Friday, March 28, 2014

Right to Work: BMW Plans $1 Billion Expansion in South Carolina

BMW plans $1 billion expansion in South Carolina 

Friday, March 28, 2014
GREER, S.C. (AP) — BMW will build its new larger SUV in South Carolina, investing $1 billion in its plant in Greer over the next two years.
The German automaker announced Friday it will create another line at the plant, producing the X7, a larger SUV with three rows of seats similar to a Cadillac Escalade. The company will also make the X4, a sportier version of the X3 coupe and plans to build a plug-in hybrid version of its smaller X5 SUV.

BWM says it will hire 800 additional workers, bringing total employment at the plant to 8,800 people. The Greer plant will make 450,000 vehicles a year by 2016, becoming the company's largest.
BMW opened its South Carolina plant 20 years ago, ushering in a wave of foreign automakers building Southern plants.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

Congress Rams Medicare 'Doc Fix' Bill Through Using Voice Vote in Near-Empty Congress

House approves 'doc fix' in voice vote     

 

The House on Thursday approved legislation by voice vote that prevents a pending cut to Medicare physician rates for another year.
The move, which dodges a 24 percent cut to those rates set to hit on April 1 without congressional action, came after a lengthy delay in which the bill's passage appeared in doubt.
House passage is essentially a take-it-or-leave-it offer to the Senate, which now must decide how to react with just days left before the cut takes effect.
House Republicans called the bill up under a suspension of House rules, which meant a two-thirds majority was needed for passage, and that 50 to 60 Democrats had to support it. That led to worries all day that the House would not be able to pass it due to Democratic opposition. 
Republicans considered pulling the measure as serious questions were raised about whether enough Democrats were there to reach the two-thirds majority. But the voice vote appears to have been a way to avoid a potentially failed vote on a bill that both GOP and Democratic leaders said must pass

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/votes/201932-house-approves-doc-fix-in-voice-vote#ixzz2xBqZiTge

The posturing by BOTH parties and the voice vote is a sham

GOP gripes about 'bull----' vote

 03/27/14
Angry House conservatives denounced the Republican leadership for abruptly ramming through a fix to Medicare doctor payments on Thursday without a full roll call vote.
“Outrageous,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told The Hill after complaining about the maneuver to a colleague. “I think it’s outrageous.”
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House Republican leaders had planned to bring up the “doc fix” under a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority to pass, but after a series of closed-door meetings on Thursday morning, they determined they didn’t have the votes to meet that threshold and didn’t want to stay in session long enough to set up a simple majority vote.So with just a few members on the House floor before a scheduled vote on an unrelated Ukraine measure, Republicans brought up the Medicare bill by voice vote. When no one in the chamber objected, the measure passed.
“Bullshit,” said a visibly annoyed Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) as he emerged from the floor following the Ukraine vote. When Mulvaney was asked to comment about the upcoming GOP budget, he replied: “I can’t talk about the budget because I’m so pissed about the [doc fix].”

The measure is an annual delay to the sustainable growth rate formula that this time would prevent a 24 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement payments to doctors set to begin at month’s end. The change is broadly supported by Republicans and Democrats most years, but it drew opposition from the American Medical Association, which has pushed for a long-term solution to the problem instead of annual patches. House and Senate leaders have agreed on a resolution to repeal the formula, but they can’t agree on how to pay for the $180 billion cost over a decade, necessitating the stopgap measure.
Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), a member of the “Doctor’s Caucus” that opposed the bill, said he didn’t like the maneuver but did not object because, he said, the alternative of payment cuts to doctors was worse.
“This would affect millions of seniors across the country in a very negative way,” he said.
“I didn’t like the way we did that,” Fleming added. “They gave us a choice between something bad and something worse.”


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Former Democrat Governor Richard D. Lamm on Multiculturalism

Radio host Mark Levin uncovered  a classic audio clip of Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm, a Democrat.  Versions of this speech in print have made the rounds on the internet and a copy of it follows the audio/video clip. 



I HAVE A PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA

               RICHARD D. LAMM
 
I HAVE A SECRET PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA. IF YOU BELIEVE, AS MANY DO, THAT AMERICA IS TOO SMUG, TOO WHITE BREAD, TOO SELF-SATISFIED, TOO RICH, LETS DESTROY AMERICA. IT IS NOT THAT HARD TO DO. HISTORY SHOWS THAT NATIONS ARE MORE FRAGILE THAN THEIR CITIZENS THINK. NO NATION IN HISTORY HAS SURVIVED THE RAVAGES OF TIME. ARNOLD TOYNBEE OBSERVED THAT ALL GREAT CIVILIZATIONS RISE AND THEY ALL FALL, AND THAT "AN AUTOPSY OF HISTORY WOULD SHOW THAT ALL GREAT NATIONS COMMIT SUICIDE." HERE IS MY PLAN:

I.     WE MUST FIRST MAKE AMERICA A BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL COUNTRY. HISTORY SHOWS, IN MY OPINION, THAT NO NATION CAN SURVIVE THE TENSION, CONFLICT, AND ANTAGONISM OF TWO COMPETING LANGUAGES AND CULTURES. IT IS A BLESSING FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE BILINGUAL; IT IS A CURSE FOR A SOCIETY TO BE BILINGUAL. ONE SCHOLAR, SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET, PUT IT THIS WAY:
THE HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL AND BICULTURAL SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT ASSIMILATE ARE HISTORIES OF TURMOIL, TENSION, AND TRAGEDY. CANADA, BELGIUM, MALAYSIA, LEBANON-ALL FACE CRISES OF NATIONAL EXISTENCE IN WHICH MINORITIES PRESS FOR AUTONOMY, IF NOT INDEPENDENCE. PAKISTAN AND CYPRUS HAVE DIVIDED. NIGERIA SUPPRESSED AN ETHNIC REBELLION. FRANCE FACES DIFFICULTIES WITH ITS BASQUES, BRETONS, AND CORSICANS.
II.     I WOULD THEN INVENT "MULTICULTURALISM" AND ENCOURAGE IMMIGRANTS TO MAINTAIN THEIR OWN CULTURE. I WOULD MAKE IT AN ARTICLE OF BELIEF THAT ALL CULTURES ARE EQUAL: THAT THERE ARE NO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES THAT ARE IMPORTANT. I WOULD DECLARE IT AN ARTICLE OF FAITH THAT THE BLACK AND HISPANIC DROPOUT RATE IS ONLY DUE TO PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION BY THE MAJORITY. EVERY OTHER EXPLANATION IS OUT-OF-BOUNDS.

III.     WE CAN MAKE THE UNITED STATES A "HISPANIC QUEBEC" WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT. THE KEY IS TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY RATHER THAN UNITY. AS BENJAMIN SCHWARZ SAID IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY RECENTLY:
...THE APPARENT SUCCESS OF OUR OWN MULTIETHNIC AND MULTICULTURAL EXPERIMENT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED NOT BY TOLERANCE BUT BY HEGEMONY. WITHOUT THE DOMINANCE THAT ONCE DICTATED ETHNOCENTRICALLY, AND WHAT IT MEANT TO BE AN AMERICAN, WE ARE LEFT WITH ONLY TOLERANCE AND PLURALISM TO HOLD US TOGETHER.
I WOULD ENCOURAGE ALL IMMIGRANTS TO KEEP THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE. I WOULD REPLACE THE MELTING POT METAPHOR WITH A SALAD BOWL METAPHOR. IT IS IMPORTANT TO INSURE THAT WE HAVE VARIOUS CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS LIVING IN AMERICA REINFORCING THEIR DIFFERENCES RATHER THAN AMERICANS, EMPHASIZING THEIR SIMILARITIES.

IV.     HAVING DONE ALL THIS, I WOULD MAKE OUR FASTEST GROWING DEMOGRAPHIC GROUP THE LEAST EDUCATED - I WOULD ADD A SECOND UNDERCLASS, UNASSIMILATED, UNDEREDUCATED, AND ANTAGONISTIC TO OUR POPULATION. I WOULD HAVE THIS SECOND UNDERCLASS HAVE A 50% DROP OUT RATE FROM SCHOOL.

V.     I WOULD THEN GET THE BIG FOUNDATIONS AND BIG BUSINESS TO GIVE THESE EFFORTS LOTS OF MONEY. I WOULD INVEST IN ETHNIC IDENTITY, AND I WOULD ESTABLISH THE CULT OF VICTIMOLOGY. I WOULD GET ALL MINORITIES TO THINK THEIR LACK OF SUCCESS WAS ALL THE FAULT OF THE MAJORITY - I WOULD START A GRIEVANCE INDUSTRY BLAMING ALL MINORITY FAILURE ON THE MAJORITY POPULATION.

VI.     I WOULD ESTABLISH DUAL CITIZENSHIP AND PROMOTE DIVIDED LOYALTIES. I WOULD "CELEBRATE DIVERSITY." "DIVERSITY" IS A WONDERFULLY SEDUCTIVE WORD. IT STRESSES DIFFERENCES RATHER THAN COMMONALITIES. DIVERSE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE ARE MOSTLY ENGAGED IN HATING EACH OTHER-THAT IS, WHEN THEY ARE NOT KILLING EACH OTHER. A DIVERSE," PEACEFUL, OR STABLE SOCIETY IS AGAINST MOST HISTORICAL PRECEDENT. PEOPLE UNDERVALUE THE UNITY IT TAKES TO KEEP A NATION TOGETHER, AND WE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS MYOPIA. LOOK AT THE ANCIENT GREEKS. DORF'S WORLD HISTORY TELLS US:
THE GREEKS BELIEVED THAT THEY BELONGED TO THE SAME RACE; THEY POSSESSED A COMMON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE; AND THEY WORSHIPED THE SAME GODS. ALL GREECE TOOK PART IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN HONOR OF ZEUS AND ALL GREEKS VENERATED THE SHRINE OF APOLLO AT DELPHI. A COMMON ENEMY PERSIA THREATENED THEIR LIBERTY. YET, ALL OF THESE BONDS TOGETHER WERE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO OVERCOME TWO FACTORS . . . (LOCAL PATRIOTISM AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS THAT NURTURED POLITICAL DIVISIONS . . .)
IF WE CAN PUT THE EMPHASIS ON THE "PLURIBUS," INSTEAD OF THE "UNUM," WE CAN BALKANIZE AMERICA AS SURELY AS KOSOVO.

VII.     THEN I WOULD PLACE ALL THESE SUBJECTS OFF LIMITS - MAKE IT TABOO TO TALK ABOUT. I WOULD FIND A WORD SIMILAR TO "HERETIC" IN THE 16TH CENTURY - THAT STOPPED DISCUSSION AND PARALYZED THINKING. WORDS LIKE "RACIST", "XENOPHOBE" THAT HALTS ARGUMENT AND CONVERSATION.

HAVING MADE AMERICA A BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL COUNTRY, HAVING ESTABLISHED MULTICULTURALISM, HAVING THE LARGE FOUNDATIONS FUND THE DOCTRINE OF "VICTIMOLOGY", I WOULD NEXT MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ENFORCE OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS. I WOULD DEVELOP A MANTRA - "THAT BECAUSE IMMIGRATION HAS BEEN GOOD FOR AMERICA, IT MUST ALWAYS BE GOOD." I WOULD MAKE EVERY INDIVIDUAL IMMIGRANT SYMPATRIC AND IGNORE THE CUMULATIVE IMPACT.

VIII.     LASTLY, I WOULD CENSOR VICTOR HANSON DAVIS'S BOOK MEXIFORNIA — THIS BOOK IS DANGEROUS — IT EXPOSES MY PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA. SO PLEASE, PLEASE — IF YOU FEEL THAT AMERICA DESERVES TO BE DESTROYED — PLEASE, PLEASE — DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! THIS GUY IS ON TO MY PLAN.
"THE SMART WAY TO KEEP PEOPLE PASSIVE AND OBEDIENT IS TO STRICTLY LIMIT THE SPECTRUM OF ACCEPTABLE OPINION, BUT ALLOW VERY LIVELY DEBATE WITHIN THAT SPECTRUM." — NOAM CHOMSKY, AMERICAN LINGUIST AND US MEDIA AND FOREIGN POLICY CRITIC.
Both Governor Lamm and the writer of the e-mail misidentify the author of the book Mexifornia, whose correct name is Victor Davis Hanson.
A copy from Snopes.com

* I normally don't reference Snopes.com  *

Barack Obama's Scandalous Traveling Fun Show

Secret Service agents sent home after alleged drinking in Netherlands

 
Three Secret Service agents in the Netherlands ahead of President Obama’s trip there were sent home prior to the president’s arrival, reportedly after a night of excessive drinking. One agent was discovered drunk and passed out in a hotel hallway.
The three agents have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told the Washington Post, which reported the incident.
Donovan told the Associated Press that the incident occurred before the president arrived in the Netherlands on Monday, and that Obama’s security was not compromised in any way. 
The individuals were reportedly members of the service’s Counter Assault Team, which is tasked with protecting the president if he comes under attack. 
The agents may face additional disciplinary action under new rules adopted following the agency’s Colombia prostitution scandal in 2012. Following that incident, the service placed new restrictions on when agents could consume alcohol while traveling on business, and 10 agents resigned or were removed from their jobs.
When the Colombian scandal was first revealed, Obama said the agents’ behavior was “unacceptable.”
-The Colombian prostitution scandal was an embarrassment for the Secret Service and had all the hallmarks of a another coverup in the Obama Administration.. The Inspector General in charge of that investigation also had to resign.

Columbian Hooker Scandal - DHS Inspector General Accused of Coverup, Nepotism & Abuse of Authority 

Senators call for resignation of embattled Homeland Security auditor
November 6, 2013
 The subcommittee is investigating nine claims against Edwards, including allegations of nepotism, withholding information about the Secret Service’s Colombian prostitute scandal, using official resources for personal business, and requiring subordinates to do his homework for graduate school.

Homeland Security inspector general who was under probe steps down

December 16, 2013

An acting inspector general who was himself under investigation for allegations he misused his office and softened reports to keep from embarrassing the Obama administration stepped down from his job late Monday. 

Charles K. Edwards, who was charged with overseeing the vast Department of Homeland Security and its many bureaus and agencies since the retirement of the former inspector general, had faced a broadening Senate probe this year that focused on whether he had altered and delayed investigations to please the agency and the White House.
News of his departure to another office within the department he oversaw came just three days before he was scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing on questions about his lack of independence. 
 - Scandals, coverups, and fake investigations are the standard operating procedure for the Obama administration. 

Exclusive - Study: Obama Most Well-Traveled, Expensive President In History Through Five Years

President Barack Obama has spent more time traveling abroad than other U.S. president in history at this point in their presidencies, according to a forthcoming study from the National Taxpayer Union Foundation (NTUF) provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release.

 -  Integrity and accountability are NOT  part of President Barack Obama's legacy.  The emperor's traveling fun-show is a very expensive disgrace. but what can we expect when he is wearing no clothes.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Four Men Arrested In World Trade Center BASE Jump

Four men arrested in One World Trade Center jump stunt
March 25, 2014
(CNN) -- Four New York-area men were arrested Monday after a BASE jumping stunt from atop One World Trade Center in September, police said.
The charges against James Brady, Kyle Hartwell, Marko Markovich and Andrew Rossig included burglary, reckless endangerment and jumping from a structure, according to a statement issued by NYPD Commissioner William Bratton.
"These men violated the law and placed themselves, as well as others, in danger," Bratton said. "These arrests should send a message to anyone thinking about misusing a landmark this way."
Three of the men are accused of climbing the nation's tallest building on September 30 and parachuting more than 1,300 feet off the skyscraper, said attorney Timothy Parlatore, who is representing Rossig. Hartwell is accused of keeping lookout at the BASE of the tower during the stunt, Parlatore said.
V ideo footage of the early morning jump shows the men deploying their parachutes and flying down to a secluded spot on a nearby highway, according to Parlatore, who said he's seen the video.
"They were very professional, very controlled. There was nothing haphazard or reckless about it,"he said.


 One of the first things my client said to me was that how surprised he was at how there was no security whatsoever -- how easy it was to just walk right up there in something that the mayor has just recently described as the No. 1 terrorist target in the world," he said.
Investigators reviewed video footage from around One World Trade Center, as well as other electronic and photographic evidence.
A search of the men's homes last month produced video footage of the jump, police said.
One World Trade Center is rising in the shadows of the original World Trade Center, where the twin towers were felled by two hijacked airplanes on September 11, 2001, in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
The charges come less than a week after a 16-year-old boy from New Jersey was arrested on trespassing charges at the skyscraper. Justin Casquejo is accused of sneaking past security and climbing to the top of the building.
Police said Casquejo also snuck in through a hole in a fence to get into the One World Trade Center site.
 Read more:
Four men arrested in One World Trade Center jump stunt

Friday, March 21, 2014

OWS Protester Settles for Millions - Video Contradicts Findings

Lawyer: Vet Reaches $4.5M Settlement With Oakland
 By TERRY COLLINS Associated Press  Excerpted
An Iraq War veteran whose skull was fractured during an Occupy Oakland protest when he was hit by a beanbag round fired by police has reached a $4.5 million agreement to settle a federal lawsuit with the city of Oakland, his lawyers and city officials announced Friday. 
Scott Olsen, 26, sued the city in 2012 for medical expenses and injuries that also included a fractured vertebrae and hemorrhaging of the brain. Olsen was among more than 1,000 demonstrators protesting the police clearing of an Occupy Oakland encampment when struck by a beanbag fired by an officer outside City Hall on Oct. 25, 2011.
Olsen, who served two tours of duty as a U.S. Marine in Iraq, suffered permanent brain injuries and has not been able to return to his career as a computer systems administrator, his attorney Rachel Lederman said Friday. Olsen's lawyers said police investigators concluded he was struck by the round that was fired by an officer less than 30 feet away during the 2011 clash. 
Not a beanbag fired from a shotgun by the Police

"We're pleased that Scott is finally going to be getting some compensation for this really devastating injury," Lederman said. "He sustained some pretty serious brain damage resulting from being shot at a very close range."
Olsen said Friday outside of City Hall that he was relieved this chapter of his life is coming to a resolution.
 - There is a lot more to this story. Occupy Wall Street are the darlings of the media and the reporting has mostly reflected that.  What really happened that night in Oakland during the Occupy Wall Street  protest?   I blogged about it the moment I saw the videos.

Democracy Now! has always endorsed Occupy Wall Street distancing itself from truth




Thursday, March 20, 2014

RT News Anchor Resignation or NeoConSPIRACY?

-The resignation of RT anchor Liz Wahl in early March made some waves in the media, but is there more to the story? First, we start with a small section of The Daily Beast's article by

Liz Wahl wasn’t just disgusted by the Kremlin-funded TV network’s handling of Ukraine, she says in an exclusive interview. RT’s coverage of the entire world “made me feel sick.”
American journalist Liz Wahl just made Vladimir Putin’s enemies list.

Wahl, an American anchor for RT-America, a cable news network funded by the Russian government, stunned viewers Wednesday, when, at the end of her 5 PM broadcast, she announced her resignation from the channel.
- The author of the article admits prior contact and discussions with the former RT anchor Liz Wahl and you can read the rest here 

March 19th, a website called Truth Dig publishes an article with a different take on the resignation and calls it a NeoConSPIRACY. This story won't go unnoticed by RT.

Liz Wahls On Air resignation and RT's follow-up story citing the 'neocon' involvement. 

How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl’s Resignation

 By Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek
For her public act of protest against Russia Today’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory and supposedly advancing the agenda of Vladimir Putin in Washington, D.C., previously unknown news anchor Liz Wahl has suddenly become one of the most famous unemployed people in America. After her on-air resignation from the cable news channel, Wahl appeared on the three major American cable news outlets—CNN, Fox News, MSNBC—to denounce the heavy-handed editorial line she claims her bosses imposed on her and other staffers.
“What’s clear is what’s happening right now amid this crisis is that RT is not about the truth,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “It’s about promoting a Putinist agenda. And I can tell you firsthand, it’s also about bashing America.”
Wahl’s act of defiance eventually earned her invitations from “The View” and “The Colbert Report,” offering her the opportunity to introduce millions of Americans to a Russian government-funded network whose Nielsen ratings have been too low to measure, but which commands a massive following on YouTube. Wahl was the toast of Washington, winning plaudits from a variety of prime-time pundits, from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes (“remarkably badass”) to the conservative Amanda Carpenter (“Liz Wahl is proud to be an American and in the last five minutes I think she made everyone else proud to be one, too.”)
The celebration of Wahl fed directly into a BuzzFeed expose on “How The Truth Is Made at Russia Today,” with writer Rosie Gray painting a portrait of an “atmosphere of censorship and pressure” on American staffers toiling in RT’s D.C. offices. RT had long been the subject of criticism and ridicule for its promotion of Zeitgeist-style trutherism and libertarian paranoia, but Wahl now placed RT under unprecedented scrutiny, with mainstream U.S. media sounding the alarm about a bulwark of soft Russian power situated just blocks from the White House.

Behind the coverage of Wahl’s dramatic protest, a cadre of neoconservatives was celebrating a public relations coup. Desperate to revive the Cold War, head off further cuts to the defense budget and restore the legitimacy they lost in the ruins of Iraq, the tightknit group of neoconservative writers and stewards had opened up a new PR front through Wahl’s resignation. And they succeeded with no shortage of help from an ossified media establishment struggling to maintain credibility in an increasingly anarchic online news environment. 
With isolated skeptics branded as useful idiots for Putin, the scene has been kept clean of neoconservative fingerprints, obscuring their interest in Wahl’s resignation and the broader push to deepen tensions with Russia. 
Through interviews with six current RT employees—all Americans with no particular affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin or his policies—and an investigation into the political forces managing the spectacle, a story has emerged that stands in stark contrast to the one advanced by Wahl, her supporters and the mainstream American press.
It is the story, according to former colleagues, of an apolitical, deeply disgruntled employee seeking an exit strategy from a job where, sources say, she was disciplined for unprofessional behavior and had been demoted. Wahl did not return several voice and text messages sent to her cellphone.
At the center of the intrigue is a young neoconservative writer and activist who helped craft Wahl’s strategy and exploit her resignation to propel the agenda of a powerful pro-war lobby in Washington.
The story began at 5:07 p.m. Eastern time on March 5.
PR From PNAC 2.0
It was a full 19 minutes before Wahl resigned. Inside the offices of the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neoconservative think tank in Washington D.C., a staffer logged on to the group’s Twitter account to announce the following:
“#WordOnTheStreet says that something big might happen on RT in about 20-25 minutes.”
Then, at 5:16, exactly 10 minutes before Wahl would quit on air, FPI tweeted:
“#WordOnTheStreet says you’re really going to want to tune in to RT: http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/ #SomethinBigMayBeGoingDown”
Up until two minutes before Wahl’s resignation, FPI took to Twitter again to urge its followers to tune in to RT. 
And finally, at 5:26 p.m., at the very moment Wahl quit, FPI’s Twitter account broke the news: “RT Anchor RESIGNS ON AIR. She ‘cannot be part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin.’ ”
The tweets from FPI suggested a direct level of coordination between Wahl and the neoconservative think tank. Several calls to FPI for this story were not answered.
Just over an hour later, an exclusive interview with Wahl appeared at The Daily Beast. It was authored by James Kirchick, a 31-year-old writer whose work has appeared in publications from the neoconservative Commentary to the liberal Israeli paper Haaretz.
Kirchick acknowledged having been in contact with Wahl since August, but cast himself as a passive bystander to the spectacle, claiming that they merely “stayed in touch periodically over the past 6 months, and I always encouraged her to follow her conscience in making a decision about her professional future.”
Kirchick wrote that by quitting, Wahl paid “the price real reporters—not Russian-government funded propagandists—have to pay if they are concerned with quaint notions like objectivity and the truth.”
Later that evening, Kirchick tweeted a photo of himself with Wahl, calling it a “Freedom selfie.” The two had apparently gathered to celebrate.
On March 7, Kirchick and a camera person stationed themselves outside the office building on D.C.’s G Street housing RT America’s headquarters. On a self-proclaimed mission “to find out more about RT,” he badgered dozens of random passers-by with questions like the following: “What is a more appropriate punishment for the women of Pussy Riot: two years in a Siberian labor camp or public whipping by Cossacks?”
Kirchick says RT staffers called the D.C. police department to remove him from the premises. However, several RT staffers told us that a security guard notified the police because Kirchick had mistaken employees at two adjacent law firms for employees of RT—“the wannabe thugs at 1325 G St,” he called them—and began harassing them. (An update inserted at the bottom of The Daily Beast summary of the incident noted that it was building security and not RT staffers who called the D.C. police.)
So who was Kirchick, and what sort of commitment did he maintain to “objectivity and the truth?”

Read more: How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl’s Resignation

-While our attention to  the Cold War only went into hibernation, it appears that spring is here and the proxies and their battlefields are right before our eyes and just a double click away.


Ladies Night? Obama Pivots and Panders for the Midterms

Barack Obama's foreign policy embarrassments hardly compare to the disasters on the domestic front. A floundering economy and the failed roll-out of his only 'achievement' Obamacare keeps the President stuck in campaign mode. A sure sign of a failed leader. What demographic will the panderer in chief target this week?

Obama turns to women's economic issues

President Obama will kick off a new springtime effort on women’s economic issues with a trip to Orlando on Wednesday, where he’ll discuss efforts to expand female higher education access.
The trip is the first in a series of events focusing on ways the president and federal government can help shrink the pay disparity between men and women and improve female employment numbers.
 Expand access to higher education for females?

Boys vs. girls: What's behind the college grad gender gap?
 FORTUNE -- The facts are plain, if puzzling: Not only do women enter college at higher rates than men, but they're less likely to drop out once they get there. Female grads now account for about 60% of U.S. bachelor's degree holders.

What about Obama's and the 'pay disparity' talking point?

How does Obama stack up on women’s pay himself?

But a McClatchy review of White House salaries shows that when the same calculations that produced the 77 cents is applied to the White House, the average female pay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is less than the average male pay. When counted the same way that produced the 77-cent figure, the analysis found, women overall at the White House make 91 cents for every dollar men make. That’s an average salary of $84,082 for men and $76,516 for women

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/01/29/216301/how-does-obama-stack-up-on-womens.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/01/29/216301/how-does-obama-stack-up-on-womens.html#storylink=cpy
Asked about its own payroll, the White House said Wednesday that it should be measured by how it pays men and women in the same jobs, but not the kind of broad brush that compares overall male and female pay.

 Eager to campaign with mythical math, the same metric shouldn't apply to the Obama White House.

"Women (are) paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men."

 Our ruling 
The Obama campaign took a legitimate statistic and described it in a way that makes it sound much more dramatic than it actually is. The 77-cent figure is real, but it does not factor in occupations held, hours worked or length of tenure. Describing that statistic as referring to the pay for women "doing the same work as men" earns it a rating of Mostly False.

Speaking of measurements and talking points, why not try a distraction from the Obamacare debacle with Obama's WAR ON MEN? 

Priebus slammed by actuaries

 An organization representing the country’s actuaries is hitting back at Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for claiming they conspired to “screw young people over” while designing ObamaCare.
 Obamacare sure does “screw young people over' by design, particularly males. Is that equality?
Women Should Pay More for Health Care
Women's costs are higher, and they live longer, yet Obamacare will charge men the same for health-insurance premiums
People are uncomfortable in acknowledging sex differences in health care costs, but they should recognize that those same differences crop up in other markets too.  It’s not discussed as frequently, but sometimes men are the ones paying more for certain purchases, like car insurance. Would it be fair to charge women more for it just to give men a discount?

Barack Obama is the most divisive president in history. The abuse of executive power combined with the perpetual campaigning and propagandizing by this administration to maintain power and build a 'legacy' is sickening. The left has built a coalition of minoritarian miscreants that is led by a serial liar.  'Liberalism' is nothing more than pandering to the gullible and their gonads and to hyphenated-Americans, who by their very nature, never have put America first.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Nation’s 'Elite' Cancer Hospitals Off-Limits Under Obamacare

WASHINGTON — Cancer patients relieved that they can get insurance coverage because of the new health care law may be disappointed to learn that some of the nation’s best cancer hospitals are off-limits.
An Associated Press survey found examples coast to coast. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is excluded by five out of eight insurers in Washington state’s insurance exchange. MD Anderson Cancer Center says it’s in less than half of the plans in the Houston area. Memorial Sloan-Kettering is included by two of nine insurers in New York City and has out-of-network agreements with two more.

Doctors and administrators say they’re concerned. So are some state insurance regulators.
In all, only four of 19 nationally recognized comprehensive cancer centers that responded to AP’s survey said patients have access through all the insurance companies in their state exchange.


Not too long ago, insurance companies would have been vying to offer access to renowned cancer centers, said Dan Mendelson, CEO of the market research firm Avalere Health. Now the focus is on costs.
“This is a marked deterioration of access to the premier cancer centers for people who are signing up for these plans,” Mendelson said.
Those patients may not be able get the most advanced treatment, including clinical trials of new medications.
And there’s another problem: It’s not easy for consumers shopping online in the new insurance markets to tell whether top-level institutions are included in a plan. That takes additional digging by the people applying. 


Advocates for cancer patients are in a quandary.
Before President Barack Obama’s health care law, a cancer diagnosis could make you uninsurable. Now, insurers can’t turn away people with health problems or charge them more. Lifetime dollar limits on policies, once a financial trapdoor for cancer patients, are also banned.
“Patients may have fewer choices of doctors and hospitals in some exchange plans than others … but the rules for such plans go a long way toward remedying the most severe problems that existed for decades,” said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
The new obstacles are more subtle.
To keep premiums low, insurers have designed narrow networks of hospitals and doctors. The government-subsidized private plans on the exchanges typically offer less choice than Medicare or employer plans.


The AP asked the centers how many insurance companies in their state’s exchange included them as a network provider.
Of the 19 that responded, four reported access through all insurers: the Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore; Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia; Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, NC; and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn. One caveat: Some insurers did not include these cancer centers on certain low-cost plans.
Two centers have special circumstances. The best known is St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Treatment there is free as long as children have a referral.
For the remaining 13, the gaps are evident.
The New York Post article continues at this link

List: Access to cancer centers under health law

The Associated Press asked 23 institutions that are part of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network whether they were included in the networks of insurance companies operating on their state's exchange. Here are the responses they provided:

—Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, Neb.
In-network with three of four exchange insurers, but one of them includes Buffett only on some plans. A fourth insurer does not include Buffett.
—City of Hope, Los Angeles.
In-network for one of three major insurers; a fourth is a health maintenance organization with its own hospital system.
—Dana-Farber, Boston.
No response.
—Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, N.C.
In-network with the two insurers on the exchange, although not included in a low-price option.
—Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia.
In-network for the two dominant carriers in the market.
—Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City.
In-network with five of six insurers.
—Hutchinson/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle.
In-network with three of eight insurers on the state's exchange.
—Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.
In-network for all six exchange insurers, although some individual plans may not offer access.
—Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York.
In-network with two of nine exchange insurers in New York City, two of 16 statewide. Has out-of-network agreements with two more carriers.
—Moffit Cancer Center, Tampa, Fla.
In-network for three of six insurers offering plans in multiple Florida counties.
—Ohio State University/James/Solove. No response.
—Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, N.Y.
In-network with five of seven insurers in its local area, but only five of 16 statewide.
—Siteman Cancer Center/Barnes-Jewish, St. Louis.
In-network for some of the plans offered by one of two insurers on the state exchange.
—St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.
Treatment is free as long as children have a referral.
—Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, Calif.
No response.
—University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala.
In-network with dominant carrier of two insurers on exchange.
—UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, Calif.
In-network with one insurer, by design.
—UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco.
In-network for two of nine insurers in the northern California market.
—University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, Colo.
In-network for all plans with six of 10 carriers; included on some plans by three others.
—University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.
In-network for eight of 12 insurers, although not in every plan.
—MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
In-network for two of 11 insurers in the state's exchange, and 43 percent of individual plans in Houston area.
—Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville.
All four insurers have Vanderbilt, but one company does not include it in its least expensive plan

Baristas Now Carry Guns at Spokane Coffee Shop

Trio of robberies has Jitterz Java employees ready to start carrying guns

 SPOKANE, Wash.   
After three robberies in less than a month at Jitterz Java, employees say they're refusing to be victimized anymore and are preparing to pack heat on the job.
Jitterz Java owner Sara Chapel is encouraging her staff members not only to bring their guns, but she's keeping one in the stand just in case
 Order a drink and you may find yourself looking at Krystal Cogswell's .38 Special Lavender Lady secured to her hip. She's one of the half dozen employees arming themselves in case of another robbery.
 As far as the legality of it is concerned, Spokane Police said it is completely legal as long as the employees who are armed are 18 and older and do not have any prior convictions that restrict them from using firearms.



Tuesday, March 18, 2014

V.P. Joe Biden Visits Poland and Gets Caught in a Lie

Biden’s Gavel Gaffe in Poland

 
Vice President Joe Biden wandered a little off course on a trip down memory lane today.
“Fifteen years ago, I was honored, as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, to lead the fight for Poland’s admission into NATO,” Biden said in Warsaw during a visit designed to reassure America’s Eastern European allies in the wake of Russia’s move to take control of Crimea.
The only problem: Biden wasn’t chairman back then 
March 12, 1999: Poland Joins NATO
Biden served as chairman from 2001 to 2003
It was Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican, who guided the committee and launched the floor debate on granting NATO accession to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Biden did lead minority Democrats in approving the treaty resolution, after having initially expressed doubts about the political viability of expanding NATO
Vice President Joe Biden is a man of his words.......

Monday, March 17, 2014

Duke Energy's Dirt Flows Downstream to Democrat's Doorsteps

Duke Energy accused of mishandling more coal ash wastewater

  March 16, 2014, 10:10 p.m  excerpted
MONCURE, N.C. -- While poring over regulatory documents for Duke Energy coal ash ponds, environmentalists at the Waterkeeper Alliance grew suspicious of the way the giant utility was handling the toxic ash waste left over from burning coal.
They decided to send up a team in an aircraft to photograph Duke's shuttered Cape Fear coal-burning power plant and ash ponds, tucked into piney woods in this tiny community in central North Carolina.
The photos revealed what the Waterkeeper Alliance says is evidence that Duke, the nation's largest electric utility, is deliberately pumping toxic coal ash wastewater from the containment ponds into a canal that eventually feeds into the Cape Fear River, a source of drinking water for downstream cities.
In the photos, two portable pumps and hoses can be seen drawing water from a coal ash pond and dumping into the canal and into nearby woods. According to the environmental group, that is a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act and state laws.
It has been a bad year for Duke Energy:
The allegations came as Duke and state regulators are under intense public and political pressure following the massive Feb. 2 Duke Energy coal ash spill that coated the Dan River with toxic coal ash sludge for at least 70 miles in North Carolina and Virginia. Hazardous heavy metals such as arsenic and lead were dumped into the river.
That spill, at a retired Duke Energy coal-fired plant in Eden, N.C., has led to allegations by environmental groups that state regulators have been soft on Duke and have ignored coal ash seepage for years from 14 Duke plants in North Carolina. It was the third-worst spill in U.S. history
Federal prosecutors have announced a criminal investigation into the relationship between the state agency and Duke Energy. They have said they are seeking evidence of any money or gifts exchanging hands.
Officials at the state agency and at Duke Power have been issued subpoenas to appear before a grand jury this week.
In a statement, Duke Energy said the pumps were permitted by state regulators.


The Democrat Party's Connection to Duke Involves Hundreds of Millions Of Dollars.


Duke Energy, ALEC member and the nation's largest utility, has played a major role in bringing the Democratic National Convention to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2012. The Democrats took all this money while having the nerve to preach about the environment and global warming. 'Climate change' was only mentioned once in 80 speeches at the convention.


  Duke Energy has already written off a $10-million line of credit the company guaranteed to help produce September’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., boosting the role of corporate funds in putting on the event.

Energy Company That Got $700 Mil From Obama, Gives Dem Party $10 Mil

And that $10 million wasn’t all the loot that Jim Rogers passed back to the Democratic Party.
The company donated $1.5 million in in-kind contributions to the host committee for office space, furniture and other expenses. Rogers personally gave $339,000 in cash and in-kind services, including the hiring of a fundraising assistant.
Duke also gave $4.1 million to a separate fund that could accept corporate money to put on parties boosting the city.
 And:
 Duke and Progress Energy each got $200 million in federal stimulus money for smart grid improvements in 2009. Duke’s Cliffside power plant won a $125 million “advanced coal” tax credit from the Department of Energy, and a plant under construction in Indiana got $460 million in federal, state and local incentives.

 Still counting:
Duke Energy got the maximum allowable amount in taxpayer money under the stimulus program.
The DOE funds will support two projects: $200  million — the maximum allowed per project under the DOE Smart Grid Investment Grant Program — will assist in modernizing Duke Energy’s power distribution system; $4 million will support the installation of digital equipment on the transmission system in the Carolinas.

Duke Energy talked ash lawsuits with regulators

No intervention by the FEDS and the EPA as expected, while the state regulators will take the political heat for the current situation. The Democrats took the money.   


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/13/4763559/duke-wanted-state-to-sue-over.html#.UyaWTc4sT9w#storylink=cpy

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Just Another Week for Senator Ted Cruz in the Media

The Democrat party and it's ally the mainstream media have long smeared and attacked Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Any mention of Tea Party support by a conservative candidate will get them on the leftist and BIG government supporter's target list. This last week was no exception.  The AP misquotes Senator Cruz and the Pavlovian response from the left was predictable.

Ted Cruz quotes ‘pro-choice’ jerks accurately, is falsely accused of calling them Satan worshippers

The Associated Press caught a lot of grief for their bias and ran a mostly unnoticed correction.

Correction: Republicans-Abortion story

WASHINGTON (AP) — In some versions of a story March 12 about possible Republican presidential contenders talking about abortion, The Associated Press reported erroneously that they called abortion rights activists Satan worshippers. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said abortion rights activists had chanted "Hail, Satan," referencing a rally last year in Austin, Texas.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Anti-abortion voters look for one of their own
Activists look for candidate who is as anti-abortion as they are, hear from Cruz, Huckabee
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Invoking fiery references to Satan, "savagery" and a "culture of death" to criticize their opponents, anti-abortion lawmakers on Wednesday insisted that Republican contenders keep an intense focus on social issues in the upcoming midterm elections and the 2016 presidential race.
Like many abortion opponents, the Susan B. Anthony List is in search of a White House contender who won't shy from social issues after back-to-back presidential nominees in 2008 and 2012 who focused their campaigns on the economy and came up short. Several potential 2016 candidates were making their pitches in blunt terms, urging the group members to stick to their principles and fight those who would stand in their way.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said those who support abortion rights favor a "culture of death" and engage in "savagery."
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is a favorite of the tea party, reminded the crowd of activists that supporters of abortion rights chanted "Hail, Satan" to silence their enemies during a heated protest at the Texas Capitol

The week ends for Senator Ted Cruz with a puzzling media campaign in Hollywood.








The Senator tweets this classic response:




Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont Sells Socialism on the O'Reilly Factor


Leftists always mention Europe and Scandinavian countries as their example of utopia and committed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont is no exception. Sanders made a recent appearance on the O'Reilly Factor......





 
Senator Bernie Sanders (I) from Muriburiland, Vermont Sells Socialism on the O'Reilly Factor



Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Watchdog: Obama Should Abandon Organizing For Action

Watchdog: Obama should abandon Organizing For Action

 
A campaign finance reform group is calling on President Obama to shut down the political advocacy organization born out of his reelection campaign, after it admitted last week to violating its own fundraising standards.
In a letter sent to President Obama on Tuesday, watchdog group Democracy 21 called Organizing for Action (OFA) "a direct threat to the integrity" of Obama's presidency and said reports about the fundraising missteps "raise multiple, serious concerns" about the influence of the group.
"Democracy 21 strongly urges you to shut down Organizing for Action or, alternatively, to end any relationship that you and your Administration have with OFA," the group wrote.
Last week, OFA announced it was revamping its solicitation practices and had fired a top fundraiser after an NBC News report revealed emails between the group and New Jersey businessman Munr Kazmir explicitly listing prices to attend a summit last week with the president.
The emails conflicted with a pledge from former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, who wrote in an op-ed last year that “we can't and we won't guarantee access to any government officials.”
While Kazmir ultimately did not donate to the group, the NBC News investigation revealed he did attempt to deliver a $100,000 donation from a New Jersey physician, Dr. Joseph Piacentile.
)
The check was returned because Piacentile has been convicted of Medicare fraud, but Kazmir was asked to have Piacentile donate the money instead to America Votes, a partner organization that, unlike OFA, does not disclose its donors.
The organization subsequently admitted it was the third time fundraisers had asked for donations to be diverted to other progressive groups.
OFA Director Jon Carson also arranged for Kazmir to meet with White House aide Yohannes Abraham, the chief of staff of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and Ashley Green, who works on international education issues at the Agency for International Development.
In response to the revelations, OFA sent an internal memo to staff earlier this month reiterating that no member of the group is authorized to offer supporters opportunities to meet with administration officials or to suggest that a donation to the group is a prerequisite to summits featuring the president or other administration officials.
The memo also outlined a new policy under which OFA will no longer recommend to supporters that donors make a financial contribution to another political organization.
In a statement, Carson said he “fell short” in meeting his responsibility “to assure that no question about our standards could even be reasonably raised.”
“We have strengthened our policies to prevent an issue like this from ever reoccurring and to ensure that our sole focus in cities and states across the country is promoting the issues the American people voted for in 2012 and accomplishing a national progressive agenda,” Carson said.
 Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for the group, stressed that OFA never accepted a donation from Kazmir and noted Piacentile did not attend the event late last month featuring Obama. She also stressed that, under OFA policies “no one is or has ever been authorized to offer opportunities to meet with administration officials in exchange for a donation to the organization.”
 But Democracy 21 charges in its letter that the missteps "constituted a fundamental violation of the integrity of the office of the presidency."
"The public has no way of knowing how many other occasions there have been since OFA was created where OFA may have sold access to the White House or to government agencies," the group writes. "Under current circumstances, there is also no way to ensure that the sale of access by OFA will not happen again in the future."
This is not the first time OFA has faced scrutiny from watchdog groups for its fundraising practices and ties to the White House.
After a disputed report last year in The New York Times claimed that donors who gave $500,000 would be guaranteed quarterly access to the president, and a $50,000 donation was required to attend a founder's summit, Common Cause President Bob Edgar accused Obama of perpetuating “the pay-to-play politics he has reportedly deplored.”


DC Mayor & Hillary Clinton Advisor Caught in Shadow Campaign Scandal

Despite scandal, DC mayor makes pitch for 2nd term

 Published Tuesday, March 11, 2014 | 3:05 p.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A scandal involving a convicted campaign donor nicknamed "Uncle Earl" is endangering District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray's re-election chances.
The district's Democratic mayoral primary is April 1, and Gray is facing seven challengers. On Monday, federal prosecutors alleged that Gray signed off on an illegal scheme to help his 2010 campaign with a $668,000 slush fund. Gray has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The allegations are included in a plea deal signed by Jeffrey Thompson, who supplied the funds. Thompson asked Gray to refer to him as "Uncle Earl." Gray told The Associated Press that he did nothing illegal and that Thompson is lying.
Gray's opponents are calling him unfit to serve and pledging to restore integrity to the office.
)

Documents: Clinton aide sought ‘street teams’


 Published Tuesday, March 11, 2014 | 1:21 p.m
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal court documents say a campaign adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton was personally involved in an off-the-books operation to help the former first lady's 2008 presidential campaign in four states and Puerto Rico.
The court papers say Washington businessman Jeffrey Thompson told prosecutors that Clinton adviser Minyon Moore sought his help in recruiting so-called street teams to help Clinton's campaign during the 2008 primaries. According to the documents, Thompson paid more than $600,000 to a New York marketing executive to fund the street teams and canvassers. 

Thompson pleaded guilty Monday to two conspiracy charges. Prosecutors have said they have no evidence that Clinton was aware of the operation.
Moore's firm has said previously that she was cooperating with federal investigators and was unaware of any inappropriate activities.

Feds Say Nonprofit Org Secretly Aided Hillary Campaign

A nonprofit group believed to be the League of United Latino American Citizens (LULAC) used illegal corporate contributions to secretly aid Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, according to federal court documents.
Democratic donor and District of Columbia businessman Jeffrey Thompson pleaded guilty on Monday to funneling millions in illegal donations to local and federal candidates, including Clinton in 2008.
Thompson said in his plea agreement that he financed a $600,000 “shadow campaign” for Clinton using funds from his D.C.-based for-profit corporation D.C. Healthcare Systems Inc.
The money was routed through Troy White, a marketing director who pleaded guilty to insurance violations last September, and through a group identified in the plea agreement as “Civic Organization A.”
The unnamed group is LULAC, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
LULAC, a Hispanic advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a 501(c)(4) and subject to Internal Revenue Service limits on its political activities and expenditures.
According to Thompson’s plea agreement, a senior Clinton campaign adviser asked him in February 2008 to fund paid street teams that would assist the campaign.
The adviser is believed to be long-time Clinton aide Minyon Moore, the Washington Post reported.
Moore allegedly introduced Thompson and an unnamed Texas Clinton supporter affiliated with LULAC, with the understanding that the two would work to organize teams of paid Clinton canvassers recruited from LULAC’s membership ranks.
The canvassers would distribute materials created by the Clinton campaign in Texas, according to the documents.
Thompson transferred $233,000 through an intermediary to pay for the services.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

State Budget Gimmicks Halt Federal Food Stamp Spending Reform

States Veto Food Stamp Cuts as $8.6 Billion Deal Fades

  Mar 7, 2014  excepted:
Congress last month passed a revamp of agriculture and food policy that was supposed to save the U.S. government $8.6 billion in food-stamp costs over a decade.
That may not happen now that some states are finding a way to avoid the cuts. 
In fact, states have always gamed the Federal system as this paragraph from the Washington Post describes using other assistance programs..
 -- Ending the heating "loophole." The bill would cut food stamp benefits for 850,000 households in 17 states by about $90 per month. It does so by tweaking the rules of a federal heating assistance program that some states had been using to boost food-stamp eligibility. In essence, some states had been assuming that people had higher heating bills than they actually did to let them qualify for food aid.
 Now back to the Bloomberg article:
New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania are triggering extra nutrition spending by adding money to a home-heating subsidy tied to increased food-stamp aid. The move feeds needy families while thwarting spending-reduction goals.
Deficit watchers say they’re disappointed, while anti-hunger activists are lobbying other states to do the same. If more follow, the federal government would have to spend much of the $8.6 billion it planned to save, as states reduce spending on other programs to meet the new mandate.
“Some states will be able to do it, some states will not be able to -- no one knows for how long they’ll be able to do it,” Connecticut Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro said in an interview at the Capitol. “They have jumped into the breach where the federal government abdicated its responsibility.”

Energy Assistance

Some of that food aid is tied to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, also known by its acronym, LIHEAP.
Under the previous farm law, states that gave residents as little as $1 a year in home-heating assistance -- a move nicknamed “heat-and-eat” -- could qualify that person’s household for an average of $1,080 in additional food stamps annually from the U.S. government.
About 15 states and the District of Columbia did just that, catching the attention of lawmakers who sought savings through the farm bill.
“States were gaming the system,” Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts said last month.
The new law raises to $20 a year the home-heating aid needed for a household to get extra food-stamp money. The idea is that most of those 15 states will stop qualifying residents for the food aid and save the U.S. government money. 

New York

That’s not happening in New York. The state said it raised home-heating spending by $6 million, triggering an additional $457 million a year in federal food-stamp spending to about 300,000 households.
Lawmakers who supported even deeper cuts to food stamps than those eventually included in the farm law criticize states for using the rules to erode savings.

Connecticut’s Governor

Connecticut is spending an extra $1.4 million to preserve federal food-stamp money for about 50,000 households, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy said the day before Cuomo’s announcement. Pennsylvania said March 5 it will spend $8 million to preserve $300 million in food-stamp funding for up to 400,000 families.

About 47 million Americans got food stamps in November, the latest month data were available, the USDA said Feb. 7.
Almost half of all food stamps are redeemed at big-box retail chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), while most of the rest are used at supermarkets such as Safeway Inc., (SWY) according to data collected by Bloomberg.
 Food Stamp Fraud is always downplayed in the main stream media, but it is not insignificant.
Include erroneous payments to recipients because of errors on the part of the government or outright lying on applications, and the overall loss to the food stamp program is about 4.07 percent, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Although the sheer size of the program means that more than $3 billion is lost to trafficking, fraud and overpayments each year, the rate is less than other government programs, according to federal audits

Spending on 'food stamps and nutritional programs' is over 75% of the spending the the Farm Bill, further entwining the interests of corporations and the supports of BIG government spending.
 Federal spending on food stamps -- formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- has more than doubled in the past five years, with most of the money spent at retailers including Supervalu Inc. (SVU) and Kroger Co. (KR) The program cost a record $79.9 billion in fiscal 2013, almost one-eighth of the roughly $650 billion a year Americans spend on groceries.

Attempts to reform, control or cut any program isn't really possible, because fiction and FRAUD is what BIG government and it's supporters do best.