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Do You Believe Obama This Time? How About Now? …Now?


Valin

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With California's refusal Thursday, two of the nation's most populous states are bucking President Obama's plan to permit Americans to keep current low-benefit individual health insurance policies for another year, if they want them.

 

 

 

Obama can't even keep his promise from a week ago.

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What it means for this presidency? How about what it means for this country?!!

 

 

That's a good song, but I'm not a country boy. Now what?

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What it means for this presidency? How about what it means for this country?!!

 

That's a good song, but I'm not a country boy. Now what?

 

This to shall pass. We will survive.

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California nixes the Obamacare fix

Paul Mirengoff

11/21/13

 

Covered California, that states insurance exchange, has rejected President Obamas request that people be allowed to remain in non-compliant health insurance plans for another year. This decision is highly significant because California has experienced by far the most insurance policy cancellations of any state, reportedly around 900,000 of them.

 

Eliana Johnson points out that a number of Blue States New York, Minnesota, Washington, and Rhode Island have previously said no to Obamas fix. So far, less liberal states e.g., Florida, Tennesse, Alabama, and South Carolina seem more receptive to the president.

 

(Snip)

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What it means for this presidency? How about what it means for this country?!!

 

That's a good song, but I'm not a country boy. Now what?

 

This to shall pass. We will survive.

 

 

I think you're right. It's just hard to be frustrated so much of the time. Which is why my son no longer participates in all things political. He's an all-or-nothing kind of guy. It would be nice to be able to step back and watch in an almost disinterested kind of way, but I'm not choosing to do that, so I need to learn to live with some frustration, knowing that in the end we will survive.

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I think you're right. It's just hard to be frustrated so much of the time. Which is why my son no longer participates in all things political. He's an all-or-nothing kind of guy. It would be nice to be able to step back and watch in an almost disinterested kind of way, but I'm not choosing to do that, so I need to learn to live with some frustration, knowing that in the end we will survive.

I can't say that I blame him. It was nice having those two weeks away from the Net.

 

Unconquerable Nation : knowing our enemy, strengthening ourselves.

Brian Michael Jenkins

 

How We Prevail: Secret Service agents gunned down the first team of assassins before they got to the President, but it was a close call. A second team of gunmen managed to get into the House of Representatives, where they wounded five congressmen. A terrorist bomb caused damage but no casualties at the Senate. Troops took up positions at the Capitol and the White House, both of which had been set ablaze. By sundown, Washington was sliding out of control; columns of black smoke could be seen for miles. Authorities were unable to save the White House, which was completely destroyed by fire.

 

In New York City, a huge vehicle bomb exploded on Wall Street, killing 33 people and wounding more than 400. Another bomb exploded in downtown Los Angeles, killing at least 20. Yet another bomb killed and maimed hundreds in the heartland. An explosion leveled a Texas town, while fires destroyed most of Chicago and San Francisco.

 

That was not as bad, however, as an inexplicable deadly epidemic that hit the nations capital in the summer. By autumn, onetenth of the citys population had died. Similar deadly outbreaks swept across the country. Nationwide, 1 in 200 Americans died. Cities announced their own blockades against those fleeing the stricken areas. The fabric of society was unraveling with riots and looting.

 

Following riots, the Army patrolled the streets in Washington, Detroit, and Los Angeles; 120,000 people were interned as potential subversives. The worst crisis, however, was the receipt of a credible nuclear threat.

 

All this is not some hypothetical future terrorist scenario invented by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to test preparedness, the screenplay for a new Hollywood disaster thriller, or a survivalist fantasy. All of the events listed above, in fact, occurred during the course of Americas history. In 1950, assassins tried to rush Blair House, where President Truman was staying while renovations were under way at the White House. In 1954, terrorists opened fire on the House of Representatives. A bomb caused heavy damage to the Senate in 1983. And British troops burned down the White House and part of the newly constructed Capitol building in 1814, when only a rainstorm saved the rest of Washington.

 

A horse-drawn cart filled with explosives (an early vehicle bomb) blew up on Wall Street in 1920, and suspected members of the Dynamite Conspiracy set off a huge bomb in Los Angeles in 1910. Timothy McVeighs bomb killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995. In 1947, a ship loaded with nitrate fertilizer blew up, leveling Texas City. The city of Chicago was destroyed by fire in 1871. San Francisco was destroyed by fire following the 1906 earthquake. In 1793, yellow fever killed 5,000 people, one-tenth of the total population of Philadelphia, which at the time was the nations capital. Subsequent yellow fever and cholera outbreaks killed thousands in American cities during the nineteenth century, but none of these outbreaks compared with the Spanish flu epidemic of 19181919, which killed approximately 600,000 people in the United States and between 25 and 50 million worldwide. Race riots required calling out the National Guard and federal troops in a number of cities in the second half of the twentieth century. I personally watched the columns of smoke through a train window as the train pulled out of Union Station in Washington, DC, on April 14, 1968, at the beginning of the widespread race riots following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. During World War II, 120,000 Japanese-Americans were interned.

 

The most terrifying incident of the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, occurred in 1962, when the two superpowers stood nose to nose, armed forces on high alert on both sides, nuclear weapons at the ready.

 

Americas Dark Moments

 

There have been many dark moments in Americas history. Almost everyones short list includes the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001; the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II; the Civil War; the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression; the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Most Americans would also include the burning of the nations capital by British troops in 1814, the Chicago fire, the Johnstown flood, the San Francisco earthquake, and the Spanish flu and other epidemics. Loss of life is the common element in all these crises.

 

For a nation seen by many in the world as bellicose, Americans themselves see the casualties of war as disaster. The Civil War, in which 558,000 died, tops the list, followed by World War II with 407,000 Americans dead, World War I with 117,000 U.S. deaths, the Vietnam War with 58,000 Americans dead, and the Korean War with 37,000 Americans dead.

 

And whatever criticism we may heap upon our presidents while they are in office, we are angered and dismayed when they are physically attacked. We also include poverty and suffering among our darkest historical moments. Noteworthy are the events that represent the lack or loss of values: slavery and continuing racial discrimination, the annihilation and dispossession of native Americans, the ruthless suppression of striking workers in the nineteenth century, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the witch hunts for communists in the 1950s, the Watergate scandal in the 1970s.

 

The singling out of these events as Americas dark moments reflects the values Americans hold dear: life, the inalienable rights of all people, equal justice for all, security in its broadest sense, fair play, political morality. Just as noteworthy are the omissions. Americans do not dwell much on abstract issues such as past humiliations (including those in Vietnam and Iran), perceived insults to national honor, challenges to the nations rightful place in the world, assaults upon our religious beliefs and moral values. These are the types of concerns voiced by our terrorist adversaries.

 

It is also noteworthy that Americans view the nations dark moments as summons to courage, opportunities to reflect and to do what is right. Each dark moment is seen as a challenge, awful at the time, but ultimately metnot a descent into darkness. As the United States faces a new array of threats that arose at the end of the Cold War and were so stunningly clarified on September 11, 2001, Americans are again summoned to demonstrate courage, to draw upon deep traditions of determination in the face of risk, to show self-reliance and resiliency.

 

There has been too much fearmongering since 9/11. We are not a nation of victims cowering under the kitchen table. We cannot expect protection against all risk. Too many Americans have died defending liberty for us to easily surrender it now to terror. We should heed the admonition that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered in his 1933 inaugural address: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itselfnameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. It should not be fear that propels us, but confidence that we will ultimately prevail. We have never been driven forward by fear. At our best, we have been defined by our visions.

 

Strategy for an Unconquerable Nation

 

The title of this book is Unconquerable Nation. The phrase derives from a quote by the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, who 25 centuries ago wrote, Being unconquerable lies with yourself. The choice of this title does not signal an attempt to apply the principles of Sun Tzus ancient treatise on the art of war to the current war on terrorism. Sun Tzus passages tend to be abstract, cryptic, sometimes opaque, and therefore subject to continuous interpretation, which may, in part, explain their enduring appeal. Sun Tzu offers inspiration, not precise instructions. His philosophy of war is straightforward. Warfare, which had by the 5th century B.C. become a large-scale enterprise, requires popular support and proper strategy. That strategy must be based on a thorough understanding of the enemy and of ones own strengths and weaknesses. Being unconquerable means knowing oneself, but as understood by the ancient strategists, knowing means much more than the mere acquisition of knowledge. Knowing oneself means preserving ones spirit, a broad term. Being unconquerable includes not only disciplined troops and strong walls, but also confidence, courage, commitmentthe opposite of terror and fear.

 

One can easily see the appeal of this construct in the context of current circumstances. This philosophy alters Americans mental model of todays conflict. It elevates the necessity of knowing the enemy, something we have not made sufficient effort to do. It moves us from relying almost exclusively on the projection of military power and viewing homeland security as physical protection to mobilizing our spirit, courage, and commitment. While we strive to destroy our terrorist enemies by reducing their capabilities, thwarting their plans, frustrating their strategy, and crushing their spirit, we must also rely on our own psychological strength to defeat the terror they would create. Instead of issuing constant warnings and alarms, we must project stoicism and resolve. Instead of surrendering our liberties in the name of security, we must embrace liberty as the source and sustenance of our security

This applies to politics also
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Yes, it does apply to politics also. And I think there are still enough people in this country who can do what he says -- rely on our own psychological strength and embrace liberty as the source and sustenance of our security (or political aims/beliefs).

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New delay: Deadline for ObamaCare enrollment moved back from December 15th to 23rd

Allahpundit

11/22/13

 

They continue to insist that theyre on track for major improvement or whatever to the website by November 30th, but if it was as major as theyd hoped, they never would have resorted to this. A little heads up for our twentysomething readers: In case you havent decided yet what youll be buying with the cash you get for Christmas, good news Obama and the insurance industry have decided for you.

 

Wait a sec. I thought the reason they set December 15th as the deadline for enrolling if you want your new coverage to start on New Years Day is because it takes insurers at least two weeks to process an application. If theyre now pushing the deadline back a week to give people more time to enroll, that leaves insurers with just eight days to turn applications around assuming that the applicant info they receive from Healthcare.gov is readable in the first place. How are they going to do that? Theyre not sure:

 

 

Asked via email whether this change complicates matters for insurers, Robert Zirkelbach spokesman for the insurance industry group Americas Health Insurance Plans, responded, It makes it more challenging to process enrollments in time for coverage to begin on January 1. Ultimately it will depend on how many people enroll in those last few days. It is also important to keep in mind that consumers need to pay their first months premium before their coverage can begin.

(Snip)

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The Nation: Why the Left Should Defend Obamacare

Yes, it was a flawed compromise. But to achieve universal, humane healthcare for all, we first need effective implementation of the ACA.

11/20/13

 

The Affordable Care Act began life as a compromise—a complicated and frustrating political calculation—and it is never easy to defend a compromise. But failure to do so at this critical stage in the rollout of the ACA will create a crisis not just for healthcare in America but for the notion that government can and should repair the breaches that threaten civil and humane society.

 

When President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress decided to expend political capital to address the absolute failure of the free market to provide affordable, readily available healthcare to tens of millions of working Americans, they took off the table the right response to the crisis—a single-payer, “Medicare for All” system. They believed the best reform was politically unachievable, so they cobbled together a hybrid of public regulation and private insurance that has come back to haunt them. Now, as the peddlers of junk insurance game the system to defend their profiteering, and as Republicans gleefully spin incoherent “told you so” fantasies, some Democrats are going weak in the knees. Thirty-nine of them in the House simply threw in with the Republicans on November 15 to back an attack on the basic premises of “Obamacare.”

 

There is no question that the drafting and design of the Affordable Care Act was flawed (the administration should not have sacrificed the public option, for example). Nor is there any question that the rollout of the government ACA website was disastrous. These problems, of course, must be addressed. But the “fixes” now on offer from Congressional Republicans are, at best, a mangling of the initial plan and, at worst, acts of sabotage that will fatally undermine the promise of quality coverage for the uninsured and underinsured.

 

(Snip)

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Editorial: Employers could drop health care Is that the next potential consequence of Obamacare?

November 25, 2013

Abbott Laboratories chief executive Miles White said something last Tuesday that should jolt tens of millions of Americans who watch from a comfortable distance as the giant Obamacare blimp ignites and tumbles to the ground. These Americans are safely ensconced in employer-provided health care coverage — for now.

 

But there are "clear incentives for companies to drop their health care plans and move people onto the exchanges," White told analysts at a luncheon, referring to the disastrously cranky and unreliable online insurance marketplaces created under Obamacare.

 

"I can tell you that the employees of Abbott or AbbVie (the pharmaceutical firm Abbott spun off in January) are going to be pretty unhappy about that Scissors-32x32.png

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-obamacare-crashes-edit-20131125,0,1180816.story

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Why voters are finished believing Obama's health care promises

By BYRON YORK | NOVEMBER 25, 2013 AT 9:04 PM

 

In April, Real Clear Politics' average of polls showed that 47 percent of Americans opposed Obamacare, while 41 percent supported it — a 6-percentage-point edge for opponents of the president's health care law, which at the time was still months away from implementation.

 

The latest average of polls, less than two months into the law's rollout, shows 57 percent opposing Obamacare, with 38 percent supporting — an enormous 19-point gap between opponents and supporters.

 

The two numbers explain why Republicans made little progress when they tried to warn Americans about Obamacare. For years, GOP warnings about Obamacare were about something that had not yet arrived. People had not experienced Obamacare, did not have friends who had experienced it and didn't fully understand what it was. Many tuned out the Republican alarms.

 

Now that has changed.Scissors-32x32.png

http://washingtonexaminer.com/why-voters-are-finished-believing-obamas-health-care-promises/article/2539790

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Obama administration delays small business exchange again; won’t be ready until late 2014

 

Down to the last four days of November, Department of Health and Human Services officials are no longer standing by a pledge to have the online small-business exchange fully functional by the end of the month. Instead, they say, employers will have a process by which to enroll in coverage by then, but it might not necessarily be feasible through healthcare.gov.

 

Update: Health and Human Services officials have confirmed that the federal small business exchange will not be fully functional until November of 2014. More details to come momentarily.

 

So if I read this article correctly, they are announcing a delay of a year today for a deadline that was supposed to be next week?

 

Good day to roll out bad news I guess.

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Ok, didn't these people have bajillions of dollars

and three years to make this work?

 

This is not rocket science. It's hard, but three

years and plenty of resources should be sufficient. At least it would be for any private company.

 

There needs to be a significant investigation as to what went wrong and there needs to be accountability.

 

With every new revelation, I'm thinking huh? When I was working in internet world, we did stuff this complex in a few months, with far fewer resources. Mostly because if we didn't we wouldn't make any money.

 

Oh. Perhaps that's a hint. /sarcasm

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Obama administration delays small business exchange again; won’t be ready until late 2014

 

 

Down to the last four days of November, Department of Health and Human Services officials are no longer standing by a pledge to have the online small-business exchange fully functional by the end of the month. Instead, they say, employers will have a process by which to enroll in coverage by then, but it might not necessarily be feasible through healthcare.gov.

 

Update: Health and Human Services officials have confirmed that the federal small business exchange will not be fully functional until November of 2014. More details to come momentarily.

 

So if I read this article correctly, they are announcing a delay of a year today for a deadline that was supposed to be next week?

 

Good day to roll out bad news I guess.

 

Good idea to wait until after the 2014 elections, too.

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Ok, didn't these people have bajillions of dollars

and three years to make this work?

 

This is not rocket science. It's hard, but three

years and plenty of resources should be sufficient. At least it would be for any private company.

 

There needs to be a significant investigation as to what went wrong and there needs to be accountability.

 

With every new revelation, I'm thinking huh? When I was working in internet world, we did stuff this complex in a few months, with far fewer resources. Mostly because if we didn't we wouldn't make any money.

 

Oh. Perhaps that's a hint. /sarcasm

 

@pollyannaish -- what needs to be is not what is or what will be with this administration. And accountability? Ha!

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