Obamacare laid bare By Charles Krauthammer

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-obamacare-laid-bare/2013/10/31/d229515a-4254-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html

Oct 31, 2013

Every disaster has its moment of clarity. Physicist Richard Feynman dunks an O-ring into ice water and everyone understands instantly why the shuttle Challenger exploded. This week, the Obamacare O-ring froze for all the world to see: Hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters went out to people who had been assured a dozen times by the president that “If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.”

The cancellations lay bare three pillars of Obamacare: (a) mendacity, (b) paternalism and (c) subterfuge.

(a) Those letters are irrefutable evidence that President Obama’s repeated you-keep-your-coverage claim was false. Why were they sent out? Because Obamacare renders illegal (with exceedingly narrow “grandfathered” exceptions) the continuation of any insurance plan deemed by Washington regulators not to meet their arbitrary standards for adequacy. Example: No maternity care? You are terminated.

So a law designed to cover the uninsured is now throwing far more people off their insurance than it can possibly be signing up on the nonfunctioning insurance exchanges. Indeed, most of the 19 million people with individual insurance will have to find new and likely more expensive coverage. And that doesn’t even include the additional millions who are sure to lose their employer-provided coverage. That’s a lot of people. That’s a pretty big lie.

But perhaps Obama didn’t know. Maybe the bystander president was as surprised by this as he claims to have been by the IRS scandal, the Associated Press and James Rosen phone logs, the failure of the Obamacare Web site, the premeditation of the Benghazi attacks, the tapping of Angela Merkel’s phone — i.e., the workings of the federal government of which he is the nominal head.

I’m skeptical. It’s not as if the Obamacare plan-dropping is an obscure regulation. It’s at the heart of Obama’s idea of federally regulated and standardized national health insurance.

Still, how could he imagine getting away with a claim sure to be exposed as factually false?

The same way he maintained for two weeks that false narrative about Benghazi. He figured he’d get away with it.

And he did. Simple formula: Delay, stonewall and wait for a supine and protective press to turn spectacularly incurious.

Look at how the New York Times covered his “keep your plan” whopper — buried on page 17 with a headline calling the cancellations a “prime target.” As if this is a partisan issue and not a brazen falsehood clear to any outside observer — say, The Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler, who gave the president’s claim four Pinocchios. Noses don’t come any longer.

(b) Beyond mendacity, there is liberal paternalism, of which these forced cancellations are a classic case. We canceled your plan, explained presidential spokesman Jay Carney, because it was substandard. We have a better idea.

Translation: Sure, you freely chose the policy, paid for the policy, renewed the policy, liked the policy. But you’re too primitive to know what you need. We do. Your policy is hereby canceled.

Because what you really need is what our experts have determined must be in every plan. So a couple in their 60s must buy maternity care. A teetotaler must buy substance abuse treatment. And a healthy 28-year-old with perfectly appropriate catastrophic insurance must pay for bells and whistles for which he has no use.

It’s Halloween. There is a knock at your door. You hear: “We’re the government and we’re here to help.”

You hide.

(c) As for subterfuge, these required bells and whistles aren’t just there to festoon the health-care Christmas tree with voter-pleasing freebies. The planners knew all along that if you force insurance buyers to overpay for stuff they don’t need, that money can subsidize other people.

Obamacare is the largest transfer of wealth in recent American history. But you can’t say that openly lest you lose elections. So you do it by subterfuge: hidden taxes, penalties, mandates and coverage requirements that yield a surplus of overpayments.

So that your president can promise to cover 30 million uninsured without costing the government a dime. Which from the beginning was the biggest falsehood of them all. And yet the free lunch is the essence of modern liberalism. Free mammograms, free preventative care, free contraceptives for Sandra Fluke. Come and get it.

And then when you find your policy canceled, your premium raised and your deductible outrageously increased, you’ve learned the real meaning of “free” in the liberal lexicon: something paid for by your neighbor — best, by subterfuge.

Read more from Charles Krauthammer’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

A family uses its strength to help others By Sally Friedman

Source: http://www.phillyburbs.com/00redesign/life-style/a-family-uses-its-strength-to-help-others/article_c8a03e12-5c64-5b61-8f0b-bbfa0219bbe8.html

October 13, 2013

Her favorite Barbies live in a pink world, and Noa David clearly loves the color. It’s even the color of a temporary cast on her arm after a recent fall.

As she gives her attention to the dolls, their accessories, and to a new toy camera that has stolen her heart, the 6-year-old with huge brown eyes and long brown hair also readily shows a visitor another touch of pink in her life: her hearing aids. Of course, they’re pink, too.

For Noa, these hearing aids are hardly just an accessory. Diagnosed wirh moderate hearing loss in both ears at birth, she wears them in order to better communicate with the world. Her parents, Rabbi Ben David, spiritual leader of Adath Emanu-El in Mount Laurel, and Lisa David, recently shared how they first learned of their firstborn’s condition.

“We were, of course, very excited when we became parents, and our heads were kind of spinning when we learned that Noa’s newborn hearing test showed some problem,” said the rabbi. “There were more tests, and by the time our daughter was 6 weeks old, we had the diagnosis of moderate hearing loss.”

From the start, these new parents made a deep and abiding commitment to do everything they needed to for their daughter, and that most of all, they would be sure that she grew up with a strong sense of confidence and pride in herself.

Lisa David, whose pregnancy was perfectly normal, recalls Noa’s early introduction to hearing aids. “She would pull them out, and just getting her to sit still so we could get them on her was a struggle. But very soon, Noa herself realized that with her hearing aids, she could connect with the world. As she got older, she’d remind us to put them back on after her bath.”

These days, Noa holds her own in the household, with two younger brothers, who have no hearing issues, as her playmates. She attends kindergarten at Springville Elementary School, where two of her classmates also are hearing impaired.

Her speech is perfect, but she gets supplemental speech therapy, which is geared to social issues such as eye contact and initiating dialogue, which tend to be more challenging for children with hearing issues.

“We’re determined to teach Noa that she can thrive and succeed, and we really believe that we’re blessed to have a little girl who is so intelligent, so alive and so spirited,” said Ben David, who admittedly finds himself even more aware of those in his congregation, and in the wider world, with challenges. “We want our gift to Noa to learn to advocate for herself, and have a strong sense of her potential.”

The other gift that the Davids have given their daughter is their own activism. Lisa, who has a demanding career as a director of camping for a national Jewish organization, and the rabbi, are deeply involved in the Hearing Loss Association of America’s Garden State-NJ Walk4Hearing event on Oct. 20 in West Windsor.

“Noa has benefited tremendously from the support of numerous therapists, teachers, audiologists and advocates,” said Ben David.

The event, the largest walk of its kind, is taking place in various cities across the country.

“The goal is to raise funds for programs and services, and also to raise public awareness about hearing loss,” he said, noting that another overall mission is to eradicate the stigma that sometimes is associated with hearing loss.

Congregants of Adath Emanu-El will be among the walkers, and the Davids are hoping that other local residents may join “Noa’s Team.”

Noa is well-versed in the event, and is proud to explain that it’s all about her hearing aids, and others who share her condition.

“I’m going!” she said, eyes dancing. “And I’m walking fast!”

No doubt that she will.

Embattled Obama's 2013 Federal Government Slimdown

Government Shutdown More of a Slim-Down By Richard Larson

Source: http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/richard-larsen/government-shutdown-slim-down?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fso+(Financial+Sense)&utm_term=FSO

October 11, 2013

Listening to the mainstream media and the dominant party in D.C. this week would lead one to believe that the earth would quit revolving on its axis, the sun would no longer rise, and all life forms would cease to exist if the government was shutdown. But low and behold, life continues, and one can’t help but feel just a little more free, although even that is undoubtedly illusory.

While opinions may vary regarding who gets the credit for curtailing spending by shutting down non-essential federal government functions for a few days or weeks, most of the credit must be ascribed to the president and the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid. After all, they were the ones who decided that the spending bills passed by the House were not to be even considered in the Senate; all twelve of them, to date.

Harry Reid actually had the audacity to say of the House, “Who are they that they can pick and choose what programs to fund or not to fund?” As is the case with most who belong to his political party, the good senator should acquaint himself with the U.S. Constitution, which specifically states that all spending bills originate in the House. As such, the House has every right to decide what to fund and what not to, and is fulfilling its constitutional duty in the process. If Reid had any integrity or backbone whatsoever, he’d take up a version of one of the House’s resolutions and at least bring it to the floor for a vote. Since he refuses to do so, the credit for extending the quasi-shutdown is all his and the president’s, as they refuse to even consider anything that varies from their desires.

What’s most perplexing about the positions of the House and the Senate is in how the priorities of one party are somehow less important, hence negotiable, while the other’s is not. The president and the Senate are obdurate in their resolve to not accept anything but a complete funding of government. The House has some divisions even within the Speaker’s party over funding Obamacare. Yet the media and the liberal punditry seem to think that the only ones who should capitulate are those in the House. Granting the benefit of the doubt to both parties that their positions are based in principle, why is one principle deemed negotiable while the other’s is not?

[Hear More: The Affordable Care Act - A Roundtable Discussion]

If the funding and operation of Obamacare is so critical to governmental operations, according to the governing party, why has the president by fiat simply changed certain implementation dates and requirements? The fact that he’s granted over 1,000 waivers, mostly to unions and political allies, and by the stroke of his pen delayed the employer mandate by a year, clearly evidences that the health care law is not inviolable. Yet he and Reid will not even consider a spending bill that includes a one-year delay in the individual mandate. It appears that a delay in implementation is only a good idea to Obama if it’s his idea or it benefits his benefactors.

Reviewing the list of what constitutes “essential” versus “non-essential” federal workers makes one realize this is not really a government “shutdown,” it’s more of a slow-down or a slim-down. There are a total of about 2.7 million federal government employees, including 589,000 postal workers. According to reports, there are 800,000 “non-essential” employees who’re on furlough until full funding is restored. That means 63% of the federal work force is still working, including almost all of the Social Security Administration, Homeland Security, and our military and most of the defense department. Even Health and Human Services is nearly fully staffed.

With the modus operandi motto of “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” the administration is acting the same way they did when their sequester went into effect. They want to make sure everyone feels the pain and discomfort of the slim-down. Not being content to close the national parks, the administration ordered barricades, (or should we call them Barry-cades?) and closed signs posted for parks that aren’t even staffed. They even attempted to close national landmarks that are not funded by the government, including Mt. Vernon, the Claude Moore Memorial Farm, and over 100 campgrounds near the Grand Canyon, which are all funded privately.

The Washington Times quotes an angry Park Service ranger in Washington as saying, “It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation. We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”

You’ve got to admire the hutzpah of our “greatest generation.” A group of World War II veterans from Mississippi took matters into their own hands at the open-air WWII Memorial. They tore down the Barry-cades and tweeted, “Normandy was also closed when we got there.”

It would appear that the president’s desire is to make the slim-down more painful to the average citizen than needs be, if for no other reason than to make sure everyone notices, is inconvenienced, or is perturbed. After all, what kind of a “good crisis” would this be if the government “closed down” and no one noticed?

AP award winning columnist Richard Larsen is President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and financial planning firm in Pocatello, Idaho and is a graduate of Idaho State University with degrees in Political Science and History and coursework completed toward a Master’s in Public Administration. He can be reached at rlarsenen @ cableone.net.

83% of Washington D.C. Still Operating During Government Slimdown By Kyle Becker

Source: http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/84551-83-government-still-operating-shutdown-entitlements-military-still-funded/

October 6, 2013

What government “shutdown”? Despite the off-the-wall rhetoric about “blowing up the economy,” taking “hostages,” and politicians with bombs strapped to their chests — 83% of the government is still operational.

Not only that, but the Republicans have passed bills on everything from veterans’ benefits to re-opening National Parks. The House also passed back pay for furloughed federal workers. In addition, about 80% of the federal government’s 4.1 million total employees are still at work, anyway.

Doesn’t jibe with the cataclysmic rhetoric from the ‘we refuse to negotiate’ party? Check this out from a Senate Republican source via the Washington Examiner:

“Based on estimates drawn from CBO and OMB data, 83 percent of government operations will continue. This figure assumes that the government pays amounts due on appropriations obligated before the shutdown ($512 billion), spends $225 billion on exempted military and civilian personnel, pays entitlement benefits for those found eligible before the shutdown (about $2 trillion), and pays interest costs when due ($237 billion). This is about 83 percent of projected 2014 spending of $3.6 trillion.”

That’s right, entitlements aren’t affected by the shutdown, the president has already authorized military spending, and what remains are such things as veteran’s benefits, local Washington D.C. operations, and the National Park Service.

But Forbes actually broke this down further, based on the proposed 2014 budget. Paul Roderick Gregory argues that the actual amount of government being “shutdown” is around 13%:

After payment of defense, entitlements, and net interest, we have a grand total of $.6 trillion ($624 billion to be more exact) of discretionary spending that could be subject to a government shutdown. At most, we can shut down 20 percent of the federal government. This hardly deserves the moniker of “government shutdown.”

I would not count reducing federal government spending by 13 percent a “shutdown.” A more appropriate term would be a “reduction in non-essential discretionary spending,” or “government slim down” for short. I invite the Republican members of Congress to use this term instead of “shutdown.” In politics, he who controls the rhetoric of political discourse wins. “Shut down” is a loser. “Slim down” is a winner, and it captures the reality of what is going on right now in Washington.

The proposed federal government spending graphic for 2014 approximates the breakup (the U.S. government doesn’t bother passing actual budgets nowadays). Then it boils down to if 800,000 “public servants” can dictate the future of the country to those they are supposed to be “serving.”

Hate the government slimdown, the endless bickering? Here five Republican governors getting it right By Cal Thomas

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/08/hate-government-slimdown-endless-bickering-here-five-republican-governors/

October 8, 2013

With frustration building over Washington’s refusal to behave in the public interest, perhaps it’s worth noting a drastic solution tried by the Irish.

Last Friday, Irish voters cast ballots on a referendum to abolish the country’s Upper House, known as the Seanad. Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Ireland didn’t need all of its politicians and they should be made to suffer along with everyone else as the country continues to struggle economically.

The measure to abolish the Seanad lost by just 42,500 votes out of more than 1,226,000 cast (51.8 percent to 48.2 percent).

While many Americans might wish they could abolish Congress, it is unlikely, unless voters take a page from the Declaration of Independence and “institute new government,” so another approach by Republican governors to break the cycle of systemic ineffectiveness in Washington might work.

It isn’t that we don’t know how to solve problems; it is that too many Washington politicians refuse to solve them

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) has produced a video in which five Republican governors highlight successes in their respective states. 

Given the dysfunction in Washington, the video provides some powerful reasons for people to turn their backs on the nation’s capital and begin to look to states that have succeeded in solving many problems Washington is unwilling to solve. The featured Republican governors are:

Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) who wants you to know that his state’s GDP has grown by $36 billion since 2008, nearly twice the national rate. That puts Louisiana eighth best in the country and third best in the South. 

According to Jindal, other categories in which Louisiana has succeeded while Washington piles up debt include: unemployment (below the national average with new jobs being added); per capita personal income (increased more than $3,600 since 2008); charter schools — Jindal says his state has become a “national leader” in charter schools with 80 percent of New Orleans students enrolled in them.

John Kasich (Ohio) closed an $8 billion shortfall without raising taxes and cut taxes by $3 billion. He eliminated the “death tax,” modernized Medicaid, eliminated the bureaucratic Department of Development and created a private, nonprofit corporation — JobsOhio — to “respond to job creators’ needs at their pace instead of at ‘the speed of statute.’”

Susana Martinez (New Mexico) boosted funding for education and Medicaid without raising taxes; cooperated with a Democratic legislature, passing the New Mexico Jobs Package, which reduced the tax rate on businesses from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent; moved the state from 38th in the nation in export growth three years ago to first today; turned a structural deficit into a surplus and enacted comprehensive tax reform.

Nikki Haley (South Carolina) pushed through tax reform on small businesses, which she claims, resulted in South Carolina having the fastest growing manufacturing sector on the East Coast and creating 38,000 new jobs, which have contributed $9 billion in new investment.

Scott Walker (Wisconsin) reversed a $3.6 billion deficit he inherited and turned it into a surplus. He provided nearly $1 billion in tax relief for families and businesses that sparked a two-year job growth, which he says is the best in the state under any governor in 10 years. 

Oh, and those “controversial” union reforms that caused demonstrations at the state capital two years ago? Gov. Walker says those reforms saved the state more than $2 billion.

More can be seen on the video.

The “American Comeback” campaign should resonate with those who long for an economically, politically and culturally sound America, something we do not have under the Obama administration. 

It isn’t that we don’t know how to solve problems; it is that too many Washington politicians refuse to solve them, preferring instead to lobby for positions of power and curry favor with special interest groups that hand them cash, stroke their egos and promise them votes on Election Day.

Real problem-solving is taking place in states headed by Republicans. If you’re tired of the bickering, turn away from dysfunctional Washington, follow their lead and emulate their successes.

Maybe then Washington will be forced to pay attention. Republican governors might even be able to teach Ireland a thing or two.

Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated newspaper columnist and a Fox News contributor. Follow him on Twitter@CalThomas. Readers may e-mail Cal Thomas attmseditors@tribune.com.

The Obama economy in a declining America-Wake up By Doc Vega

Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/doc_vega/2013/08/28/the_obama_economy_in_a_declining_america-wake_up

AUGUST 29, 2013

 

 

Aside from a traitorous US media that continually ignores the damage being done by the Obama administration and all those who still idolize the President, here are the gruesome facts about the economic state of America. The longer Americans go on ignoring these troubling signs the worse it’s going to get. Pay attention to the facts people or you won’t see that train wreck that is fast approaching.

Beginning with the 787 billion dollar bailout in 2009 that actually did not save the American people from the steepest recession in US history, it saved the banks and some of the biggest corporations, and that was not a trickle down patching of the hole in the dike as millions were forced to collect unemployment and food stamps. As the federal government nationalized 2/3 of the American auto industry, kept bankers who were guilty of causing the massive bubble which caused massive failure in investment markets, and billions that went to select broadcasting corporations to keep the media in the pocket of the US government, Americans themselves were not spared the suffering of an actual modern day Depression. With billions being funneled back into Democratic slush funds and causes a bleak future for this nation was ensured.

The following indicators give us an idea of the degree of hope and change already brought about un President Obama. Pay attention.

• Cost of gasoline when President Obama entered office $1.85 per gallon now it hovers around $3.53.


• During the Obama presidency 7 out of every 8 jobs created is part time employment.


• Number of full time workers today is 6 million down from the record set in 2007 during Bush.


• Number of American workers making less than $30, 000 a year is at 53%!


• 16.1 % of Americans are under real poverty


• Since Obama took office food stamp recipients have numbered 11,000 people per day!


• Under the Obama White House a fulltime minimum wage earner makes 40% than a his 1968 counterpart.


• In 4 years under the Obama administration unemployed US workers grew by 8,332,000!


• When President Obama took office avg. term of unemployment was 19.8 weeks it’s now 36.6 weeks!


• Under President Obama the middle class has lost household  expendable income.


• Home ownership at 67.5% in the US before Obama has shrunken to 65% a 18 year low in home ownership!


• Under the Obama White House the typical median household income has dropped by $4,000.00 for 4 years in a row!


• When Obama entered office food stamp recipients was at 32 million there are now 50 million Americans!


• Presently 1 million public school students are homeless under Obama up by 57% since 2007.


• Under the Obama administration health care insurance has risen 29% with the coming of Obamacare that figure will rise significantly as Affordable Health Care controls 1/6 of the US economy!


• Under Obama the number of Americans receiving money from the federal government has risen by 32%


• Under the Obama White House 100 million Americans are presently getting some form of Federal subsidy!


• When Obama entered office US debt to GDP was 70% today the current debt to GDP is 110%!


• In 2008 Federal Reserve holdings of US Treasury Bonds were 479.5 billion under Obama that figure is now 2 trillion dollars.


• Under the Obama Presidency the first 4 years the federal government accumulated more debt than the previous 42 elected administrations combined!


• With the expanded federal debt under President Obama it would take $50,521.00 of every US household for everyone to pitch in and pay their share! Feel like pitching in?

These appalling figures do not indicate the inevitable outcome based upon insurmountable socio-economic conditions where there were no options or alternatives! Federal government policy was responsible for every one of these unbelievable implications that should not only concern you. You should be scared for the future of this nation under this kind of irresponsible and disconnected leadership.     

Obama Disobeys the Law of the Land By Phyllis Schlafly

Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/2013/10/08/obama-disobeys-the-law-of-the-land-n1718872/page/full

10/8/2013

The Democrats are chanting that Republicans must fully fund Obamacare because it is the law of the land, passed by Congress, signed by the president and upheld by the Supreme Court. Therefore, they say, it must be obeyed and can't be altered by Republicans who want to defund it.

That argument is both wrong and hypocritical. Any federal law can be changed, repealed, amended or defunded by our legislative branch of government, Congress.

The Republican House wants to deal with the controversial huge "continuing resolution" bill in separate pieces, giving the OK to worthwhile federal spending purposes while leaving others (like Obamacare) without funds. Obama refuses to negotiate and demands a "clean" (blank-check) bill; his position is all or nothing-at-all.

Actually, the Supreme Court decision did not give a "clean" upholding of Obamacare. The Court effectively rewrote the law by allowing states to opt out of Medicaid expansion, and other pieces of Obamacare are still being litigated in federal courts, such as the mandate that employer-required insurance must include objectionable abortifacient drugs.

Obama's hypocrisy about the issue of considering Obamacare in pieces is obvious from the many times he has unilaterally messed with other matters that are clearly the law of the land. He has frequently refused to enforce other laws of the land he doesn't like, and he pretends to legislate laws that Congress declined to pass.

Welfare reform is truly the law of the land; it was passed by Congress in 1996 and signed by President Clinton to "end welfare as we know it". But in violation of the law's explicit language, Obama unilaterally carved out (in effect, repealed) the "work" (or training for work) requirement for persons receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Obama's use of waivers from various laws of the land is notorious. He has given waivers from the No Child Left Behind law of the land to more than half of the states.

Obama has even picked pieces out of Obamacare. He gave a one-year deferral of its insurance employer mandate to large employers, and he exempted Congress and government staff from the requirement on individuals to buy compulsory insurance or pay a significant penalty.

Obama's Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, admits that a federal law of the land prohibits the federal government from interfering with or dictating public school curriculum. But Obama used carrot-and-stick tactics to bribe or threaten a majority of states to adopt Common Core, and Duncan pretends it is OK for the feds to require states to be aligned with federally approved Common Core standards and Common Core tests, which will effectively dictate school curriculum.

Obama has repeatedly taken away from other branches of government powers that are specifically granted in the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution makes an undiluted grant of power to Congress "to regulate commerce with foreign nations." Obama is trying to coopt that power for himself by demanding that Congress pass "Fast Track," an enormous unconstitutional shift that would give Obama the authority to write our trade treaties in secret and then let Congress vote on them under rules that limit Congress's power to debate or amend them, all within in a short preset time period.

All these foreign trade treaties are encrusted with promises about how they will create U.S. jobs. Those are all lies; every single month since Congress accepted the Korea trade agreement in March 2012, our exports to Korea have declined, and the agreement has already cost us 40,000 U.S. jobs.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power of the purse in the Origination Clause in Article I. But Obamacare's taxing and spending sections actually originated in the Senate, a maneuver not yet ruled on by the Supreme Court.

The Constitution starts with the powerful words, "All legislative powers" are vested in Congress, consisting of a Senate and House. Paying no attention to the Constitution, Obama has done his own legislating.

Congress declined to pass the Dream Act, but Obama is legislating it anyway through regulations. In defiance of the law of the land, Obama has allowed millions of aliens to stay and work illegally in the United States.

Congress declined to pass Cap and Trade, but Obama is legislating it anyway through regulations. His regulations are designed to bankrupt coal plants, skyrocket our electricity costs so we can't "keep our homes on 72 degrees," and spend our tax dollars to subsidize inefficient, costly solar and wind energy.

In April 2012, nine state Attorneys General issued a Memo listing 21 violations of law by the Obama administration, and now we have so many more examples. Obama is the one who doesn't obey the law of the land.

Barack Obama – The Bad, The Really Bad & The Ugly By Tom Wise

Source: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/barack-obama-bad-really-bad-ugly/

September 10, 2013

Who or What is Barack Obama?

As you may already know, I contend that we under attack not just by evil but by FIVE EVILS. These are (1) Communism, (2) Islamism, (3) New World Order (NWO) Corruption, (4) Crime, and (5) Hedonism. These are savageries which we must eradicate if we are to have any peace.

Under Communism, I place Putin, Red China, Venezuela, and several smaller players, though they often play by the rules of the NWO and criminals. Marxism is rampant also in our politics, media, schools, labor unions, and now churches. Alinsky tactics are used incessantly for these means, although one might properly say these are criminal tactics used with evil intent.

Islamism is the obvious urge towards jihad, Sharia, and the worldwide caliphate.

Under the New World Order, I place those governments and entities which use the hypnosis that everything is alright in order to enslave us to more hedonistic forms of freedom. The Western nations are deep into pacifying us with their form of capitalism, which is the promise of luxury. When it comes to evil, their's is the most preferable form because it generally is not noticeable, that is, not painful… until it comes crashing down.

Hedonism means anything that, falsely, "is not hurting anyone but me." Under this, I place sexual deviance, intoxication, and counter-culture. Society can never be rid of these things, but when society tolerates them, hedonism takes on a life of its own, a militant evil manifesting as "rights" to sodomy, bestiality, child sex, adultery, narcotics, public drunkenness, and unchecked radicalism.

Crime is the opposite, not pretending to be harmless. Crime caters especially to hedonism, providing gambling, prostitution, drugs, illegal alcohol, and other vices which, when prohibited, profit the criminal greatly. Thus, incompetent law creates mafias, gangs, cartels, and the like. If hedonism is provided a legal outlet, as gambling and prostitution in Nevada, crime must adhere to that law or suffer non-competitive products and services. Naturally, there is petty crime also (not so petty to those suffering the consequences): the pickpocket, the thief; and also the psychopath: the murderer, the rapist.

I give this brief overview in order to say that, while most evil is easily categorized, Barack Obama is not easily categorized. Let's take a look:

OBAMA, THE COMMUNIST

MAIN SOURCE:

Note the overarching communist and/or Marxist history, enveloping Obama's mother, father, brothers, grandfather, mentor Frank Marshall Davis, advisors David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, Bill Ayers, Richard Trumpka, Jeremiah Wright, and so on. In college, Obama was an active Marxist radical, with many communist social ties. He was endorsed by the now-defunct New Party, who helped him in 1997, and the Communist Party USA. In a famous photo, he is shown teaching the principles of Saul Alinsky. Obama has a history of advocating for redistribution of wealth, of denying the true right to private property ("you didn't make that"), against gun ownership, and between-the-lines against free speech and a free press. He is a community agitator, enjoys riling up the "victims" of society so he can play savior, and invokes "fairness" and "rights" for everything he desires to happen.

SEE ALSO:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/barack_obama_red_diaper_baby_1.html

http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5991

http://www.obamasrealfather.com/

OBAMA, THE ISLAMIST

Again to family, Obama's step-father (Lolo), his father (Barack Sr., the confusing mix of Muslim and Marxist), and at least one brother are/were Muslim. Obama Jr. was enrolled in an Indonesian school where enrollment records say his religion is Islam (which of course doesn't mean much). He has been quoted that there is nothing more beautiful than the Muslim call to prayer, and that the United States is not a (Judeo-)Christian nation. He bows to the Saudi prince (yes, among others). These Islamist things against Obama are more slight than the communist impregnation, bur religion, generally speaking, trumps political ideology (except for atheists).

The main evidence we see is Obama's insistence on helping Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. His foray into Libya, his encouragement of Egyptian revolution, his refusal to help in the attempted Iranian revolution, and his confusing stance in Syria, all have a pattern which favors the Islamists. Weapons have even been delivered to Al-Qaeda, our enemy! His policies favor Saudi and Kuwaiti oil while destroying American capabilities in gas and oil (Keystone pipeline, anti-Gulf, anti-fracking, anti-coal). These are geopolitical moves of great consequence which involve also Russia and China, which is why we see agitation there.

The avoidance of Christian safety is also of grave concern, and evidence for Obama's Islamism. He wants to avenge fallen children from chemical weapons when they are Arabs (or when they serve a different agenda, viz. Newtown, CT), but burning churches in the Middle East are of no consequence to him, apparently. This plays deeply into his approval of the mosque to be built at Ground Zero in New York City, and into the manner by which a giant mosque in Maryland is forced upon the community (but we might also point to GW Bush's avoidance of Dearbornistan).

There is also Obama's record with Israel, from butting into their sovereignty by citing 1967 borders as a precondition to peace negotiations (with Arab terrorists!), to omitting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on at least one map (and providing an implausible explanation), and various other anti-Israel stances.

Recently, in-depth looks at The White House reveal Islamic advisers (not a sin but not looking good either). There also been accusations that Obama is a member-in-good-standing with the Muslim Brotherhood itself.

Of course, there is the bewildering counter-evidence that Obama takes credit for killing Osama, the Islamist prophet-of-the-moment, and has drone-struck Yemen, and also quickly eliminated the Boston bombers from being able to speak.

OBAMA, THE NWO PUPPET

Obama went to Harvard Law School. He surrounds himself with all of the familiar NWO faces, including John Kerry, Hillary Clinton (yes, also a communist), Joe Biden (yes, also a numbskull), Chuck Hagel, David Petraeus, and the ever-dangerous Cass Sunstein, among many others.

His monetary policy utilizes the same old printing methods that cause the Federal Reserve to be such a menace, racking up more debt than any President to date (even taking % of GDP into account), on track to double the debt under his watch. And, despite his rhetoric, his economic policy (so to speak) benefits the same corporations and banks he rails against (without lowering the corporate tax rate).

Obama is an anti-constitutional authoritarian who would love to disarm all Americans (his candor makes him more communist). His stance on FEMA, the NSA, the IRS, the EPA, and other agencies is as all-encompassing as ever. Even if he is communist or Islamist, he is New World Order to the core.

Of special note, Obama is a hawk, not a dove. He has kept the wars going, and far more died in Afghanistan under Obama than Bush (we'll give credit on Iraq). He has not closed Guantanamo. He has struck violently in Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere in Africa and Asia (sorry if you didn't know), and is contemplating starting World War 3 in Syria. He loves his drones. Among all NWO Presidents, Obama is most overt with his power, and most enjoys the arrogance of being commander-in-chief.

OBAMA, THE CRIMINAL

Regarding him personally, Obama is a typical Chicago thug politician, using dirty tricks to vanquish his Congressional rivals (I know, all's fair in politics). No matter what you think, Obama definitely accepted help from Tony Rezko (Obama even called it "bonehead" - his slang for "oops"). Regarding corporate crime, the Solyndra deal smells of kickbacks (you may invoke Halliburton if it makes you happy). Obama is also a constant liar (thank you, Joe Wilson!), making him a perjurer in front of Congress and the American people.

Concerning more serious matters of national consequence, Obama supports illegal aliens by refusing his Justice Dept. the ability to capture. He has no border policy which favors America, making lower Arizona particularly a hazard, something not known in the United States for 100 years. This aiding and abetting illegal immigration is not only criminal but also treason.

Speaking of treason, the fact that Bill Ayers is an adviser to Obama makes him a sympathizer to the violence of Ayers' radical bomb-throwing days. And onward we go, President Obama has been found in contempt of court.

At the very tip of the mountain, Obama is complicit in murder, abandoning our boys in Benghazi. He makes the final decision, he takes the rap. We might also add the innocents killed in his airstrikes (which other commanders have also in their laps).

OBAMA, THE HEDONIST

Again, we begin personally. Let's talk golf. He is so addicted to it that immediately after the Rose Garden speech concerning Syria, he changed clothes and went to the links! As a I won't deny a man his recreation, even personal vices, but this is just the start.

Nationally, he is an advocate for hedonism, particularly the homosexual agenda, though he says he is not (the Muslim ploy). Obama is so entrenched in this hedonism that he angers even his African brethren, even Mugabe. And who can forget Kevin Jennings? Or Larry Sinclair? But he is also heavily on the side of abortion, which is basically legislation in favor of promiscuity and murder (the communist ploy).

Most dangerously, Obama is addicted to himself. He is Narcissist Grande, never taking blame for anything, shoving it off on others, even throwing his own grandmother at one point under the bus. The mark of the hedonist is to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. This is Obama. In love with his stardom and fame, surrounding himself with music personalities like Springsteen and Jay-Z, using his power to take mounds of expensive vacations at taxpayer expense, even shuttling his mother-in-law to Africa in Air Force One. You may well ask "What's wrong with that?" but his rejection of austerity for himself is simply stirring the pot.

SO, WHO IS OBAMA?

As was the capstone to his election, he is all things to all people. He is a peace-loving dove worthy of a Nobel Prize even while he spreads world struggle (geopolitical), racial division (Trayvon, et al), class war ("pay your fair share"), and does nothing to quell violence in Congo, Mexico (though he blames America) or Chicago. He is the smartest man in the room even though his budgets have been unanimously struck down, his foreign "policy" is a wreck, his economic measures are doomed, to the point where it looks intentional, making him not intelligent but rather craftily evil. He is the well-dressed church-goer whose church is that of racial dissent and anti-Americanism, whose doctrine is to force Catholics to permit birth control, whose concept of Bibles is that they are utilized by "bitter clingers" (imperialists). He is the communist atheist who is also a radical Muslim who is also a New World Order stooge who is also a common criminal who is also a narcissistic hedonist. But you can't be ALL of these things. Can you?

The author of confusion and chaos is Satan. But even though an Egyptian newspaper made out Obama to be the devil incarnate (as did Mark Burnett in The Bible TV miniseries), I'm not ready to say they're one and the same. But I will say that Obama is the merry prankster of politics, much to our detriment. When he released his birth certificate to a credulous public, it was signed by "U.K. La Lee," pronounced… "ukulele," the Hawaiian stringed instrument. Obama – the practical joker. However, when our national security is on the line, when our economic stability is on the line, when our lives are on the line, when our national identity is on the line – we don't need a joker, a kidder, a prankster. We need a leader. And the one thing Obama has not been is a leader.

Engagement: FELDMAN-WEXLER

Source: http://www.jewishexponent.com/feldman-wexler

April 3, 2008

Susan and Elliot Wexler of Richboro announce the engagement of their son, Joshua Adam Wexler, to Hillary Pam Feldman, daughter of Dr. Nathan and Joy Feldman of Clarks Summit, Pa.

Josh graduated from Delaware Valley College with a Bachelor of Science degree. He also holds a Master of Education degree from LaSalle University. Josh teaches science at Norristown Area High School.

Hillary graduated cum laude from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Temple University Beasley School of Law. She is a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Kelly L. Banach of the Court of Common Pleas in Lehigh County.

Josh is the grandson of Miriam Wexler and the late David Wexler, and the late Jack and Doris Abrams. Hillary is the granddaughter of the late Herbert and Irene Feldman, and the late Harold and Lillian Serata.

The couple is planning a June wedding.

Phillips Philes Welcomes New Contributor: Erin Reilly!

Phillips Philes warmly welcomes Erin Reilly. She is new to this blog, but not to writing online. Her prior experience was at Rittenhoused where, for 14 months in 2012 and 2013, she posted on various topics from the news of the day to personal events. Her whitty style of writing draws you in.

Erin is a single mother of two from Southern New Jersey. She is a 1994 graduate of Shawnee High School in Medford, New Jersey who has worked as a licensed Realtor. Online, she is a member of Facebook. An interesting tidbit, Erin's mother and my mother are first cousins - that makes Erin and I third cousins!

Welcome Erin!

States pass legislation to protect residents from ObamaCare navigators! By Coach Collins

Source: http://www.coachisright.com/states-pass-legislation-to-protect-residents-from-obamacare-navigators/

September 24th, 2013

by Doug Book, editor

Remember way back in 2010 when Barack Obama and far left members of the House and Senate felt compelled to rush the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through Congress even though the Democrat Party controlled both chambers quite comfortably? That was a first-rate tip-off that something genuinely shady had to be going on with ObamaCare.

Since then the IRS has mangled the Constitution; HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has extorted money from the very insurance providers she will regulate; the White House has illegally rewritten portions of the Act and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has prostituted himself, decimating his legacy and betraying his country. All of this and more just to get where we are today.

And where we are today is in perfect continuity with the rest of the ObamaCare plot line. For states are now passing legislation to defend residents from the anticipated corruption and incompetence of ObamaCare “navigators”–the people whose job it will be to make certain that Americans are eligible to enroll in the Affordable Care Act.

Think about that. We now need the States to provide Americans with legal protection against criminal schemes which are fully expected to be carried out by federal employees! In fewer than 5 years, the reputation for corruption and guile of an American president has compelled the American people to seek the protection of the courts, convinced that in anything Barack Obama plays a role, felonious intrigue will follow.

On August 14th, the Attorneys General of 13 States wrote HHS Secretary Sebelius warning her of the consequences of the slipshod manner in which ObamaCare “navigators” were being trained and managed. “As it now stands, it is inevitable that HHS’s vague “standards” will result in improperly screened or inadequately trained personnel. These individuals will be more prone to misappropriate–accidentally or intentionally–the private data of consumers.” (1)

Nationwide, thousands of navigators will be responsible for collecting the most sensitive and personal of information from millions of individuals intent upon the purchase of health insurance. Yet nowhere in the HHS-issued, July 17th Final Rule on the Standards for Navigators is it required that candidates be subject to criminal background or fingerprint checks prior to being hired. In fact it doesn’t even state that “…ANY prior criminal acts are per se disqualifying.” (1) As the AG’s write Kathleen Sebelius, “…this is a privacy disaster waiting to happen.” (1)

Navigator standards in the ACA exchange rule state that, “…a navigator must meet any licensing, certification or other standards prescribed by the state or exchange.” (2) And to their credit, states are taking advantage of this opportunity to protect the interests of their residents.

Iowa and Maine have passed legislation to license/certify their navigators.
Maryland has passed a certification statute.
Ohio will demand navigators fulfill state training, certification standards and pass a background check.
Sixteen states now require navigator certification to state satisfaction.
Tennessee will fingerprint navigators, perform background checks and limit the advice navigators may give potential ObamaCare customers.

In May, “…a top Obamacare official told GOP lawmakers that navigators will not be required to undergo background checks. Criminal records are not automatically disqualifying — and that includes identity theft. The federal rule-makers will require online training of…20 hours.” (3)

Perhaps this was the case in May. But don’t expect many navigators sporting these “credentials” to work in Republican managed states. The community organizer mentality is just not going to fly.

Sources:

(1) http://www.wvago.gov/pdf/Letter%20to%20HHS%20re%20Data%20Privacy_%28final%208%2014%2013%29.pdf

(2) http://www.nahu.org/legislative/connector/StateRegulationofNavigators.pdf

(3) http://michellemalkin.com/2013/05/29/obamacare-navigators-another-sebelius-snitch-brigade/