Tag Archives: political parties

The Mendacity of the Obama Government Shutdown

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Here’s an example.  The House, earlier in the week, passed an appropriations bill—devoid of anything else, a clean CR, IAW Democrat instruction—the Senate passed it, and President Barack Obama signed it.  “It’s the law of the land.”  This appropriations law fully funds the DoD for the next couple of months.

Despite that, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to furlough 400,000 DoD civilians (apparently his fair share of the Obama shutdown).  Congressman Buck McKeon (R, CA) wrote to Hagel, asking how that furlough worked, since DoD was fully funded.

Hagel’s response?  Through “a senior Defense official,” Hagel said he had no way to respond.

Unfortunately, most of the staff who draft congressional correspondence are furloughed[.]

Because the responsible officials—Hagel’s deputies, Obama’s appointees—are illiterate, apparently.  Or they need an authority figure to tell them what to do, and both Hagel and Obama are too busy to provide that instruction.  Or these worthies simply are too proud to do their work with their own hands.

Negotiations

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President Barack Obama spent 15-20 minutes in a Tuesday Rose Garden speech proudly proclaiming his refusal to negotiate with Republicans over the budget or the nation’s debt limit.  He spent another hour Wednesday afternoon telling Republican leadership directly that he would not negotiate with them.  After all, he has said through his representatives and Congressional colleagues that Republicans are terrorists and have bombs strapped to their chests, and that they want to burn the US economy; with what/whom is there to negotiate?

However, Obama, directly or through subordinates, will treat with actual terrorists:

Hassan Rouhani (phone call)

Ayatollah Khamenei (letter)

Muammar Qadhafi (meeting)

Bashar al Assad (via Senator/Sec State Kerry)

Mahmoud Abbas (meeting)

Hugo Chavez (meeting)

Najib Mikati (via Senator/Sec State Clinton)

 

h/t AEIdeas, which has imagery.

Obamacare Subsidies

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The government—i.e., us taxpayers—will pay for a significant portion of health “insurance” premiums under Obamacare, starting yesterday.  Under Obamacare rules, individuals making as much as 400% of the Federal Poverty Guideline—up to $45,000 per year—will get these subsidies.  Individuals making up to 250% of the Guideline—up to $28,725 per year—will get yet more subsidy (yet more of our tax money) to partly cover their deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance costs.  The same applies for families, and 400% of the Federal Poverty Guideline for a typical American family of four works out to $94,200 this year.

Think about that.  Under the prior system costs were high.  Obamacare, instead of going after those costs (right wing kook solutions like competition, like letting the doctors and patients decide what care actually was warranted, etc), props them up with those subsidies.

Sounds like manufactured government dependency, to me.

This Is

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…what President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, UT) and other Democrats want to shut down our government in order to protect:

California: 58,000 will lose their plans under Obamacare. …exodus from the…state’s Obamacare exchange: Aetna, UnitedHealth, Anthem Blue Cross (which left the Obamacare exchange for small businesses,t too)

54% of Californians expect to lose their coverage….

Missouri: Patients of the state’s largest hospital system—13 hospitals—will not be covered by the largest insurer on Obamacare exchanges, Anthem BlueCross BlueShield.  Anthem’s 79,000 Missouri patients may seek subsidies on Obamacare’s exchanges, but they won’t be able to see any doctors in the BJC HealthCare system.

Connecticut: Aetna…won’t offer insurance on the Obamacare exchange: “We believe the modification to the rates filed by Aetna will not allow us to collect enough premiums to cover the cost of the plans and meet the service expectations of our customers.”

Maryland: Aetna and (recently purchased)…canceled plans to offer insurance in the [Obamacare] exchange when state officials wouldn’t allow them to charge premiums high enough to cover costs.

South Carolina: Medical Mutual of Ohio left SC entirely in July due to Obamacare’s “vast and quite complex” new regulations.

New York: Aetna pulled out of New York’s exchange…to keep their plans “financially viable.”

New Jersey: Aetna won’t be a part of the [Obamacare] exchange.

Iowa: Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield…decided not to offer plans in the Obamacare exchange.

Wisconsin: United Healthcare and Humana [will not offer] insurance on Obamacare exchanges.

Georgia: Medical Mutual of Ohio, Aetna, and Coventry left due to Obamacare regulations.

More than a million-and-a-quarter insurees and potential insurees are affected by this Democratic Party action.

Mendacious

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Offered, repeatedly, House-passed bills to fund the government for the next several months, the Senate Democrats rejected every one.  They did so with no counteroffer; they simply refused to negotiate.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, “They’ve lost their minds.”

That’s all Democrats have.  They refuse to address the issues at hand; all they’re willing to do is make scurrilous ad hominem attacks.

Their shutdown of the government is the temper tantrum of a tired, bitter old man.

Or, it’s the measure of the integrity in the Senate.