A&E declares war on 'Duck Dynasty's' Christian values

Duck Dynasty has been sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.
By now you probably know that A&E indefinitely suspended Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family, for following the teachings of the Holy Bible. Nothing says tolerance and diversity by silencing the Christians and shoving them in a closet.
Between you and me, I think Duck Dynasty ought to indefinitely suspend A&E.
Phil ran afoul of intolerant leftwing bullies after making comments about homosexuality to GQ magazine. When the writer asked Phil what he considered to be sinful behavior, he replied:
“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says.

Sadly, Duck Dynasty values are not Hollywood’s values. And that’s why I’m not surprised A&E dropped the hammer on Phil.

Then he paraphrases Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers -- they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
That comment went over about as well as a Chick-fil-A sandwich at a gay pride parade.
“Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe," said GLAAD rep Wilson Cruz. "He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans -- and Americans -- who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.
Before you could shout tolerance and diversity, gay rights organizations were demanding Phil be tarred and feathered. And A&E was more than happy to oblige.
“The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely,” A&E declared. “His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community.”
Let’s not mince words.
A&E is apparently run by a bunch of anti-Christian, bigots. Duck Dynasty worships God. A&E worships GLAAD. If Phil had been twerking with a duck the network probably would’ve given him a contract extension. But because he espoused beliefs held by many Christians, he’s been silenced.
Perhaps A&E could provide the nation with a list of what they believe is politically correct speech.
Maybe they could tell us what Americans can say, think and do. S
hould the U.S. Constitution be amended to prevent Americans from holding personal beliefs that others might not agree with?
I suspect A&E’s decision is going to create a firestorm of controversy. If you thought feathers got ruffled over Chick-fil-A, wait until Duck Dynasty fans take to the streets. I’m one of those fans.
I was a Duck Dynasty fan before being a Duck Dynasty fan was cool. And for the sake of full disclosure, I drink my sweet tea from green Tupperware glass just like Uncle Si.
There was something wholesome and heartwarming about the story of the Robertson family from Monroe, Louisiana. It harkened back to the days of black and white television when Father Knew Best, when afternoons were spent down at the fishing hole and Mary Ellen said good night to John Boy. It was a time when right and wrong were black and white.
It’s no surprise that "Duck Dynasty" became the most-watched non-fiction cable television show in history. American moms and dads have been clamoring for quite some time for family-friendly television programming – and Phil and Miss Kay and Uncle Si delivered the goods.
The Robertsons showed America that you can make it in show business without cursing, backstabbing people, or getting butt-naked. Each episode was sort of like a modern-day parable, wrapped up with the family gathered around the supper table, holding hands as somebody prayed.
Sadly, Duck Dynasty values are not Hollywood’s values. And that’s why I’m not surprised A&E dropped the hammer on Phil.
It’s not about capitalism. It’s about driving an agenda and shoving it down the throats of the American public. And Hollywood is beholden to an agenda that is anti-Christian and anti-family.
Fathers are portrayed as bumbling idiots and Christians are portrayed as intolerant bigots. Anybody remember “Good Christian Bitches”?
But these days it’s open season on Christians and Hollywood has both barrels aimed at folks like the Robertsons and anyone else who loves God and the traditional definition of marriage. Maybe President Obama could hold a Duck Dynasty summit in the Rose Garden duck blind.
I would encourage you to read the GQ article. I think you’ll find it both entertaining and thought-provoking.
For me, the most poignant moment near the end of the story when Phil inquired about the GQ reporter’s plans for the afterlife.
“So you and your woman: Are y’all Bible people?”
“Not really, I’m sorry to say,” the reporter replied.
“If you simply put your faith in Jesus coming down in flesh, through a human being, God becoming flesh living on the earth, dying on the cross for the sins of the world, being buried, and being raised from the dead—yours and mine and everybody else’s problems will be solved,” Phil said. “And the next time we see you, we will say: ‘You are now a brother. Our brother.’ So then we look at you totally different then. See what I’m saying?”
Phil Robertson was, in the words of the great hymn writer, a wretch – once lost, now found. He was a sinner saved by grace. And his life’s mission is to help others find the path to that oh so amazing grace.
It’s a message that I find compelling. It’s a message Hollywood wants to silence.

Rodman returns to North Korea amid political unrest

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea on Thursday to help train the national team and renew his friendship with the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, a visit unaffected by the recent execution of Kim's uncle in a dramatic political purge.
Rodman was met at Pyongyang's airport by Vice Sports Minister Son Kwang Ho. He made no public comments, but told a mob of reporters earlier at Beijing's airport that he expected, as on previous visits, to meet with Kim and make final arrangements for a Jan. 8 exhibition game in Pyongyang marking the leader's birthday.
"I know (Kim) is waiting for me to come back. So hopefully we will have some conversation about some things that's going to help the world," Rodman said.
His visit comes less than a week after North Korea announced the execution of No. 2 official Jang Song Thaek, an unprecedented fall from grace of one of the most powerful figures in the country.
Jang's execution marks North Korea's most serious political upheaval in decades and has sent North Korea watchers speculating over the stability of the Kim dynasty. However, Rodman's visit -- should it proceed uneventfully -- could be a sign that Kim is firmly in charge and unconcerned with any potential challenges to his rule.
Asked about the execution, Rodman said that had nothing to do with his visit. He said he wasn't worried about his personal safety in the North, despite the recent detentions of two Americans there, one of whom, Kenneth Bae, has been held for more than two years.
Rodman and Kim have struck up an unlikely friendship since the Hall of Famer traveled to the secretive Communist state for the first time in February with the Harlem Globetrotters for an HBO series produced by New York-based VICE television.
He remains the highest-profile American to meet Kim since the leader inherited power from father Kim Jong Il in 2011.
Known as much for his piercings, tattoos and bad behavior as he was for basketball, Rodman has mostly avoided politics in his dealings with the North. He's mainly focused on using basketball as a means of boosting understanding and communication and studiously avoided commenting on the North's human rights record, regarded as one of the world's worst by activists, defectors and the U.S. State Department.
Defectors have repeatedly testified about the government's alleged use of indiscriminate killings, rapes, beatings and prison camps holding as many as 120,000 people deemed opponents of Kim, the third generation of his family to rule.
Rodman said he planned to return to North Korea in two weeks with a roster of 12 American basketball players, but offered no names.
"I hope this game brings a lot of countries together, because as I said, sports it is so important to people around the world," Rodman said. "So I hope this is going to engage American people, especially (President Barack) Obama, to just to try to talk to them."
Bailey Comment: " It's all about the money".

67 percent say delay Obamacare, 53 percent would vote to repeal it

Americans remain unhappy with the health care law: Majorities say they wish it had never passed, would vote to repeal it if they could, and think implementation should be delayed until the kinks are worked out.  At the same time, a shrinking majority believes the law will survive.
That’s according to a year-end Fox News poll released Wednesday.
Click here for the poll results.
The number of voters who want implementation of the law delayed continues to grow. The new poll shows 67 percent think it should be postponed a year “until more details are ironed out.” That’s up four percentage points since last month -- and up 10 points since October.
Those favoring a delay also now include a majority of Democrats: 54 percent support delaying implementation. That’s up 10 points from 44 percent last month.
Overall, by a 54-38 percent margin, people wish the health care law had never passed and the 2009 system were still in place.
Similarly, 53 percent would vote to repeal the law if given the chance, while 41 percent would keep it.
Republicans (86 percent repeal) are 14 points more likely to want the health care law repealed than Democrats are to want to keep it (72 percent keep).
About one Democrat in five would vote to repeal the law (22 percent).
Sixty-one percent of voters believe the Obama administration knew ahead of time that not everyone would be able to keep their doctor. What’s more, almost everyone says it’s important to them to be able to choose their doctor (82 percent “very” and 13 percent “somewhat” important).
Most voters are troubled that a couple of the basic guarantees Americans were given before the health care law passed -- are now broken promises: 32 percent find it more troubling that people were told they could keep their health plan, while 15 percent think it was worse that the administration told people they could keep their doctor. Another 25 percent of voters say those are equally troubling. Just 27 percent finds neither of these is troubling.
President Obama’s job rating on health care remains extremely negative. By a wide 22-point margin voters are more likely to disapprove (59 percent) than approve (37 percent) of the job he’s doing. His current approval rating on health care is just one point above his record-low 36 percent approval in November.
Will Obamacare succeed? Voters aren’t convinced it will: 38 percent feel confident that enough people will sign up to make it successful, yet many more -- 60 percent -- don’t think that will happen.
The number thinking Obamacare will eventually be repealed or defunded is up: 40 percent feel that way, an increase of 13 points since October. On the other side, 54 percent believe it will remain the law of the land, down from 64 percent two months ago.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,027 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from December 14-16, 2013. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Sen. Rubio, Strong Opponent Of Obamacare, On The Defensive After Signing Up Family

Confronted by a reporter and camera crew from the Miami Herald on Monday, Republican Senator Mario Rubio defended himself over having signed up his family for the new federal health care coverage.
“I don’t endorse Obamacare,” Rubio said, responding to a statement by the Democratic former Florida governor Charlie Crist, saying, “Rubio’s endorsement of Obamacare for his own family should end the rhetoric” against the Affordable Care Act.

“It’s an [employer] contribution. It’s available to every employee of the federal government.”

- Sen. Rubio, of the $10,000 Obamacare subsidy

Rubio pointed out that, under the law, congressmen are required to register. “I much rather would have a vibrant private market where individuals like myself and others can buy health insurance from any company that will sell it to us,” he added.
Rubio, who voted against Obamacare and has aspirations for the 2016 presidential campaign, is also under fire for having registered via the congressional exchange rather than his home state’s exchange, in the process accepting a $10,000 subsidy that many conservatives are rejecting as a “special deal.”
“It’s an [employer] contribution,” Rubio told the Herald. “It’s available to every employee of the federal government.”
Others have shied away from the subsidy to insulate themselves from political attacks that Congress enjoys a special perk under Obamacare.
So far, about 10 senators – the bulk of them Democrats facing difficult re-election campaigns in 2014 - and a handful of representatives have rejected or avoided receiving the annual subsidy.
The most recent elected official to decline the subsidy was Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who issued a press release last week reading, “I don’t think members of Congress should get a special deal. Obamacare is being pushed on the American people and we should live under it just like everyone else.”

ObamaCare may hit smokers, obese

     A HEALTHCARE WORKERS union official says that people with conditions penalized by wellness programs, like smoking or obesity, may be forced by their employers to pay much more for their health insurance under ObamaCare.

GOP BUDGET CUTTER

Obama has yet to enroll in health insurance under Affordable Care Act

The White House said Monday that President Obama has yet to sign up for health insurance through a federal website created by his signature health care law.
“The president will purchase insurance on the exchanges,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. “When we have an update on that, we’ll provide it to you.”
Carney, who has been asked about the president's plans at least once since enrollment in ObamaCare started Oct. 1, pointed out the deadline is not until March 31.
Obama is not required to enroll through an online exchange like members of Congress and staffers who want to keep insurance through their employer, the federal government.
Republicans and other critics of ObamaCare were quick to criticize the president, considering enrollment is behind projections, largely because of glitches on the HealthCare.gov and some state-run exchanges.
"It must be a technical problem, because surely the president can afford the higher costs he’ll have to pay," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

Thousands of ObamaCare web purchases not recorded, incorrect

The Obama administration acknowledged this weekend that the federal ObamaCare website failed to record insurance-policy purchases for as many as 15,000 Americans.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Saturday said the transactions were either not recorded or had errors and attributed the problem to “larger technical system issues.”
Agency spokeswoman Julie Bataille said the so-called “834 transaction forms” are processed by health insurance companies when consumers choose a policy on the site, which has been plagued by technical glitches since enrollment started in October.
“As the technical improvements to HealthCare.gov continue making a difference to consumers using the website, our attention remains on addressing issues with the more ‘back end’ parts of the system,” she said. “Our priority is working to make sure that every 834 form is accurate.”
The story was reported first by The Washington Post.
Bataille said the errors occurred from Oct. 1 to Dec. 5, such problems have been “significantly” reduced since last month and that officials are contacting every consumer who selected a plan on the site -- or marketplace -- to remind them to pay their premium and connect with their insurer.
Americans have until Dec. 23 to purchase insurance that kicks in Jan. 1.
The administration said it has fixed more than 70 software glitches over the past several weeks related to 834 forms.

ObamaCare enrollment effort moves to shoe stores, restaurants

  Bailey Comment: "They are getting tacky and desperate now".

District of Columbia officials are recruiting young residents this weekend to enroll in ObamaCare by showing up where they “party by night and shop by day.”
Officials on Saturday visited two Footlocker stores where Nike’s exclusive Air Jordan 12 “Taxi” sneakers were going on sale. And they are scheduled to visit two Denny’s restaurants from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
“My motto is ‘Get them health care while you get them Jordans,” DC Health Links representative Vanessa Brooks told Fox News outside a Footlocker in the city’s downtown.
“Get some health care to go along with them taxis, OK?” Brooks told those at the store. “You got to have it. And you need it.”
The Obama administration and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act have worked hard since enrollment started in October to connect with young people, knowing their participation will help cover the cost of the elderly and others who need more medical care.
However, problems with the federal ObamaCare website and the 14 state-run sites appear to have made the tech-savvy generation wary of the entire program, combined with members’ general feeling they won’t get sick or injured, which has prompted Brooks and other D.C. Health Link officials to call them “young invincibles.”
Brooks and other so-called “assisters” plan to make contact this weekend with hundreds of young D.C. residents and encourage them to make appointments to enroll in insurance plans.
In California, the state with the largest uninsured population, most of those who have applied have been older people with health problems. In Kentucky, nearly three of four enrollees last month were over 35. In Washington state, about 23 percent of enrollees have been 18 to 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.
At the Denny's restaurants, the assisters will set up shop to provide information, answer questions and enroll residents.
Eligible residents have until March 31, 2014, to buy an insurance policy through the exchanges. Those who enroll before December 23 will be covered starting January 1, 2014.
On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services said signups increased in November after an abysmal October in which the federal site and some state-run sites crashed as the result of too much volume.
Enrollment statistics from the agency this week showed 364,682 people have signed up for private coverage as of Nov. 30 under the federal health law. Though that's more than three times the October total, it's less than one-third of the 1.2 million people that officials had originally projected would enroll nationwide by the end of November.
Crunch time is now for Obama's health care law, as consumers face the December enrollment deadline if they want to have coverage by next year.
Yet HealthCare.gov, the revamped federal website serving 36 states, continues to have issues. Just Tuesday there was an extended maintenance outage. And some states running their own web sites are also having problems.
That's created stress and uncertainty not only for the uninsured but also for consumers seeking to avoid an interruption in coverage in January. Those trying to preserve coverage include some or many of the more than 4 million people whose individual plans were canceled because they didn't measure up under the law, as well as hundreds of thousands in federal and state programs for people with serious health problems, from cancer to heart disease to AIDS.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the House Energy and Commerce on Wednesday that the signup trend is turning positive.
"I don't think there is any question that the flawed launch of the website put a damper on people's enthusiasm," she said. "Having said that, we are seeing very, very positive trends. We are seeing lots of people re-engage."
Sebelius also said another 1.9 million people have made it through the enrollment process, but have not yet picked a plan. Consumers must pay their premiums by Dec. 31 for coverage to take effect at the beginning of the year.

Presidential Approval Rating

Presidential Approval Rating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Townhall.com PollTracker Average

• Disapprove: 55%
• Approve: 40%

Tea Party steps up war of words against Boehner over budget vote

Bailey Comment: You can just snap your fingers and Boehner will roll over and sat up. He is a very weak and bad Leader for the Republican Party.


Tea party activists are pushing back hard against Speaker John Boehner for attacking conservative groups that are opposed to bipartisan budget legislation approved this week by the House, claiming he has "declared war on the Tea Party" with his blunt criticism.
In a fundraising email to supporters, Tea Party Patriots referred to the Ohio Republican as a "ruling class politician" who only pretends to be a conservative while remaining a "tax-and-spend liberal," The Hill reported Friday.
The group, which supported efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act, accused Boehner of passing a "back-room budget deal which increases discretionary spending, does nothing to reform entitlements, and fully funds ObamaCare."
The organization called the deal "an out and out betrayal of the American people."
All three top Republican leaders were among 169 members of the rank and file in voting for the measure, which cleared the House on Tuesday on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 332-94.
In advance of the vote, Boehner unleashed a stinging attack on conservative groups campaigning for the bill's demise, saying they lacked credibility. He also blamed them for leading the party into the partial government shutdown this fall.
Boehner's remarks appeared aimed more broadly at Tea Partyers who say true conservatives never compromise, and at groups that try to oust established Republicans seeking re-election.
House actions under his speakership, Boehner said, "have not violated any conservative principle, not once." He then dismissed the activist groups, saying, "I don't care what they do."
Overall, the bipartisan budget plan erases a total of $63 billion in across-the-board cuts in the next two budget years, and specifies $85 billion in savings over a decade, including the one relating to military retirement. The result is a net $23 billion cut in deficits through 2023, although critics argue the spending increases will happen first, and many of the savings years later, if at all.
By raising spending levels, the bill is also designed to eliminate the threat of another budget shutdown like the one this fall.
Groups such as Heritage Action, the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity oppose the deal. The Washington, D.C.-based organizations have also aided insurgent Republican challengers who vow never to compromise with Democrats, even if it means shutting down the government or defaulting on the federal debt.
Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler said his group won't back down. When Boehner writes off the dozens of House members who won't compromise on tax and spending issues, it means "he's going to rely heavily on Democrats" to pass legislation, Holler said. That's bad for conservative principles, he said, and bad for GOP cohesion in elections.
Boehner's allies say the alternative is worse. When Boehner tries to placate the staunchest conservatives in his caucus, they say, the results are a government shutdown, a major loss on the "fiscal cliff" deal a year ago and other Republican embarrassments.
Steve LaTourette, a Boehner friend and former GOP House member from Ohio, said he is heartened by the stepped-up actions by Boehner, the Chamber and others frustrated by tea party tactics. He warned, however, that mainstream Republicans won't tame the tea party faction without huge amounts of effort and money.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced a test vote for Tuesday on the measure, which appears likely to command the 60 votes necessary to clear the Senate, officials in both parties told the Associated Press on Friday.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars joined the ranks of the bill's opponents during the day, citing a provision to reduce cost of living increases for military retirees until they reach age 62. The result could mean "a cumulative loss in retirement income of $80,000" for a sergeant first class who retires at age 40, the group said.
"Although Iraq is over and the war in Afghanistan is winding down, we can't allow Congress to dismantle the programs they created over the past 12 years," said William A. Thien, the VFW's national commander.
A short while later, Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said they would oppose the measure unless the provision were changed. They said a 42-year-old sergeant first class retiring after 20 years would lose about $72,000 in income.

Chinese naval vessel tries to force U.S. warship to stop in international waters

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.
The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.
“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.
“This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”
A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.
The Cowpens was conducting surveillance of the Liaoning at the time. The carrier had recently sailed from the port of Qingdao on the northern Chinese coast into the South China Sea.
According to the officials, the run-in began after a Chinese navy vessel sent a hailing warning and ordered the Cowpens to stop. The cruiser continued on its course and refused the order because it was operating in international waters. Bailey Comment: " Things like this is caused by large retail stores in America buying cheap crappy Chinese products to sell to cheap Americans, which in turn makes the Chinese more powerful than the USA". Expect more of the same in the future!

Limo One

Federal Judge: Mt. Soledad Cross Must Come Down

A cross atop Mount Soledad in California is an unconstitutional religious display on government land and must come down, a federal judge in San Diego ruled late Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ordered the cross, which honors veterans, must be removed within 90 days -- a decision that could result in the case being sent back to the U.S. Supreme Court. Burns immediately stayed his order pending an expected appeal.
The original lawsuit was filed in 2006 by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Jewish Veterans of the United States of American and several other Southern California residents.
“We support the government paying tribute to those who served bravely in our country’s armed forces,” the ACLU’s Daniel Mach, said in a statement to the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. “But we should honor all of our heroes under one flag, not just one particular religious symbol.”
Bruce Bailey, president of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association, expressed disappointment in the ruling.
"It is unfortunate that the Ninth Circuit left the judge no choice but to order the tearing down of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross," Bailey told Fox News.  "However, we are grateful for the judge's stay that gives us an opportunity to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court."
Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for Liberty Institute, said in a statement to Fox News that they will continue to “fight for this memorial and the selfless sacrifice and service of all the millions of veterans it represents; it is the least we can do for those who gave so much to us all." Bailey Comment: " They will keep on chipping away America as we know it until there is nothing left".

Boehner slams conservative groups' 'credibility' ahead of key budget vote

Bailey Comment: "Cry Baby".

House Speaker John Boehner escalated his battle with conservative groups opposed to the newly unveiled budget plan, saying they've "lost all credibility" as he charged ahead with a floor vote late Thursday.
"Frankly, I think they're misleading their followers," Boehner said at a press conference. "I think they're pushing our members into places where they don't want to be. And frankly, I just think that they've lost all credibility."
Boehner and other party leaders were voicing confidence that the bill, which would put in place a spending plan for two years and avert a partial government shutdown next month, will clear the House. Boehner is aggressively battling conservative advocacy groups trying to pressure the rank-and-file to block the budget -- a day earlier, he called their complaints "ridiculous."
The comments reflect an effort by Boehner to take on the right flank of his party, in contrast to the more conciliatory approach he took during the last budget showdown. The speaker even took a shot at them for fueling the last battle. "You know, one of them, they pushed us into the fight to defund ObamaCare and shut down the government," he said.
FreedomWorks, among the groups that oppose the current budget bill, shot back at the House speaker again on Thursday.
"Speaker Boehner may not care about what fiscally conservative groups do, but grassroots Americans still care about what he's doing in Washington," FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe said in a statement. "When it comes to 'credibility,' actions speak louder than words. And right now, it looks like the Speaker is leading the charge for spending increases and recruiting Democrat votes in the House to help get it done."
House GOP leaders argue that the bipartisan plan is a good deal for conservatives, since they claim it will shave $23 billion off the deficit over the next decade. However, it also erases $65 billion in sequester cuts in the near-term, and conservative groups are worried the long-term savings might never materialize.
With the White House supporting the measure, GOP aides betrayed no nervousness about its chances for passage in the Republican-controlled House.
A Senate vote would likely wait until next week, and it was not yet clear whether Tea Party-aligned conservatives would require supporters to amass a 60-vote majority in order to pass it.
Nobody was claiming that the pact was perfect. Some lawmakers said they were troubled by short-term increases in the deficit, $23.2 billion in 2014 and $18.2 billion the year after that.
But the deal would put a dysfunctional Washington on track to prevent unappealing cuts to military readiness and weapons, as well as continued cuts to programs cherished by Democrats and Republicans alike, including health research, school aid, FBI salaries and border security. The cuts would be replaced with money from, among other things, higher airline security fees, curbs on the pension benefits of new federal workers or working-age military retirees, and premium increases on companies whose pension plans are insured by the federal government.
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said that "much of the spending increase in this deal has been justified by increased fees and new revenue. In other words, it's a fee increase to fuel a spending increase, rather than reducing deficits."

Rep. Issa accuses HHS of criminally obstructing probe into ObamaCare website

The Health and Human Services Department has told contractors working on the problem-plagued ObamaCare website not to release documents to congressional investigators, a mandate slammed as “criminal obstruction” by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa.
The Dec. 6 letter from CMS official Daniel Kane says that although the department understands Congress’ need for documents to continue its probe into the issues with Healthcare.gov, the agency is concerned about security risks from releasing testing information to third parties.
Therefore, the letter states, the agency has decided to not allow contractors to release any documents to any third party, telling the contractors to send congressional investigators to CMS, who will handle the request themselves.
The letter was sent after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee contacted 11 of the top contractors on the ObamaCare website as part of its investigation into its problems.
In a press release Wednesday, Issa, R-Calif., said the HHS’s request amounts to criminal obstruction, and he has sent a letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius demanding the agency have no further communication with the contractors about the probe.
“The department’s hostility toward questions from Congress and the media about the implementation of ObamaCare is well known,” Issa said. “The department’s most recent effort to stonewall, however, has morphed from mere obstinacy into criminal obstruction of a congressional investigation.”  
Issa said that by requiring CMS handle the information requests instead of the contractors, the agency is breaking a federal statute that prohibits anyone from interfering with a worker’s right to cooperate with a congressional investigation.
“The federal obstruction laws reflect the fact that Congress’ right of access to information is constitutionally based and critical to the integrity and effectiveness of our oversight and investigative activities,” Issa said. “For that reason, it is widely understood that private citizens and companies cannot contract away their duty to comply with a congressional request for documents. “
The HHS did not respond to an email request for comment.

Obama creates international incident with 'selfie' at Mandela service

  Bailey Comment: " This is a real classy Dude".

Call it the selfie seen 'round the world.
Among the enduring images from Nelson Mandela's massive memorial service in Johannesburg Tuesday will be one of a jovial President Obama taking a cell phone pic with his seat-mates, Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Britain's David Cameron.
As the three of them smile for the camera, a stern-looking Michelle Obama can be seen staring straight ahead, hands clasped. As if to remind anyone who sees this photo years from now that it was, after all, a memorial service for one of the great human rights leaders.
The tsk-tsk-ing could be heard across continents.
"What on earth is going on? Why do world leaders now behave like this?" The Daily Telegraph's Iain Martin wrote. "Perhaps it is just that the current generation -- my generation -- is so appallingly spoiled that basic notions of decorum have been shot to pieces."
RedState.com's Erick Erickson tweeted: "Thank you Mrs. Obama for knowing how to behave at a funeral."
The first lady's reaction -- not just to the "selfie" but to her husband's chatting and joking with the young Danish prime minister -- was priceless. In one picture, Michelle Obama could be seen glaring over at him while he put his hand on Ms. Thorning-Schmidt's shoulder.
In another, it appeared the first lady and the president switched seats, putting Michelle squarely between him and the PM.
The photographer behind the "selfie" pic of the three dignitaries, though, later claimed that the first lady herself was "joking with those around her" a few seconds earlier. "The stern look was captured by chance," he wrote.
After the images surged through social media, the White House on Wednesday released its own set of photos of Obama's South Africa visit. Perhaps it was no accident that among them was a picture of Obama, the first lady and the Danish prime minister.
But in this one, Obama was talking to his wife, while Thorning-Schmidt seemed preoccupied with her phone.
The "selfie" incident was the second unexpected controversy stirred up by the president in South Africa. Earlier, Cuban-American lawmakers publicly objected after Obama -- on his way to deliver his tribute to Mandela -- shook the hand of Raul Castro.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., called the moment "nauseating."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was at the Johannesburg service, walked out when Castro spoke.

Reid and staff intervened to expedite visa applications for Vegas hotel investors

The Obama administration expedited visa applications for about two dozen foreign investors for a Las Vegas casino hotel after pressure from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his staff, the Washington Times reported Tuesday.
The Times, citing internal government documents, said the decision to overturn a prior, normally non-appealable visa decision ultimately benefited several companies whose executives have been heavy Democratic donors.
The paper said it also came despite concerns about “suspicious financial activity” involving some Asian applicants.
Reid, who represents Nevada, personally reached out to the top official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Alejandro Mayorkas, setting in motion a process that ultimately granted expedited status to some two dozen investor visas for the SLS Hotel, formerly known as the Sahara Casino, the Times said.
Mayorkas is Obama’s current nominee to be the No.2 at the Department of Homeland Security and his appointment was to be reviewed by the Senate Wednesday.
The hotel needed the foreign investors’ visas to be approved so their money could be brought into the country. Within a few weeks of Reid’s intervention, the hotel was able to secure major funding from JP Morgan Chase, the paper said.  Bailey Comment : " Everybody knows Reid is a snake, except for the give me crowd"!

Antarctica sets low temperature record of -135.8 degrees

 Feeling chilly? Here's cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for "soul-crushing" cold. Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don't try it. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.
A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees.
The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.
Ice scientist Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center said the new record is "50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska or Siberia or certainly North Dakota."
"It's more like you'd see on Mars on a nice summer day in the poles," Scambos said, from the American Geophysical Union scientific meeting in San Francisco Monday, where he announced the data. "I'm confident that these pockets are the coldest places on Earth."
However, it won't be in the Guinness Book of World Records because these were satellite measured, not from thermometers, Scambos said.
"Thank God, I don't know how exactly it feels," Scambos said. But he said scientists do routinely make naked 100 degree below zero dashes outside in the South Pole, so people can survive that temperature for about three minutes.
Most of the time researchers need to breathe through a snorkel that brings air into the coat through a sleeve and warms it up "so you don't inhale by accident" the cold air, Scambos said.
On Monday, the coldest U.S. temperature was a relatively balmy 27 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in Yellowstone, Wyo., said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private firm Weather Underground.
"If you want soul-crushing cold, you really have to go overseas," Scambos said in a phone interview. "It's just a whole other level of cold because on that cold plateau, conditions are perfect."
Scambos said the air is dry, the ground chilly, the skies cloudless and cold air swoops down off a dome and gets trapped in a chilly lower spot "hugging the surface and sliding around."
Just because one spot on Earth has set records for cold that has little to do with global warming because it is one spot in one place, said Waleed Abdalati, an ice scientist at the University of Colorado and NASA's former chief scientist. Both Abdalati, who wasn't part of the measurement team, and Scambos said this is likely an unusual random reading in a place that hasn't been measured much before and could have been colder or hotter in the past and we wouldn't know.
"It does speak to the range of conditions on this Earth, some of which we haven't been able to observe," Abdalati said.  Bailey Comment: " Waleen Abdalati must be a Democrat because he's talking out both sides of his mouth"!

So In Your Face!

War on Christmas

The Baby Jesus has been kicked off Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, according to an organization who relishes any opportunity to eradicate Christianity from the U.S. military.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation praised officials at Shaw Air Force Base for removing a Nativity scene located near Memorial Lake on Friday. The traditional Nativity included plastic statues of Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus and an assortment of animals.
Apparently, an undisclosed number of Airmen were so emotionally troubled by the sight of a manger scene that they immediately notified the MRFF.

I can only imagine the psychological damage they must have suffered as a result of glancing at the plastic statues.

I can only imagine the psychological damage they must have suffered as a result of glancing at the plastic statues. I hope no one needed hospitalization, God forbid.
The MRFF’s Paul Loebe wrote in a statement that since the display was not erected near a chapel, it was illegal.
“It was very sectarian in nature and a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution as well as a blatant violation of Air Force Instruction 1-1, Section 2.11,” he said.
So the Newborn King is a violation of Air Force regulations? Who knew?
Loebe swiftly alerted MRFF President Mikey Weinstein who then called his BFF’s at the Pentagon. That led to an immediate investigation and more than two hours later, the Nativity had been removed.
“To the Air Force’s credit, it agreed with MRFF’s arguments to remove the Nativity scene swiftly and apparently found this scene to be as much a violation of all the pertinent regulations and the United States Constitution as MRFF did,” he stated.
He praised the Air Force for “acting so swiftly to reverse this egregious violation.”
So why did the Air Force unceremoniously boot the Son of God and why are they so terrified of Mikey Weinstein?
The public affairs office at Shaw AFB did not return three telephone calls and an email seeking comment. They must have been preoccupied hauling away the donkey and the sheep.
Hiram Sasser, the director of litigation for Liberty Institute, told me the military’s actions were unconstitutional.
“This was private speech,” he said. “The military can say no displays on a base but it cannot allow a display and then ban it simply because of its religious viewpoint.”
Sasser said the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that viewpoint discrimination even in a non-public forum such as a military base in unconstitutional.
“It appears that Mikey Weinstein has a special hotline to call his friends in leadership at the Pentagon to alert them to engage in unnecessary and, in this case, unlawful censorship of private religious speech,” he said.
Fox News commentator Sarah Palin, the author of the new book, “Good Tidings and Great Joy,” said what happened at Shaw Air Force base is not surprising.
“We see stories like this every day and yet leftwing pundits still claim that the so-called ‘War on Christmas’ is a figment of the imagination,” Palin told me. “The War on Christmas is just the top of the spear in a larger battle to marginalize expressions of faith and make true religious freedom a thing of the past.”
Palin’s book is a call to arms for Americans to “stand strong on America’s faith-filled foundation.”
“Never let these scrooges strip away the true meaning of Christmas,” she told me.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation bragged that it only took the Air Force two hours and 15 minutes to remove Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Sasser doubted the military would respond with such speed to correct what he called “unconstitutional religious viewpoint discrimination.”
He said he was surprised the Pentagon responded so swiftly to Weinstein’s demands - “as if he were under attack in a foreign country in need of rescue from a deadly mob.”
“Apparently if you are ever in trouble and need a quick response from the Pentagon, tell them a plastic Baby Jesus is at the gates.”
Maybe that’s what they should’ve done in Benghazi.

Congress

Maryland official who led problematic, state-run ObamaCare site resigns

The top Maryland official in charge of the state-run ObamaCare exchange resigned this weekend amid major efforts to fix the problematic website.
Rebecca Pearce, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefits Exchange, resigned Friday, according to several news sources.
She appears to be the first official to lose a job as a result of problems with ObamaCare exchanges since they went live Oct. 1.
Critics of the federal exchange have called for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and other administration officials in charge of the problem-plagued HealthCare.gov. But President Obama has yet to accept a resignation.
The Maryland exchange’s board of directors released a statement saying it has accepted Pearce’s resignation and that she “worked tirelessly and with tremendous dedication to build Maryland Health Connection over more than two years.”
The group has not said exactly why Pearce resigned. But a source told The Washington Post is was related to leadership changes made by Gov. Martin O’Malley, a strong political ally of Obama and a potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
Maryland is one of 14 states running its own exchange and has struggled with the same kind of technical problems that have plagued the federal site that the 36 other states use to sign up Americans for insurance under Obama’s signature health care reform law.
O’Malley has been a strong supporter of ObamaCare, and his Democratic-leaning state was among the first to get started on a state-run exchange.
However, the site, MarylandHealthConnection.gov, crashed soon after the October rollout and has sputtered along over roughly the past nine weeks, enrolling just 3,000 residents.
However, state officials indicated earlier Friday that the site has shown some improvement, signing up roughly 700 more people in the week ending Nov. 30.

Ills of HealthCare.gov

Errors in ObamaCare website forms spark concerns

 

The Obama administration announced Friday that enrollment records for one in four Americans who selected health plans on HealthCare.gov in October and November could contain errors, raising concerns that consumers who think they have coverage won't actually be enrolled on Jan. 1.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman Julie Bataille said recent fixes to HealthCare.gov have brought the error rate on forms sent to insurance companies down to about one in 10 for files generated after Dec. 1, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The electronic files, known as 834 forms, give insurance companies basic information about would-be customers, including their name, address, contact information and Social Security number. Insurance companies have reported issues with the files since the law's rollout.
"The new process put in place this week is making a difference. The enrollment files are getting better, but there is more work to do to ensure consumers are covered," Karen Ignani, the chief executive officer of insurance industry trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, said in a statement obtained by the New York Post on Friday.
CMS is reaching out to hundreds of thousands of consumers who have tried to enroll for health coverage but aren't enrolled, according to Bataille, who said consumers should be contacted by the insurance company for a payment after selecting a plan.
"Our clear priority is fixing any remaining bugs causing problems and working to make sure every 834 form past and present is resolved," Bataille said, according to The Journal.
Ms. Bataille said errors with the enrollment forms include duplicate files, lack of a file altogether, or a file with mistaken data such as a child incorrectly being listed as a spouse.
AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach told FoxNews.com last week that insurance companies have received duplicative and inaccurate forms, and "in some cases, plans are not getting the enrollment files at all." Getting that fixed, he said, is "critical."
Though the administration has given people until the end of March to sign up for coverage if they want to avoid a fine, coverage for many is supposed to start on Jan. 1. That leaves less than 30 days to fix the remaining glitches.
The administration announced last week it is working on a system to pay insurers its portion of premiums and cost-sharing payments. A temporary workaround has been proposed that would allow insurers to estimate how much they are owed, and submit the bill to the government.
Bailey Comment: " This is what happens when you put your trust in a bunch of idiots"!

Thor

Department of Homeland Security Stacked With Pro-Amnesty Attorneys Ahead of Illegal Immigration Fight | Katie Pavlich

• Posted by Kevin Fobbs on December 5, 2013 at 3:51pm
• 

Sometimes wading through the new America according to Obama where everything is about race and nothing is about uniting as Americans is as difficult as it is tiring. So one can only imagine the utter frustration and even anger that White students had to feel sitting through class after class where a Black Professor made them the convenient targets of her inner demons.

This seemed to be the common practice of English Professor Shannon Gibney who turned her class at Minneapolis Community and Technical College into a frequent diatribe about alleged White privilege, according to the Daily Caller. Is it racism in reverse or is it the actions of an out of control teacher who is searching for fake racial victimization?

Imagine the reality of having a target painted on your back in an English class which has precious little to do with racism or racial issues. The class was turned on its head and used as a personal crusade against non-minorities: i.e. White people. Even if oppression occurred in the nation’s past, the reality that this professor and many of the civil rights pimps of today who continue to cling to divisive racist instigation is disturbing yet acceptable by leaders like Barack Obama. Remember who he inserted himself into the criminal trial of George Zimmerman by asserting that if he had a son, “He would look like Trayvon Martin”?
Professor Gibney is clearly caught in a time warp where her comfort zone is not complete unless she can raise the shadows of past racial injustices and create a whole new imagined racism stew today in modern Minneapolis, Minnesota.
One truly has to wonder did the English Department or the college even scrutinize her teaching credentials to see if she is really certified, because something is surely amiss here. She claims according to the Daily Caller that she was not, “talking about all white people, or you white people in general.” Professor Gibney instead suggested that, “We are talking about whiteness as a system of oppression.”

Obamacare's Perilous Protection Plan for Debtors

"Uh-oh." That's the sound being uttered in doctors' offices and hospitals across the country as medical providers realize they're getting stuck with another bottomless Obamacare bill. While the White House desperately tries to pivot from the havoc wrought by the "Affordable Care Act," its hidden regulatory bombs keep exploding.

I heard about the latest problem this week from an eye doctor friend who received a letter from a Colorado-based insurer informing her that she's essentially on the hook for Obamacare's payment grace period for debtors. The optometrist is bracing for a flood of similar letters from other insurers. Like countless other independent providers, she's extremely concerned about the potential liability, uncertainty and fraud the rule imposes on her business.
Here's the raw deal: The Affordable Care Act created a 90-day grace period before insurers can drop patients who fall behind on premiums. So, delinquents who obtain tax-subsidized health insurance through an Obamacare health insurance exchange have three months to settle up their bills prior to their policy being canceled. As written, the law puts insurers on the hook for the grace period.
But the bureaucrats at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decided to issue a rule in March making insurers responsible only for paying claims during the first 30 days of the debtors' grace period. Who's on the hook for the other two months? Well, customers are entrusted to foot the bills for additional services. But if they blow off the payments, it's up to physicians and hospitals to collect.
In real-world practice, this means providers will be eating untold costs. Several large hospital associations raised red flags over the issue this summer. In August, the Missouri Hospital Association noted that the regulatory shift "unduly burdens physicians, hospitals and other health care providers" by making them directly collect payments from patients, which "puts them at an unfair and significant risk for providing uncompensated care to patients."
Emillie J DiChristina of Practicefirst Medical Management Solutions spelled out the financial risks for clients on the company's blog: "This leaves providers in a potentially bad place as they have a high potential for accruing bad debt on services provided between 31 and 90 days of the allowed grace period." Can you spell f-r-a-u-d? People could "go on and off" insurance plans, Tampa Bay health care lawyer Bruce Lamb told me, and game the system by bailing on payments and exploiting Obamacare protections against denial of coverage.
Or as MHA officials put it: "We also are very concerned that some disreputable individuals will learn they can manipulate the system and win a full year's insurance coverage on only nine months of premiums. Knowing they are entitled to three months of grace period coverage, dishonest persons could stop paying premiums on the ninth month, enjoy free coverage during the 90-day grace period, have their coverage terminated, and then re-enter the exchange market where the Affordable Care Act's guaranteed issue mandate would prohibit another plan from denying them coverage."
Think such nefarious behavior won't occur? Then you haven't been paying attention to the data manipulators and con artists in the Obamacare navigator program. As I reported earlier this year, the seedy nonprofit Seedco secured multimillion-dollar navigator contracts in Georgia, Maryland, Tennessee and New York to recruit Obamacare recipients into the government-run exchanges — despite settling a civil fraud lawsuit for faking at least 1,400 of 6,500 job placements under a $22.2 million federally funded contract with New York City a year ago.
Additionally, investigative journalist James O'Keefe and his Project Veritas team have caught Obamacare navigators on tape advising health insurance exchange customers to under-report their income and lie about their health status in order to cheat the system.
CMS has made no effort to repeal its cost-shifting rule or to do anything to address the concerns of providers who will be left holding the bag. As one hospital rep told me: "It's potentially catastrophic." Private practices are already being hit hard with slashed reimbursements, the electronic medical records mandate, ICD-10 medical diagnostic code changes, and increasing federal intrusions on how they provide care. In yet another entry on the laundry list of Obamacare's unintended consequences, this regulation will hurt patients by dissuading doctors from participating in exchange plans.
In short: less choice, higher prices, increased potential for fraud, more bureaucratic headaches and more disincentives to enter or stay in the medical profession. When the government grants "grace," everyone must watch their wallets. It's always easy to afford compassion when someone else is paying for it.
Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies" (Regnery 2010). Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.

Chris Matthews: Don’t worry, I’ll include some easier questions when I interview Obama

    Via the Washington Free Beacon, can we trust a guy who compared himself yesterday to a kid on Christmas Eve to ask tough, newsy questions of the president? The whole point of agreeing to a town hall carried by a liberal cable network, with an audience full of college kids, hosted by someone who cops to getting thrills up his leg at Obama’s oratory, is to let O pitch ObamaCare in the most favorable of media environments. He’s playing tee-ball here, by design. They might as well invite him to wear pajamas. Even the “hard” questions are more likely to be along the lines of “Were you disappointed on launch day that your team had failed you?” than “HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE KNOWN?” The fact that Matthews has actually allotted time for questions even he thinks will be easy — as well as a “fun” segment at the end — makes me want to watch in morbid curiosity to see how bad it can get. Will there be any tingles mid-program? What would that look like? Is America, as a society, prepared for it?
As for the audience, I’m betting that the disaffected millennials who want to recall Obama will be grossly underrepresented. One interesting tangent on that, though: How come young adults aged 25-29 are still more or less on O’s side whereas younger adults aged 18-24 have soured on him? Emma Roller has a theory:

Intuitively, you’d think younger millennials would be more supportive of Obama because his health law allows them to stay on their parents’ plan longer for free. Why is it the opposite? My working theory: older millennials are more supportive of the president is because they were around to vote for him in 2008, and so have a more visceral tie to his policies.
I asked IOP pollster-in-chief John Della Volpe if he thought my theory was plausible. He responded, “Not only is that plausible but I agree!” So it may not be so much that the 18-24 set likes Obama less; they just don’t risk their egos as much by not supporting him.

No doubt. Older millennials made the purchase psychologically on Hopenchange; it’d have to fall apart completely before they admit it’s a lemon. Younger millennials aren’t similarly invested. There may be another element, though. Some studies suggest that once a person’s political identity is formed in youth, it remains surprisingly steady for the rest of his or her life. Older millennials aren’t just kids who got suckered by Obama hype, they’re voters who, like most of the rest of America, soured on Bush and the GOP because of Dubya’s second term. Unlike most of the rest of America, though, that pro-Democrat/anti-Republican orientation is more apt to endure in their age group because it developed during a formative age for political awareness. They’re sticking with Obama not just for ego-protection, in other words, but because of bona fide partisan identification. Younger millennials are in a different position, having largely missed the Bush years and picked up politics in the Obama years of economic stagnation. They’re not firmly forged Democrats, unlike their slightly older brothers and sisters. That’s good news for the GOP, even if older millennials are now mostly a lost cause.
Anyway, set your DVRs. Exit question: What would constitute a “hard question” for Obama? Matthews seems to think asking him about NSA surveillance qualifies, which is understandable but … not really true, I think. You know what Obama’s going to say — it’s a delicate balance between freedom and security, no one’s more concerned about privacy than he is, he’s convinced that these programs save lives, etc etc. It’s not a hard question if you can guess the answer in advance. But then, that also goes for my hobbyhorse lately about O violating separation of powers. That’s not a hard subject to spin either: The executive branch has some discretion in how it enforces the law and he’s exercising that discretion in ObamaCare’s transitional period to make the program better for Americans. The art of the hard question is in the follow-up, not the initial ask. We’ll see how Tingles does tonight.

Drones

Obamacare Lawsuits Mount as Notre Dame Joins Scrum of Opponents

Hours after the University of Notre Dame filed a religious challenge to the U.S. health-care overhaul in Indiana federal court, a judge in Washington heard arguments in a lawsuit assailing tax provisions of the statute.
The cases underscore the persistent and diverse nature of legal attacks on the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act even as the Obama administration struggles to fix bugs in HealthCare.gov, the online marketplace for health insurance created by the measure.
Obamacare litigation continues partly because questions about its legitimacy as a piece partisan legislation are unresolved, said Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington and an opponent of the act. The statute passed Congress without Republican support in either the House or Senate.
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It doesn’t matter what motivates the plaintiffs bringing those challenges as long as “their legal arguments are sound, because that’s what the courts are looking at,” Shapiro said.
The suit in Washington, in which a federal judge yesterday heard arguments for an immediate verdict, was brought by seven individuals and businesses from six states. At least three similar complaints have been filed in Oklahoma, Virginia and Indiana. All challenge some of the federal government’s authority to offer tax credits to subsidize health insurance for poor people under Obamacare.
Catholic Teaching
The complaint Notre Dame filed yesterday, alleging that the law’s requirement health plans cover birth control violates Roman Catholic teaching, is a re-filing of a lawsuit dismissed in December on procedural grounds.
The Notre Dame case is among 86 lawsuits attacking Obamacare on religious grounds, according to Erin Mersino, trial counsel at the Thomas More Law Center, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a Christian-based public interest law firm.
Forty-one of the cases involve primarily Catholic nonprofit groups such as Notre Dame and take issue with the birth control mandate, Mersino said. The other 46 were brought by for-profit entities whose owners argue the contraception provision violates their religious freedom, she said.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 26 agreed to hear two cases from the for-profit group involving the craft store chain Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. They, too, claim an exemption from covering employees’ birth control on religious grounds.
First Look
The dispute will be the court’s first look at President Barack Obama’s biggest legislative accomplishment since a majority of the justices upheld the core of the law in 2012.
The court on Dec. 2 declined to hear an appeal by Liberty University, a Virginia school founded by the late evangelical preacher and activist Jerry Falwell, which lost a lower-court case arguing the law’s employer mandate exceeded Congress’s power over interstate commerce.
The suits by nonprofit religious groups are less advanced in the courts because the Obama administration delayed the birth control mandate for a year as it sought an accommodation with them.
While the religious cases have drawn attention because of their number and high-profile plaintiffs such as Notre Dame and the Archdiocese of Washington, they don’t threaten the viability of Obamacare, according to Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and a consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

“They’re challenges to one particular part of one particular regulation,” Jost said. “They’re very important cases, but I don’t think they mean much for the Affordable Care Act.”
The tax cases, involving federal subsidies to people shopping for insurance on government-run marketplaces, or exchanges, present a “significant challenge” to the law because, if successful, they could prevent millions of people from buying coverage, Jost said.
Plaintiffs in those suits argue the language of the health- care legislation allows subsidies only for people using state- run exchanges, not the federal government’s.
Thirty-three states, including Ohio, Texas and Florida, declined to set up exchanges.
“No legitimate method of statutory construction would interpret the phrase ‘established by the state’ in the ACA’s subsidy provisions to mean ‘‘established by the state or federal government,’’ according to a brief filed by plaintiffs in the case argued yesterday in Washington.
Congressional Intent
That argument will probably fail because courts look on laws as a whole, not narrow slices of language, and ‘‘it’s clear Congress meant for the federal exchanges to be treated the same as the states’ exchanges,” Jost said.
Shapiro, of the Cato Institute, said the tax credit cases could “have legs.”
“There’s a very strong technical argument that the challengers are bringing,” Shapiro said. “It’s not some sort of glitch or scriveners’ error. Congress wanted to incentivize states to create these exchanges.”
At least one other case challenges the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that it violates the Constitution’s origination clause, which requires revenue-raising measures to originate in the House, not the Senate.
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U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington in June rejected that argument as made by Matt Sissel, an Iowa man, concluding the challenged bill originated in the House even if it was completely rewritten by the Senate.
The cases are Notre Dame University v. Sebelius, 3:13- cv-01276, U.S. District Court, North District of Indiana (South Bend), and Halbig v. Sebelius, 13-cv-00623, U.S District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

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Stunning hypocrisy from Democrats in wake of ObamaCare's broken promises

Hypocrisy and double standards are two things that disgust and infuriate all Americans, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum.
Unfortunately, these qualities are far too prevalent in our political culture today, and are prime reasons why Washington and the politicians that work there are held in such low regard.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the implementation and implosion of ObamaCare.
During the debate over the deeply flawed bill in 2009 and 2010, voters were repeatedly assured by President Obama and his congressional allies that everyone who liked their current health care plan would be able to keep it. “Period.”

Rather than join with Republicans and immediately repeal this catastrophe before it gets any worse, Democrats are stubbornly digging in their heels. 

Now, as the new law implodes before our eyes, millions of Americans have received letters of cancellation. With approximately five million people across the country expected to lose their current plan and millions more to follow, when all the smoke clears, it’s clear that the Democrats broke their promise to the American people.
Many other Americans are experiencing fewer medical options as insurers restrict their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low.
Some of the country’s top medical facilities are being excluded from the new exchange system, meaning patients who have been getting treatment from doctors they like all of a sudden find themselves out of luck.
For example, in New Hampshire, only 16 of the state’s 26 hospitals are available on the federal exchange, meaning patients must either pay more to keep their current doctor or seek inferior care elsewhere.
Neither is a good option.
New Hampshire is not alone. Across the country, some of the best hospitals are not available on plans on the exchange, leaving patients with difficult choices and unwanted sometimes, life threatening decisions.
Rather than join with Republicans and immediately repeal this catastrophe before it gets any worse, Democrats are stubbornly digging in their heels.
They know that backing away from President Obama’s signature achievement would be a huge embarrassment for the White House, and they’re unwilling to buck their party leadership.
Instead, they’re hiding behind meaningless show votes in Congress, offering half-hearted and meaningless attempts to reinstate cancelled plans or delay implementation of some of the particularly onerous new federal regulations.
All these false efforts will do is add to the increased costs and put things off until after the 2014 elections.
No one is mistaking these transparent moves as profiles in courage.
ObamaCare became the law of the land because every single Democratic Senator fell in line with their party bosses and voted for it. For any sitting member of the Senate to somehow now suggest that they are fighting to protect their constituents from this “trainwreck” is completely hypocritical.
If they were really interested in sparing their constituents from ObamaCare’s harmful impact, they should have stood up when they could have stopped the whole thing from becoming law.
They could have also voted to allow for the protection or “grandfathering” of the older policies.
They did neither.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that politicians in Washington have access to many special perks and privileges unavailable to the general public when attempting to navigate ObamaCare.
Beyond having more top-flight plans to choose from, senators have access to what the New York Times recently described as “concierge-type services” and “in-person support sessions” available only to members of Congress.
Democrats who voted for ObamaCare are therefore not exposed to the same frustrations of a broken website and complicated red tape that millions of everyday people are being forced to work through.
The hypocrisy is stunning. Saddling the rest of the country with complicated rules they didn’t want and don’t need in pursuit of a health care takeover that will hurt patient care, limit options and devastate our economy is no way to run a country.
Not only is President Obama to blame here, so too are every single one of the Democratic senators who forced this fiasco on the American people.
The president is not going to face voters again, but his congressional enablers and supporters will in less than a year. When they do, it’s going to be an unpleasant experience for any incumbent having to explain their deciding vote and continued support for the ongoing disaster of ObamaCare.

Senseless

Fact Check: Is President Obama's latest health care promise true?

Is President Obama’s latest health care promise – that his plan will offer “most” people a better plan for the same price or less than their current policy – actually true?
 Some analysts say no.
"That’s not an accurate argument," says Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute. "If your plan is now covering a bunch of things that you don’t need, then how is it a better plan for you?"
 Former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin says there's no evidence to support the president's claim.
"You can do the math," he says. "Most of the policies in his claim could spend more, cover more things, provide more visits and charge less." But, he concludes, "the arithmetic just does not work."
Obama’s remarks last month were an effort to deflect criticism for having earlier promised that people could keep their plans and doctors no matter what.
 "Most people, he said, "will be able to buy better plans for the same price or even cheaper than what they've gotten before."
 A few days after that promise, the president appeared to downgrade the pledge somewhat, saying only that "there's a good chance that they'll be able to buy better insurance at lower cost."
 The promise that "most people" would be better off is sharply disputed by many, including a number of individuals experiencing sticker shock, including those with pre-existing conditions.
They include Tom Gialanella of Seattle, who had a policy that was renewed for years even after he had cancer -- not the kind of sub-standard policy the president likes to criticize.
 But he says his new policy under ObamaCare "went from $891 a month to $1,437 a month and also my deductibles all doubled."
Andrew Leonard recently told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren that he "would get the terrible, terrible plan with the $6,000 deductible." As far as the premiums are concerned, he said, " I'll pay $1,200 dollars a year for that and I'll be less insured than I am today."
 Analysts say those whose policies are canceled will get new coverage, but not at lower prices.
 "What we're seeing is that the new ObamaCare plans typically have higher deductibles than the old plans did," says Roy, along with "a narrower choice of doctors and hospitals and yet higher premiums."
 David Hogberg of the National Center for Public Policy Research adds,"It's very easy for a bronze plan to have a deductible (with) total out of pocket costs that are $6,000."
 That, of course, means the individual doesn't get a dollar of benefits until he or she has exceeded $6,000 in expenditures, much more than many young people spend on medical care.
 Rosemary Gibson of the Hastings Center and author of "The Battle Over Health Care" points to a  Nov. 14 letter from one of the top officials implementing the law that concedes subsidies won't help everyone.
 She describes it as "a letter from Gary Cohen to state health insurance commissioners saying while many people still have subsidies, there will still be some people who will be paying more than they were paying."
 In fact, one insurance plan that asked not to be identified analyzed its pool of 375,000 people and found that,  even after subsidies, only 10 percent would actually see a decrease in costs, while one third would face significant rate increases as a result of ObamaCare.

Illinois public unions target Democratic lawmakers

The latest battle between organized labor and states trying to fix huge budget problems by cutting pension costs has surfaced in Illinois, where public union leaders are waging an all-out effort to stop the Democrat-led campaign.
Details of a plan reached last week appear to show state legislative leaders are attempting to solve Illinois' $100 billion pension crisis in part by changing workers' retirement age, reducing automatic pension increases and limiting their collective-bargaining privileges.
Union leaders argue the plan to help the under-funded pension plan, which appears to have bipartisan support, seems no different than the one the General Assembly rejected earlier this year.
“It’s an unfair, unconstitutional scheme that undermines retirement security,” the We Are One Illinois labor coalition said last week as details of the plan emerged. "It’s no compromise at all with those who earned and paid for their retirement benefits. In fact, reports suggest the leaders have repackaged Senate Bill 1 and barely bothered to disguise it.”
Rank-and-file state lawmakers were briefed on the plan Friday, and a vote could come as early as this week.
Leaders of the unions, a usually reliable Democratic vote, are specifically targeting Democratic state senators from moderate, swing districts where election opponents can hammer them for inaction or being too tough on state workers and say eight to 10 of them are considered "persuadable."
The battle is the most recent to play out across the Midwest where Republican governors in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan have worked to limit collective bargain deals to reduce budget shortfalls.
The most epic battle took place in Wisconsin in 2011 when GOP Gov. Scott Walker led an effort to get the General Assembly to pass legislation that limited collective bargaining for most state workers and required them to pay more for their pensions and health-care benefits to help reduce a projected  $137 million budget shortfall.
The move sparked weeks of protests in the state capitol, a national debate on the issue and a failed attempt to recall Walker, who was faced with a projected $3.6 billion deficit when he signed the legislation.
Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and the four legislative leaders of the Democrat-controlled Assembly say the plan will save the state an estimated $160 billion over 30 years and are working to secure enough support for passage.

Administration to release more data on ObamaCare site's progress

The Obama administration is expected to give a fuller picture Sunday of whether it met its self-imposed November 30 deadline to allow 50,000 people to access the federal healthcare exchange website simultaneously.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have scheduled a press conference for 9 a.m. to discuss the progress of the site, Healthcare.gov.
Obama administration officials said Saturday that the site had "performed well" and that  upgrades overnight Friday had improved response times and reduced errors. The site was taken offline between 9 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Eastern time Saturday, in addition to its regular maintenance window, which falls between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern time Sunday.
"With the scheduled upgrades last night and tonight, we're on track to meet our stated goal for the site to work for the vast majority of users," CMS spokesman Aaron Albright told Fox News earlier Saturday.
CMS spokeswoman Julie Bataille said the installation of new servers Friday night helped improved the response times and error rates, even with heavier-than-usual weekend traffic.
Though President Obama and other administration officials have tried to downplay the deadline, saying fixes are an ongoing effort, a lot is riding on the site’s performance this weekend, including upcoming elections as well as Americans’ confidence in the president and his signature health-care law, which depends on their participation to work.
The Washington Post reported hours before that the administration was prepared to announce Sunday that they have met deadlines for improving HealthCare.gov. However, technicians failed to reach the deadline to fix at least some of the glitches, according to the newspaper.
Official have repeatedly said in recent weeks that the site would after the deadline be able to accommodate the “vast majority” of online shoppers.
The White House says it's made numerous upgrades in both software and hardware over the last month, which also will allow the site to handle more than 800,000 visitors a day.
Still, in the days leading up to the deadline, the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services continued to scale back expectations, saying not to expect the site to be 100 percent glitch-free.
"If there are extraordinarily high spikes in traffic, which exceed the site's capacity, consumers will be put in a new, advanced queuing system that will give them an expected wait time, or allow them to be notified via when they can return to the site," Bataille said Monday.
Obama recently said he'd consider a "fix" to be successful if 80 percent of the people are able to navigate the site without a major problem.
The nation's largest health insurer trade group said significant problems remain.
Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, told the Associated Press that insurers have complained that enrollment data sent to them from the website include too much incorrect, duplicative, garbled or missing information. She said the problems must be cleared up to guarantee consumers the coverage they signed up for effective Jan. 1.
The first big test of the repaired website probably won't come for another couple of weeks, when an enrollment surge is expected as consumers rush to meet a Dec. 23 deadline so their coverage can kick in on the first of the year.
Avoiding a break in coverage is particularly important for millions of people whose current individual policies were canceled because they don't meet the standards of the health care law, as well as for a group of about 100,000 in an expiring federal program for high-risk patients.
Democrats and Republicans will be closely watching the site this weekend. With the midterm elections less than a year away, it's vital to Democrats that the site lives up to expectations the president set. Republicans have already suggested they'll launch coordinated attacks linking every congressional Democrat up for re-election to the Affordable Care Act.
In the House, the effort, based around dozens of votes to repeal the law, is about denying Democrats the 17-seat gain they would need to win back the majority. In the Senate, it's about gaining the six seats Republicans need to take control of that chamber.
It was announced earlier this week that Families USA, a self-proclaimed non-partisan organization, has been given a $1.1 million grant to establish a database of ObamaCare "success stories."
Families USA received the money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Oct. 4. The grant is meant to help Families USA expand the database of “real people” sharing their stories of enrolling in ObamaCare.
News of the grant has been revealed in the same week that the White House announced two more delays related to the president's landmark health care reform law.
On Wednesday, it was announced that it would delay the launch of an online portal to the health insurance marketplace for small businesses until November 2015. Officials said that the decision to delay the launch had been taken because making repairs to the federal health exchange site, Healthcare.gov took priority.
The administration also announced that the launch of a Spanish-language sign-up tool would have to be postponed.
In recent weeks, the White House has also pushed back the enrollment deadline for individuals to December 23, given businesses with more than 50 workers until 2015 to provide required health insurance without paying a penalty, and moved the deadline date for individuals to avoid penalties for failing to get coverage back for six weeks.
There was also an announced schedule change in next year's open enrollment season. It will start on Nov. 15, 2014, a month later than originally scheduled, and finish on Jan. 15, 2015, about five weeks later than originally planned. Bailey Comment: "Do you think that a lot of visits to this site was to shop for insurance or just to see if the site works now"?