Obamacare: The healthcare exchange software is miscalculating rates
At the time of this writing the Obamacare healthcare exchanges are set to begin in ten days; the time is fast approaching when those who do not have healthcare insurance are going to have to begin to sign up for it or face the wrath of the corrupt and partisan IRS.
While the employer mandate was delayed (illegally) for one year in order to give corporations enough time to comply with the law the individual mandate remains in place. This means in ten days people without insurance will have to start signing up for it through the healthcare exchanges even though, much like the employers which were exempted, it turns out the government is not actually ready to roll out the exchanges.
The amnesty bill may be dead in the House
While the media considers the symbolic defunding of Obamcare to be the big story of the day, there was actually another story which might be more important that happened today in the House.
It now appears as if the “gang of seven” amnesty bill has been delayed and could actually be dead.
In a blow to the hopes of passing immigration reform anytime soon, the bipartisan House “gang of seven” plan is probably dead, and almost certainly won’t be introduced this fall as promised, a top Democrat on the “gang” acknowledges.
“It doesn’t appear that we’re going to move forward with the group of seven,” Dem Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a key player on immigration as a member of the gang, said in an interview with me. “The process is stalled. I don’t believe we’re going to produce a bill anytime soon.”
Luis Gutierrez blames the Republican House leadership for this:
The bipartisan group just wasn’t getting support from Republican House leadership,” Gutierrez says. “It’s just not gonna happen now.” Gutierrez continues to believe there is substantial tacit support for immigration reform even among Republicans, but that the GOP leadership refuses to acknowledge this or try to make something happen. “We need the GOP leadership to acknowledge the votes exist for reform,” he said
This would mean the establishment Republican leadership actually did something right for a change, and the reason I think this is a bigger story than the Obamcare story is because I do not believe the elitists in the Republican party have any intention of actually defunding the healthcare reform law.
We can celebrate this small victory today but there is still the chance that the House could push through several smaller measures so we will still have to keep a close eye on what the duplicitous and untrustworthy John Boehner has planned. I simply do not trust him.
The House votes to defund Obamacare
The big news of the day is naturally the fact that today the Republican led House passed a continuing resolution which would fund the government but would defund Obamacare. Both sides are now out in force trying to spin this to their advantage: The Republican are saying they are doing what is best for the American people while the Democrats are claiming just the opposite.
Since the Republicans have gained control of the House they have held somewhere around 30 or 40 show votes to repeal Obamacare all the while knowing the measure would go nowhere. People like myself have been critical of the Republicans for conducting such a fake attempt at ending Obamacare. What these votes amounted was nothing more than an to an attempt to fool the people into thinking they were doing something about Obamacare while doing nothing in order to keep the issue alive because they feel they can win over more votes by campaigning against Obamacare than they can by campaigning on having repealed the law.
Those of us who have been critical of the Republicans’ phony attempts at repealing Obamacare have stated that if they were serious they would defund the law, and today they have.
Benghazi: Democrats leave the hearing before the Victims’ families testify
This is going to be a short post because I am so outraged about this story and because it is so disrespectful and outrageous that it speaks for itself and my commentary is not needed.
During today’s hearing on the Benghazi terrorist attack which left Chris Stevens, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, and Tyrone Woods dead most of the Democrats present walked out of the hearing before hearing the testimony from the victims’ family members. The only two Democrats who had enough respect to listen to the family members of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods were Elijah Cummings and Jackie Speier.
I like to think they left in shame, but they simply do not have any.
John McCain condemns a study which found that 50% of the Syrian rebels are extremists
This is not news but John McCain wants to arm the Syrian rebels even though most people seem to feel as if there are many al-Qaeda operatives fighting against the Assad regime.
A new study was released which claims that roughly 50% of the Syrian rebels are extremists, but naturally John McCain does not believe it:
“Frankly, I just disagree,” McCain told the Council on Foreign Relations audience, challenging the contention by defense consultancy IHS Jane’s that “the insurgency is now dominated by groups with at least an Islamist viewpoint of the conflict.”
“There’s about 70 percent still who are Free Syrian Army,”
That claim flies in the face of the report which, according to the above linked article, found that only 30% of the rebels are fighting for secular reasons. So what does John McCain base his assessment on? Read more…
Lois Lerner hires high profile defense lawyer to defend her in the IRS targeting scandal
Despite the Obama regime’s now debunked claim that the IRS targeting scandal was isolated to rouge agents in the Cincinnati office, and despite Lois Lerner’s claim that she did nothing wrong while she evoked her fifth amendment right, all the evidence is pointing to a grander conspiracy which reaches the upper levels of both the IRS and the Obama regime.
Soon after her defiant stand in front of the Congress evidence came to light that she was actually feeling pressure from above to right the wrongs of the Citizens United case before the 2010 election, and shortly thereafter the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups began.
And then five days ago America’s Watchtower reported (can I use that word now that the Congress is trying to define what a journalist is?) that Lois Lerner’s own emails might show that she specifically targeted Tea Party groups.
After all of this is it any wonder that Lois Lerner has hired a high profile defense attorney to represent her in the upcoming investigation? Read more…
Happy Constitution Day!
I would be remiss if I did not mention that today is Constitution Day. On this day in 1787 39 members of the Constitutional Convention signed the newly minted Constitution, setting off a two year debate which brought us the Federalist Papers and culminated in the adoption of the United States Constitution.
I would like to wish everyone a happy Constitution Day, enjoy it while you still can.
PS, if you have not read the Federalist Papers you owe it to yourself and to your nation to do so. These papers shine a light on how the framers felt about the role of the Federal Government, and this is something too many Americans do not understand any more.
Benghazi: CIA employee who refused to sign a non-disclosure form has been suspended
Two weeks ago America’s Watchtower covered the story about a Benghazi whistleblower who claims he has been punished for trying to tell the truth about what happened on the night Chris Stevens, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, and Tyrone Woods were killed in Benghazi.
This was not surprising to those of us who are still paying close attention to this story because there have been multiple reports of witnesses being hidden, intimidated, and threatened if they dare speak truth to power. It was also reported that the witnesses were forced to sign non-disclosure forms and facing multiple lie detector tests in an attempt to keep the truth hidden.
Now we are learning that one, as of yet unnamed, potential whistleblower refused to sign the non-disclosure statement and for his morally motivated stand he is now facing the consequences.
Obamacare: Senate Democrats move to punish those who try to reverse the federal workers healthcare exemption
When the Congress found out that Federal employees would be subjected to the same healthcare exchanges they foisted on the American people the elitist ruling class politicians in Washington were horrified. People like Harry Reid and John Boehner led the charge to reverse the amendment that Charles Grassley inserted into Obamacare (an amendment they would have realized was in the bill if they had taken the time to read it) but they knew what the fallout would be if they actually held a vote to exempt themselves from Obamacare, so instead they ran to Barack Obama and asked him to do something about it behind the scenes.
Barack Obama rode his white horse to the rescue and ordered the OPM to interpret the law in a way which would exempt Federal employees from Obamacare and the OPM obliged, basically rewriting the law without going through the constitutionally correct procedure while sparing the Congress the embarrassment of voting themselves exempt from a law they passed.
David Vitter then drafted legislation which would reverse this exemption.
Senator Vitter says the OPM ruling has removed “the sting of Obamacare” from Congress. “Many Americans will see their health coverage dropped by employers, and they will be forced into the exchanges,” he told me last week. “If Congress is forced into them on the same terms, it will be more likely to fix Obamacare’s problems for others.”
And that is where things get real interesting!
Senate Judiciary Committee passes a law defining journalists which fails to protect bloggers
Late last week the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a media shield law which would protect journalists from testifying against their sources, sounds reasonable enough, right?
But this law goes on to redefine what constitutes a journalist and that is where things get a little dicey. Clearly this is an attempt to ensure that bloggers do not have the same protections as other journalists as Dianne Feinstein made clear:
defined for the first time what constitutes a “real reporter” deserving of extra protection versus what Sen. Dianne Feinstein called a “17-year-old blogger” who doesn’t deserve a legal shield.
Before I go any further I feel it necessary to state that I am not a journalist and I do not pretend to be. I have no sources and I am simply a man writing my opinions on the issues of the day, but there are many real big time bloggers out there who do have sources and it would appear as if they are they ones the Obama regime is worried about getting under control.
But this comment is the one that really has me up in arms: Read more…
America's Watchtower 