Obamacare Still Polling Negatively

By William Teach June 9, 2014 – 9:22 am

Now, is that a shocked face you’re making, or duck lips?

(Gallup) Though one-in-three voters say their personal health care coverage has changed because of the national health care law, half still say the law hasn’t impacted them positively or negatively.

Forty-four percent (44%) of Likely U.S. Voters have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the health care law, while 52% regard it unfavorably, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. This includes 19% who view the law Very Favorably and 41% who have a Very Unfavorable opinion of it. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The article itself is noting that 50% cannot say if the law has impacted them positively or negatively. Which is interesting, considering how much taxpayer money is being spent and how deep into our health care and insurance the law reaches. Of course, wait till the next few rounds of insurance cancellations, particularly those involving corporations.

Also, 47% think the US is in recession. And 73% expect to pay more for groceries.

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GAO Report Finds VA Leases Also Way Behind Schedule

By William Teach June 9, 2014 – 8:02 am

Big Government at work

(Roll Call) The Department of Veterans Affairs is already in plenty of hot water over its patient backlog, and a Government Accountability Office report released this week on a similar brand of mismanagement elsewhere in the department isn’t going to help turn down the temperature.

The GAO report on department management of leasing for outpatient clinics was overshadowed by the department’s other woes, but found some significant problems. Of the 41 projects the GAO examined, 39 were behind schedule — one of them by more than 13 years.

Because construction of VA-owned properties is expensive, the department has increasingly leased out medical facilities to provide treatment, to the tune of $5.5 billion as of the fall of 2013.

Most of the scheduling delays came at the front end, before the department ever entered into a lease agreement, and on average the delays are 3.3 years. The problems included late or changing requirements, trouble finding suitable facilities and ever-changing internal procedures.

Unsurprisingly, there were also lots of cost over-runs, as well. Big Government at its finest. BTW, part of the problem in getting the facilities built in a timely manner goes to “environmental” regulations. There comes a point where those regulations go well beyond reasonable and to absurd. Private citizens/companies deal with this all the time.

Meanwhile

(LA Times) As the acting secretary of Veterans Affairs tries to assure congressmen that he is moving to address the VA healthcare scandal, his department is preparing to release more results of a nationwide audit of scheduling practices that have been denounced as misleading and harmful to veterans.

The results are expected to be released Monday, as a House committee puts VA officials through another round of grilling over findings that VA employees falsified records to conceal long waits for medical appointments.

It looks like acting secretary Sloan Gibson is very serious about reforming the VA. Have you ever noticed that Government only takes internal problems seriously when things have blown up in their face? When it becomes a scandal?

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Man With Largest Carbon Footprint In World Would Like To “Go Off On Deniers”

By William Teach June 9, 2014 – 7:41 am

Thomas Friedman has a little op-ed piece up regarding Obama’s “climate change” power plant rules, which includes an interview with Obama. Remember, this is the same guy who will take a fossil fueled helicopter over to Andrews Air Force Base, jump on Air Force 1 to fly all the way across the country (with a backup AF1 following), jump in his limo which is accompanied by over a dozen more fossil fueled vehicles, briefly attend an “official” event, then take those same fossil fueled vehicles to multiple fundraisers, and then reverse it, all within a day. And do it all the time.

(NY Times) WHEN it comes to dealing with the world’s climate and energy challenges I have a simple rule: change America, change the world.

If America raises its clean energy standards, not only will others follow — others who have hid behind our inaction — we’ll also stimulate our industry to invent more of the clean air, clean power and energy efficiency systems, and move them down the cost curve faster, so U.S. companies will be leaders in this next great global industry and American consumers will be the first to benefit. That is why the new Environmental Protection Agency rules President Obama proposed last week to curb carbon emissions from power plants are so pivotal. You can’t make power systems greener without making them smarter — smarter materials, software or design. One new ruling will not change the world — and we have to be careful that this one doesn’t replace our addiction to coal with an addiction to natural gas alone.

A couple problems with Freidman’s opening. First, the rules simply look to shut down as much coal energy production as possible, and could affect other power plants. Nothing within the plan ensures that our power grid is protected, and all this will do will skyrocket energy costs.

Several weeks ago, as he was drawing up these new emission rules, I interviewed President Obama in the White House library about climate and energy. Following are highlights. (The interview is also featured in the final episode of Showtime’s climate series, “Years of Living Dangerously” airing on Monday.)

A show which nobody watched.

For starters, Obama is aware that we can’t just keep burning oil, coal and gas until they run out…..

“Science is science,” he said. “And there is no doubt that if we burned all the fossil fuel that’s in the ground right now that the planet’s going to get too hot and the consequences could be dire.”

This from a man who is constantly using lots of (taxpayer funded) fossil fuels to travel all over the country and world. Remember, he put his dog on a separate plan for a vacation. OK, yes, the plane was going there anyway, because, apparently, Obama needed multiple (taxpayer funded) airplanes to go on vacation. As for the science, despite an increase in CO2, there has been no statistically significant warming in close to 18 years, per actual data.

The rest of the interview is just as idiotic (and hypocritical). He wants to put a price on “carbon”. We already have that: Obamacare. Carbon is the second largest element in our bodies. As for CO2, most “carbon markets” have pretty much collapsed. Then we get to the typical Obama insults

Do you ever want to just go off on the climate deniers in Congress?

“Yeah, absolutely,” the president said with a laugh. “Look, it’s frustrating when the science is in front of us. … We can argue about how. But let’s not argue about what’s going on. The science is compelling. … The baseline fact of climate change is not something we can afford to deny. And if you profess leadership in this country at this moment in our history, then you’ve got to recognize this is going to be one of the most significant long-term challenges, if not the most significant long-term challenge, that this country faces and that the planet faces. The good news is that the public may get out ahead of some of their politicians” — as people start to see the cost of cleaning up for hurricanes like Sandy or the drought in California — and when “those start multiplying, then people start thinking, ‘You know what? We’re going to reward politicians who talk to us honestly and seriously about this problem.’

So, if it’s so compelling, why is Obama not drastically reducing his own footprint? Or even reducing it at all? Isn’t that “leadership”? For a guy who is supposedly the smartest ever, he doesn’t know that Sandy was not a hurricane at landfall and that California has had much worse droughts. The “baseline fact” is that 95% of the models have failed.

And while it might be Freidman who brings up the “denier” bit, Obama is more than happy to comply and smear people who fail to agree with his cult. As Gateway Pundit notes “It would seem President Obama is losing patience with those who exercise their free speech rights to express concerns about his (bogus) Climate Change agenda.” Not a thing unusual about that. Obama is not a big supporter of free speech for people with different views. Including those who see that anthropogenic “climate change” is fake science, and really all about politics.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Bummer: Climate Change Disturbing Japanese War Dead

By William Teach June 8, 2014 – 2:45 pm

Hey, maybe Obama can show up and chew some gum

Climate change helps seas disturb Japanese war dead

Rising sea levels have disturbed the skeletons of soldiers killed on the Marshall Islands during World War Two.

Speaking at UN climate talks in Bonn, the Island’s foreign minister said that high tides had exposed one grave with 26 dead.

The minister said the bones were most likely those of Japanese troops.

Driven by global warming, waters in this part of the Pacific have risen faster than the global average. (snip)

According to a recent report from the UN Environment Programme, sea level is rising in the Pacific around the Marshall’s at a much higher rate than elsewhere in the world. The rate of rise between 1993 and 2009 was 12mm per year, compared with the global average of 3.2mm.

There’s one little problem: the actual data disagrees when you look at the long term.

As Nils-Axel Mörner notes, it looks more like subsistence for the islands more than any sort of heavy sea rise.

At the end of the day, what they really want is money.

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If All You See…

By William Teach June 8, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is extreme rain caused solely by someone driving a fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Gateway Pundit, with a post on Obama wanting to release Osama’s driver cause farming.

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach June 8, 2014 – 9:16 am

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The sun is shining, the squirrels are scampering, the mockingbirds are trolling the squirrels. This pinup is by Henning Ludvigsen, something a bit more modern, with a wee bit of help.

What’s happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Raised On Hoecakes features a pithy gun store sign
  2. Say Anything notes North Dakota Dems distancing themselves from Obama ahead of his visit
  3. Small Dead Animals notes that we Americans have disappointed Obama
  4. Support Your Local Gunfighter features a woman committing assault with a unique weapon
  5. White House Dossier features an Obama flashback on signing statements
  6. The Daley Gator has your Marxist moron of the day
  7. The Other McCain has a #rapeculture update
  8. Wild Thing notes what Obama/Holder are doing with money meant to secure the border
  9. Wake Up America discusses American’s morality views
  10. Legal Insurrection notes a big win for voter ID in Mississippi
  11. Jihad Watch highlights dhimmitude and “tolerance” in Spain
  12. Flopping Aces supports red light cameras in Virginia (sort of)
  13. Fire Andrea Mitchell notes who Bergdahl’s father has on his list of contacts
  14. Bookworm Room wonders if there is a double standard releasing Gitmo detainees
  15. And last, but not least, Director Blue notes a startling Obama era chart

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

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NY Times: Bergdahl Desertion Really Fault Of Unit Discipline, Afghanistan War

By William Teach June 8, 2014 – 8:02 am

I’m surprised NY Times writers, Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Eric Schmitt, didn’t just straight out Blame Bush

Bergdahl Was in Unit Known for Its Troubles

The platoon was, an American military official would assert years later, “raggedy.”

On their tiny, remote base, in a restive sector of eastern Afghanistan at an increasingly violent time of the war, they were known to wear bandannas and cutoff T-shirts. Their crude observation post was inadequately secured, a military review later found. Their first platoon leader, and then their first platoon sergeant, were replaced relatively early in the deployment because of problems.

But the unit — Second Platoon, Blackfoot Company in the First Battalion, 501st Regiment — might well have remained indistinguishable from scores of other Army platoons in Afghanistan had it not been for one salient fact: This was the team from which Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl disappeared on June 30, 2009.

In the years since Sergeant Bergdahl’s capture by the Taliban, and even more since his release last week in a contentious prisoner exchange for five Taliban fighters, much has been written suggesting that he was a misfit soldier in something of a misfit platoon that stumbled through its first months in Afghanistan and might have made it too easy for him to walk away, as his fellow soldiers say he did.

Indeed, an internal Army investigation into the episode concluded that the platoon suffered from lapses in discipline and security in the period before Sergeant Bergdahl — a private first class at the time who was promoted while in captivity — disappeared into Paktika Province, two officials briefed on the report said.

See? It’s not really Bergdahl’s fault that he deserted: his unit was to blame, along with

But their problems in many ways reflected those of the Pentagon’s strategy writ large across Afghanistan at that moment of the war. The platoon was sent to a remote location with too few troops to seriously confront an increasingly aggressive insurgency, which controlled many villages in the region. The riverbeds they used as roads were often mined with improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.s; simply getting supplies or traveling back to their home operating base could be a nerve-racking ordeal.

And there you go, it’s ultimately blamed on the way the Afghanistan War was being conducted, which, of course, means Blame Bush. This is essentially a follow-on, companion, “hard news” piece for the NY Times Editorial Board editorial which slammed his unit and the men in it.

https://twitter.com/MelissaTweets/statuses/474917095793102848

The Times is doing all they can to shift blame to others while making Bergdahl look better, in order to defend Obama.

(Reuters) Americans are deeply divided over whether the Obama administration did the right thing by swapping five Taliban leaders to win the freedom of Afghanistan prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl, according to Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Friday.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 958 Americans interviewed online found that 44 percent disagreed with the statement that trading Taliban prisoners for Bergdahl was “the right thing to do,” with 26 percent of them strongly disagreeing.

Twenty-nine percent of those polled said they thought the prisoner swap was the right thing to do and 27 percent said they were not sure, the poll found.

That’s not “deeply divided”: American’s think the swap was a bad thing by an almost 2-1 margin. Most agreed that the US should make the effort to get our POW’s back: I think we can all agree with that. But, the problem is not really getting Bergdahl back, it’s trading a guy who deserted for 5 high ranking Taliban members. Who are already vowing to fight Americans again.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Offended People Are Offended By T-shirt

By William Teach June 7, 2014 – 1:59 pm

It’s has an utterly evil, offensive saying on it, like sweats for women with “juicy”

(Yahoo Shine) A Pea in the Pod has pulled a controversial T-shirt from its stores and website after people complained that it was offensive to pregnant women.

The $48 T-shirt reads, “Wake me up when I’m skinny,” and many tweeted that it was “gross” and a “major fail.”

Many in the comments note that people should be offended over the $48 price tag. Heck, I’m offended over the name of the store. Of course, the store caved to the nutters and pulled the shirt.

I definitely recommend scrolling through the comments. Since I’m doing this on Droid I can’t see them to copy and paste, but, reading then off the store PC, the best is simply “where did everyone lose their sense of humor?”

Also “Seriously, people take things to heart way too much.”

And, yeah, one that reads “This shirt us now considered offensive and is no longer on the market, but pink sweat pants with the word “juicy” in bold, glittery letters plastered across a girl’s behind isn’t?” That one led to some other interesting comments.

One person makes a comment about this constantly happening because a few people have conniption fits. And, of course “I am offended by all the Offended.”

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If All You See…

By William Teach June 7, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible big sugary drink causing obesity that makes the temperature go up, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Public Secrets, with a post on income inequality and guilt-ridden leftists

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Oops: Farmer’s Abandons “Climate Change” Lawsuit

By William Teach June 7, 2014 – 11:32 am

Isn’t it strange how almost every single suit Warmists file either fails, or, most often, gets dropped?

(Insurance Journal) Farmers Insurance Group, which filed nine class actions in May against nearly 200 communities in the Chicago area, is withdrawing its lawsuit.

The suit accused the Illinois municipalities of failing to prepare for severe rains and flooding. It argued that the local governments should have known rising global temperatures would lead to heavier rains and should have done more to fortify their sewers and stormwater drains.

Some have speculated it could be the first in what could be a wave of litigation over who should be liable for the possible costs of climate change.

“Farmers initiated this litigation in an effort to recover money on behalf of our policyholders for certain losses they sustained that could have been avoided by the cities and counties named in this lawsuit.  We hoped that by filing this lawsuit we would encourage cities and counties to take preventative steps to reduce the risk of harm in the future. We had hoped to give a voice to customers.”

Evidently the threat of the suit was enough.

I’m going to speculate and say that it was withdrawn because they knew there was no chance of winning, just like with most of these Hotcoldwetdry suits. As far as the “threat” goes, that’s what Warmists and far left activists do: threaten to sue in order to force Other People to change their behavior. I have to wonder: if Farmers is so concerned about Hotcoldwetdry, why do they still offer insurance for fossil fueled vehicles?

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