'Cupboard is bare'? Despite claims, feds find $100M to give Detroit

Published September 27, 2013

FoxNews.com

Sept. 26, 2013: A young man walks in front of a row of abandoned houses in Detroit.AP

DETROIT –  The Obama administration has found $100 million to send to struggling Detroit, despite recurring claims that the government cannot afford to make any more spending cuts.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed just last weekend that "there's no more cuts to make." Pelosi made the comments in response to Republicans demanding additional cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
"The cupboard is bare," she told CNN.
Apparently not completely bare.
Gene Sperling, chief economic adviser to President Obama, told the Associated Press the administration scrounged through the federal budget and found untapped money that "either had not flowed or had not gotten out or not directed to the top priorities."
That money is now being sent to Detroit.
Considering the Motor City is at least $18 billion in debt, it will take a far larger infusion of cash or historic deals with bond holders, insurance companies and other creditors to correct the problem.
But the $100 million infusion is a step toward greater federal involvement.
Sperling and three other top Obama aides -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan -- were meeting Friday with state and local officials. The meeting was to include Gov. Rick Snyder, state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr, Mayor Dave Bing and community and business leaders.
The federal money being directed Detroit's way by the U.S. government will be augmented by millions of dollars more in resources from foundations and Detroit businesses
The Obama administration repeatedly had signaled it would not offer a massive federal bailout like the one credited with helping rescue Chrysler and General Motors.
"There is not going to be a bailout," Democratic U.S. Sen. Carl Levin told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We have enough problems with the federal deficit. We need to be creative and look at existing programs. There are still some funds there."
The funding announced by Sperling will include $65 million in Community Development Block Grants for blight eradication, $25 million in a public-private collaboration for commercial building demolition and nearly $11 million in funds to ensure working families can live in safe neighborhoods.
Holder will announce $3 million that, in part, will be used to hire new police officers. About $25 million also will be expedited to Detroit to hire about 140 firefighters and buy new gear.
"It wasn't enough to try and free the resources," Sperling said. "We had to make sure they are well-used and targeted."
In addition, Orr, the city's emergency manager, has told the city's two municipal retirement systems he wants to freeze Detroit's pension plans and move to a 401(k)-style system.
The gathering Friday follows a series of meetings with the White House to plot ways to pull Detroit from a fiscal pit that this summer made it the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy protection.
Detroit has had a poor record in making sure grant money is used properly and even spent at all.
In 2011, Mayor Dave Bing fired the director of the city's Human Services Department after an internal investigation revealed $200,000 intended for poor residents was spent on office furniture for staff members.
The following year, his office had to scramble to use about $20 million in grants that had been left sitting for demolitions of thousands of vacant houses. The city's Police Department also allowed a $400,000 grant to lapse for a new armored vehicle.
The grant troubles have rankled Orr, the emergency manager Gov. Rick Snyder appointed to lead the city out of its financial mess.
Orr has said Detroit is so poor that it can't afford to lose out on any resources. In July, he made Detroit the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy protection.
Grants only can pay for things the city otherwise couldn't afford. Several businesses even pitched in $8 million earlier this year to help pay for a new fleet of emergency vehicles, including 23 EMS units and 100 police cars, to boost public safety and reduce response times.
Police Chief James Craig said Thursday that he was in Washington a few weeks ago in search of federal resources for his department.

President Obama lied to us -- he told America some real whoppers about ObamaCare

President Obama lied to us.
It wasn’t a white lie. It wasn’t a fib. It wasn’t a half truth. It was a bold-faced lie.
“No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise,” President Obama told the American Medical Association in 2009. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
That statement turned out to be a lie. Period.
On Thursday I asked my Facebook community if they had faced hardships as a result of ObamaCare.
The response was overwhelming. I received nearly 1,000 replies – from small business owners, nurses, doctors, electricians, stay-at-home moms, and military personnel. Every single person said they had been adversely affected by President Obama’s signature legislation.

President Obama also promised us that we would be able to keep our doctor. Another lie.

So let’s break down the president’s lies.
Thursday he told an audience in Largo, Maryland that the Affordable Care Act had not hurt jobs.
“There's no widespread evidence that the Affordable Care Act is hurting jobs,” he said.
Investor’s Business Daily reports that as a direct result of ObamaCare, more than 300 companies have either eliminated jobs or reduced full time jobs to part time jobs. Hospitals across the country are firing staff and reducing work hours.
Janet Blanck owns Country Blossom Florist, a small shop in Gilbert, Ariz. She tells me that as a result of ObamaCare she’s had to lay off three employees.
At one time, she employed eight people. Those who were not let go now work part-time because of rising insurance costs.
“Obama is killing us,” she told me. “It breaks my heart to have to do this. I have to protect what I have built and this is the only way that I know of to get around this law and still stay in business.”
President Obama also promised us that we would be able to keep our doctor. Another lie.
Several hundred of you, like Joel Keefauver, wrote to tell me that your doctors were either shuttering their practices or shedding patients.
“Under the forthcoming Affordable Care Act and new healthcare regulations, I will no longer be able to provide the quality of healthcare you have come to expect and that I believe is proper,” the doctor wrote in a letter to Keefauver. “The increased cost imposed by complying with these new laws, along with decreasing reimbursements, creates a financial burden that is unsustainable for my solo practice.”
DiDi Henry’s elderly mother recently moved from Alabama to Louisiana. She has been unable to find a doctor willing to take Medicare patients.
“Several doctors told her that they just aren’t taking Medicare patients because of ObamaCare,” she told me.
The president also told us ObamaCare would make health insurance affordable? Another whopper.
Business owner Sheila Frey tells me her insurance rates have increased by 46 percent. Her small family-run company is paying $2,000 a month for coverage.
And remember how President Obama promised rebate checks to defray the cost of buying insurance coverage? Well, Shelia tells me her rebate check was a meager $127. You do the math.
Tammy Boisvert told me she had to find a new pediatrician.
“My family doctor of 20 years couldn’t take my newborn due to this insurance mess,” she wrote. “With a family of six all seen by this one doctor, I suddenly had to search for a new pediatrician.”
President Obama promised we could keep our current health care plan. Another lie.
Michelle Cox, of Asheville, N.C. wrote to me about a letter she received Thursday from her insurance company.
“ACA requires is to make significant changes to our health benefits plan designs,” the letter read. “We cannot renew your existing plan in 2014.”
Alissa Delamar is in the same boat -- searching for insurance after her company canceled its group plan.
“I’m stressed so much financially now I can’t fathom any more debt,” she wrote. “It leaves you hopeless.”
Catherine Schneider and her husband own Blue Sky Trucking in Montgomery, Minn. They were just informed that their insurance policy would be canceled in December.
“It’s too expensive,” she said. “The Affordable Care Act is disrupting our business and it has the potential to destroy our family.”
Allison deNijis’s family policy was also canceled.
“I thought Obama said we could keep our insurance?” she asked. “I thought he said our cost would decline? Not true! Epic fail!”
Her family was offered a new policy that now includes a nearly $1,000 monthly premium and $5,000 in individual deductibles.
“I am seriously considering just paying the fine and putting the differential amount in a personal savings account,” she told me. “Why should I pay over $13,000 in premiums?”
By the time ObamaCare is fully implemented, I suspect most Americans will be begging for death panels – to put us out of our misery.

Despite gov't assurances, some could see insurance costs soar under ObamaCare

While the administration maintains that ObamaCare will make health insurance more affordable for Americans, experts say that won’t be the case across the board – and some people could see their rates soar.
On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released an overview of premiums and plan choices, saying “For millions of Americans, these new options will finally make health insurance work within their budgets.”
The administration also said premiums would generally be lower than what congressional budget experts had estimated during debate on the legislation.
But former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin said Thursday, “unfortunately you can go all through that HHS report and not be able to answer the most important question: will my insurance rates go up in 2014?"
"They cherry picked the data in order to highlight the fact that people of low income will benefit under the law," adds Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a New York-based think tank. "But people of middle income will not. And they didn’t really talk about that."
The new law requires the addition of what it calls essential benefits -- a list of things that must be covered and which make insurance more expensive than it is now.
"This report is intended to send the message, 'hey everybody wins, this is a great thing, please show up,"says Holtz-Eakin.
"That's not the reality. The reality is much messier. There's going to be some people who do better. There are going to be a lot of people who do much, much worse."
The Manhattan Institute analyzed rates around the country and found that for people of medium income, costs will soar -- up by as much as 99 percent for men, and up about 55 percent for women.
"Even if the average American gets some subsidy, a partial subsidy," says Roy, who authored the study,"that partial subsidy won't be enough to overcome the dramatic increase in the cost of insurance, the underlying cost of insurance ObamaCare imposes on the market."
But insurance premiums are only one part of the puzzle. Most plans also have very high deductibles.
"Do you have a large deductible?" asks Holtz-Eakin. "How much do you have to pay before the insurance starts picking up the cost?"
Analysts expect deductibles to be in the $5,000 to $6,000 range for the lowest level of coverage, the bronze plan.
Dan Mendelson, CEO and founder at Avalere Health in Washington,says,"So, if you're in a bronze plan, the premiums are going to be relatively low, you know, as HHS said, in some cases people won't pay premiums at all.
“But there are going to be very high out of pocket costs and deductibles in some cases are going to be over $5,500."
That means a person with a plan at that level might only pay $100 dollars a month in premiums, as the administration has said.
But depending on medical events, the deductible could add almost $500 dollars a month more, without even counting the co-pays

Iran's New President

IRS failed to account for $67M in ObamaCare costs, report says

The Internal Revenue Service is unable to account for $67 million in spending related to the implementation of ObamaCare, according to an IRS watchdog report released Wednesday.
The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said the money was part of a $488 million fund established to cover implementation costs between 2010 through 2012.
The $67 million in unaccounted-for spending was associated with "indirect" implementation costs, which can include providing employees with workspace and information technology support.
The report recommended the IRS improve its record-keeping for direct labor charges associated with implementing ObamaCare.
"TIGTA found that costs charged to [the Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund] funding related to direct labor were sometimes inaccurate and not always substantiated by reliable supporting documentation," the report states.
The report concluded that the IRS "lacks complete information regarding the full cost of [Affordable Care Act] implementation."
"This lack of complete information on ACA implementation costs limits the IRS’s ability to accurately report to stakeholders the total resources it applied to the ACA implementation and fully estimate the resources needed in the future for this effort," the report states.
The report comes as the Senate considers a controversial bill that would both avert a government shutdown while defunding ObamaCare, after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, delivered a marathon 21-hour speech in a bid to push fellow Republican lawmakers into showdown to unravel the law.
Legislation passed by the Republican-controlled House last week would cancel all funds for the three-year-old law, preventing its full implementation. But Senate Democrats have enough votes to restore the funds, and Majority Leader Harry Reid labeled Cruz's turn in the spotlight "a big waste of time."
Any differences between the two houses' legislation must be reconciled and the bill signed into law by next Tuesday to avert a partial shutdown.

Is not the greatest question this nation faces is the absolute rejection by so many of a republican form of constitutional government?

Is not the greatest question this nation faces is the absolute rejection by so many of a republican form of constitutional government?
Watching the absolute dismal repulsive actions of especially the verbal insanity of the senator from Arizona, Mc(INSANE) and the Texas disgrace, John Coryn(HOLIN) how could any who believe in this nation this absolute wonder, this miracle of what this nation is—and not be dumbfounded of what is happening in this country.
Attempting to put some reason into this insanity the obvious becomes clear. If one uses their mental intellect, and in that journey of intellectual reasoning reaches the reality that in the laws of nature, and nature’s God all events have a beginning, the reason, the alpha, and the conclusion, the ending, the omega.
This constant holds true from the beginnings of the universe; the creation by our creator, to the actions that occur in every segment of every action in our lives, our society, and our nation to this day have this beginning.   
IN the absolute dementia of our constitutional government the alpha, the idea, that as long as men govern—as James Madison told us—the greatest danger mankind, this nation will ever has…or will have…is those same men who will be elected to govern.
Cause and effect, is a simple philosophy of how to look at anything. For does there not require something to occurs, to set the stage, create the reason, that any result occurs? In life we normally find it, something, a catastrophe, a problem exists—resulting that as men…who love that challenge of design how to correct things…then create a means or a way to accomplish it. Too often the situation occurs where the environment must be prepared, the society corrupted, in order for the result to then appear, not as the correction, but really the problem; which could have never occurred if rational reasoning men would have made the decision.
Our constitution is a prime example. Was there a problem? Not by any of the complaints of the states—except they didn’t desire the expense of paying for the expenditures that those who would pay the debt, the people, didn’t want to pay the debt through taxation. There are so many things that were wrong about this expense—like what happened to the money—that make this one of the least discussed, or even considered problems of this nation. Yet the problem was what? Most don’t know. It was that those who lent money to this fledgling nation—were not like the US of today—and actually desired to have the debt repaid. Unfortunately there was no economic ignorant nation like ours today, that would just write it off and place the burden on their nation’s citizens as the statist of our current political parasites do. As such the creditors, the foreign banks demanded that this nation have a centralized taxing power, a federal dictate of taxation, to guarantee the outstanding, or any future debt. The result the most impossible task ever undertook by man was attempted. The cause for this event…the demand of the banks…the effect, the unknown never attempted, or successful, to enumerate—restrict—the power of central government, while giving the central government the power to lay taxes. This is as impossible as the fallacy of perpetual motion, demand side economics, compassionate islamist, or reasoning communist aka democrats.
Is it that difficult to make the observation, the decision of understanding that the philosophical idealism of this nation—and the demented ideology of communism, or as the current democrats call it…social democracy; whatever
the hell that means…are the diametric opposite? How can any nation consisting of a society of what are supposed to be identified as ‘homo sapiens…thinking entities’ make some convoluted conclusion that an ideology as demented as a theocracy, can even coexist with philosophical principles and ideals? This has to be the greatest question ever asked or even considered; as it is as impossible as making day night, while night day.
Is this not the problem with those who oppose communism, the Democratic Party? If those elected in the Republican Party do not have the conviction that the Republican form of separation of power, and the checks and balances of holding power in ‘enumeration’ restricted and confined to power; then how in the name of Hades can they even present themselves with the name of Republican?
In a war—as this nation is now in with the advancement of the dementia of our president, the Democratic Party…and their template of using both Lenin’s design along with the cultural communism of Antonio Gramsci hegemony—there are no weapons removed from the battle. As the communist advance uses the confines of our own enumerations, to limit the response of those attempting to save this nation; while when the enumerations of our constitution hinder their advance, they, as Lenin did, simply ignore them.
No we need to take Ted Cruz, and those who understand this nation’s design and push them to the forefront. Those who oppose this nation’s republican design, can leave this party, create their own party, or join the advancement of communism that is already in full bloom.
We, the American people, need those who will fight for this nation—not those whose only purpose is its destruction, and the nihilism of the principles that made this miracle of a nation—the greatest experiment ever of man.  

• Posted by Dan Short on September 26, 2013 at 10:45am

Was The 2012 Election Stolen By Obama And The IRS?

It is increasingly clear that the 2012 elections, both Presidential and Senate, were stolen by Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, the Internal Revenue Service and government employee unions. It’s right out of a mob movie like “The Godfather.”
The Obama crime family could give the mob lessons. Don Obama plays for keeps. The Don gets what he wants. And when he found himself in danger of losing his power and control, Obama went to his enforcers: the IRS.
In a story reminiscent of the mob’s fixing union elections, the IRS enforcers conspired to destroy Don Obama’s main competition: Tea Party and other conservative fundraising groups.
Lois Lerner was only one of many IRS big shots in D.C. who gave orders to IRS offices across the United States to “kill” Tea Party and other conservative groups. Their goal: Steal the election. As of only days ago, the “fall gal” retired from the IRS. We can only guess what kind of massive payoff she received from Obama’s donors.
The 2010 elections were the biggest embarrassment suffered by a U.S. President in modern history. The power, energy and passion of the Tea Party won the GOP an amazing 63 House seats, six Senate seats, six governorships and 680 seats in State legislatures. It was a historic landslide. Obama’s entire agenda was threatened.
Yet the mainstream media expects us to believe that only two years later (2012) that Tea Party energy and passion was gone — overnight. Or perhaps they changed back to fans of Obama and the Democratic Party. What a fairy tale.
The real story is that the Obama Administration ordered the IRS to delay, distract, hound, harass and intimidate Tea Party groups across the United States. Without IRS attacks and interference, Tea Party groups would have had the same influence and momentum as in 2010, when their raging energy and passion led to a shocking landslide defeat for Obama and his allies.
There is no need to question or debate any longer. We now have emails from IRS officials stating exactly that: The Tea Party groups had to be stopped if Democrats wanted to win the election.
And conservative donations had to be stalled if Democrats wanted to retain control of the U.S. Senate.
Instead of massive Tea Party rallies and record-setting fundraising for conservative candidates, Tea Party groups were busy being distracted, hounded, harassed and intimidated by the IRS. They were busy being asked about the names of their members, the names of their speakers, the content of their Facebook posts and even the content of their prayers.
Conservative media personalities (like yours truly) were attacked with IRS audits, as were pro-life, pro-Israel and pro-Constitution groups. The tax-deductible status of Tea Party groups was purposely stalled so they could not raise money for the 2012 election.
What the biased liberal mainstream media refuses to do is connect the dots. None has the courage to state that “the fix” was in and that a fraud perpetrated by government employees handed control of the United States of America to Obama, a politician who supports government employees and their unions.
What did the IRS get out of this? The answer is pure bribery. Republicans, and especially Tea Party groups, believe in limited government, smaller budgets, fewer government employees and cutting bloated salaries, obscene pensions and early retirement for government employees. Another Tea Party landslide would have threatened the power of government employee unions. Many government employees would have been laid off.
Does anyone believe it a coincidence that Obama met with IRS union boss Colleen Kelley at the White House the day before the targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS began? If you do, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
Obama was fraudulently re-elected. Our country was hijacked by government employees protecting their cushy lifetime jobs, bloated salaries, obscene pensions and powerful unions.
Think I’m wrong? Evidently, IRS officials don’t. Several of them have been busy hiring famous and expensive law firms to defend them.
Where are they getting the money? Is Obama arranging for big Democratic donors like George Soros or union political funds to pay their legal bills? Is Obama scared to death of what these IRS bosses will say under oath? Could their testimony end his Presidency and destroy his legacy?
In the end, it’s clear to anyone who hasn’t been brainwashed by government schools or bribed by government checks that the 2012 election was fraudulently stolen by Obama.
What did Obama, Democrats and the IRS gain?

1. The right to continue to loot the Treasury with bailouts, stimulus, corporate welfare and government contracts to his friends, donors, loyal media lackeys and corrupt union bosses.
2. The right to continue to redistribute income from the business owners (who vote Republican) to Obama’s voters (the poor, unions and government employees).
3. The ability to save Obamacare and unionize 15 million healthcare workers, thereby raising $15 billion in union dues to elect Democrats. And, of course, the ability to overwhelm middle-class families with $20,000 annual health insurance bills they can’t pay, thereby addicting them to government handouts.
4. The IRS itself gains tremendously. They are now in charge of policing Obamacare, a huge new bureaucracy. It also adds thousands of new IRS agents, thereby greatly enriching the IRS union.
5. The opportunity to pass immigration amnesty, thereby producing 10 million to 20 million new loyal Democratic voters.
6. The opportunity to bankrupt business owners and permanently weaken the private sector, thereby drying up donations for conservative candidates and causes.
7. The ability to keep American energy dependent by using the Environmental Protection Agency and executive orders to literally ban or severely damage domestic coal, oil, fracking and nuclear energy production.
8. The opportunity to weaken American influence internationally. (See Egypt, Libya, Syria.)

Obama’s re-election also means he may serve long enough to appoint one or two more Supreme Court justices, whose radical leftist views will ensure America is permanently transformed to a big-government socialist nation.
This wasn’t just any theft, folks. It was a trillion-dollar theft. The Obama crime family (so far) has gotten away with the greatest and most daring act of fraud in world history. They stole the election.

Sixth-graders learn all about Jay-Z, Big Pimpin’

Students at a Southaven, Miss. middle school were educated in the “Big Pimpin’” thug life of Jay-Z, and the school district can’t imagine why anyone would object to lessons on reading, writing and rapping.
Sixth graders at Desoto Central Middle School spent three days learning about one of the most successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in the nation. They were also tested on their knowledge about Jay-Z’s “resilience.”
A parent, who had a son in the English class, reached out to me – and she’s fired up. The mad mom asked to remain anonymous over fears of repercussions. I was able to verify her claims and have agreed to provide anonymity.
“One of the songs listed on the paper that was brought home was ‘Big Pimpin’,” she told me. “Another song talked about thug life. My child was getting an education about thug life.”
She could not believe that her child was learning about a man who sings songs that degrade women and glorify the thug life.
“When he pulled out the paper in his backpack in the car, I called my husband right then,” she told me. “I was furious. We talked about it until late that night. My husband was about to blow his top.”

It’s really unfortunate that the school superintendent won’t talk to me about the assignment. I’d love to hear his side of the story.

I called the principal to get his side of the story, but he said he didn’t want to talk to me. Instead, he referred me to the superintendent’s office.
No answer.
Eventually, I was told to contact their official spokesperson.
The spokesperson told me she could not understand why Fox News was interested in a simple classroom assignment. She said she would send an official statement but declined to go on the record. I’m still waiting for the “official statement.”
The child’s parents had a similar experience. They contacted the school – hoping to get some answers. Instead, they got the brush-off.
“They made it sound like it was no big deal,” the mom told me. “They said the point of the assignment was because Jay-Z is successful.”
She said one school official even chimed in that the rapper owns a professional sports team.
“I asked him what that had to do with anything,” the parent told me. “Let’s talk about somebody that is a success that has done good things – not thug life things.”
Using the school’s logic, the mom wondered why the school doesn’t assign lessons on Hugh Hefner or Larry Flynt.
“Either way, it’s all the same,” she said.
She said the same school official told her that no matter who they assigned the kids to learn about – that person would have something negative in their past.
“We are conservative,” she said. “We are Christian. And this was brought into my house. That’s why I was so furious. It was a moral issue.”
The little boy’s father was so livid that the school brushed off his wife he decided to write a letter to the school district:
“The page sent home was an eye-opener and I refuse to have my son subjected to today’s version on what should be accepted as okay and normal without knowing the facts,” the dad wrote.
“The facts are this page represented this thug in a positive way and calls him successful. Success to me doesn’t mean demeaning women, glorifying drugs and violence and flaunting money. Success should be about living decent and having respect for themselves and others.”
And to put an exclamation point on his reasoning, the dad included the lyrics to a Jay-Z song. I’d love to share some of those lyrics with you – but I’ve got standards. Let’s just say, Jay-Z has an affinity for the F-word and the B-word.
Heather Fox is not surprised to learn about the three-day Jay-Z lecture at the middle school. She runs a Facebook page called “Desoto County Reform” – an online gathering place for parents concerned about the school district.
“Hopefully we can address the issues that most people are afraid to address out loud,” she told me. “The school district is not happy about our website.”
“We know there are students at the high school who’ve had to read explicit books,” she said. “And now we know about the Jay-Z class.”
Fox said the sixth grade assignment was not age appropriate.
“A lot of the kids don’t know anything about the things that surround Jay-Z – it’s something that a lot of parents are concerned about,” Fox said. “Why make them exposed to it at such an early age?”
It’s really unfortunate that the school superintendent won’t talk to me about the assignment. I’d love to hear his side of the story. But the school district’s silence makes me a bit suspicious.
If there’s nothing wrong with the assignment, what’s there to hide? Why brush off a concerned parent who has a valid concern about what her child is learning?
The mom told me the school made a “bad, bad choice” – and now she and her husband are about to make a choice.
“It really makes me want to either send him to a private school or homes school,” she said.