) top deputies and told that the mayor “wants to go in a different direction,” White told The Washington Post on Saturday.
White said the mayoral deputy never said that he was being asked to leave because of his Thursday statement on health care. But he said the timing was hard to ignore. Roughly 24 hours later, White said, he was “basically being told, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ ”
White was one of the first insurance commissioners in the nation last week to push back against Obama’s attempt to smooth over part of the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act: millions of unexpected cancellations of insurance plans.

UN interpreter exposes anti-Israeli bias in hot mic moment... (video)

Hot mic catches UN interpreter saying anti-Israel votes are 'a bit much'

 

 “I think when you have… like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, c’est un peu trop, non? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean I know… There’s other really bad shit happening, but no one says anything about the other stuff.” 

The current score is 22 resolutions condemning Israel—and only four on the rest of the world combined.

Fail: Obama administration sets goal of 80% usability for Obamacare website...

The Obama administration will declare healthcare.gov website a success if 80% of users can buy insurance online. That means 20% will fail for some reason. Would Amazon consider their website successful if 20% of consumers who wanted to buy something couldn't successfully get it selected and checked out?

Via WaPo:

The Obama administration will consider the new federal insurance marketplace a success if 80 percent of users can buy health-care plans online, according to government and industry officials familiar with the project.
The goal for how many people should be able to make it through the insurance exchange is an internal target that administration officials have not made public. It acknowledges that as many as one in five Americans who try to use the Web site to buy insurance will be unable to do so.
The measure is the first concrete performance standard in the 3¹/₂ years since the government began to design the health exchange, and was defined by a group of federal officials and technical experts in late October. It is now guiding the work of hundreds of government employees and contractors racing to try to repair the balky Web site by the administration’s Nov. 30 deadline.
Whether the government meets the benchmark — and whether the public regards it as adequate — will be a central factor in President Obama’s efforts to increase support for the controversial health-care law and lure customers to the federal insurance marketplace.
The goal is that 80 percent of people going to HealthCare.gov should manage to enroll electronically — but that means that many others, perhaps tens of thousands, will not succeed. It puts more pressure on the administration to fix technical problems that have made it difficult for people to sign up for coverage by other routes, including federally sponsored call centers and the insurers themselves.
Administration officials acknowledge that until recently, they had no concrete definition for how well HealthCare.gov should work...

Karma: Harry Reid's Nevada will face a 179% increase in Individual-Market healthcare premiums...

I hope the voters of Nevada come to understand elections have consequences. They could have easily defeated Reid in 2010. Without Reid at the helm in the Senate, we might have gotten true bipartisan healthcare reform. 

Via Forbes:

The eight states that will face the biggest increases in underlying premiums are largely southern and western states: Nevada (+179%), New Mexico (+142%), Arkansas (+138%), North Carolina (+136%), Vermont (+117%), Georgia (+92%), South Dakota (+77%), and Nebraska (+74%).

Rep. Charles Rangel to Obama, "...saying you’re sorry doesn’t help me worth a damn at the polls..."

If Obama loses Rep. Charles Rangel, it's over...

Via NYDN:

President Obama took his medicine Thursday for the botched rollout of Obamacare.
During an extraordinary hour-long news conference, Obama repeatedly said he deserves the blame of angry Americans for a debacle that has cast a shadow over his presidency and left Democrats anxious about the 2014 elections.
And to make amends, he reversed a cornerstone of Obamacare, at least for one year, saying people should be able to keep insurance policies that were supposed to be canceled. [...]
Still, some Democrats called for making legislative changes in addition to those Obama announced. Democrats said that colleagues vulnerable in next year’s election remained concerned about a backlash from voters.
“If I had the problem, saying you’re sorry doesn’t help me worth a damn at the polls, unless I can staple your remarks to the ballot,” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) said.

Strange: Charles Barkley compares himself to Paula Deen...

Will TNT fire Barkley? 

ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta) – Hall of Famer and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley admitted Thursday to using racial slurs with his friends.
Commenting on Los Angeles Clippers’ Matt Barnes using the “N” word on Twitter and the Miami Dolphins bullying investigation on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” Barkley stated he will continue to use the racial slur around his friends and that white people should not dictate how he talks.
“I’m a black man. I use the ‘N’ word,” Barkley said. “I’m going to continue to use the ‘N’ word with my black friends, with my white friends. They are my friends.”
Barkley compared the current debate to the controversy surrounding Paula Deen, who admitted using the racial slur previously.
“This debate goes back to the Paula Deen thing, where they’re like, ‘Black people use it amongst themselves, it’s in rap records,’” Barkley said. “Listen, what I do with my black friends is not up to white America to dictate to me what’s appropriate and inappropriate.”

Flashback Video: In '09, Mary Landrieu Said She'd Be 100% Accountable For ObamaCare

Louisiana voters should hold Sen. Mary Landrieu to her pledge in 2014.


In '09, Mary Landrieu Said She'd Be 100% Accountable For ObamaCare

Hilarious Video: Hitler Finds Out his Health Policy has been cancelled (X-Angel Version)

Pants On Fire Award: Pelosi Clams She Never Said You Can Keep Your Plan

Pelosi said she didn't tell constituents if they liked plan could keep: "I would have if I ever met anyone who liked their plan"
— Deirdre Walsh (@deirdrewalshcnn) November 14, 2013

The Weekly Standard also reported:

“Did I ever tell my constituents that if they liked their plan they could keep it?” Pelosi asked. “I would have if I’d ever met anybody who liked his or her plan. But that was not my experience.”

I guess Nancy Pelosi didn't read her own website either...

If that isn't evidence enough, here is a video.

“If you like what you have you can keep it.” (Comment near video end)
 

Tweet of the Day: President Obama threatens to veto bipartisan bill making him keep his promise

The President just threatened to veto our bipartisan bill to allow you to #KeepYourPlan. pic.twitter.com/dXMhsTXWtn
— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) November 15, 2013

Venezuela’s socialist government starts arresting businessmen...

Barack Obama is most envious...

Nov 14 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s socialist government has arrested more than 100 “bourgeois” businessmen in a crackdown on alleged price-gouging at hundreds of shops and companies since the weekend, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday.
“They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites!” Maduro thundered in the latest of his lengthy daily speeches. “We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment.”
The successor to the late Hugo Chavez also said his government was preparing a law to limit Venezuelan businesses’ profits to between 15 percent and 30 percent.
Officials say unscrupulous companies have been hiking prices of electronics and other goods more than 1,000 percent. Critics say failed socialist economic policies and restricted access to foreign currency are behind Venezuela’s runaway inflation.
“Goodyear has to lower its prices even more, 15 percent is not enough, the inspectors have go there straightaway,” Maduro said in his evening address, sending officials to check local operations of the U.S.-based tire manufacturer.

Green Fail: Solar power plants frying birds...

Nuclear is the environmental friendly energy. 

Via Breitbart: 

Some animal rights activists are wondering just how many birds green energy may unintentionally kill as more and more birds turn up dead at solar energy facilities throughout California.
A recent article by Vice author Lex Berko notes that dead birds are being found with "singed wings" around several California solar energy facilities.
It happens that many of California's solar plants are, the article claims, in the path of "the four major north-to-south trajectories for migratory birds" called "the Pacific Flyway."
Birds are dying in one of two ways. In some cases, they imagine the shining solar panels to be bodies of water and dive straight into them. There they die when they smash into the panels from the sky.
Others "feel the wrath of the harnessed sunlight." The ultra polished solar mirrors bounce sunrays strong enough to burn the feathers off birds that quickly crash to the ground, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.