• Barack Obama,  Obamacare

    ObamaCare is a California Loser

    ObamaCare is a California Loser

    How many months ago did I prognosticate that ObamaCare, while rammed through the Congress by Democrats, would NEVER be fully implemented? Look what is happening in California, which is probably BEST case.

    More than 1 million cancellation notices have been sent to Californians as the Affordable Care Act begins allowing individuals to buy insurance through exchanges, Jones said. The federal law requires policies to offer minimum levels of coverage, forcing companies to terminate many existing plans. But Jones said that under the law, insurers have another year to do so.

    More than a MILLION policy cancellations!

    How many Californians will be “BARE” (without insurance) over the next year?

    Just wait for the increase in premiums and the “sticker shock.”

    The Congress should get busy and make the necessary changes in the law or….. voters should change the Congress.

  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day May 15, 2013 – Bell Curve

    Day By Day May 15, 2013

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    The bloom has come off the Obama Administration rose with multiple scandals.

    Now, the Washington Press has turned against the President and is FINALLY being held accountable for his inaction on multiple fronts.

    Wait for the Democratic POLS to start jumping ship.

    Pundits really thought the GOP was moribund?

    President Obama and his merry band of progressive political thugs have committed Democratic Party suicide.

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 7, 2013

    Rand PaulSenator Rand Paul

    These are my links for March 6th through March 7th:

    • Mr. Paul Goes To Washington To Protect Your Constitutional Rights – Rule Of Law: At press time Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul was holding forth on his filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan as head of the CIA. It’s good to know someone in Washington still cares about the Constitution.It started out as a simple question from Paul to Attorney General Eric Holder as to whether President Obama “has the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial.”The plain, simple answer is no, since it clearly violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment due-process protection. But that wasn’t the answer that came back from Holder, compelling Paul to filibuster Brennan.

      “It is possible, I suppose,” wrote Holder, “to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”

      It’s unbelievable that the nation’s top law officer would answer in that way. And, with the explosion in the number of drones filling the nation’s skies, it’s more than an idle question or philosophical musing.

      That’s why Paul is filibustering Brennan’s controversial nomination as CIA head. Paul knows he likely won’t succeed. But he’s making an important point.

    • Obamacare requirements will drive up premiums – In 2007, candidate Barack Obama declared, “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.” As president, he signed national health care legislation that is formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. But according to a new report from Congressional Republicans, the law will actually cause premiums to more than double for some Americans.The report, which is based on a compilation of independent studies on the effect of the law’s new regulations, finds that Obamacare could increase premiums by 40 percent on average and by as much as 202 percent for young adults living in Chicago.
    • 2016 Democratic Field May Not Wait for Clinton – She is not an incumbent president — or even currently employed — but the deference fellow Democrats have afforded Hillary Clinton regarding a potential 2016 White House run has been something to behold.With the official start of the next presidential campaign still three years away, friends and potential Democratic foes alike have bent over backwards to praise Clinton and talk up her chances of finishing what she started in her 2008 campaign — and for good reason.
    • Obama’s Rx: Maximize America’s pain – In an e-mail to an official of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (part of the Department of Agriculture), a North Carolina official was told he had no latitude in managing cuts: “You need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be,” came the word from Washington.The real reason behind the vise-tightening has nothing to do with money, though. It’s all political, the kickoff to the 2014 congressional elections.The GOP managed to hang on to its House majority last fall — and under the Constitution all spending bills must originate in the House. But the president told House Democrats last month that he means to make Nancy Pelosi the speaker yet again.

      And he pointedly said of GOP spending-cut ideas versus his own tax-hike proposals, “If that’s an argument they want to have before the court of public opinion, that’s an argument I’m more than willing to engage in.”

    • Holder does not rule out drone strike scenario in U.S.
    • Republicans emerge from Obama dinner optimistic about deficit deal – Senate Republicans are more optimistic about the prospect of a grand bargain on the deficit after an intimate dinner with President Obama Wednesday evening in downtown Washington.
    • Republicans, Led by Rand Paul, Finally End Filibuster – A small group of Republicans, led by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, stalled the Senate on Wednesday by waging a nearly 13-hour old-school, speak-until-you-can-speak-no-more filibuster over the government’s use of lethal drone strikes — forcing the Senate to delay the expected confirmation of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.Mr. Paul, who opposes Mr. Brennan’s nomination, followed through on his plan to filibuster the confirmation of President Obama’s nominee after receiving a letter this month from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that refused to rule out the use of drone strikes within the United States in “extraordinary circumstances” like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
    • North Korea says it will launch nuclear attack on America – Missile Defense!
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-06 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-06 #tcot
    • The Morning Flap: March 6, 2013 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: March 6, 2013 #tcot
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-05 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-05 #tcot
    • Garcetti finishes first, then Greuel and James – runoffs ahead* – LA Observed – Garcetti finishes first, then Greuel and James – runoffs ahead* – LA Observed #tcot
    • Destinations / Spacecraft Dragon at the International Space Station – Spacecraft Dragon at the International Space Station via @pinterest
    • Decades later, 1972 Supreme Court decision overturning the death penalty has lasting impact | abc7news.com – Decades later, 1972 Supreme Court decision overturning the California death penalty has lasting impact
    • Garcetti finishes first, then Greuel and James – runoffs ahead* – LA Observed – RT @LAObserved: Here are the lineups for LA city runoff elections, including three for city council.
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: March 4, 2013 – The Morning Drill: March 4, 2013
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Dentistry Wednesday Watch: March 6, 2013 – Dentistry Wednesday Watch: March 6, 2013
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 5, 2013

    Jeb BushFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush is interviewed on Fox News and discusses his new immigration book

    These are my links for February 28th through March 5th:

    • Jeb Bush’s False-Flag Operation – Jeb Bush generated quite a bit of publicity for his new book yesterday by suggesting that amnestied illegal immigrants should not be eligible for citizenship. Instead, he’s suggesting they be given some kind of permanent status that would provide them work cards, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and the right to travel abroad and return, but not allow for eventual naturalization — in effect, a kind of permanent guestworker program or a green-card-lite, rather than an actual green card. This is consistent with suggestions from other pro-amnesty Republicans, including Senator Rubio and a group of House members working up an amnesty deal.Unfortunately, it’s a trick.
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: February 28, 2013

    Nixon and Obama

    President Obama and Nixon threaten journalist Bob Woodward

    These are my news headlines and comments for February 27th through February 28th:

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: February 27, 2013

    Sequestration liberation

    These are my news headlines for February 26th through February 27th:

    • Detained immigrants released; officials cite sequester cuts – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have released “several hundred” immigrants from deportation centers across the country, saying the move is an effort to cut costs ahead of budget cuts due to hit later this week.Announcing the news Tuesday, ICE officials said that the immigrants were released under supervision and continue to face deportation. After reviewing hundreds of cases, those released were considered low-risk and “noncriminal,” officials said.The releases took place over the last week and were an effort “to ensure detention levels stay within ICE’s current budget,” said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christiansen, citing uncertainty caused by a budget standoff in Washington.

      “All of these individuals remain in removal proceedings. Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety,” she said.

    • Politicians declare sky falling; meanwhile, D.C. real estate market booms
    • Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare – WSJ.com – Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare #tcot
    • 3 steps: How Dems plan to make Texas a battleground by 2016 | The Daily Caller – 3 steps: How Dems plan to make Texas a battleground by 2016 #tcot
    • Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare – President Obama’s message could not be clearer: Life as we know it in America will change dramatically on March 1, when automatic cuts are imposed to achieve $85 billion in government-spending reductions. Furloughed government employees, flight delays and criminals set free are among the dire consequences the president has predicted. If the Washington Monument weren’t already closed for repairs, no doubt it too would be shut down.Scare tactics such as these are similar to the ones that were made when I co-authored the first sequester legislation in 1985, the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. The 1986 sequester was triggered anyway, but the predicted disaster never came. The nation survived then. It will now.
    • Bob Woodward blasts President Obama ‘madness’ – Obama overplaying his sequestration hand.
    • 3 steps: How Dems plan to make Texas a battleground by 2016 – Today, Hispanics make up 41 percent of Texas’ citizenry, while whites made up 43 percent. The white electorate’s plurality, however, will not last — because the Hispanic population’s birth rates are higher, the Hispanic population is still growing through immigration, and the Hispanic population is younger (with a large population not yet at voting age). If legal Hispanic immigration stays consistent with 2000-2010 levels, Texas could be a plurality Hispanic state by 2017, and a majority Hispanic state by 2036.Both parties know that Hispanics are not a monolithic group, and they are not all Democrats. Though nationally they lean toward the Democrats (67 percent in 2008, 71 percent in 2012), in Texas, Democrats hold less sway (63 in 2008, and unknown in 2012 because there weren’t any exit polls).
    • Wary of crises, Americans tune out budget cut talk – President Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops to warn just what could happen if automatic budget cuts kick in. Americans are reacting with a collective yawn.They know the shtick: Obama raises the alarm, Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of holding a deal hostage, there’s a lot of yelling on cable news, and then finally, when everyone has made their points, a deal is struck and the day is saved.Maybe not this time. Two days before $85 billion in cuts are set to hit federal programs with all the precision of a wrecking ball, there are no signs that the White House and Republicans in Congress are even negotiating. Both sides appear quietly resigned to the prospect that this is one bullet we just may not dodge.
    • Club for Growth targets Republicans – The Club for Growth, the anti-tax group that has spent heavily in Republican primaries in the past few cycles, is launching a new website that names nine GOP Congress members in safe seats and urges people to help find challengers to them.Tethered to the group’s congressional scorecard that was released this week, the site, www.PrimaryMyCongressman.com, goes live later Wednesday. It names people in districts where Mitt Romney notched more than 60 percent in the 2012 presidential race, but got a lifetime rating of below 70 percent from the Club.
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-26 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-26
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-26 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-26 #tcot
    • Perry’s Texas Cancer Fund Mired in Pay-to-Play Claims – Bloomberg – Perry’s Texas Cancer Fund Mired in Pay-to-Play Claims #tcot
    • Perry’s Texas Cancer Fund Mired in Pay-to-Play Claims – Six years ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry persuaded voters to approve $3 billion in taxpayer-backed bonds to research cures for cancer.Now, after the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas spent $836 million with no major advances to show, its research has been halted by allegations of favoritism toward people that contributed to Perry and other leaders. A district attorney, lawmakers and the attorney general are investigating.
    • No CPAC Invite for Christie Because of ‘Limited Future’ in Republican Party – New Jersey governor Chris Christie was not invited to address the Conservative Political Action Conference because of his position on gun control, according to a source familiar with CPAC’s internal deliberations who requested anonymity to speak freely.Christie has a “limited future” in the national Republican party given his position on gun control, the source tells National Review Online. As a result, the CPAC insider says, the focus of this year’s conference, “the future of conservatism,” made Christie a bad fit.Christie, the source adds, is simply not a conservative in the eyes of organizers.
    • U.S. frees illegal immigrants from custody – The federal government released groups of illegal immigrants from custody across the country Monday at the same time the White House was making its case that impending budget cuts would harm efforts to protect the border and enforce federal immigration laws.Advocates reported “waves” of illegal immigrants being released from at least three detention centers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana.U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement confirmed the release of some illegal immigrants Monday night but would not say how many or from which detention centers.
      “In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding,” said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen. “As a result of this review, a number of detained aliens have been released around the country and placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release.”
    • ObamaCare: Squeezing Medicare Advantage – The Obama administration is sparing no effort to scare people about the automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to hit this Friday.But the Obama administration doesn’t want to talk about its own devastating cuts in Medicare. On Friday, February 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $716 billion in cuts over the next ten years. Instead of being put toward the debt, most of the money will go toward a new entitlement: Obamacare’s vast expansion of coverage for the uninsured.
    • Republicans & Immigration – Victor Davis Hanson
    • Immigration and Customs Enforcement Frees Detainees As Sequester Looms – mmigration and Customs Enforcement released some people from immigrant detention facilities across the country on Monday in response to looming federal budget cuts.”In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding,” agency spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement.ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are analyzing spending as congressional inaction increases the likelihood of so-called budget sequestration — across-the-board spending cuts that begin on March 1. Detaining immigrants is an expensive business, with an average daily cost of $122 to $164 per person, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Alternatives, including ankle bracelets and parole, are far cheaper.