Open thread for Sunday, January 5th: New Dress
Here is the open thread for Sunday, January 5th; please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Undoubtedly many of skipped through my standard intro to the post in order to find out what the title of this week’s open thread meant and so here goes. I have written before that when the media is covering a story we must look for the story it is not covering for most likely that is the more important story. The media provides cover for the Democrats and will focus Americans on what they want us to focus on and not what we should be focused on if needs be.
The latest example of this was the Phil Robertson diversion; while America debated Duck Dynasty the Congress debated, and passed, a new NDAA bill with even more intrusive spying, yet nary a mention in the media besides a few blogs.
So here is a song called ‘New Dress’ by Depeche Mode all about the media. The versus go on to list many of the horrible things happening in the world at that time, and the chorus is about how the media is reporting on Princess Di’s new dress as the important story. The chorus goes on to say “you can change the facts, and if you change the facts, you can change a vote.”
Perfect!
Bomb blast victim fights for life
Girl Thirteen attacked with knife
Princess Di is wearing a new dress
Jet airliner shot from sky
Famine horror, millions die
Earthquake terror figures rise
Princes Di is wearing a new dress
You can’t change the world
But you can change the facts
And when you change the facts
You change points of view
If you change points of view
You may change a vote
And when you change a vote
You may change the world
In black townships fires blaze
Prospects better premier says
Within sight are golden days
Princess Di is wearing a New Dress
You can’t change the world
But you can change the facts
And when you change the facts
You change points of view
If you change points of view
You may change a vote
And when you change a vote
You may change the world
Princess Di is wearing a New Dress
We all know that Barack Obama has a penchant for ignoring the laws with which he disapproves; we saw this with DOMA, illegal immigration, and Obamacare, so it should come as no surprise to learn the Pentagon repeatedly waived laws in order to let China manufacture parts for the F-35 fighter program.
The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China’s espionage and military buildup.
According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman Corp and Honeywell International Inc, to use Chinese magnets for the new warplane’s radar system, landing gears and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program could have faced further delays.
“It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there’s a prohibition on doing defense work in China, even if it’s inadvertent,” said Frank Kenlon, who recently retired as a senior Pentagon procurement official and now teaches at American University. “I’d never seen this happen before.”
Al-Qeada has captured Fallujah
It is now being reported that al-Qaeda has captured Fallujah and there are conflicting reports as to whether or not Ramadi has also been captured by the terrorist organization.
A rejuvenated al-Qaeda-affiliated force asserted control over the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Friday, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state in one of the most crucial areas that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago.
The capture of Fallujah came amid an explosion of violence across the western desert province of Anbar in which local tribes, Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have been fighting one another for days in a confusingly chaotic three-way war.
“At the moment, there is no presence of the Iraqi state in Fallujah,” said a local journalist who asked not to be named because he fears for his safety. “The police and the army have abandoned the city, al-Qaeda has taken down all the Iraqi flags and burned them, and it has raised its own flag on all the buildings.”
Apparently somebody forgot to tell them they were on the run…..
In years past it was fairly easy to add a newborn baby to your healthcare insurance policy, however now that the government has become involved in your healthcare it might not be so easy if this story is correct:
the coming months will open up a whole new world of problems with HealthCare.gov, including the site’s inability to place new babies under their parents’ coverage.
The Associated Press is out with a report this morning that pregnant women have an entirely new set of headaches to expect from their ACA-triggered coverage, namely, that HealthCare.gov is not designed to accept any changes in status that would include or exclude a person from coverage. When a baby is born, there is no way for parents to notify the federal government that the baby now exists and needs coverage.
But having a baby isn’t the only status change which could be affected: Read more…
House Committee claims the Obama regime banned Christmas cards and carols for veterans
Here is the story:
The Obama administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prohibited veterans from hearing Christmas carols or receiving gifts wrapped in Christmas-themed wrapping paper, prompting outrage from a congressional committee.
VA officials in Iowa City, Iowa told representatives of the American Legion that they could not hand out gifts to veterans wrapped in wrapping paper that featured the term “Merry Christmas.”
Additionally, the VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia — which treats veterans — banned Christmas carolers from singing Christmas songs with religious references in public areas.
The Dallas VA Medical Center blocked local schoolchildren from giving Christmas cards to veterans because some of the cards included the terms “Merry Christmas” and “God Bless You.” A similar incident occurred in Montgomery, Alabama, where the VA Medical Center blocked veterans from receiving gift bags that included the term “Merry Christmas.”
I really have nothing to add to this other than to say if this is true it is a disgrace.
Obamacare: 18,000 “successful” enrollees in West Virginia need to reapply for healthcare coverage
America’s Watchtower has already reported that 30,000 Illinois residents who had thought they successfully enrolled in Obamacare would have to reapply for coverage and 16,000 Iowans who thought they had successfully signed up for Obamacare would also have to reapply for coverage.
This seems to be a trend for now we have learned that 18,000 people who thought they had successfully enrolled in Obamacare in West Virginia are also being told they must reapply if they want to be in conformance with the law.
One thing that people in the blogosphere have been trying to warn people about is the fact that just because you successfully enrolled in Obamacare it doesn’t necessarily mean you have healthcare coverage. We have been telling people that they need to make a payment in order to receive the benefits, this was something that Kathleen Sebelius was forced to admit when she testified in front of the Congress.
Sometimes it takes people real life experiences before they realize the truth, seeing is believing, and we are now starting to see hospitals unable to verify healthcare coverage and people are leaving without receiving any treatment rather than pay the full price of the services they need.
When Eric Holder testified in front of the Congress he made one truthful statement when he said guns would continue to turn up a crime scenes for years to come.
This statement proved true once again just last week. According to this story the Mexican police were involved in a shootout with drug lords which left five of the criminals dead and one of the weapons recovered at the crime scene was traced back to Fast and Furious.
Climate scientists rescued from the ice in the Antarctic
Last week a ship carrying climate scientists made its way to the Antarctic on a mission to prove the ice caps are melting only to get stuck in the supposedly non-existent ice. Two ice breaking ships tried to rescue the stranded vessel but were unable to because the non-existent ice was too thick for even ice breakers to get through.
After days of heavy snow and storms, which I would have thought should also have been non-existent, the climate scientists were finally rescued by a helicopter earlier today.
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