Playing Devil’s Advocate On Ukraine

By William Teach March 6, 2014 – 3:49 pm

Consider

*ABC News:

“Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine. In 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders,” Obama said in a hastily announced statement in the White House Briefing Room.

Let’s play Devil’s advocate:

February 2010: Viktor Yanukovych declared winner in presidential election, judged free and fair by observers.

Yet, he was forced out by protesters in what he and some call a “coup d’etat”. Is it? The majority party and Yanukovych were elected. Would the world be acting the same, and would Obama feel the same, if it was him that was unceremoniously thrown out on his rear, forced to flee, over his almost dictatorial policies, verbally going after political opponents, using the powers of the federal government against them? Obama has the powers of the NSA, TSA, DHS, HHS, and the IRS, among others, to use against his own citizens, and has. Would he be so cavalier if there was a revolt against him?

BTW:

Vladimir Putin has put President Barack Obama’s vacation plans on hold.

Obama is headed to Coral Reef High School in the southern part of Miami, Fla., on Friday for an event about education and the economy that first lady Michelle Obama had been expected to attend as well. What hadn’t been known was that Obama’s daughters were planning to come with them, and that the four were going to extend the trip for a brief family getaway.

Now, the White House tells POLITICO that he’s reconsidering.

So, he might come back Friday (doubtful). Notice he just serendipitously scheduled an official event in Miami. “Hey, we were already here, might as well take a few days off.”

*I managed to cut this, somehow, which gives full context to post.

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Looking At “Climate Change” Politically Is Amoral Or Something

By William Teach March 6, 2014 – 2:24 pm

Interestingly, all the solutions advanced by Warmists are political ones based on Doing Something to Other People. Rarely do they involved practical application of their talking points to their own lives

(Guardian) Devastating extreme weather including recent flooding in England, Australia’s hottest year on record and the US being hit by a polar vortex have a “silver lining” of boosting climate change to the highest level of politics and reminding politicians that climate change is not a partisan issue, according to the UN’s climate chief.

Christiana Figueres said that it was amoral for people to look at climate change from a politically partisan perspective, because of its impact on future generations.

So, wait, it’s a “silver lining” that these weather events, which have happened before and will happen again regardless of whether Ms. Figueres takes a fossil fueled flight, allow Warmists to bring “climate change” up politically, but it’s “amoral” that people look at this from a politically partisan position? Oh, right, what her inner fascist is saying is that people who do not subscribe to the notion of man caused Hotcoldwetdry should just shut up.

She added: “We are reminded that climate change events are for everyone, they’re affecting everyone, they have much, much longer effects than a political cycle. Frankly, they’re intergenerational, so morally we cannot afford to look at climate change from a partisan perspective.”

Intergenerational, huh?

(Lord Monckton) Seventeen and a half years. Not a flicker of global warming. The RSS satellite record, the first of the five global-temperature datasets to report its February value, shows a zero trend for an impressive 210 months.

You can insult Lord Christopher Monckton personally all you want, Warmists, but the data speaks for itself. And hard data is more important than “computer models”, most of which have failed. Predictions of snow and ice free have failed. The Great Lakes have the 2nd highest ice extent on record. Niagara Falls froze for the 2nd time this winter. Record snow in Scotland. Cold and snow records have fallen across the US, Canada, and Europe. Lots and lots of subzero days. What we’re seeing is a pause where the global temp is elevated from the beginning of the 20th century, which goes 95% against the grain of Warmists models, and 100% against Warmist talking points. It in no means there hasn’t been warming, and won’t be again. It does highlight that it is mostly/solely natural, rather than man-induced.

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 6, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled vehicle causing cold and snow winters from GHGs, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Last Tradition, with a post on the Crimean parliament voting to be part of Russia.

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Obama To Take Yet Another 1%er Vacation

By William Teach March 6, 2014 – 9:57 am

Having solved all of the world’s problems, Obama has turned his laser like focus towards income inequality. The White House has been send out tweets

Will $10.10/hour pay for this?

(The Blaze) President Obama’s plate is full of difficult situations, foreign and domestic. From the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea to the instability brewing in Venezuela and North Korea still lobbing missiles into the sea. And then there is the President’s ongoing battle against income inequality in America.

If there was only a place that where he could go to relax. A place that believed “The busier life gets, the more we seek true tranquility, a place where the world’s clamor can be shut out and forgotten for a while.” Luckily, the President has found such a place.

President Obama (and we assume his family) is reportedly about to take another vacation.  This time the First Family is expected to visit the Ocean Reef Club, a very private, gated community that requires the sponsorship of a member in order to play golf on one of its three courses.  Ocean Reef is a place Marc Caputo from the Miami Herald’s Blog also called, “about as far away from middle class as you can get in Key Largo.”

The White House will neither confirm nor deny the trip, but, as The Blaze found out, the Ocean Reef Club sent out a message to all members about “expecting a distinguished guest” and disruptions. The Chicago Sun Times has also reported on Obama heading to the club for an uber-1%er weekend. Not good for Obama’s “carbon footprint” (nor the taxpayer coffers), since Air Force 1 is too large to land on the island, so at least 5 helicopters will be needed to move everyone, according to that article.

Hey, Obama needs the rest after so much campaigning. This should help with the old approval rating, eh?

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Surprise: Sochi Olympic Games Were An Environmental Disaster

By William Teach March 6, 2014 – 8:44 am

While a bunch of whiny athletes (who took long fossil fueled trips to Sochi) whined about “climate change” and so many made a big deal about the 2014 Games being “carbon neutral” (they gave it a shot considering how often the water, toilets, electricity, and heating failed to work), here’s the real legacy

(Fox News) But the tarnished international sporting event also underscores Sochi’s dubious outcome as a debacle for the public relations efforts of the United Nations Environmental Program, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee, to add a green patina to the increasingly elaborate games, and claim more luster on themselves.

UNEP has long piggy-backed its green credentials atop the Olympic Games and its Paralympic counterparts as an emblem of its self-styled role as “the world’s leading institution environmental agency and the environmental conscience of the U.N. system.”

The Nairobi-based U.N. organization has claimed that its role in advising athletic organizers “has gone from strength to strength” since it first signed an agreement with the IOC in 1994 to raise Olympic environmental standards and awareness.

In the case of Sochi 2014, however, the green legacy of the games, according to Russian and international critics,  looks more like permanent devastation in one of Russia’s most sensitive environmental zones, greatly  increased threats to the survival of rare and endangered wildlife species, and the accumulation of new manmade sources of pollution and destruction that will never be removed.

Today’s “environmentalists tend to worry more about “climate change”, until the reality of real environmental damage pops up

Among other things, the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has declared that the damage includes the virtually complete destruction of the fishery value of the Mzymta River, which runs through the area, and was a spawning site for an estimated 20 percent of endangered Black Sea salmon. Among other things destroyed were about 7,400 acres of rare forests, which hosted a wide variety of rare trees and vegetation, along with the hibernation sites and migration paths of bears, deer and other species of endangered wildlife, as well as a series of valuable natural wetlands closer to the Black Sea.

So much of the pre-Sochi focus was on “climate change” and “sustainability”, which the Russian government promised, yet you have the above, you have unneeded roads through the Sochi National Park, the trains, the sites for the games themselves being a mess. Both WWF of Russia and the local chapter of Greenpeace quit the advisory board over issues with the weakening of environmental regulations and the real environmental issues. Kudos to them.

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The “Affordable” Care Act Could Cost UNC System $46 Million Extra

By William Teach March 6, 2014 – 8:20 am

Quick, someone tell Harry Reid about this, as well as all the other Democrats who think Ocare only causes flowers to grow in unicorn laden fields. Especially tell NC Senator Kay Hagan, who voted for this abhorrent law

(WRAL) After years of having its budget squeezed by state budget cuts and rising enrollments, the University of North Carolina system now faces a potential $46 million hit from the Affordable Care Act.

Starting next year, large employers must provide insurance for all employees who work more than 30 hours a week. The UNC system has 8,586 visiting professors, graduate assistants and others who meet that threshold but don’t qualify for coverage under the State Health Plan because they are considered non-permanent employees.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the university system would have to provide insurance to all of those workers. The average cost of state health insurance is about $5,400 per year, bringing the total potential cost to $46.4 million.

Where does that money for this “unfunded mandate”, as Charlie Perusse, chief operating officer for the UNC system, called it, come from? Raising tuition? Raising taxes for North Carolina citizens? Bake sales? Turning people into part time employees?

UNC administrators say they might reduce the hours for many of the temporary workers to fewer than 30 per week to dodge the health care law’s coverage requirement.

Could have seen that coming a mile away. They’ll also look to see if they can create more cost effective plans that save about $2k per plan, which would mean a bare bones plan that has minimum coverage under Ocare and surely a high deductible.

Interestingly, you can bet that a good chunk, what has to be a majority, of the teachers and personnel working for the UNC system supported passage of the ACA, along with Obama’s re-election. Hoist. Petard.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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AP: Obama To Allow People To Keep Their “Junk” Plans To October 2016

By William Teach March 5, 2014 – 4:32 pm

I bet Hillary or whoever will be the Democrat presidential nominee loves hering this

(AP) The Obama administration will allow a two-year extension for people whose individual health insurance policies don’t comply with requirements of the new health care law, helping to defuse a politically difficult election-year issue for Democrats.

A government official familiar with the policy said Wednesday that the administration has decided to extend for another two years a transition plan that the White House announced last fall. The extension would be valid for policies issued up to Oct. 1, 2016. The official was not authorized to discuss the change on the record and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

I’m always leery of “anonymous sources”, but can anyone say this feels like a bunch of mule fritters?

At first the White House went into damage-control mode, arguing that many of the canceled plans were “junk” insurance and consumers would be better off with the broader coverage available through the health care law’s new insurance markets.

Remember: It’s. The. Law. Or something.

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 5, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a tent needed to stop the mega-heat from turning earth saving trees into benches, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on Ezekial Emanuel looking forward to the demise of insurance companies.

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LOL: Thomas Friedman Wants Carbon Tax To Scare Putin

By William Teach March 5, 2014 – 10:42 am

No, seriously, in an op-ed piece discussing why Putin doesn’t respect us (BTW, it’s not really the US Putin doesn’t respect, it’s Obama and the pusillanimous, yap yap but no action folks who work for him)

(NY Times) I don’t want to go to war with Putin, but it is time we expose his real weakness and our real strength. That, though, requires a long-term strategy — not just fulminating on “Meet the Press.” It requires going after the twin pillars of his regime: oil and gas. Just as the oil glut of the 1980s, partly engineered by the Saudis, brought down global oil prices to a level that helped collapse Soviet Communism, we could do the same today to Putinism by putting the right long-term policies in place. That is by investing in the facilities to liquefy and export our natural gas bounty (provided it is extracted at the highest environmental standards) and making Europe, which gets 30 percent of its gas from Russia, more dependent on us instead. I’d also raise our gasoline tax, put in place a carbon tax and a national renewable energy portfolio standard — all of which would also help lower the global oil price (and make us stronger, with cleaner air, less oil dependence and more innovation).

Not sure if

or

maybe

More: Bruce McQuain has more on the subject of taxing Americans to punish Putin.

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Are You Excited To Learn About Health Code V9542XA?

By William Teach March 5, 2014 – 8:54 am

You should, because it’s part of the increase from 17,000 health codes to 155,000

(Weekly Standard) Ever considered suicide by jellyfish? Have you ended up in the hospital after being injured during the forced landing of your spacecraft? Or been hurt when you were sucked into the engine of an airplane or when your horse-drawn carriage collided with a trolley?

Chances are slim.

But should any of these unfortunate injuries befall you after October 1, 2014, your doctor, courtesy of the federal government, will have a code to record it. On that date, the United States is scheduled to implement a new system for recording injuries, medical diagnoses, and inpatient procedures called ICD-10​—​the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases propagated by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. So these exotic injuries, codeless for so many years, will henceforth be known, respectively, as T63622A (Toxic effect of contact with other jellyfish, intentional self-harm, initial encounter), V9542XA (Forced landing of spacecraft injuring occupant, initial encounter), V9733XA (Sucked into jet engine, initial encounter), and V80731A (Occupant of animal-drawn vehicle injured in collision with streetcar, initial encounter).

These codes, increasing from 17K to 155K, are not specifically the fault of Obamacare, having been planned prior, but are considered “the foundation for health care reform”.

It will affect almost every part of the U.S. health care system​—​providers and payers, physicians and researchers, hospitals and clinics, the government and the private sector. That system​—​already stressed with doctor shortages, electronic medical records mandates, and the broader chaos of Obamacare​—​is nowhere near ready. And that has lots of people worried.

Adding this many codes could mean doctors and medical facilities are spending more time dealing with red tape, lost productivity, and lost revenue. If things aren’t perfect, they may not be reimbursed by the insurance company or government.

BTW, there were no plans by Los Federales to engage in end-to-end testing, despite the complete failure during the launch of healthcare.gov, along with most state Ocare websites. Until

In a letter to CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner on February 18, 2014, four Republican senators pressed for comprehensive testing. The senators​—​Tom Coburn, Rand Paul, John Barrasso, and John Boozman​—​are all physicians and expressed deep concern that CMS is planning only one week of “front-end” testing. After receiving the letter, CMS hastily announced that it will offer limited end-to-end testing to “a small group of providers” at some point in “summer 2014” and promised that “details about the end-to-end testing process will be disseminated at a later date.”

That should work out well

There are codes for those “bitten” by a crocodile, “struck” by a crocodile, and “crushed” by a crocodile. There is also a code for injuries sustained through “other contact” with crocodiles. “I just don’t want to know about ‘other contact,’ especially with farm animals,” says Boynton, to sustained laughter. “That joke doesn’t fly in Montana.”

Boynton’s “personal favorite” is code V9027XA: “Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis, initial encounter.”

Other fantastic codes are

  • S30867A: Insect bite (nonvenomous) of anus, initial encounter.
  • V0001XD, or, ”Pedestrian on foot injured in collision with roller-skater, subsequent encounter.”
  • X52: Prolonged stay in weightless environment
  • W16.221: drowning in a water bucket
  • Z621 Parental overprotection
  • Y92241: Hurt at the library
  • Y92253 – Hurt at the opera
  • And a super winner: Y34 – Unspecified event, undetermined intent

Now just imagine a medical facility having to spend lots and lots of time dealing with all this gobbledygook.

“There were 9 codes for bites in ICD-9,” says Boynton. “There are over 300 in ICD-10.”

CMS is stating that the date for implementation is October 1, 2014, and that is firm, and God help anyone who refuses to follow the specific dates for Obamacare implementation. Except for CMS. HHS. Obama.

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