Friday, July 12, 2013

Fact check rips Pelosi claim that ObamaCare mandate 'not delayed' What a Idiot!

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The big news on ObamaCare these past two weeks has been the administration's announcement that it will delay by one year the requirement on businesses to provide health insurance.
Nancy Pelosi, though, had a curious take on the whole thing. Actually, she instructed reporters, "The mandate was not delayed."
The House Democratic leader used some creative reasoning to make her case -- she claimed the administration really only delayed the requirement on businesses to report insurance coverage details.
But The Washington Post fact-checker on Friday shut it down, effectively ruling that Pelosi is trying to "deny reality."
"Yes, reporting requirements were delayed. But there also was a one-year delay of the actual employer mandate. It's right there in the announcement," the Post wrote.
'The point is, is that the mandate was not delayed.'
- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
Here's what Pelosi said during a press conference on Thursday:
"The point is, is that the mandate was not delayed. Certain reporting by businesses that could be perceived as onerous, that reporting requirement was delayed, and partially to review how it would work and how it could be better. It was not a delay of the mandate for the businesses."
Pelosi was correct in the first part of that statement. In an announcement last week on the Treasury Department blog, Mark J. Mazur. assistant secretary for Tax Policy at Treasury, said the requirement to report details on insurance coverage would be delayed by a year.
However, that decision meant everything else would be delayed too. Mazur said the penalties on employers would be pushed off until 2015, meaning the requirement itself would be pushed off -- though the administration would still "strongly encourage" employers to offer coverage during that time.
But, as the Post noted, "encouraging employers to provide health insurance is not the same thing as mandating it."
Pelosi tried to deny the existence of a delay as her Republican colleagues use the announcement as an opening to attempt to stall other parts of the law.
Republicans are already teeing up votes on delaying what is known as the "individual mandate" -- the requirement on individuals to buy health insurance, which the administration so far has kept on schedule.
The Post wrote: "We understand Pelosi's desire to minimize the impact of the decision -- and supporters of the law may have a strong case that the employer mandate is not as central to the law as the individual mandate to buy insurance -- but that's not an excuse to deny reality."

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Airman Punished for Objecting to Gay Marriage in Military Chapel

A 27-year veteran of the Utah Air National Guard said he was reprimanded after he wrote a letter objecting to a gay wedding in the West Point chapel and was later told to prepare for retirement because his personal beliefs about homosexuality were not compatible with the military’s policies.
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“The military is trying to make examples of people who have religious beliefs that homosexual conduct in the military is wrong,” said John Wells, an attorney representing TSgt. Layne Wilson. “The end game is to force conservative Christians out of the military.”
Last December Wilson wrote a letter to a person believed to be a chaplain at West Point. He stated his displeasure at news of a same-sex ceremony held in the Cadet Chapel.
“This is wrong on so many levels,” Wilson wrote. “If they wanted to get married in a hotel that is one thing. Our base chapels are a place of worship and this is a mockery to God and our military core values. I have proudly served 27 years and this is a slap in the face to us who have put our lives on the line for this country. I hope sir that you will take appropriate action so this does not happen again.”
Instead of responding to the private email, the Commandant of Cadets notified the Utah Air National Guard – leading to an accusation that he had brought disgrace and discredit upon the Air National Guard and his conduct was inconsistent with the United States Air Force.
The Air National Guard determined that Wilson’s email “failed to render the proper respect to a commissioned officer.”
“You are hereby reprimanded,” read a letter from Lt. Col. Kevin Tobias. “As a noncommissioned officer you are expected to maintain a standard of professional and personal behavior that is above reproach. You have failed!”
A public affairs officer with the Utah Air National Guard told Fox News they could not comment on pending litigation.
Ironically, Wells pointed out, the Defense of Marriage Act was still the law of the land and TSgt. Layne was simply reporting “what he believed was a violation of the law.”
In addition to his reprimand, the Air National Guard terminated a six-year reenlistment contract. Instead, they gave Layne a one-year extension.
“Due to the fact that I expressed my views on homosexuality in uniform; Lt. Col. Tobias stated that I was no longer compatible with further military service,” Wilson wrote in a letter detailing the discrimination allegations.
Tobias confirmed Wilson’s allegation in a memorandum dated June 19, 2013 and obtained by Fox News.
“We talked about his feelings about DADT and how he doesn’t agree with it,” Tobias wrote. “I then told him that maybe this is a good time for him to move on because we’ve been ordered to not have an opinion about Gays in the military and we need to treat them as we would treat anyone else in the service of our country.”
“I also reiterated that I respect his feelings but I’m not comfortable reenlisting him with his strong feelings about this matter,” he additionally wrote.
Col. Ronald Blunck concurred with Tobias – noting that “Your right to practice your religious beliefs does not excuse you from complying with directives, instructions and lawful orders.”
“Lt. Col. Tobias is correct in demanding that TSgt. Wilson refrain from expressing opinions contrary to Air Force guidance while in uniform,” Blunck wrote. “The Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was directed by law.”
Wilson also discussed concerns he had about a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” repeal briefing in 2011. He told his superior officers he found the briefing to be “very disturbing” and “conflicting with my moral rights of conscience.”
“My issue is so much about homosexuals serving in the military, but rather that it is being forced upon as an acceptable lifestyle abandoning our traditional values,” he wrote.
He said the military has created an atmosphere where those who do not approve of homosexual conduct “must remain disapprovingly silent or face reprisal to our careers.”
“It is evident those who refuse to affirm homosexuality and openly oppose it are being severely punished,” he wrote.
Attorney Wells told Fox News he wants the military to rescind the reprimand and reinstate the original six-year reenlistment contract.
“This was an executed contract,” he said. “But they just went in, tore it up and issued a new one.”
Wells said his client’s only “crime” was registering his opinion that a gay marriage in a military chapel was a violation of the law that existed at that time.
“His actions were proper within the scope of the Uniform Code and the Manual for Courts-Martial,” Wells said. “While his interpretation of the law may or may not have been correct, his actions should not have given rise to the firestorm of reprisals that he has suffered.”
Wells said he believes the military is trying to send a message to other troops- and incidents like this are just the “tip of the iceberg.”
“They’re trying to make examples of people early on who have religious beliefs that homosexual conduct in the military is wrong,” he said. “When these people assert their First Amendment rights, they are getting slapped down and slapped down hard.”
Wells isn’t alone in his fears.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said there is a clear and present danger to religious liberty within the military.
“Christians who choose to live out their faith find themselves incompatible with the secular view of this administration,” said Perkins. “We’re establishing a beach head for religious liberty and the evidence points to a very deliberate attack.”
Representatives of 14 groups concerned about religious liberty joined Reps. John Fleming R-La., Jim Bridenstine R-Okla., and Louie Gohmert R-Tex. on Capitol Hill to urge support for Fleming’s military religious freedom amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The amendment protects the rights of servicemembers to not only hold religious beliefs but to act on them and speak about them. Fleming’s amendment has bipartisan support but the Obama Administration issued a statement “strongly objecting” to the legislation.
The amendment comes as more than 170,000 Americans signed petitions calling for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to protect the religious liberties of military personnel through policies that guarantee those liberties.
“We want to make this the first key battle to restore religious liberty back to the American people,” Fleming told Fox News. “It sets the tone for a broader war to fight back against this government that is infringing on our religious liberty.”
Perkins and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, the FRC’s executive vice president, released a nine-page document detailing anti-religious behavior in the military.
“Unfortunately, pressures to impose a secular, anti-religious culture on our nation’s military services have intensified tremendously during the Obama Administration,” the FRC report states.
“We will stand with servicemembers who wish to exercise their First Amendment rights of religious liberty,” Boykin said. ‘We must do all we can to ensure that our servicemembers have the right to practice the very freedoms that they risk their lives to defend.”
Bailey Comment: The majority of Americans are really getting tire of being demonized for standing up against a few sick people that want to make all of the weird stupid stuff they do be OK. Well it's not OK and no matter how they try to make it seem like it's natural, only they really believe in the crap they're trying to shove down our throats.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

When a car is broken and can't be fixed, you get another one. Get rid of the IRS.

Group: IRS mistakenly posted thousands of Social Security number on website

The IRS mistakenly posted the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of Americans on a government website, the agency confirmed Monday night. One estimate put the figure as high as 100,000 names.
The numbers were posted to an IRS database for tax-exempt political groups known as 527s and first discovered by the group Public.Resource.org.
The California-based group said it learned of the "privacy breach" Tuesday while working on an unrelated audit of an “improperly vetted shipment” of IRS data on DVDs and promptly informed the agency, which shut down the site the next day.
An IRS spokesman told FoxNews.com on Monday the agency was alerted about a "substantial number" of Social Security numbers posted on the site and removed web access to the information "out of an abundance of caution." The spokesman also said the IRS is now "assessing the situation and exploring available options."
A message on the agency’s 527 homepage asks visitors to check back Monday, but the site was still down Monday evening.
Public.Resource.org. founder Carl Malamud.told FoxNews.com on Monday night that roughly 100,000 Social Security numbers were exposed.
Malamud said in a statement on the group's website that it hopes the Obama administration will act to restore access to the agency's nonprofit database and resolve its concerns over what it described as a "serious violation of federal law."
"It is time now for the administration to send a tiger team over to the [IRS] to help fix their information management practices," Malamud said.

Since when did everything wrong become right?

Preacher Arrested for Calling Homosexuality a Sin

By Todd Starnes
An American evangelist said he was arrested and interrogated about his Christian faith after he was caught on a London sidewalk preaching that homosexuality is a sin.
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Tony Miano, a retired deputy sheriff and former chaplain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., was charged with “using homophobic speech that could cause people anxiety, distress, alarm or insult.”
Miano had been preaching on a London street corner during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships with a ministry group called Sports Fan Outreach International.
British police prepare to arrest American Evangelist Tony Miano.
British police prepare to arrest American Evangelist Tony Miano.
He was preaching about immoral living – and cited homosexuality as an example of lifestyle choices that are contrary to biblical teaching.
“I never used any gay slurs,” he said. “You would never hear me using slang or discriminatory language against homosexuals or any other group. That would be contrary to my faith.”
At some point, the evangelist quoted I Thessalonians 4:1-2 – a passage of scripture that mentions sexual immorality.
“I talked about women addicted to romance novels, men addicted to pornography, people with lustful thoughts, heterosexual fornication and homosexuality,” Miano told Fox News. “When I mentioned that the Bible was clear that homosexuality is a sin, a lady walked by and she glared at me and hurled the f-bomb.”
Miano said the woman came back a short time later and began to videotape his sidewalk sermon. Then, she called the police.
“They were concerned about homophobic speech,” he said. “But I told them I don’t fear homosexuals. The language I used was not homophobic, as I was not promoting fear or hatred of homosexuals.”
Miano said he did not limit his remarks to homosexual acts.
“I did not speak solely about homosexuality as a form of sexual immorality but also about any kind of sex outside marriage between one man and one woman, as well as lustful thoughts,” he said. “All of these are considered mainstream Christian positions and have been taught and believed by Christians for thousands of years.”
Police took the retired deputy sheriff to a nearby jail where he was fingerprinted. Officers also took a sample of his DNA and then he was interrogated.
“It was very distressing to be arrested and interrogated for openly expressing my deeply held Christian beliefs,” he said.
According to a transcript of the interrogation provided to Fox News, the officers asked if he really believed homosexuality is a sin. He was also asked whether he would help a homosexual who requested a favor.
“I was made to feel that my thoughts could be held against me,” he said. “The detective also asked me if I thought I was 100 percent right in what I had done. I said yes.”
Miano said he would gladly offer assistance to a homosexual.
“The Christian faith is dictated by the two greatest commandments – to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor,” he said. “As such, I am compelled to love all people. Had a gay come up and asked me for something to eat, I would have fed him.”
But what troubled Miano is the idea that a hypothetical situation could have been used against him in court.
“I was actually going to be tried for how I thought,” he said.
In an ironic twist, the officers made arrangements to provide the evangelist with a Bible to read in jail – the same book that led to his arrest.
“The same book I read from in public which resulted in my arrest, was now the same book the police were giving to provide me comfort,” he said.
Miano, who is a member of the Evangelical Free Church, has been open-air preaching for eight years. He said this is the first time he’s been arrested.
“It was a rather surreal experience,” the retired deputy sheriff said. “I’ve conducted many interrogations but I’ve never been the subject of one.”
Miano spent about seven hours in jail before he was released without explanation and without an apology.
Now back home in Southern California, Miano said he fears that what happened in Great Britain could soon happen in the United States.
“I believe that’s what our government is going to eventually do here,” he said. “I believe homosexuals or others who are sensitive to their point of view will be visiting churches to listen to what preachers say from the pulpit. And I believe that pastors will be arrested in their pulpits for teaching what the Bible says about homosexuality and other sins.”
Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the British Christian Legal Centre echoed those concerns.
“It’s clear that there is already a clamp down on freedom of speech where people publicly express mainstream Christian views on sexual ethics,” he said.
Watch the sermon that got the evangelist arrested. Police arrive at approximately the 25:40 mark:

Sunday, July 7, 2013

obamacare

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Obama Scorecard

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Obamacare Rule to Verify Income Levels Is Scrapped

Image: Obamacare Rule to Verify Income Levels Is ScrappedThe Obama administration has scaled back another of its key healthcare rules, delaying a requirement that verifies the income levels of those seeking taxpayer subsidies until after the 2014 midterm elections.

Instead, the new insurance marketplaces operated by states and the District of Columbia will take the consumer's word that they qualify for the subsidies, The Washington Post reported.

Editor's Note: Should ObamaCare Be Repealed? Vote in Urgent National Poll

The announcement came on Friday without fanfare with the Department of Health and Human Services publishing the notification in the Federal Register.

Verification plans for the taxpayer subsidies won't go into effect until 2015 for those earning about $45,000 to purchase health insurance, or earning $15,000 to qualify for Medicaid in the District and 23 participating states.

The move comes days after another Obamacare snag was announced on Wednesday when the administration delayed until 2015 the employer mandate that required businesses with more than 50 full-time workers to pay stiff fines for failing to providing insurance.

"As crunch time is coming, they're just muddling through and figuring out short cuts," said Ian Spatz, a senior adviser at Manatt Health Solutions, told The Post. "It might not be elegant, but this is how they're trying to make the law work."

Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., and a consumer advocate, said it's not unprecedented for the government to use the honor system, and compared it to reporting cash tips to the Internal Revenue Service.

"An awful lot of the economy is a cash economy,” Jost said. "If we had to verify every statement that was made to the IRS, our economy would collapse."

The announcement on Friday -- at the end of the Fourth of July holiday – is a recurring tactic for the Obama administration to deliver information likely to be criticized by Republicans or the media.

Friday nights often became the preferred timeline for massive document dumps when Congress was investigating the Justice Department for the "Fast and Furious" scandal, Politico reported.

Editor's Note: Should ObamaCare Be Repealed? Vote in Urgent National Poll

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