Government Shutdown/Obamacare Thread II

[clearvision]

‘General Contractor’ Named to Fix Health Web Site

 

In an abrupt shift, the Obama administration on Friday named a “general contractor” to fix the troubled Web site of the federal health insurance marketplace, and said the repairs would be completed by the end of next month.

 

In addition, Jeffrey D. Zients, President Obama’s troubleshooter for the marketplace, said that investigators had found bugs in the software that powers the site.

 

That finding differs from the original explanation about the problems that have crippled the Web site. Administration officials initially said that the difficulties occurred because the number of people trying to use the site far exceeded their expectations, and they played down other factors.

 

Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the general contractor that would fix the Web site was Quality Software Services. Mr. Zients said the company would “manage the overall effort,” like a general contractor on a home improvement project.

The company “will prioritize the needed fixes and make sure they get done,” Mr. Zients said.

 

“The HealthCare.gov site is fixable,” said Mr. Zients, a management expert named as troubleshooter on Tuesday. “It will take a lot of work. A lot of problems need to be addressed. But let me be clear. HealthCare.gov is fixable.”

 

[Pepper]

Ramirez cartoon here

[Pepper]

Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website

 

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.

 

Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.

 

Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.

 

Coinkidink, move along

[clearvision]

Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website

 

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.

 

Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.

 

Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.

 

Coinkidink, move along

It gets better and better.

[Rheo]

Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website

 

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.

 

Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.

 

Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.

 

Coinkidink, move along

 

Link didn't work...so here it is.

 

Daily Caller

[clearvision]

Toni's BIO http://www.cgi.com/en/management/toni-townes-whitley

 

 

CGI To Help EPA Move To Cloud Computing; Toni Townes-Whitley Comments - See more at: http://blog.executivebiz.com/2012/06/cgi-to-help-epa-move-to-cloud-computing-toni-townes-whitley-comments/#sthash.s5HJ9YSn.dpuf

 

FTC Awards CGI Federal Inc. $3.5M Five-Year Contract

(CGI) has been awarded a five-year, US$3.5 million contract to move its public websites to the cloud by The Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

“We look forward to establishing a new partnership with the FTC,” said Toni Townes-Whitley, Senior Vice-President for Civilian Agency Programs at CGI

 

CGI Federal Inc. Wins Prime Position on $1 Billion Multiple Award Contract from Department of Interior

“As a Federal cloud leader, CGI brings experience and innovation to the delivery of cloud-based services through this contract, enabling DOI and its bureaus to more effectively support their broad and important missions,” said Toni Townes-Whitley, senior vice-president for Civilian Agency programs at CGI

[pollyannaish]

Oh wouldn't you know it.

 

Ha! A novelist would take this part out because it would seem to over the top.

[Rheo]

Excellent comment from Daily Caller link....long, but pretty accurate.

 

 

Bob: "Hey Jim, did you hear about the Obama administration scandal?,

 

Jim: "You mean the Mexican gun running?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "You mean SEAL Team 6?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Obama saying the avg family would save $2,500 on their premiums?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Forcing businesses to violate their religious beliefs by paying for drugs that abort the unborn?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Violating the rights and sanctity of our Churches?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Spending $634 million on a website that doesn't work?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Obama calling for an increase in our debt when he lambasted Bush for the very same thing?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Obama having NSA spy on 124 Billion Phone Calls in One Month?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Saddling our kids with $17 trillion in debt of which they can

never get out of and will not have as good a life as we have?"

Bob: "No, the other one."

Jim: "Bailing out Detroit after decades of corrupt Democratic management?"

Bob: "No, the other one."

Jim: "You mean the State Dept. lying about Benghazi?"

Bob: "No, the other one."

Jim: "You mean voter fraud?"

Bob: "No, the other one."

Jim: "Intentionally trying to hurt Americans during the sequester?"

Bob: "No, the other one."

Jim: "Blocking veterans who secured our freedoms from their monuments

but giving the green light for Illegals to use Monument Mall?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Denying school kids the ability to tour the White House but still spending lavishly on his parties?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "You mean Obama saying we can keep our insurance and doctors if we wanted to?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "You mean the military not getting their votes counted?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The NSA monitoring foreign diplomats?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "You mean the use of drones in our own country without the benefit of the law?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Giving 123 Technologies $300 Million and right after it declared bankruptcy and was sold to the Chinese?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "You mean the president arming the Muslim Brotherhood?"

 

Bob: "No the other one:.

 

Jim: "The IRS targeting conservatives?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The DOJ spying on the press?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Sebelius shaking down health insurance executives?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "You mean Obama spending $3.7 Trillion on Welfare Over Last 5 Years"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Giving SOLYNDRA $500 MILLION DOLLARS and 3 months later they declared bankruptcy and then the Chinese bought it?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The NSA monitoring our phone calls, emails and everything else?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Millions of Americans losing their health care coverage?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Forcing Americans to include coverage in their insurance policies of items they do not want?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Ordering the release of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants from jails and prisons, and falsely blaming the sequester?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Denying Arizona the right to protect its borders?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Providing weapons to Syrian rebels many of whom apparently are Al Queda"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The president's repeated violation of the law requiring him to submit a

 

budget no later than the first Monday in February?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The 2012 vote where 115% of all registered voters in some counties voted 100% for Obama?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The president's unconstitutional recess appointments in an attempt to circumvent the Senate's advise-and-consent role?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The State Department interfering with an Inspector General investigation on departmental sexual misconduct?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "Clinton, the IRS, Clapper and Holder all lying to Congress?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim: "The President using nearly $1 trillion dollars of stimulus money to fund his cronies?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one"

 

Jim: "You mean Fast & Furious?"

 

Bob: "No, the other one."

 

Jim:

 

"I give up! ... Oh wait, I think I got it! You mean that 65 million

 

low-information voters who don't pay taxes and get free stuff from

 

taxpayers and stuck us again with the most pandering, corrupt

 

administration in American history?"

 

Bob: "THAT'S THE ONE!"

 

[clearvision]

Toni has visited the White House "officially" 7 times since 2010

 

12/9/10 7:43a 9:40a 170people Vivek Kundra South Court
12/10/10 676people POTUS
9/22/2011 2:04p 3:05p 2people Danny Werfel OEOB
12/17/2011 302people Residence
1/18/13 1:31 to 3:23 1person Danny Werfel OEOB
4/26/13 3:43p 4:27p 1person Jonathan McBride OEOB
6/1/13 1person Jonathan McBride OEOB
6/28/13 1person John McNaught OEOB

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Via TheoSpark

[SrWoodchuck]

 

 

Both images via TheoSpark

[SrWoodchuck]

George III asks for a "mulligan."

 

 

Via TheoSpark

[SrWoodchuck]

A Stunning New Court Defeat for ObamaCare http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/56-health-care/2006-a-stunning-new-court-defeat-for-obamacare

 

Things just went from awful to worse this week for ObamaCare, and the Obama Administration more generally.

Nearly a month into its disastrous debut, it’s clear that the ObamaCare website isn’t just “glitching,” it’s completely melting down. This is quickly becoming a watershed moment, a failure so obvious and deep that it could permanently stain Obama’s presidential legacy among historians long after he’s gone. Among the familiar litany of failures throughout his tenure, healthcare legislation was the one signature legislative act to which he could point.

When ObamaCare was passed, Congress and the Obama Administration deliberately chose to empower individual states to carry out the law by creating health insurance exchanges, marketplaces in which those states’ citizens could buy insurance from authorized insurers. But because the Constitution doesn’t allow the federal government to force individual states to carry out its edicts, the law had to come up with another way to induce states to agree to participate. Consequently, the law offered individuals who chose to purchase insurance from state-run exchanges significant federal subsidies to persuade them to enroll.

 

There was one significant problem with that scheme: In states that chose to avoid participating in the looming catastrophe that is ObamaCare, residents would by law not be eligible for the subsidies offered to participating states.

 

As it turned out, some 34 states refused the Obama Administration’s offer. Consequently, the federal government is now on the hook for establishing exchanges for residents of non-participating states. But under the explicit provisions of ObamaCare itself, such individuals are not eligible for premium assistance subsidies.

So what did the Obama Administration decide to do?

 

Per habit, it sought to just ignore its own law via IRS fiat, as summarized by plaintiffs:

 

“Refusing to accept those consequences, the IRS promulgated the regulations at issue here, which base eligibility for premium assistance subsidies not on enrollment in coverage “through an Exchange established by the State,” as the statute requires, but rather on enrollment in coverage through any exchange, including the federally-established one. Of course, the federal government is not a “State,” as the ACA in fact expressly reiterates. Those regulations thus allow for the distribution of billions of dollars of federal funds that Congress never authorized. The IRS rule contradicts the plain text of the ACA, exceeds the agency’s authority, and is contrary to law.”

 

All of this presents a rich irony.

 

Throughout the government shutdown over ObamaCare earlier this month, the law’s supporters cried, “It’s the law!” Of course, the employer mandate was also “the law,” but the Obama Administration had no problem postponing it for a year. Similarly, the text of the law also mandated that members of Congress and their staffers were subject to its requirements. Yet the Obama Administration also had no problem granting an extralegal waiver, allowing subsidies that no other employees suddenly subject to ObamaCare’s provisions should receive.

 

 

[clearvision]

A malfunction in key technology behind the Obamacare website left users unable to apply for health coverage late Sunday.

 

Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said a vendor networking issue at Verizon subsidiary Terremark was to blame. Peters said the vendor had "experienced a failure in a networking component," and the attempted fix crashed the system.

LINK

 

So there is a single piece of equipment that is not redundant in the infrastructure for a 1B dollar project that controls 25% of our economy?

[SrWoodchuck]

 

A malfunction in key technology behind the Obamacare website left users unable to apply for health coverage late Sunday.

 

Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said a vendor networking issue at Verizon subsidiary Terremark was to blame. Peters said the vendor had "experienced a failure in a networking component," and the attempted fix crashed the system.

LINK

 

So there is a single piece of equipment that is not redundant in the infrastructure for a 1B dollar project that controls 25% of our economy?

 

Blame vendor? We're going to need a bigger bus........

[SrWoodchuck]

Meet the 13 Senate Democrats who supported ObamaCare, and are up for re-election in 2014 http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/58820

 

By Herman Cain

 

Remember way back in the distant past - like, two weeks ago - when every Democrat on Capitol Hill was united in the determination that ObamaCare must not be changed, not be delayed, not be modified in any way, because to do so would be a dirty, nasty, right-wing Republican trick?

 

My. How things change. Dana Bash of CNN tweets that the 13 Democrat senators up for re-election in 2014 are suddenly singing a very different tune:

 

Dana Bash ✔ @DanaBashCNN

 

new: senior dem source tells me to expect every sen dem running in 2014 to back @JeanneShaheen proposal to delay #ACA enrollment deadline

 

2:22 PM - 23 Oct 2013

 

Well that’s nice of them, but these same 13 Democrats voted in 2009 to create this monstrosity in the first place.

 

And don’t forget how that went down either. Remember that the Senate passed a version of the bill that everyone knew had major problems, taking advantage of its 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority to push the bill through. Then Senator Ted Kennedy died, and was replaced by Republican Scott Brown. That meant the Senate could no longer stop a filibuster, which it would need to do to pass any improved bill coming out of conference after the House passed its version. The only way at that point to pass ObamaCare to have the House pass the Senate bill with no changes, then abuse reconciliation rules to pass the fixes that were needed.

 

Abusing power is something Harry Reid is only too happy to do.

 

So every one of these 13 Democrats is responsible for creating the mess in which we now find ourselves. Their sudden conversion to the need for a delay is very nice, but it’s not enough. If you live in any one of these states, I urge you to vote for their Republican opponents next year.

Here are the Dirty Baker’s Dozen:

 

Mark Begich (Alaska)
Mark Pryor (Arkansas)
Mark Udall (Colorado)
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
Al Franken (Minnesota)
Max “Trainwreck” Baucus (Montana)
Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire)
Tom Udall (New Mexico)
Kay Hagan (North Carolina)
Jeff Merkeley (Oregon)
Tim Johnson (South Dakota)
Mark Warner (Virginia)
Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia)

 

In addition to the Dirty Baker’s Dozen are Michigan’s Carl Levin and Iowa’s Tom Harkin, who performed long-overdue service to the nation by announcing their retirements. Whoever emerges from Republican primaries in Michigan and Iowa deserves major support.

 

[clearvision]

'Obamacare girl' picture removed from health care website

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obamacare-girl-hiding-article-1.1498960#ixzz2j2F8hfou

[cudjo]

'Obamacare girl' picture removed from health care website

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obamacare-girl-hiding-article-1.1498960#ixzz2j2F8hfou

well would you want your picture on there? I don't think so

[pollyannaish]

Poor girl. She's Obama's Monica without having actually participated in anything. She just got screwed by association.

[SrWoodchuck]

Boo.....and boo again.....it's that time of the year. Time to be skeered of Oblundercare:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQvfwW5zflY&feature=player_embedded

 

Via WeaselZippers

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Via WeaselZippers

[clearvision]

Sebelius blames contractors for HealthCare.gov problems

 

"To build the Marketplace, CMS [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] used private sector contractors, just as it does to administer aspects of Medicare," Sebelius says in her prepared testimony. "CMS has a track record of successfully overseeing the many contractors our programs depend on to function. Unfortunately, a subset of those contracts for HealthCare.gov have not met expectations."

[righteousmomma]

I have the hearings on now. It made me feel so physically sick to listen to Waxman and Sibelius that I had to mute the tv.

 

Rep. Upton is now up. Earlier on Fox and Friends he said that the bill signed by Obama was CHANGED after signing and going to Congress for passing. Of course we know Congress passed before reading. This is so UNAMERICAN - the whole process and the whole Democrat administration.

 

Oh now Upton discusses the "changes" and Sibelius is holding to the party line -- yada yada yada.

Why can no one discuss the ramifications to our Country for this whole leftist socialist administration!!!

(Sorry I am just frustrated beyond rational response)

 

We are under control of a bunch of dim nitwits - on both sides.

Rush Limbaugh saves what little sanity I have left. So am turning this hearing off and waiting for his show.

[nickydog]

I had to turn off the TV, too. Everything being said was predictable, so why listen?

[clearvision]

I've lost interest in hearings where nothing ever gets followed up on and is basically grandstanding for both sides.