Friday, May 23, 2014

Before you throw another burger on the grill 
this weekend, remember what Memorial Day is really all about: 
honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice 
so that we may live in freedom.


Heading into the 2014 elections, some Democrats think they have found a way to minimize the political fallout from the president's health care law. They have convinced themselves that voters are more interested in fixing the law rather than repealing it. A few even believe that Obamacare may someday be popular with voters.

Rhetorically, they may be right (if a bit overoptimistic) in the narrow setting of midterm elections.

It is certainly true that a Democrat calling for mending the health care law rather than ending it will fare better than one who enthusiastically supports the status quo. In some states and districts, the mend-don't-end approach will be more appealing than the repeal-and-replace rhetoric coming from the Republican Party.

Substantively, however, a Democratic campaign based upon fixing the health care law is a white flag of surrender acknowledging that Obamacare will never go into effect the way the president dreamed.

Other than rhetoric, there is little difference between GOP calls for repeal and the kind of fix that would make the law popular and workable.

The key is the individual mandate.

It's the most unpopular part of the law mainly because most Americans instinctively feel that there's something wrong with the government forcing citizens to buy something. That's especially true when they're forced to buy from a large insurance company that helped write the rules.

Defenders of the law prefer to call it an "individual shared responsibility payment." In their framing, it's not so much a mandate as a way of treating your neighbors fairly. The thinking goes that if someone without insurance gets in an accident or is diagnosed with cancer, the rest of us get stuck with the tab.

That sounds pretty reasonable. Being responsible for paying your bills is all-American and something to be encouraged. If that were what the law actually did, it wouldn't be so hated.

Unfortunately, instead of sticking to that basic concept, the president mandated all kinds of things beyond what is necessary to protect society from irresponsible neighbors. For example, it's a bit bizarre to force people without children to pay for pediatric care insurance. Those add-ons to the mandate limit personal choice and dramatically drive up the cost of insurance.

It is on this point that the difference between mending and ending the health care law fades away.

The law will never become popular and workable until the individual mandate is fixed or repealed.

Fixing it would mean stripping away all the add-on requirements in the current law. A minimal mandate, requiring purchase only of an inexpensive catastrophic care plan, would protect society at large but give individuals many more options.

The problem for President Barack Obama, however, is what will happen after the mandate is fixed.

Essentially, it would remove both insurance companies and the government from the driver's seat to put consumers in charge. As consumers exercised their power, it would spur innovation in the health care field and undermine the top-down control at the core of Obamacare.

That's the dilemma facing the Democrats. To survive the election, they will call for fixing the health care law rather than repealing it. After the election, they will have to deal with the reality that there is little difference between fixing and repealing. Substantively, mending Obamacare will end it.

I warned everybody...and so the grooming of the man who will run for POTUS begins



CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama is preparing to boost the profile of an up-and-coming young Hispanic Democrat by nominating San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to become the nation's housing secretary. Obama's current housing chief gets a new title: budget director.

Obama was expected to announce his latest Cabinet shuffle at the White House on Friday afternoon, a White House official said, shortly after he returns from an overnight trip to his Chicago hometown to raise money for Senate Democratic candidates.

He was to be joined by Castro and Shaun Donovan, currently secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both men are close to the president and their profiles would receive a significant boost from moving into the higher-profile positions. The White House official who disclosed the nominations would speak only on condition of anonymity before a pending personnel announcement by Obama.

Obama chose Castro to deliver the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and his star has been rising ever since. The two men's life stories are similar: Both are minorities raised by single mothers, they hold Harvard law degrees and saw their political careers skyrocket after giving lauded Democratic convention keynote speeches.

Castro, 39, is often among those being talked about as possible Democratic vice presidential candidates in 2016. If confirmed by the Senate, the three-term mayor would become one of the highest-ranking Hispanic officials serving at the pleasure of the president.

Donovan, 48, is highly regarded inside the White House as a strong manager. He is a lifelong affordable housing advocate whose work overseeing the federal government's response to the destruction Hurricane Sandy unleashed on the East Coast in October 2012 has earned glowing praise from White House officials, including Obama.

As director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, currently a Cabinet-level post, Donovan would have influence over administration policy and spending. He would be expected to win Senate confirmation a second time for the new post.

Donovan would replace Sylvia Mathews Burwell. Obama recently nominated Burwell to become secretary of health and human services following the resignation of Kathleen Sebelius after the disastrous rollout of the federal website for consumers to buy insurance coverage under Obama's health care law.

Obama had sought to bring Castro into the administration in the past, but he decided to stay in the job he says he looked forward to while growing up. Castro handily won a third term as mayor last year.
But his ambitions apparently have grown along with his stock as a politician with broad appeal to Democratic voters, including fellow Hispanics who voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2012. Castro is Mexican-American.

Serving in Obama's Cabinet would give Castro a national platform to continue building his reputation.

Javier Palomarez, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said Castro is a "visionary leader" who has done more than anyone in San Antonio to address the city's housing needs.

"Mayor Castro is not only an exemplary leader within the Hispanic community, but by all measure, a well-suited candidate to lead the department," Palomarez said. "With great consistency, Mayor Castro has set aside political partisanship in the name of good policy decision making. We hope his confirmation process will proceed with that same collaborative spirit."
A government that fails to secure its borders is guilty of dereliction of duty. A government that fails to care for our men and women on the frontlines is guilty of malpractice. A government that puts the needs of illegal aliens above U.S. veterans for political gain should be prosecuted for criminal neglect bordering on treason.
Compare, contrast and weep:

In Sacramento, Calif., lawmakers are moving forward with a budget-busting plan to extend government-funded health insurance to at least 1.5 million illegal aliens.

In Los Angeles, federal bureaucrats callously canceled an estimated 40,000 diagnostic tests and treatments for American veterans with cancer and other illnesses to cover up a decade-long backlog.

In New York, doctors report that nearly 40 percent of their patients receiving kidney dialysis are illegal aliens. A survey of nephrologists in 44 states revealed that 65 percent of them treat illegal aliens with kidney disease.

In Memphis, a VA whistleblower reported that his hospital was using contaminated kidney dialysis machines to treat America's warriors. The same hospital previously had been investigated for chronic overcrowding at its emergency room, leading to six-hour waits or longer. Another watchdog probe found unconscionable delays in processing lab tests at the center. In addition, three patients died under negligent circumstances, and the hospital failed to enforce accountability measures.

In Arizona, illegal aliens incurred health care costs totaling an estimated $700 million in 2009.

In Phoenix, at least 40 veterans died waiting for VA hospitals and clinics to treat them, while government officials created secret waiting lists to cook the books and deceive the public about deadly treatment delays.

At the University of California at Berkeley, UC President Janet Napolitano (former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security) has offered $5 million in financial aid to illegal alien students.

Across the country, 16 states offer in-state tuition discounts for illegal aliens: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington. In addition, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and the University of Michigan Board of Regents all approved their own illegal alien tuition benefits.

In 2013, the nation's most selective colleges and universities had enrolled just 168 American veterans, down from 232 in 2011. Anti-war activists have waged war on military recruitment offices at elite campuses for years. The huge influx of illegal aliens in state universities is shrinking the number of state-subsidized slots for vets.

In 2013, the Obama Department of Homeland Security released 36,007 known, convicted criminal illegal aliens, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. The catch-and-release beneficiaries include thugs convicted of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, and thousands of drunk or drugged driving crimes.

The same Department of Homeland Security issued a report in 2009 that identified returning combat veterans as worrisome terrorist and criminal threats to America.

In Washington, Big Business and open-borders lobbyists are redoubling efforts to pass another massive illegal alien amnesty to flood the U.S. job market with low-wage labor.

Across the country, men and women in uniform returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan have higher jobless rates than the civilian population. The unemployment rate for new veterans has spiked to its worst levels, nearing 15 percent. For veterans ages 24 and under, the jobless rate is a whopping 29.1 percent, compared to 17.6 percent nationally for the age group.

A Forbes columnist reported last year that an Air Force veteran was told: "We don't hire your kind."

And last December, Democrats led the charge to reduce cost-of-living increases in military pensions -- while blocking GOP Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions' efforts to close a $4.2 billion loophole that allows illegal aliens to collect child tax credits from the IRS, even if they pay no taxes. The fraudulent payments to illegal aliens would have offset the cuts to veterans' benefits.

America: medical and welfare welcome mat to the rest of the world, while leavings its best and bravest veterans to languish in hospital lounges, die waiting for appointments, and compete for jobs and educational opportunities against illegal border-crossers, document fakers, visa violators and deportation evaders. Shame on us.

White House contacted YouTube over Muhammad video during Benghazi attack

/ Jihad Watch
 
innocence-of-muslims

“A still-classified State Department e-mail says that one of the first responses from the White House to the Benghazi attack was to contact YouTube to warn of the ‘ramifications’ of allowing the posting of an anti-Islamic video.” The White House says this confirms their version of events, but Issa says: “The e-mail shows the White House had hurried to settle on a false narrative.” Indeed.

There are thousands of videos on YouTube criticizing Islam in whole or part. The idea that this one touched off the Benghazi jihad attack, or was singular in any way, is ridiculous on its face.

“White House Contacted YouTube During Benghazi Attack, Darrell Issa Says,” by Jonathan Karl, ABC News, May 22, 2014:
A still-classified State Department e-mail says that one of the first responses from the White House to the Benghazi attack was to contact YouTube to warn of the “ramifications” of allowing the posting of an anti-Islamic video, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The memo suggests that even as the attack was still underway — and before the CIA began the process of compiling talking points on its analysis of what happened — the White House believed it was in retaliation for a controversial video.
…or wanted the world to believe that that was what was happening.
The subject line of the e-mail, which was sent at 9:11 p.m. Eastern Time on the night of the attack, is “Update on Response to actions – Libya.” The e-mail was written hours before the attack was over.
Issa has asked the White House to declassify and release the document. In the meantime he has inserted a sentence from the e-mail in the Congressional Record.
“White House is reaching out to U-Tube [sic] to advice ramification of the posting of the Pastor Jon video,” the e-mail reads, according to Issa.
Asked about the document, a senior White House official told ABC News it demonstrates that the White House genuinely believed the video sparked the attack all along, a belief that turned out to be incorrect.
“We actually think this proves what we’ve said. We were concerned about the video, given all the protests in region,” the official said. And the intelligence community “was also concerned about the video.”
Issa has an entirely different view. He contends the document contradicts the White House assertion that it was the CIA who first pinned blame for the attack on protests in response to the anti-Islamic video.
The e-mail shows the White House had hurried to settle on a false narrative — one at odds with the conclusions reached by those on the ground — before Americans were even out of harm’s way or the intelligence community had made an impartial examination of available evidence,” Issa said….

Obama no longer considers al-Qaeda a direct threat to America. Intelligence community stunned.

Bare Naked Islam

                                                                           

Tensions between the White House and top military and intelligence officials have never been greater.

obama_grim 

The Daily Beast  In interviews with many of them, a common theme is sounded: The threat from al Qaeda is rising, but the White House is looking to ratchet down the war against these Islamic extremists. As a result, intelligence gathered on these threats remain shrouded from the public and, in many cases, from senior government officials. And now Congress and the White House are beginning to consider modifying—and possibly revoking—the very authority to find, fix and finish those terrorists who pose the threat today.  

 

One senior U.S. intelligence official said the frustration was that there is pressure from the White House to downplay the threat from some al Qaeda affiliates. “It comes from the top, it’s the message that al Qaeda is all these small franchise groups and they are not coordinated and threatening,” this official said. “It’s the whole idea of getting us out to place resources against something that they don’t think is a problem. It’s not their war, it’s not our conflict.”

 

Al Qaeda chief says, "We need to kidnap more Americans"
Al Qaeda chief says, “We need to kidnap more Americans”

 

But some senior U.S. intelligence officials, like Defense Intelligence Agency Director Gen. Michael Flynn, fought hard against that assessment, which amounted to an official pronouncement of the American intelligence community’s collected wisdom. Flynn and his faction won a partial victory, striking the judgment that the terrorist group no longer posed a threat to the homeland. “Flynn and others at the time made it clear they would not go along with that kind of assessment,” one U.S. intelligence officer who worked on the al Qaeda file told The Daily Beast.  “It was basically: ‘Over my dead body.’”

 

One reason why CIA officers were so quick to conclude the Benghazi attack was an act of terrorism (not a response to a video) was because some of the fighters who participated in the attack were being watched by CIA officers at the time on the ground in Libya, according to U.S. intelligence officials and congressional investigators.




alqaeda17n-16-web
Documents taken from Osama bin Laden’s Pakistani lair showed that the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram, now infamous for its mass kidnappings, was tied to al Qaeda’s leader.

 

Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN on Sunday, “Terror is not down in the world. It is up, both deaths, injuries, in many, many different places. Al Qaeda has metastasized. 

 

 “There is a desire for peace and I understand that. Everyone admits theoretically that the enemy gets a vote. But the war is not over till the enemy says it’s over,” James Mattis, who served as Obama’s commander of Central Command between 2010 and 2013, until he was fired by Obama.

 

CNN reports that a series of al Qaeda-based threats to attack American and Western targets in Europe, as well as threats to launch attacks inside the United States, has caused significant concern inside the U.S. intelligence community. Officials are trying to determine the extent to which the threats may be linked and determine what it may mean about the strength of al Qaeda in several countries. 

 

Click on link to see video:

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/05/23/obama-no-longer-considers-al-qaeda-a-direct-threat-to-america-intelligence-community-stunned/


Op-ed:   
NO sense of urgency regarding our vets 
By: Diane Sori
 
Before he had to rush off to pack for yesterdays round of photo-op nonsense, and coming almost a month after the story broke, Barack HUSSEIN Obama spoke on Wednesday for 45 minutes about the VA scandal that is casting yet another shadow of incompetency over his presidency. Holding NO one responsible for this most grievous of sins against our veterans, Obama put on his best 'sad face' for the cameras while claiming he will work with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to address allegations that VA officials falsifying wait-time records for veterans seeking services.

Continuing to defend Shinseki's handling of the allegations to date, Obama said he would wait for the results of several reviews before deciding Shinseki's fate...the classic Obama do NOTHING stance.

Apparently the treatment of our veterans constitutes NO sense of urgency for this president as the 'blame everyone but himself' game revs up to full speed. Even saying, "When I heard allegations of misconduct - any misconduct, whether it's allegations of VA staff covering up long wait times or cooking the books - I will not stand for it, not as commander in chief, but also not as an American," Obama is just saying what he was told to say and he means NOT a word of it.

"...I will NOT stand for it..." coming from the mouth of this man are hypocritical words as they do NOTHING to quell this rightfully growing controversy with its demand for answers. In fact, when NO definitive plan of action to hold those responsible is laid out with those words, those words just become more useless bloviations by the man who is anything but an honorable Commander-in-Chief. But then again how does one take action against one's self for Barack HUSSEIN Obama new damn well from before he was sworn in that there were problems at the VA, and in the almost six years since then has done NOTHING to remedy the ever-expanding situation...NO...the ever-expanding crisis is a better choice of words.

A crisis that has been in the making ever since Barack HUSSEIN Obama and Eric Shinseki took over the VA system, yet neither will take responsibility for its problems or or their lack of action. Together they're passing the buck...the hallmark of this administration...as the backlog they've known about since 2008 has increased ten-fold on their watch, and now veterans...our brave warriors...are dying while languishing for months on secret lists. America does NOT need another yet another investigation...whose conclusions we know before it even begins...to tell us that VA is failing in properly treating our veterans. We need answers and solutions...we need those responsible put in the hot seat and called to task...and we need assurances that all will be made right for those who have put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free at home.

But from this president...from this administration...I'm NOT holding my breath for that as Barack HUSSEIN Obama has now made even the treatment our veterans receive...or should I say lack of treatment...into a political dog and pony show of the first degree. Festering below the surface for weeks now as the VA scrambles to cover-up the inexcusable, Obama has the unmitigated gall to publicly say on national television that NO conclusions could or would be drawn until investigations were complete. Shades of Benghazi and the IRS and NSA scandals all rolled into one as he just laid the ground floor for this, yet another investigation, to drag on...possibly for years...while our veterans continue to die.

Are you angry yet folks as this is just the beginning of a nightmare ride with the markings of 'divert and deflect' written all over it for as our ailing military heroes are dying their Commander-in-Chief still will NOT call anyone to task for fear all roads will lead back to him.

“If these allegations prove to be true it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period,” Obama's Wednesday bloviations continued on. But note the word 'if'...as in "if these allegations prove to be true," but how can they NOT be true as story after story is surfacing as more and more spouses of vets who died waiting for treatment are telling their stories on national TV...as emails and documents have already come to light exposing the horror that this man and his administration knowingly turned a blind eye to.

"We have to let the investigators do their job and get to the bottom of what happened. Our veterans deserve to know the facts. Their families deserve to know the facts. Once we know the facts, I assure you if there is misconduct, it will be punished," Obama also said while he fights for more time to concoct a cover-up story to save his own skin. And sadly we know the media will give him that time for they too knew all the wrongdoings going on yet also remained silent for fear of further tarnishing their own creation...their self-anointed supposed 'black savior of us all.'

And so as the nightmare that began in one VA hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, now spreads to 26 VA facilities across this country...with more sure to come...as the practice and documenting of false reporting...of out-and-out lying...seems to bear out a truth that needed to be kept hidden...that records have been manipulated solely for appearance sake as they tie directly into earning performance bonuses for hospital administrators and staff...as the almighty dollar takes precedence over the lives of our vets.

And Obama knowing about these problems since the days of his transition team means the question of why has this been overlooked for so long has but one answer...an answer some of us have NOT been afraid to say...and that is that Barack HUSSEIN Obama cares NOTHING for our veterans, our troops, or our military in general...for there is NO sense of urgency coming from him in righting this grievous wrong. And now just like he did immediately after Benghazi, Barack HUSSEIN Obama jets off yet again for fundraisers and photo-ops leaving behind 100 dead veterans and a VA system fundamentally broken to its core in his wake.

Yet another indelible stain on his record...yet another reason for his removal from office...yet another circling of the wagons around the most miserable excuse of a president our nation has ever known... and all as our veterans continue to die.