Obamacare Premiums Said To Soon Skyrocket

By William Teach March 19, 2014 – 8:33 am

And right in time for the 2014 midterms. I feel an Obama delay coming shortly

(The Hill) Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the administration.

The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs. The sticker shock would likely bolster the GOP’s prospects in November and hamper ObamaCare insurance enrollment efforts in 2015.

The industry complaints come less than a week after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to downplay concerns about rising premiums in the healthcare sector. She told lawmakers rates would increase in 2015 but grow more slowly than in the past.

“The increases are far less significant than what they were prior to the Affordable Care Act,” the secretary said in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Her comment baffled insurance officials, who said it runs counter to the industry’s consensus about next year.

But, hey, Kathy knows best. Except for any of the details, like how many people have paid, what the mix of young healthies is, etc. Where will this hit the most?

Areas of the country with older, sicker or smaller populations are likely to be hit hardest, while others might not see substantial increases at all.

Insurers will soon start releasing their new rates, which need approval. You can bet the ranch that Democrats will attempt to squash any serious rate increases. However, the proposed rate increases will make it out into the public domain, and the citizens will see what O-care should cost.

Meanwhile, Slate’s David Weigel is attempting to find good O-care stories. This one amuses me

I am one of the people that has been helped by Obamacare. My policy costs $284.50. After a subsidy of $282, I pay $2.50 a month net. It has a $500 deductible with a $750 total out of pocket. I was flabbergasted that it was such a deal. I told friends about this and the first person, instead of being happy for me, said, “Congratulations, you are now on welfare, you should be so proud.” This pretty much shut me up and made me feel embarrassed about the subsidy. I dont look at it as welfare but I guess a lot of people do.

I’d love to know where someone has a $500 for only $284 a month.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Romney: “Able leaders anticipate events…”

By William Teach March 18, 2014 – 3:05 pm

In 2008 another wise man said: “The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” Too bad Obama is receiving an F, because he makes America look bad

(WSJ) Why, across the world, are America’s hands so tied?

A large part of the answer is our leader’s terrible timing. In virtually every foreign-affairs crisis we have faced these past five years, there was a point when America had good choices and good options. There was a juncture when America had the potential to influence events. But we failed to act at the propitious point; that moment having passed, we were left without acceptable options. In foreign affairs as in life, there is, as Shakespeare had it, “a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.”

When protests in Ukraine grew and violence ensued, it was surely evident to people in the intelligence community—and to the White House—that President Putin might try to take advantage of the situation to capture Crimea, or more. That was the time to talk with our global allies about punishments and sanctions, to secure their solidarity, and to communicate these to the Russian president. These steps, plus assurances that we would not exclude Russia from its base in Sevastopol or threaten its influence in Kiev, might have dissuaded him from invasion. …

Able leaders anticipate events, prepare for them, and act in time to shape them. My career in business and politics has exposed me to scores of people in leadership positions, only a few of whom actually have these qualities. Some simply cannot envision the future and are thus unpleasantly surprised when it arrives. Some simply hope for the best. Others succumb to analysis paralysis, weighing trends and forecasts and choices beyond the time of opportunity.

I’ve mentioned before that Obama always seems to either be behind the curve or unengaged. Or on the wrong side. And he really has no international friendships or allies. The Washington Post noted that Obama’s foreign policy is based on fantasy. And I wrote that he doesn’t seem to care about the details of the job, and that his policy is all based upon things happening now. There is no strategic thinking. This is what Romney is stating: there is no forethought, no planing, it’s all about now. And that Obama is always behind the curve. He doesn’t come out and say that Obama just doesn’t care, but I will: Obama just doesn’t care, unless it is for the Betterment Of Obama.

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 18, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is some sort of evil processed meat, probably linked to GMO, adding to the carbon footprint of evil fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Betsy’s Page, as she cruises the web.

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Climate Mom Considered Setting Herself On Fire

By William Teach March 18, 2014 – 11:23 am

Because we’re all doomed from “carbon pollution” or something (via Climate Depot)

(Oregon Live) What do you do when everything is wrong and your tribe’s catatonic?

A Tunisian man set himself on fire in 2010 and sparked an international movement. Don’t tell my family, but I’ve considered that route. I mean, wouldn’t any parent sacrifice a kidney, lung or life for her child? Imagine the headline: “Soccer mom desperate to save children’s future self-immolates.”

But I can neither tolerate pain nor willingly traumatize children, so I ditched that idea.
After the State Department recently green-lighted Keystone, depressed friends warmed up their New Denier choir. I test-drove a new strategy. I lit myself on fire — figuratively.

Unsurprisingly, Mary DeMocker is a co-founder of her local chapter of 350.org, which is known for doing insane things, like the blowing “denier” kids up video, produced by 10:10 and sponsored by 350.org (which they’ve worked really hard to ban from Youtube re-uploads. You can see it on their own channel, if you want)

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Bummer: Marijuana Is Really Bad For “Climate Change”

By William Teach March 18, 2014 – 9:27 am

Of course, pretty much everything of Mankind’s is Bad for climate change, according to Warmists. Gumball Brains emailed me a picture the other day, showing that Pirate’s Cove appears on a map in the Lego Movie. What are Lego’s made from? ABS plastic, which includes coal and petroleum hydrocarbon, so, yeah, fossil fuels, bad for climate. And your bare feet if you step on them.

Anyhow, yeah, pot is bad, per Mother Jones

24 Mind-Blowing Facts About Marijuana Production in America

You thought your pot came from environmentally conscious hippies? Think again. The way marijuana is grown in America, it turns out, is anything but sustainable and organic.

Here are a few choice graphics from the post

And water use is Bad for “climate change”, because we will all live in a drought world (except for those in a flood world), and water is non-renewable in Warmist World

Remember, fridges, especially those with ice makers, are bad, too, because of electricity usage and the coolants.

That’s a lot of energy, hence, bad for “climate change”.

Uh oh. Big “carbon footprint”. That’s the equivalent of 2.087 metric tons. The average world CF is 4 metric tons. People in third world nations average around 2mts. Tsk, tsk. Pot growing in the US is also equivalent to driving 3 million cars yearly.

And, of course, beer is also bad, because it contains CO2 and produces CO2 during the fermentation process. And that looks like an evil incandescent light bulb!

So, essentially, states that allow marijuana use are Bad for “climate change”, especially Colorado, and, according to Warmist doctrine, everyone should be arrested and thrown in jail.

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We Trashed The Health System For A Supposed 5 Million Enrollments?

By William Teach March 18, 2014 – 8:58 am

HHS is thrilled with themselves

As this historic open enrollment period enters its final weeks, millions of Americans are finding quality, affordable coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act.  Fernando Valdez and Denise Schroeder were part of a weekend wave of consumers signing up for new coverage and bringing enrollment nationwide to more than 5 million through the Federal and State-based Marketplaces since October 1st.

Have they paid their premiums? If they haven’t they aren’t enrollments.

(Washington Post) About 800,000 people selected health plans on the state and federal insurance marketplaces in the beginning of March, officials said in a blog post — almost as many as signed up during the entire month of February. The figure brings the administration closer to Congressional Budget Office projections that 6 million people would enroll by the end of March.

I’ve selected many ebooks from Amazon and downloaded the free preview. But, I don’t always purchase them, because they might be boring, poorly formatted, dumb, or too expensive for the content. Joseph Curl

President Obama said it in August 2009: “I don’t have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance coverage today. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, 46 million of our fellow citizens have no coverage.”

He said it dozens more times, including in June 2013: “We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women and children.”

He continues on with the 46 million theme for a bit, mentioning the creation of Obamacare to solve the “problem”, moving towards

But last week came word that with just 15 days left for people to enroll for federal coverage, just 4.2 million had. The math is simple: That’s just 9 percent of the supposedly 46 million uninsured.

Still, the obvious question is: We changed the $2.7 trillion health care system to sign up 4.2 million people?

OK, so it is now supposedly 5 million who put a plan in the shopping cart. Still, we changed the health care system for this? Most of the signups are people who had previously had health insurance, and lost their plans thanks to Obamcare.

Furthermore, according to Bloomberg, the federal website cost over a billion dollars, easily 2 1/2 times the original projected cost. Then there were and still are the costs for the state exchange websites, most of which received lots of federal money, and many, such as Oregon, which do not even work. Oregon has yet to sign up a single person through their website. Many of the states rely heavily on paper and pen to enroll …. or should that be re-enroll?… citizens.

And then the White House gives us this kind of insanity (via Twitchy)

https://twitter.com/cheriebone/statuses/445612576613752832

That’s under the banner of “Just one accident could mean huge medical bills that you can’t afford. HEALTHCARE.GOV”. Well, yeah, because due to the high cost of Obamcare deductibles, people won’t be able to afford them.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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NASA: Earth Is Going To Burn By 2099

By William Teach March 17, 2014 – 4:55 pm

This isn’t exactly new, NASA pimped it in September, 2013, but hardcore progressive/Warmist site RYOT is pimping this as “terrifying“. Oh, and just happens to want you to donate to the National Resources Defense Council.

I had to make it a bit small to fit on the page. The left shows if CO2 reaches 550ppm by 2100, the right is 800ppm by 2100. Gotta love the utter doom and gloom.

There are a few more GIFs at RYOT, and a video at the NASA site. Would it surprise you that this is all based on computer models? The same models that failed to predict the pause. The same ones that failed to predict this bitterly cold winter. The same models that failed to predict cold winters in Europe, the Middle East, and other parts of the world 5 out of the last 6 winters.

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 17, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible rising sea because someone drank CO2 infused beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Capitalist Preservation, with a big post on St. Paddy’s Day.

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Obama Blew Off Ukraine National Security Briefing

By William Teach March 17, 2014 – 12:53 pm

I quick interlude from all the climate change posts (I have several more in the hopper for today): as liberals complain that conservatives are undercutting Obama on dealing with Putin, calling Obama weak, feckless, and so on, remember this

(Yahoo News) President Barack Obama’s national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who just returned from talks with his Russian counterpart in London, was at the White House meeting along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Obama did not attend the meeting but was being briefed about it and other developments involving Ukraine, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.

Why would anyone, especially Putin, take Obama seriously when he can’t even take the time to do the job of POTUS? The other day Jonah Goldberg wrote

As I wrote in my “Obamacare Schadenfreudarama“ screed, Obama often seems to think saying “X must happen” is all he needs to do to ensure that X happens. Saying “the website is great” means the website is great. Talking about “red lines” is the same thing as enforcing “red lines.” It seems to me, this is because Obama is only comfortable running for president not being president. That’s why he always reverts to campaign mode.

That goes with the notion that Obama likes to BE president, he doesn’t like to DO president.

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“Unusually Late” Winter Storm Buries D.C.

By William Teach March 17, 2014 – 10:37 am

Good thing the Senate Warmists held their little sleepover last Monday. This is bit of a delay in the Gore Effect

(USA Today) A winter storm slammed the mid-Atlantic early Monday, dumping at least seven inches of snow on Washington, D.C., forcing the federal government to shut down and disrupting travelers at area airports.

National Weather Service meteorologist David Hamrick called it an “unusually late winter storm.” Winter storm warnings remained in effect for additional light snow across much of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, though the heaviest snow had moved out to sea as of early morning.

Washington D.C., which often dodges some of the biggest snow totals from Mid-Atlantic storms, registered a hefty 7.2 inches, the Capital Weather Gang reported. This made it the third-biggest snowstorm so late in the season and the 10th-greatest March snowstorm on record for the nation’s capital.

I blame Senate Democrats for keeping the power cranked up last Monday for their cranky “climate change” sleepover last Monday, putting out carbon pollution which makes it so hot that it gets cold and produces heavy snow.

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