Boner Accept Cruz-ifixion: kill Obamacare or shutdown the govt

[boutons_deux]

John Boehner Pits Obamacare Against Shutdown

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed Wednesday to push ahead with a bill to defund Obamacare or shut down the government

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/john-boehner-obamacare-shutdown_n_3948530.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[boutons_deux]

The Money Behind the Shutdown Crisis

Representative Aaron Schock (http://schock.house.gov/) is a conservative Republican from Illinois, but not conservative enough for the hard-right activist group Club for Growth, which is seeking someone to run against him (http://www.primarymycongressman.com/rep-aaron-schock-il-18-2/) in next year’s primary.

His crime? In 2011, he voted to increase the debt ceiling, and, in 2012, he voted for a stopgap spending bill that prevented a government shutdown. In neither case did he demand the defunding of health care reform.

Club for Growth and other extremist groups consider a record like his an unforgivable failure, and they are raising and spending millions to make sure that no Republicans will take similar positions in the next few weeks when the fiscal year ends and the debt limit expires.

If you’re wondering why so many House Republicans seem to believe they can force President Obama to accept a “defunding” of the health care reform law by threatening a government shutdown or a default, it’s because these groups have promised to inflict political pain on any Republican official who doesn’t go along.

Heritage Action and the Senate Conservatives Fund have each released scorecards (http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/) showing which lawmakers have pledged to “defund Obamacare.” When a senator like Tom Coburn of Oklahoma (http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/) refuses to pledge, right-wing activists are told: “Please contact Senator Coburn and tell him it’s dishonest to say you oppose Obamacare, but then vote to fund it. Tell him he swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.”

Mr. Schock and 10 other lawmakers considered suspiciously squishy by the Club for Growth were designated as RINO’s (Republicans in name only), and the club has vowed to find primary opponents and support them with cash — a formidable threat considering that it spent $18 million backing conservative candidates in the 2012 cycle. Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers group that has already spent millions on ads fighting health reform, is beginning a new campaign (http://americansforprosperity.org/newsroom/americans-for-prosperity-launches-new-efforts-against-obamacare-with-exempt-me-too/) to delay the law’s effects.

These groups, all financed with secret and unlimited money, feed on chaos and would like nothing better than to claim credit for pushing Washington into another crisis. Winning an ideological victory is far more important to them than the severe economic effects of a shutdown or, worse, a default, which could shatter the credit markets.

They also have another reason for their attacks: fund-raising. All their Web sites pushing the defunding scheme include a big “donate” button for the faithful to push. “With your donation, you will be sending a strong message: Obamacare must be defunded now,” says the Web site of the National Liberty Federation (https://secure.piryx.com/donate/ovaM0bdJ/National-Liberty-Federation/defundobamacare), another “social welfare” group that sees dollar signs in shutting down the government.

Brian Walsh, a longtime Republican operative, recently noted in U.S. News and World Report (http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/brian-walsh/2013/09/12/the-senate-conservative-fund-and-the-heritage-foundation-profit-from-attacking-republicans) that the right is now spending more money attacking Republicans than the Democrats are. “Money begets TV ads, which begets even more money for these groups’ personal coffers,” he wrote. “Pointing fingers and attacking Republicans is apparently a very profitable fund-raising business.”

It may be good for their bank accounts, but the combination of unlimited money and rigid ideology is proving toxic for the most basic functioning of government.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/opinion/the-money-behind-the-shutdown-crisis.html?hp&_r=1&

[boutons_deux]

As ‘Defund Obamacare’ Strategy Unravels, Civil War Among Congressional GOP Breaks Out On Twitter

Today, House Republican announced their intention to link the funding necessary to keep the government open with legislation to defund Obamacare. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) suggested that, with Democrats in control, the move didn’t have much of a chance in the Senate:


“Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so,” Cruz said. “At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people…”


Republican House members responded on Twitter, and they were not happy:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/09/18/2646991/republican-civil-war-breaks-twitter/

:lol

Any any Repug who votes against defunding ACA will get primaried by Kock Bros/fruitairian libertarian/tea bagging extremists and VRWC $Ms.

[scott]

Karl Rove: The GOP's Self-Defeating 'Defunding' Strategy

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324492604579082851832871952.html

[Th'Pusher]

Senate will take that bill up, strip that out and send it right back to the house. Then what?

[101A]

Where people stand on the Affordable Care Act is pretty much predetermined by who they voted for in the presidential election. I am now seeing the first hints of its implementation from the insurance carriers for 1/1 renewals.

Three obvious takeaways:

1. The ACA has mandated a massive change in the way carriers price, market and administer their products. Businesses (50 employees and under this year, all companies in '17) don't realize it yet, but their own administrative procedures are going to have to change significantly regarding their group health plans is just a few months.

2. Older workers, and workers with larger families are going to get screwed. The ACA dictates the manner in which premiums are charged - and mandates NO UNDERWRITING factors EXCEPT age, tobacco use and geography. HHS then published a model rate factor table. In that a 64 year old pays exactly 3 times what a 25 year old pays - with the rate climbing every year between those two points. Until now, enrollment choices for employees were as follows: Employee Only, Employee & Spouse, Employee & Children or Employee and Entire Family. That was four premium choices for an employer to keep up with - the employer would decide how much of each tier he/she would contribute, and the employee would be left to pay the difference....NOW to calculate coverage, the employer or employee must go to the base rate (the rate for a 25 year old), multiply it by the factor for THEIR age, do the same for their spouse, then the same for their adult (over 20) aged children, then the same for up to three children under 20 (rate is capped at three children under 21). Considering there are now 40 different employee rates, and employees will all have different aged children and spouses.....this is going to make bill auditing and reconciliation very cumbersome. (of course we have developed a system to automate all this - PM me for details) ;) From the employer's point of view, they always knew, in theory, that older employees cost more to insure; now it is going to be reinforced in color every single month. Composite rating protected the aging - the ACA exposes them - choosing between two employees, one 32 and one 54? Just got that much easier.....

3. Despite its name, the ACA is not getting a handle on cost. All of the renewals we have seen thus far include net premium increases along with some (subtle and not so subtle) benefit decreases. Where the tire meets the road, the ACA, ultimately is an exercise is doing SOMETHING, but not doing anything productive.

I said it at the time, and I now know it to be true, a opportunity to actually do something to get our runaway healthcare costs under control was wasted. If anything, the ACA probably exacerbates many of the existing issues, without addressing the elephant in the living room: ACTUAL COSTS FROM DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS!!! The politicians focused all of their attention on who was paying the bills. I guess it never occurred to them to look at the people printing them...

[101A]

For the reasons I listed above, I remain fully opposed to the Affordable Care Act. However, an the owner of a company that administers, brokers and manages healthcare plans, I am taking full advantage of the disaster that it is.

[boutons_deux]

The primary objective of ACA was to insure 30M+ people who weren't insured, get them out of the ER and into preventative care.

A program like ACA with a target of 300M people, and 1000s of scammers, will requires 100s of modifications

The fucked up, ripoff US health care racket needed a shakeup, and ACA, polluted, tainted, gutted by the health care industry (eg, no public option) and sabotaged by the Repugs at federal and state level, is the best shakeup possible.

"ACTUAL COSTS FROM DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS" and health insurers, ALL greedy, predatory for-profit BUSINESSES: shittiest possible product for the highest possible product, ARE the fundamental problem. But they are so powerful, they are, like the financial industry, an essentially untouchable wealth-extraction racket.

The only solution to costs is no-profit govt health insurance and no-profit govt health care by govt employees.

[101A]

The primary objective of ACA was to insure 30M+ people who weren't insured, get them out of the ER and into preventative care.

A program like ACA with a target of 300M people, and 1000s of scammers, will requires 100s of modifications

The fucked up, ripoff US health care racket needed a shakeup, and ACA, polluted, tainted, gutted by the health care industry (eg, no public option) and sabotaged by the Repugs at federal and state level, is the best shakeup possible.

"ACTUAL COSTS FROM DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS" and health insurers, ALL greedy, predatory for-profit BUSINESSES: shittiest possible product for the highest possible product, ARE the fundamental problem. But they are so powerful, they are, like the financial industry, an essentially untouchable wealth-extraction racket.

The only solution to costs is no-profit govt health insurance and no-profit govt health care by govt employees.




Then why didn't they simply make Pre-X illegal? Would have been a whole lot less complicated than what they did....

MANY countries control healthcare costs without socializing the entire system. You lack imagination.

[pgardn]

From a conservative republican: This is an opinion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/09/19/ted-cruzs-blunder-enrages-house-gop/?hpid=z2

One House aide dismayed at the intra-party fights told me, “I just think our political energy and attention should be focused on weakening the Left.”

This is what the conservatives have been reduced to while Obama runs a shaky course. The Republicans have some really profound ideas on how to run a country, destroy the opposition within your own party. And then attack Obama, and then when it is time for solutions, uhhhhhhhhh. Good God what a mess...

[boutons_deux]

Then why didn't they simply make Pre-X illegal? Would have been a whole lot less complicated than what they did....

MANY countries control healthcare costs without socializing the entire system. You lack imagination.

ALL industrial countries have some form of national/governmental health insurance and health care, get better outcomes FOR EVERYBODY with $Ts less. America's for-profit health care is a fucking disaster for patients.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent quote:


Said Ornstein: “The bizarreness of this monomaniacal focus on Obamacare, given that it is fundamentally a Republican program from the 1990s mixed in with Romneycare,” says it all. “Obamacare relies on the private sector; there is no public option. That you are willing to bring the country to its knees to sabotage it … just shows this is a party that has gone off the rails.”

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Quote:


The legitimate complaint about the new Republican Party, one you will hear frequently even from Republicans speaking privately, is that it is intransigent and beholden to its most radical elements. Having principles is fine. Imposing them on everyone else through destructive maneuvering that keeps the country constantly on edge is not.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Quote:


‘There is one party that has lost its way and is being dominated by people who by historical standards are on the fringe.’ “You have to accept the legitimacy of the other side,” Today’s GOP, which exists to oppose all things Obama, does not.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Quote:


It’s a bit of a murder-suicide. House Republicans’ willingness (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/18/boehner-and-defunding-obamacare.html) to lay waste to the country to satisfy their fringiest faction will ultimately guarantee the GOP irrelevancy as a national party, unless they change their ways. In the meantime, they seem determined to take us all down with them.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Quote:


There isn’t even a feint toward decency. In what has become a recurring nightmare, House Republicans are using budget negotiations to play chicken with the stability of the American economy. This time, they want President Obama to agree to defund his signature achievement (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/18/the-obamacare-swindle-it-s-not-what-you-think.html), the Affordable Care Act. If he refuses to strangle his own baby in the crib, Republicans are happy to retaliate. They’ll shut down the government (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/year-end-tax-cuts-have-nearly-doubled-projected-size-of-national-debt-cbo-says/2013/09/17/cda802d2-1f9c-11e3-94a2-6c66b668ea55_story.html). These are not people with whom one can work.

[TeyshaBlue]

lol @ kool. :cheer:cheer:cheer

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Obama Quote:


“You have never seen in the history of the United States the debt ceiling, or the threat of not raising the debt ceiling, being used to extort a president or a governing party and trying to force issues that have nothing to do with the budget and have nothing to do with the debt,” Obama complained to members of the business group.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Obama Quote:


“We have not seen this in the past,” he continued, “that a budget is contingent on us eliminating a program that was voted on, passed by both chambers of Congress, ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court, is two weeks from being fully implemented and that helps 30 million people finally get health care coverage -- we've never seen that become the issue around a budget battle.”

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Quote:


The latest CBO projections, released Tuesday, “show that the federal budget is a very important problem, but not necessarily an urgent one in the sense that interest rates the government is currently paying are quite low and the deficit is falling now,” he said.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Nancy Pelosi Quote :


"Many of these Republicans are repealing this bill, and in repealing it, they keep their federal health insurance benefits," she said. "The contradiction is more than just their children being on their policy. It's themselves having that policy that their children can be on, even though they are repealing all of these benefits for everybody else.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent quote:


"Essentially what they're saying is that these protections are good for members of Congress, but we're not going to provide the same protections to millions of Americans,"

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Quote:


Many of the special benefits afforded in Congress' federally-administered plans are actually included in the Obamacare legislation. But while Republicans are ready to repeal those benefits for rank-and-file voters, they aren't quite willing to give them up for themselves.

[Koolaid_Man]

:lol


During a House vote to repeal Obamacare, Republicans voted against a measure that would have forced members of Congress to give up their FEHBP plans.

[Koolaid_Man]

Excellent Pelosi quote:


"They twisted themselves into pretzels trying to explain it, but you can't really explain that to your constituents — it's hard to tell the mother of a child with diabetes that you are going to take away healthcare for her kid, and at the same time vote to protect your own healthcare."

[Koolaid_Man]

That's enough spanking for now...:toast As always Kool is on point

[boutons_deux]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M">


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M)

[boutons_deux]

"study in the current issue (http://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/Fulltext/2013/09000/A_New,_Evidence_based_Estimate_of_Patient_Harms.2. aspx) of the Journal of Patient Safety that says the numbers may be much higher — between 210,000 and 440,000 patients (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/781687-john-james-a-new-evidence-based-estimate-of.html#document/p1/a117333) each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death, the study says.

That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm), behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second."

http://www.propublica.org/article/how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-us-hospitals

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz Vows Filibuster To Defund Obamacare After House GOP Accuses Him Of Surrender

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has vowed to filibuster any bill that would keep the government open past September 30 that does not include defunding Obamacare. But he also seems to be preparing the GOP base — one he’s spent months ginning up — for the realization that his effort to defund the law before the health care exchanges open is likely doomed.

For months, Cruz has been promising the GOP a battle. Now he’s getting one — from House Republicans who have been pressured to go along with his gambit, and now find themselves forced to choose between pleasing the base (http://www.salon.com/2013/09/19/john_boehner_just_made_ted_cruz_life_a_living_hell/) and destroying what’s left of the GOP brand (http://www.nationalmemo.com/5-ways-republicans-will-permanently-destroy-the-gop-brand/).

The junior senator from Texas opened himself up to a torrent of attacks from Republican members of the House on Wednesday night when he released a statement that admitted the obvious (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/ted-cruz-obamacare-house-republicans_n_3950901.html): He doesn’t have the votes in the Senate to pass a bill that would defund Obamacare.

“House agrees to send #CR to Senate that defunds Obamacare. @SenTedCruz & @SenMikeLee refuse to fight. Wave white flag and surrender,” Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) tweeted (https://twitter.com/RepSeanDuffy/status/380447602522599424). Several of his colleagues also chimed in their disappointment (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/09/18/2646991/republican-civil-war-breaks-twitter/) with what they saw as giving up on stopping Obamacare.

Cruz announced that he was willing to pursue a filibuster to stop the the Senate from stripping the House’s defunding proposal from the continuing resolution, hoping to assure his allies in the House who had adopted his hardline stance against the health care law.

“I am prepared to use any and all procedural methods to stop Obamacare from being funded,” he told the AP’s Ken Thomas (https://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas/status/380707867541516290) on Thursday. But he also noted later that his efforts probably won’t be enough to stop the law. ”I think it is likely that it will take another election for a full repeal,” he said.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/ted-cruz-vows-filibuster-to-defund-obamacare-after-house-gop-accuses-him-of-surrender/

[boutons_deux]

Kock Bros through more $Ms

Generation Opportunity, New Koch-Funded Front, Says Youth Are Better Off Uninsured (http://www.thenation.com/blog/176269/generation-opportunity-new-koch-funded-front-says-youth-are-better-uninsured)

For a new Koch-funded front group for young people, money for medical bills apparently grows on trees.

Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit financed with $5.04 million (http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/09/12247/breaking-new-list-dark-money-shell-game-groups-connected-kochs) from a fund controlled by the Koch brothers’ lobbying team, just launched a new television advertisement to kick off an anti-Obamacare campaign. The ads, which provides no actual information about healthcare reform and instead seem designed to scare people away from doctor visits, have already beendissected (http://www.salon.com/2013/09/19/koch_backed_conservatives_go_pro_cervical_cancer/) by many (http://www.thenation.com/blog/176263/creepiest-anti-obamacare-commercial-ever-young-woman-visits-doctor) in the media. What’s more revealing is Generation Opportunity’s real agenda, which was explained (http://news.yahoo.com/obamacare-battle-moves-to-college-campuses-200027191.html) to Yahoo News in a story unveiling the new campaign (emphasis added):

Their message: You don’t have to sign up for Obamacare. “What we’re trying to communicate is, ‘No, you’re actually not required to buy health insurance,’” Generation Opportunity President Evan Feinberg told Yahoo News in an interview about the campaign. “You might have to pay a fine, but that’s going to be cheaper for you andbetter for you.”


http://www.thenation.com/blog/176269/generation-opportunity-new-koch-funded-front-says-youth-are-better-uninsured?rel=emailNation#axzz2fNUT5bc8

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Where people stand on the Affordable Care Act is pretty much predetermined by who they voted for in the presidential election. I am now seeing the first hints of its implementation from the insurance carriers for 1/1 renewals.

Three obvious takeaways:

1. The ACA has mandated a massive change in the way carriers price, market and administer their products. Businesses (50 employees and under this year, all companies in '17) don't realize it yet, but their own administrative procedures are going to have to change significantly regarding their group health plans is just a few months.

2. Older workers, and workers with larger families are going to get screwed. The ACA dictates the manner in which premiums are charged - and mandates NO UNDERWRITING factors EXCEPT age, tobacco use and geography. HHS then published a model rate factor table. In that a 64 year old pays exactly 3 times what a 25 year old pays - with the rate climbing every year between those two points. Until now, enrollment choices for employees were as follows: Employee Only, Employee & Spouse, Employee & Children or Employee and Entire Family. That was four premium choices for an employer to keep up with - the employer would decide how much of each tier he/she would contribute, and the employee would be left to pay the difference....NOW to calculate coverage, the employer or employee must go to the base rate (the rate for a 25 year old), multiply it by the factor for THEIR age, do the same for their spouse, then the same for their adult (over 20) aged children, then the same for up to three children under 20 (rate is capped at three children under 21). Considering there are now 40 different employee rates, and employees will all have different aged children and spouses.....this is going to make bill auditing and reconciliation very cumbersome. (of course we have developed a system to automate all this - PM me for details) ;) From the employer's point of view, they always knew, in theory, that older employees cost more to insure; now it is going to be reinforced in color every single month. Composite rating protected the aging - the ACA exposes them - choosing between two employees, one 32 and one 54? Just got that much easier.....

3. Despite its name, the ACA is not getting a handle on cost. All of the renewals we have seen thus far include net premium increases along with some (subtle and not so subtle) benefit decreases. Where the tire meets the road, the ACA, ultimately is an exercise is doing SOMETHING, but not doing anything productive.

I said it at the time, and I now know it to be true, a opportunity to actually do something to get our runaway healthcare costs under control was wasted. If anything, the ACA probably exacerbates many of the existing issues, without addressing the elephant in the living room: ACTUAL COSTS FROM DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS!!! The politicians focused all of their attention on who was paying the bills. I guess it never occurred to them to look at the people printing them...

A 64 year old is getting a windfall if he is only paying 3 times as much considering he on average will use more than 3 times as much health care.

I agree on the source of costs though.

[boobie4three]

51% Favor Government Shutdown Until Congress Cuts Health Care Funding

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

President Obama yesterday criticized congressional Republicans for insisting on spending cuts in any budget deal that continues government operations past October 1, saying they risk "economic chaos." Most voters agree a federal government shutdown would be bad for the economy, but they're willing to risk one until Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree on ways to cut the budget, including cuts in funding for the new national health care law.....

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/september_2013/51_favor_government_shutdown_until_congress_cuts_h ealth_care_funding

We must do everything to defund this hellish thing called 0bamacare.

[boutons_deux]

rasmussen? Repugs in-house propaganda poller? boob, you're so fucking stupid, an all-star representin the right wing

[boobie4three]

I guess to someone like you who's never had a non-socialist thought in his entire life, I would appear stupid. I bet your parents are proud of their little commie.

[xrayzebra]

I say shut the government down. And lets see who gets blamed. Might even drive Obama and Moochelle nuts since they couldn't take AF1 on a ride to some expensive destination getaway. All the pols in D.C. are a bunch of gutless wonders anyhow. Democrats and Republicans, just a few like Cruz have any balls.
Them with their pictures of the starving Americans. Good Lord, what a bunch of losers. But I am sure there will be a big splash in the SA Express News in the morning about starving babies.

[ElNono]

Where people stand on the Affordable Care Act is pretty much predetermined by who they voted for in the presidential election. I am now seeing the first hints of its implementation from the insurance carriers for 1/1 renewals.

Three obvious takeaways:

1. The ACA has mandated a massive change in the way carriers price, market and administer their products. Businesses (50 employees and under this year, all companies in '17) don't realize it yet, but their own administrative procedures are going to have to change significantly regarding their group health plans is just a few months.

2. Older workers, and workers with larger families are going to get screwed. The ACA dictates the manner in which premiums are charged - and mandates NO UNDERWRITING factors EXCEPT age, tobacco use and geography. HHS then published a model rate factor table. In that a 64 year old pays exactly 3 times what a 25 year old pays - with the rate climbing every year between those two points. Until now, enrollment choices for employees were as follows: Employee Only, Employee & Spouse, Employee & Children or Employee and Entire Family. That was four premium choices for an employer to keep up with - the employer would decide how much of each tier he/she would contribute, and the employee would be left to pay the difference....NOW to calculate coverage, the employer or employee must go to the base rate (the rate for a 25 year old), multiply it by the factor for THEIR age, do the same for their spouse, then the same for their adult (over 20) aged children, then the same for up to three children under 20 (rate is capped at three children under 21). Considering there are now 40 different employee rates, and employees will all have different aged children and spouses.....this is going to make bill auditing and reconciliation very cumbersome. (of course we have developed a system to automate all this - PM me for details) ;) From the employer's point of view, they always knew, in theory, that older employees cost more to insure; now it is going to be reinforced in color every single month. Composite rating protected the aging - the ACA exposes them - choosing between two employees, one 32 and one 54? Just got that much easier.....

3. Despite its name, the ACA is not getting a handle on cost. All of the renewals we have seen thus far include net premium increases along with some (subtle and not so subtle) benefit decreases. Where the tire meets the road, the ACA, ultimately is an exercise is doing SOMETHING, but not doing anything productive.

I said it at the time, and I now know it to be true, a opportunity to actually do something to get our runaway healthcare costs under control was wasted. If anything, the ACA probably exacerbates many of the existing issues, without addressing the elephant in the living room: ACTUAL COSTS FROM DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS!!! The politicians focused all of their attention on who was paying the bills. I guess it never occurred to them to look at the people printing them...

Pretty much what we discussed when the law was passed.

However, this whole bravado thing has little to do with Barrycare or the government going bankrupt. It's one big political parade between red team vs blue team, who has "big balls", etc, etc etc...

[Th'Pusher]

51% Favor Government Shutdown Until Congress Cuts Health Care Funding

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

President Obama yesterday criticized congressional Republicans for insisting on spending cuts in any budget deal that continues government operations past October 1, saying they risk "economic chaos." Most voters agree a federal government shutdown would be bad for the economy, but they're willing to risk one until Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree on ways to cut the budget, including cuts in funding for the new national health care law.....

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/september_2013/51_favor_government_shutdown_until_congress_cuts_h ealth_care_funding

We must do everything to defund this hellish thing called 0bamacare.
Didn't Romney run on a platform that the Election was a referendum on the ACA?

[Nbadan]

Ted Cruz Infuriates House GOP By Conceding Defeat On Obamacare Repeal


House Republicans are fuming at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for conceding that the party's efforts to repeal Obamacare aren't going anywhere in the Senate -- and leaving the House to keep fighting over it anyway.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/ted-cruz-obamacare-house-republicans_n_3950901.html

[boutons_deux]

McLiar's 08 campaign mgr, Schmit?, said it looks like the Repugs are gonna do this, it will fail in the Senate, and then they let crazy rookie Cruz take the rap, go down in flames.

[angrydude]

Remember how sequestration would bring the government to its knees?

[boutons_deux]

Remember how sequestration would bring the government to its knees?

I didn;t hear that, but sequestration has hurt a lot of people and programs.

[boobie4three]

I didn;t hear that, but sequestration has hurt a lot of people and programs.

0bamacare is going to hurt a lot of people and programs:

Cleveland Clinic announces job cuts to prepare for Obamacare

By Kim Palmer
CLEVELAND | Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:23pm EDT

(Reuters) - The world-renowned Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday it would cut jobs and slash five to six percent of its $6 billion annual budget to prepare for President Barack Obama's health reforms.

The clinic, which has treated celebrities and world leaders such as musician Lou Reed, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former Olympic gold medal skater Scott Hamilton, did not say how many of its 44,000 employees would be laid off. But a spokeswoman said that $330 million would be cut from its annual budget.

"Some of the initiatives include offering early retirement to 3,000 eligible employees, reducing operational costs, stricter review of filling vacant positions, and lastly workforce reductions," said Eileen Sheil, Executive Director of Corporate Communications for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

The clinic is Cleveland's largest employer and the second largest in Ohio after Wal-Mart. It is the largest provider in Ohio of Medicaid health coverage for the poor, the program that will expand to cover uninsured Americans under Obamacare.

"We know we are going to be reimbursed less," under Medicaid, Sheil said.

Cleveland Clinic has almost 100 locations around Ohio employing 3,000 doctors. Its main campus is world renowned for cancer and cardiovascular treatment.

"To prepare for healthcare reform, Cleveland Clinic is transforming the way care is delivered to patients," Sheil said without elaborating.

The clinic's Lerner Research Institute had a total annual research expenditure of $255 million in 2012 and recently announced breakthroughs in creating a breast cancer vaccine, drugs to treat Alzheimer's patients and research into the genetic mutations in prostate cancer.

A 2009 study by the clinic concluded that it accounts for nearly eight percent of the economic output of northeast Ohio.

A key part of Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, goes into effect on October 1, when states are supposed to begin offering Americans health insurance options through online exchanges to compare prices.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Greg McCune, Mary Wisniewski and Andre Grenon)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-usa-health-clevelandclinic-idUSBRE98H14V20130918



You 0bamacare clowns are going to be pulling your hair out defending this worthless pile of shit.

[boutons_deux]

0bamacare is going to hurt a lot of people and programs:

Cleveland Clinic announces job cuts to prepare for Obamacare

By Kim Palmer
CLEVELAND | Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:23pm EDT

(Reuters) - The world-renowned Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday it would cut jobs and slash five to six percent of its $6 billion annual budget to prepare for President Barack Obama's health reforms.

The clinic, which has treated celebrities and world leaders such as musician Lou Reed, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former Olympic gold medal skater Scott Hamilton, did not say how many of its 44,000 employees would be laid off. But a spokeswoman said that $330 million would be cut from its annual budget.

"Some of the initiatives include offering early retirement to 3,000 eligible employees, reducing operational costs, stricter review of filling vacant positions, and lastly workforce reductions," said Eileen Sheil, Executive Director of Corporate Communications for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

The clinic is Cleveland's largest employer and the second largest in Ohio after Wal-Mart. It is the largest provider in Ohio of Medicaid health coverage for the poor, the program that will expand to cover uninsured Americans under Obamacare.

"We know we are going to be reimbursed less," under Medicaid, Sheil said.

Cleveland Clinic has almost 100 locations around Ohio employing 3,000 doctors. Its main campus is world renowned for cancer and cardiovascular treatment.

"To prepare for healthcare reform, Cleveland Clinic is transforming the way care is delivered to patients," Sheil said without elaborating.

The clinic's Lerner Research Institute had a total annual research expenditure of $255 million in 2012 and recently announced breakthroughs in creating a breast cancer vaccine, drugs to treat Alzheimer's patients and research into the genetic mutations in prostate cancer.

A 2009 study by the clinic concluded that it accounts for nearly eight percent of the economic output of northeast Ohio.

A key part of Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, goes into effect on October 1, when states are supposed to begin offering Americans health insurance options through online exchanges to compare prices.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Greg McCune, Mary Wisniewski and Andre Grenon)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-usa-health-clevelandclinic-idUSBRE98H14V20130918



You 0bamacare clowns are going to be pulling your hair out defending this worthless pile of shit.

Ohio is one of the "Repug kamikaze" states that has refused to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid. Same story in TX, where hospitals and clinics are going to be badly hurt by kamikaze Repugs' ideology of "hate Fed govt, no matter how we fuck over the poor bubbas, blacks, browns".

once again boob, you prove how fucking ignorant you are of what's really resulting from Repugs' anti-governance, anti-99% ideology.

[AntiChrist]

And Obamacare is his crowning achievement. Smh

[boutons_deux]

And Obamacare is his crowning achievement. Smh

no question about that, and THAT's exactly why the Repugs are sabotaging Obamacare wherever and however they can.

[boobie4three]

Ohio is one of the "Repug kamikaze" states that has refused to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid. Same story in TX, where hospitals and clinics are going to be badly hurt by kamikaze Repugs' ideology of "hate Fed govt, no matter how we fuck over the poor bubbas, blacks, browns".

once again boob, you prove how fucking ignorant you are of what's really resulting from Repugs' anti-governance, anti-99% ideology.

"Repugs this, Repugs that, blah blah blah." Nobody's buying your bullshit douche bag.

[scott]

House just voted to defund, and Rep. Peter King has this to say:


Republican Rep. Peter King said Friday that his Republican colleague in the Senate, Ted Cruz, "is a fraud" who will "no longer have any influence in the Republican Party" after the House votes on a measure that could potentially lead to a government shutdown.

Suicide missions are fun!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/20/peter-king-ted-cruz-is-a-fraud/

[xrayzebra]

Yep old Peter King and Chuckie Schumer, they just don't like anyone to steal their thunder and time before the camera. One unforgivable sin in D.C. steal media time for someone else, when you are used to making all the pronouncements. Like these two fine gentlemen.

The low life, Harry, Obama's main man in the Senate, will be out to mealy mouth the bill and pronounce it dead.

[boutons_deux]

"Repugs this, Repugs that, blah blah blah." Nobody's buying your bullshit douche bag.

:lol it ain't bullshit, google "states rejecting medicaid expansion"

btw, nasty Repug-governed PA just reversed itself to accept medicaid expansion. :lol

[scott]

The low life, Harry, Obama's main man in the Senate, will be out to mealy mouth the bill and pronounce it dead.

He doesn't need to pronounce it dead, it's already dead and it was dead the moment it was drafted (just like all the other times they've voted to defund/repeal Obamacare). This is a waste of time to cater to morons like you.

[angrydude]

Ohio is one of the "Repug kamikaze" states that has refused to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid. Same story in TX, where hospitals and clinics are going to be badly hurt by kamikaze Repugs' ideology of "hate Fed govt, no matter how we fuck over the poor bubbas, blacks, browns".

once again boob, you prove how fucking ignorant you are of what's really resulting from Repugs' anti-governance, anti-99% ideology.

What Fed funds?

Last time I checked, this nation was in debt.

[Th'Pusher]

The low life, Harry, Obama's main man in the Senate, will be out to mealy mouth the bill and pronounce it dead.

Actually the senate will just strip out the Ocare provision and send it back to the house.

[Th'Pusher]

What Fed funds?

Last time I checked, this nation was in debt.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222344&p=6845141#post6845141

[boutons_deux]

What Fed funds?

Last time I checked, this nation was in debt.

yet another person who doesn't understand how ACA works. Been sucking down the Repug anti-ACA lies and sabotage, have ya?

[angrydude]

The deficit isn't the same as the national debt.

[Th'Pusher]

The deficit isn't the same as the national debt.
The CBO report shows that the U.S. still has a long-term debt problem, but there is no short-term problem whatsoever. The idea that drastic action must be taken today to cut the deficit immediately is just complete nonsense.

[boobie4three]

Bravo Ted Cruz. Bob Corker, Sit Down.

Hugh Hewitt | Sep 20, 2013

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/cruz_zps3504aaad.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/cruz_zps3504aaad.jpg.html)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is drawing a lot of ire and fire from the Beltway GOP.

The eloquent and passionate Texas freshman has raised the hair on necks of the Republicans who sought a deal to avoid the unpleasantness of brinksmanship with the most incompetent president of modern times.

It is absolutely the case that the GOP will, in the end, have to vote for a Continuing Resolution that funds Obamacare. It will require winning the Senate for the GOP in 2014 and the presidency in 2016 to repeal Obamacare.

Cruz's strategy right now is to mobilize the public in 2013 so that those goals are possible in 2014 and 2016. Principled conservatives can disagree on tactics, and even on strategy, but they cannot disagree on the fact that Obamacare is killing jobs and the American health system.

Cruz and his fellow gifted rhetoricians Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have all inveighed against Obamacare consistently and for months. They have a plan to keep the fiasco that is Obamacare front and center of the American people, and they are working the plan. They are building a movement, not a dance card, in D.C.

The House Republican leadership would have mostly preferred to fade the issue, hoping that events would break their way or at least resolve in some sort of bipartisan consensus.

Events broke their way only in the fact that this disaster of a president was revealed to the world by Vladimir Putin as a bumbling, stumbling incompetent that only the Beltway GOP could not flank.

This president won't stand up to Assad or Putin, but he will bully Beltway Republicans. That's what he does. It is the only thing he has done well in the past five years.

But the four aces of the GOP in the Senate won't be intimidated and won't be bullied, even when their colleague John McCain calls them "whacko birds."

Cruz and his colleagues rallied hundreds of thousands of voters to sign on to the effort to defund Obamacare. That's called building a network that can be mobilized in future elections. That's called playing to win, now and in 2014 and 2016.

Even as I was talking with Senator Cruz about the end game, though, a long line of Republican time-servers lined up to criticize the Texas senator for daring to rally the troops and charge the hill.

The stunner came from entitled Tennessee senator Bob Corker, a very wealthy guy who won a very narrow victory in his first Senate race in 2006 with the help of serious conservatives of the sort now supporting Ted Cruz. Senator Corker won a comfortable re-election in 2012, so he thinks he doesn't need those sort of people any more. Thus he snidely attacks their favorite new face in D.C., demonstrating both envy and a profound ignorance of how quickly six years pass.

Corker, a household name in the Corker household, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, which I had always thought a prestigious university until today. Corker made a lot of bucks in the development biz. Like Terry McAullife. Like Terry McAuliffe, Senator Corker has a hard time cabining his contempt for people who prefer ideas to bank balances.

Recall that Cruz is the son of an immigrant and an exile, that Cruz is a self-made man and a genuine intellectual, who has argued eight times before the Untied States Supreme Court.

Recall that Cruz is everything anyone would want a second generation American to be --or an any generation American to be.

So what did Corker snark out over Twitter on Thursday?

Senator Bob Corker

@SenBobCorker

14h

I didn’t go to Harvard or Princeton, but I can count -- the defunding box canyon is a tactic that will fail and weaken our position. –BC

Get it? That climber, that immigrant's kid who did good in school and excelled at Princeton and Harvard Law and is oh so smart, well Bob Corker thinks he needs to sit down and shut up. Just like Clarence Thomas needed to sit down and shut up in 1991. Just like all the Tea Party nutters need to sit down and shut up. The rich guys who bought their seats have this one. Leave it to the guys who golf.

Speaker John Boehner's aides are flooding the Huffington Post with anonymous quotes blasting Cruz for forcing the House to force the Senate Democrats to get endangered Senate Democrats Begich of Alaska, Landrieu of Louisiana, Shaheen of New Hampshire, Pryor of Arkansas and Udall of Colorado to vote again for or against Obamacare, thus opening them up for devastating and deserved attacks in 2014.

The K Street Republicans, however, are really and truly enraged that Cruz is trying to win the Senate back and really intends to get rid of Obamacare. The country club Republicans are upset he didn't wait his turn and is getting more press than they are.

Bravo, Ted Cruz. And Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Press on. The country's in a bad place with a lost-in-space president. Ignore the sniping from the time-servers and the past-their-sell-date GOP. Reagan would be applauding.

http://townhall.com/columnists/hughhewitt/2013/09/20/bravo-ted-cruz--bob-corker-sit-down-n1705054/page/2

[angrydude]

The Surest Way to Spot Trouble: When Even the CBO Says There’s a Problem (http://www.cyniconomics.com/2013/09/17/the-surest-way-to-spot-trouble-when-even-the-cbo-says-theres-a-problem/)

[boutons_deux]

HOUSE REPUBLICANS LINE UP FOR FREE ANNUAL PHYSICALS BEFORE DEFUNDING OBAMACARE


Saying that they needed to be in peak physical condition for their looming effort to defund Obamacare, over a hundred House Republicans lined up for their free annual physicals today.

The physicals, part of Congress’s government-subsidized health-care package, yielded good news for many of the House G.O.P., who learned that they were strong and healthy enough for the demanding task of defunding Obamacare.

“My blood pressure was lower than I thought it would be,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “That’s amazing, because it goes through the roof whenever I think about how Obamacare would destroy America.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia)—whose free annual physical included an examination of his heart, lungs, ears, eyes, throat, and blood—said that his doctor proclaimed him in perfect physical condition: “He said I should be able to live a long, healthy life and defund Obamacare for many years to come.”

Rep. Cantor added that he had lost a few pounds since last year’s free annual physical, as he headed to lunch before defunding food stamps.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/09/house-republicans-line-up-for-free-annual-physicals-before-defunding-obamacare.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(169)

[angrydude]

http://www.cyniconomics.com/2013/09/19/cheeburger-cheeburger-no-coke-pepsi-rick-santelli-presents-cyniconomics-debt-projections/

[Th'Pusher]

Bravo Ted Cruz. Bob Corker, Sit Down.

Hugh Hewitt | Sep 20, 2013

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/cruz_zps3504aaad.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/cruz_zps3504aaad.jpg.html)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is drawing a lot of ire and fire from the Beltway GOP.

The eloquent and passionate Texas freshman has raised the hair on necks of the Republicans who sought a deal to avoid the unpleasantness of brinksmanship with the most incompetent president of modern times.

It is absolutely the case that the GOP will, in the end, have to vote for a Continuing Resolution that funds Obamacare. It will require winning the Senate for the GOP in 2014 and the presidency in 2016 to repeal Obamacare.

Cruz's strategy right now is to mobilize the public in 2013 so that those goals are possible in 2014 and 2016. Principled conservatives can disagree on tactics, and even on strategy, but they cannot disagree on the fact that Obamacare is killing jobs and the American health system.

Cruz and his fellow gifted rhetoricians Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have all inveighed against Obamacare consistently and for months. They have a plan to keep the fiasco that is Obamacare front and center of the American people, and they are working the plan. They are building a movement, not a dance card, in D.C.

The House Republican leadership would have mostly preferred to fade the issue, hoping that events would break their way or at least resolve in some sort of bipartisan consensus.

Events broke their way only in the fact that this disaster of a president was revealed to the world by Vladimir Putin as a bumbling, stumbling incompetent that only the Beltway GOP could not flank.

This president won't stand up to Assad or Putin, but he will bully Beltway Republicans. That's what he does. It is the only thing he has done well in the past five years.

But the four aces of the GOP in the Senate won't be intimidated and won't be bullied, even when their colleague John McCain calls them "whacko birds."

Cruz and his colleagues rallied hundreds of thousands of voters to sign on to the effort to defund Obamacare. That's called building a network that can be mobilized in future elections. That's called playing to win, now and in 2014 and 2016.

Even as I was talking with Senator Cruz about the end game, though, a long line of Republican time-servers lined up to criticize the Texas senator for daring to rally the troops and charge the hill.

The stunner came from entitled Tennessee senator Bob Corker, a very wealthy guy who won a very narrow victory in his first Senate race in 2006 with the help of serious conservatives of the sort now supporting Ted Cruz. Senator Corker won a comfortable re-election in 2012, so he thinks he doesn't need those sort of people any more. Thus he snidely attacks their favorite new face in D.C., demonstrating both envy and a profound ignorance of how quickly six years pass.

Corker, a household name in the Corker household, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, which I had always thought a prestigious university until today. Corker made a lot of bucks in the development biz. Like Terry McAullife. Like Terry McAuliffe, Senator Corker has a hard time cabining his contempt for people who prefer ideas to bank balances.

Recall that Cruz is the son of an immigrant and an exile, that Cruz is a self-made man and a genuine intellectual, who has argued eight times before the Untied States Supreme Court.

Recall that Cruz is everything anyone would want a second generation American to be --or an any generation American to be.

So what did Corker snark out over Twitter on Thursday?

Senator Bob Corker

@SenBobCorker

14h

I didn’t go to Harvard or Princeton, but I can count -- the defunding box canyon is a tactic that will fail and weaken our position. –BC

Get it? That climber, that immigrant's kid who did good in school and excelled at Princeton and Harvard Law and is oh so smart, well Bob Corker thinks he needs to sit down and shut up. Just like Clarence Thomas needed to sit down and shut up in 1991. Just like all the Tea Party nutters need to sit down and shut up. The rich guys who bought their seats have this one. Leave it to the guys who golf.

Speaker John Boehner's aides are flooding the Huffington Post with anonymous quotes blasting Cruz for forcing the House to force the Senate Democrats to get endangered Senate Democrats Begich of Alaska, Landrieu of Louisiana, Shaheen of New Hampshire, Pryor of Arkansas and Udall of Colorado to vote again for or against Obamacare, thus opening them up for devastating and deserved attacks in 2014.

The K Street Republicans, however, are really and truly enraged that Cruz is trying to win the Senate back and really intends to get rid of Obamacare. The country club Republicans are upset he didn't wait his turn and is getting more press than they are.

Bravo, Ted Cruz. And Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Press on. The country's in a bad place with a lost-in-space president. Ignore the sniping from the time-servers and the past-their-sell-date GOP. Reagan would be applauding.

http://townhall.com/columnists/hughhewitt/2013/09/20/bravo-ted-cruz--bob-corker-sit-down-n1705054/page/2

:lol

[boobie4three]

:lol


Is someone tickling you?

This apparently is the strategy. Keep 0bamacare front and center before the American public enabeling the Republicans to bring the hammer down on the Dems in 2014 and take the White House in 2016. I hope it works so I can come here and see heads explode.

[Th'Pusher]

Is someone tickling you?

This apparently is the strategy. Keep 0bamacare front and center before the American public enabeling the Republicans to bring the hammer down on the Dems in 2014 and take the White House in 2016. I hope it works so I can come here and see heads explode.
Strategy :lol

its ridiculous to think that the ACA will be repealed in 2016 once it's in full effect.

[boutons_deux]

Is someone tickling you?

This apparently is the strategy. Keep 0bamacare front and center before the American public enabeling the Republicans to bring the hammer down on the Dems in 2014 and take the White House in 2016. I hope it works so I can come here and see heads explode.

There He/She Goes Again!

:lol

[TeyshaBlue]

Strategy :lol

its ridiculous to think that the ACA will be repealed in 2016 once it's in full effect.

VWRC...1%ers....repugs....bubbas....hmo fellators........


Eeasy-Peasey.:lol

[boobie4three]

Strategy :lol

its ridiculous to think that the ACA will be repealed in 2016 once it's in full effect.

I believe 0bamacare will be exposed for the train wreck that it is by then, and those elected officials that supported it will get the boot. True Americans can only hope that's the way this plays out anyway.

[Th'Pusher]

I believe 0bamacare will be exposed for the train wreck that it is by then, and those elected officials that supported it will get the boot. True Americans can only hope that's the way this plays out anyway.
:lol hope. True Americans. You're delusional and emotional and you do not use logic and reason to come to conclusions just like the author of that ridiculous article. You are he base of the Republican Party.

[boobie4three]

:lol hope. True Americans. You're delusional and emotional and you do not use logic and reason to conclusions just like the author of that ridiculous article. You are he base of the Republican Party.

Chortle away fool, because we plan on...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/emvideo-youtube-9QS0q3mGPGg_1.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/emvideo-youtube-9QS0q3mGPGg_1.jpg.html)

[boutons_deux]

Maddow: Obamacare is turning into the GOP’s Waterloo and it’s awesome

On Thursday night’s edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show,” host Rachel Maddow relished the current disarray among D.C. Republicans over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”

Maddow prefaced the segment with the same warning that runs before MSNBC’s popular prison shows: “Due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised.”

“Okay, now you have been warned,” said Maddow. “Now, here’s Dana Bash on CNN.”

She then played a clip of Bash saying the now-infamous quote of a House Republican aide saying that Texas state Rep. Wendy Davis (D) has “more balls than Ted Cruz (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/19/house-republican-leadership-aide-wendy-davis-has-more-balls-than-ted-cruz/).”

“That is the way that Republicans in Washington are talking about each other now,” Maddow said, which is ironic considering that back in 2009, when the future of Democratic health care reform was in doubt, Republicans were full of hubris.

“If we can stop him on this,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) at the time, “it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”

“The Republicans and the conservatives did not get that Waterloo,” Maddow said. “Health reform passed. It became law. It got ruled constitutional by the United States Supreme Court and it’s now going into effect.”

“And now the political effect of health reform does turn out to be the aforementioned Waterloo,” she continued, “but the side that is breaking apart is not President Obama’s side. It is the other side.”

As pragmatic Republicans try to find a graceful way to allow Obamacare to progress unimpeded, the tea party caucus is trying to engineer a government shutdown rather than let the law go into effect. As a result, the two sides are hurling furious invective at each other.

When Cruz was confronted by reporters with the Wendy Davis remark, he responded, “I’ve always been impressed with the courage of anonymous congressional aides.”

Arkansas Republican Rep. Tim Griffin tweeted on Thursday that Senate Republicans “are good at getting Facebook likes, and townhalls, and not much else. Do something.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pushed back in an interview that the shutdown supporters are “mostly new and don’t have the experience” in Congress that he does, and therefore don’t understand how these things work. He invoked the catastrophic government shutdowns engineered by then House Speaker Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) in 1995, which backfired spectacularly (http://www.salon.com/2010/09/08/government_shutdown_1995/) on the Republicans and paved the way for a second term for Pres. Bill Clinton.

“I can tell you,” McCain said, “in the United States Senate, we will not repeal or defund Obamacare. We will not. And to think we can is not rational.”

“Again, there are no Democrats in these fights,” Maddow observed. “There are no liberals in these fights. This is all Republicans and conservatives going after each other and it has been amazing to watch.”

Watch the video, embedded below via MSNBC:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/20/maddow-obamacare-is-turning-into-the-gops-waterloo-and-its-awesome/

:lol

[Th'Pusher]

Chortle away fool, because we plan on...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/emvideo-youtube-9QS0q3mGPGg_1.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/emvideo-youtube-9QS0q3mGPGg_1.jpg.html)

suit yourself. Just know that there is an entire industry built around rousing hyper-emotional deluded rabble just like yourself and the entertainers that profit off of your ignorance and emotion don't even believe half the bullshit they spew.

[101A]

A 64 year old is getting a windfall if he is only paying 3 times as much considering he on average will use more than 3 times as much health care.

I agree on the source of costs though.

Yes; however right now (and it has always been this way in group insurance) the 64 year old is paying exactly what the 24 year old is paying. When the 64 year old was 24, he was paying what the then 64 year olds were paying - he's not getting his payback.

[Th'Pusher]

Yes; however right now (and it has always been this way in group insurance) the 64 year old is paying exactly what the 24 year old is paying. When the 64 year old was 24, he was paying what the then 64 year olds were paying - he's not getting his payback.
Sounds like the cost of more price transparency.

[CosmicCowboy]

“I’ve always been impressed with the courage of anonymous congressional aides.”

:lmao

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Yes; however right now (and it has always been this way in group insurance) the 64 year old is paying exactly what the 24 year old is paying. When the 64 year old was 24, he was paying what the then 64 year olds were paying - he's not getting his payback.

Age has been an underwriting factor from before the AC. This is nothing new. They are just eliminating other underwriting factors from the equation. This notion that insurance has not charged old people more as a matter of course the entire time is laughable. They will use whatever underwriting factors they can because it gives better projections and thus more certainty.

I want to see evidence of where a major insurer, say Blue Cross, is going to be using individualized underwriting factors for business plans AND where old fucks are being charged 3 times as much and not getting paychecks. This just sounds to me like you are pulling individual policies pricing.

[boobie4three]

:lmao

Yeah that was a good quote. Ted Cruz IS the smartest man in the room. Liberals are scared shitless of this guy and that's why they're trying to destroy him. There's an article every other day questioning his eligibility to be President, and our own bouton-douche never misses a chance to slam him. Cruz is bouton's worst nightmare.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Yeah that was a good quote. Ted Cruz IS the smartest man in the room. Liberals are scared shitless of this guy and that's why they're trying to destroy him. There's an article every other day questioning his eligibility to be President, and our own bouton-douche never misses a chance to slam him. Cruz is bouton's worst nightmare.

He sure is good at marketing himself. For a freshman legislator to get this much clout is astounding.

When it comes to creating policy I would have to say not so much. He is chewing his political capital on something that has about zero chance of working. His own GOP especially the leadership don't like his antics. He forced the speakers hand and the speaker has done an excellent job at pinning it all on Cruz. If the GOP looks bad --again-- because of brinksmanship regarding the budget then they have a prepackaged scapegoat.

Seeing that the senate is comprised as it is, their ploy has no chance of actually working. At least he is making press.

[boutons_deux]

"Liberals are scared shitless of this guy and that's why they're trying to destroy him"

Cruz is disliked, even hated by Senate Repugs. He is the General Custer of this defund-ACA craziness and will get slaughtered doing it.

Dems simply watching the show with glee.

[PublicOption]

what Insurance companies and Pharmaceutical companies are really afraid of..............premiums and drugs will go down dramatically and the republicans will lose dramatically in 2014......this will happen and the GOP and their sponsors feel like there is nothing to lose.

[PublicOption]

^either they will lose because people will see how good it is, or they will lose because they shut the govt down.

[PublicOption]

This is big business vs people and the GOP is defending the big business to the end.

[boobie4three]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs

[boutons_deux]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs

St Ronnie was a union leader before he got wealthy and started screwing the 99% while enriching himself and his 1% buddies.

[Th'Pusher]

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/19/john_boehner_just_made_ted_cruz_life_a_living_hell/


New test could expose GOP’s pack of charlatans
Do Cruz, Paul and co. really want to shut the government down over Obamacare? Their farce may soon be revealed


BY BRIAN BEUTLER
Conservatives in the Senate have spent weeks and weeks hectoring House Republicans to stand true to GOP principles and make funding for the federal government contingent upon Democrats agreeing to defund Obamacare.

It’s about to blow up in their faces, and probably turn several of their more moderate colleagues into collateral damage.


Frustrated House Republicans are already demanding that their conservative antagonists in the Senate fight to the bitter end, as they promised they would, to either defund the healthcare law or shut down the government. That means Sens. Ted Cruz, R*Texas; Mike Lee, R*Utah; Marco Rubio, R*Fla.; Rand Paul, R*Ky.; and others will be held to account if they don’t do everything in their power to prevent a government funding bill from clearing the Senate if it doesn’t also defund Obamacare.


There are real steps they can take. But they’re already indicating they don’t plan to put up much of a fight. And if they lie down, it will expose their
Defund Obamacare campaign as a farce engineered by hollow charlatans. The House will vote this week on legislation that temporarily renews funding for the federal government, but prohibits any federal dollars from being used during that stretch to fund Obamacare. If it passes — that remains an if — it heads to the Senate, where arcane parliamentary rules give individual members (read: Republicans) tremendous power over legislative proceedings.


The precise steps conservative members can take to keep the debate chugging until they get their way depend on how the debate itself is structured at the outset. But it’s not as simple as Cruz indicated in a statement Wednesdayight.


“Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so,” Cruz said. “At that point,
House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people.”


He and his conservative allies will be under the microscope. If they think they can just sit in their offices until it’s time to vote no, and then claim they did
everything in their power to defund Obamacare, they’re in for a rude awakening.


The first question for these conservatives is whether they plan to engage in battle with the rest of the Senate GOP conference.The bill coming over from the House will be “fully debatable on both ends,” according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide.


That’s technical mumbo*umbo, but it basically means Harry Reid will potentially face at least two filibusters if he wants to pass a final bill. Breaking filibusters
requires 60 votes — which means he’ll need Republican help at some point along the way to fund Obamacare. First, he’ll need Republican support just to begin
debate on the bill. Then he’ll need Republican votes to end it. The rules probably allow him to strip the defunding measure at the end of that process with a simple
majority. But first he has to get there. And the Republican Party has a lot of power over whether he gets there and what happens in between.


Under less contentious circumstances, Reid, in conjunction with agreeable Republicans, could zip right through all this tedium with no real debate. But given the
political valence of this government shutdown fight, that would amount to surrender — to GOP complicity in stripping the defunding measure from the bill.
So the first questions are: Will Lee, Cruz, et al., insist on a real debate of the House bill? If they do, will the entire GOP conference back them up? If not, which
unfortunate Republicans will cast the votes that ultimately give Reid the power to junk the defunding provision? Or worse, which Republicans will cast votes to
junk it themselves? And how much pressure will Sen. Mitch McConnell, R*Ky., the embattled Senate minority leader, bring to bear on the conference to toe the
conservative line.


The answers will be extremely revealing. If the conservatives say nothing, they’ll betray their whole charade. If moderate and mainstream Republicans cross
them, they’ll have to stand up and vote, and thus become sitting ducks on the right. If McConnell slinks into the distance, he’ll have to answer for it in Kentucky.
The real test for these conservatives will come if they lock in extended debate on the House funding bill. In this interregnum, individual members can delay the
inevitable passage of legislation they don’t like by initiating a “talking filibuster” — just like the famous one Rand Paul launched this past March. Except Paul was more or less on his own. The Defund Caucus is about a dozen members large.


“If they were really careful about the way they did it and tag*teamed it indefinitely they could filibuster it indefinitely,” said a Senate Dem aide.
To shut down the government, they’d need to execute the filibuster flawlessly. “That would involve them doing it for over a week with no screw*ups,” the aide said. But conservative activists, not to mention the House Republicans they’ve spent months dogging, will expect them to try. If they pass up the chance, they’ll expose the defund campaign as a sham. And at the end of the process, some Senate Republicans are going to have to vote — at least — to give Reid and Democrats the power to strip the defunding measure. They’ll be damaged goods. Either way, someone loses, and all because conservatives in the Senate thought they could demagogue the issue without ever having to put their credibility on the line.


“All options are on the table,” Cruz’s spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told Salon.


Last night on Hannity, aware that he’d stepped in it, Cruz himself vowed to fight “with every breath” to pass a defunding CR in the Senate.
Today, Republicans are taking a crash course in Senate parliamentary procedure, possibly preparing for some long nights. If there was any doubt that John
Boehner’s latest move was an exercise in calling conservatives’ bluff, this should put it to bed.

[boutons_deux]

If figure Cruz, Lee, Rubio, Wombat Hair all will lose, lose very BIG and very publicly, then be re-elected as winners by their asshole constituents.

[boobie4three]

I see Cruz and company playing hardball with Harry Reid, and Dingy Harry running to the microphones every night whining and complaining like he always does.

[Th'Pusher]

I see Cruz and company playing hardball with Harry Reid, and Dingy Harry running to the microphones every night whining and complaining like he always does.
What's the end game. You and they have already conceded that there is no way to defund The ACA. So what the point? Shut down the government to grandstand?

[boobie4three]

What's the end game. You and they have already conceded that there is no way to defund The ACA. So what the point? Shut down the government to grandstand?

I don't know what the end game is but Ted Cruz is a smart guy. I believe he's got something brilliant up his sleeve. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, but I say let's wait and see how this plays out.

[boobie4three]

FACING PRIMARY, LINDSEY GRAHAM NOW SUPPORTS DEFUNDING OBAMACARE

by MIKE FLYNN 21 Sep 2013, 8:29 AM PDT

On Friday, the House voted for a resolution to keep government open but also defund ObamaCare. Within minutes, Nancy Mace, who is opposing Sen. Lindsey Graham in the GOP primary, issued a press release attacking Graham for his past criticism of the defunding strategy. In just two hours, Graham tweeted that he supported the House's efforts to defund the unpopular health care law. Such is the power of primaries.


Lindsey Graham ✔ @GrahamBlog

I support the House-passed bill to Defund Obamacare. #SenateMustAct
11:17 AM - 20 Sep 2013
90 RETWEETS 29 FAVORITES Reply

As recently as July, Graham said that defunding ObamaCare was "a bridge too far for him." Primary opponents do tend to focus a politician's mind.
Graham faces at least three opponents in next year's primary contest. Normally, multiple challengers give an edge to incumbents, as opposition is split among several challengers. South Carolina, however, uses a run-off system. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two voter-getters face off in a run-off. Multiple challengers increase the odds that Graham falls below 50% and has to face a run-off.
Graham is no doubt a nice man and would make a good GOP Senator from a state like Maine. His representing South Carolina, however, is a wasted opportunity for conservatives. An East Coast John McCain does a disservice to the Palmetto State.
Graham's tweet in support of the House action indicates he is aware of the challenge before him. Few incumbents are so disliked by the grass-roots, both in South Carolina and across the country. A run-off election, with a single conservative challenger, would ignite national interest and possibly create a wave that washes over Graham.
His tweet in support of defunding ObamaCare was a good start. He now has to follow that up over the coming weeks.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/21/Facing-Primary-Lindsey-Graham-Now-Supports-Defunding-ObamaCare


I expect John McCain to come around shortly.

[Th'Pusher]

FACING PRIMARY, LINDSEY GRAHAM NOW SUPPORTS DEFUNDING OBAMACARE

by MIKE FLYNN 21 Sep 2013, 8:29 AM PDT

On Friday, the House voted for a resolution to keep government open but also defund ObamaCare. Within minutes, Nancy Mace, who is opposing Sen. Lindsey Graham in the GOP primary, issued a press release attacking Graham for his past criticism of the defunding strategy. In just two hours, Graham tweeted that he supported the House's efforts to defund the unpopular health care law. Such is the power of primaries.


Lindsey Graham ✔ @GrahamBlog

I support the House-passed bill to Defund Obamacare. #SenateMustAct
11:17 AM - 20 Sep 2013
90 RETWEETS 29 FAVORITES Reply

As recently as July, Graham said that defunding ObamaCare was "a bridge too far for him." Primary opponents do tend to focus a politician's mind.
Graham faces at least three opponents in next year's primary contest. Normally, multiple challengers give an edge to incumbents, as opposition is split among several challengers. South Carolina, however, uses a run-off system. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two voter-getters face off in a run-off. Multiple challengers increase the odds that Graham falls below 50% and has to face a run-off.
Graham is no doubt a nice man and would make a good GOP Senator from a state like Maine. His representing South Carolina, however, is a wasted opportunity for conservatives. An East Coast John McCain does a disservice to the Palmetto State.
Graham's tweet in support of the House action indicates he is aware of the challenge before him. Few incumbents are so disliked by the grass-roots, both in South Carolina and across the country. A run-off election, with a single conservative challenger, would ignite national interest and possibly create a wave that washes over Graham.
His tweet in support of defunding ObamaCare was a good start. He now has to follow that up over the coming weeks.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/21/Facing-Primary-Lindsey-Graham-Now-Supports-Defunding-ObamaCare


I expect John McCain to come around shortly.
You realize that the house bill is not being passed by the senate and even if he'll froze over and it did, the president is not signing the bill, right?

you're whooping and hollering from the sideline for political impotence.

[boobie4three]

You realize that the house bill is not being passed by the senate and even if he'll froze over and it did, the president is not signing the bill, right?

you're whooping and hollering from the sideline for political impotence.

I believe it's possible that a tremendous amount of pressure could be brought to bear on the Senate by their constituents who want 0bamacare defunded, so much pressure that at least 60 Senators vote to pass the House bill as is. 60 votes, as we all know, overrides anything the Community Organizer in Chief wants to do. Am I presenting a realistic scenario or am I high?

[Th'Pusher]

I believe it's possible that a tremendous amount of pressure could be brought to bear on the Senate by their constituents who want 0bamacare defunded, so much pressure that at least 60 Senators vote to pass the House bill as is. 60 votes, as we all know, overrides anything the Community Organizer in Chief wants to do. Am I presenting a realistic scenario or am I high?

you're just delusional and blinded by your unfounded hate for POTUS, imho.

[boobie4three]

you're just delusional and blinded by your unfounded hate for POTUS, imho.

That wasn't one of the choices.

[Th'Pusher]

That wasn't one of the choices.
You're delusional if you think there are 60 senators willing to defund The ACA. Most people don't even know that the ACA is even a law or just don't give a shit. Red team had their chance to scrap the law last year but they lost the presidential election and managed to lose seats in the senate because they ran fringe candidates. You're a part of the fringe. You consume fringe media that tells you what you want to hear. You don't live in reality tbh.

[boobie4three]

You don't live in reality tbh.

Be that as it may, we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/t7z9r4.gif (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/t7z9r4.gif.html)

[Th'Pusher]

Be that as it may, we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/t7z9r4.gif (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/t7z9r4.gif.html)
:tu

[PublicOption]

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

http://www.fraakz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Che-Guevara.jpg

[boutons_deux]

"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday warned Senate Republicans that refusing to filibuster a bill that defunds President Barack Obama’s health care reform law “is a vote for Obamacare,” and he also advised House Republicans to “shut down the military” if they had to."

“If Harry Reid kills the bill in the Senate, the House should hold its ground, and should begin passing smaller continuing resolutions, one department at a time,” Cruz explained. “It should start with a continuing resolution focused on the military.”
“Send it over, see if Harry Reid is willing to shut down the military,” he quipped.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/22/cruz-announces-plan-b-for-defunding-obamacare-shut-down-the-military/

See you right wing libertarian, tea bag sucking assholes, esp you Texas fucking assholes, Cruz' bomb-throwing is YOUR bomb-throwing. May you all lose your jobs in the Cruz/Lee/Rubio/WombatHair govt crippling and/or shutdown.

[boutons_deux]

:lol

Palin demands Fox News host turn over the GOP ‘cannibals’ who are trying to ‘trash’ Cruz

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/fox_palin_cruz_130922c-615x345.jpg

In a tweet (https://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/381783256665837569) addressed to Wallace’s Fox News Sunday show, Palin demanded to know who was trying to “trash” Cruz.

“Keep it TRULY fair & balanced. :lol

Release the GOP names encouraging you to trash @SenTedCruz,” she werote. “No more anonymous sources.”

“Someday I’m actually going to tell America what I really think about GOP elephants that would actually turn on a senator who is fulfilling his campaign promises,” Palin told Fox News host Shannon Bream later on Sunday. “Now these GOP elephants that are trying to turn on someone who is trying to fight for the will of the people, for liberty and for economic justice if you will, to have those turn on him is extremely disappointing. It’s not surprising though.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/22/palin-demands-fox-news-host-turn-over-the-gop-cannibals-who-are-trying-to-trash-cruz/

:lol Fox still showcasing this ignornant, crazy, money-grubbing bitch YOU PEOPLE wanted for vice-president! :lol

[boutons_deux]

sheeple news!

IN POLL ABOUT DEBT-CEILING CRISIS, AMERICANS TOTALLY EXCITED ABOUT NEW IPHONE


In a poll taken over the weekend about the looming debt-ceiling crisis and government shutdown, most Americans said that they were totally excited about the new iPhone 5s.

When asked about the prospect of a debt-ceiling logjam leading to a downgrade of the U.S. economy, seventy-two per cent of those surveyed said that the new iPhone looks like the most awesome iPhone yet.

Questioned about the disastrous impact of the U.S. government defaulting on the nation’s debt, sixty-five per cent agreed with the statement, “I can’t believe I waited on line all Friday for the 5s and they told me they’re sold out until October.”

On the topic of whether the debt-ceiling crisis could plunge the world economy into the most apocalyptic catastrophe since the financial meltdown of 2008, Americans were deeply divided over which color iPhone they would choose, but agreed that all of them looked amazing.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/09/in-poll-about-debt-ceiling-crisis-americans-totally-excited-about-new-iphone.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(170)

[boutons_deux]

Vice President Palin demands that the Senate obey President Cruz (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/23/1240741/-Vice-President-Palin-demands-that-the-Senate-obey-President-Cruz)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/36122/large/RTR3F2ZK.jpg?1370970361

Former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin further stoked Republican turmoil over the weekend by writing on Breitbart News :lol that,

“It’s time for the Senate to put itself on Cruz Control” and hinting she may endorse the primary opponents of those who defy her.

“A little reminder to Republican senators up for re-election in 2014: Moose season ends soon, :lol allowing more time on one’s hands. So, we’ll be watching your votes very carefully this week,” Palin wrote.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/23/1240741/-Vice-President-Palin-demands-that-the-Senate-obey-President-Cruz

pitbull bitch thinks she has any political power to intimidate/threaten Senators into voting with Cruz? :lol

[101A]

Age has been an underwriting factor from before the AC. This is nothing new. They are just eliminating other underwriting factors from the equation. This notion that insurance has not charged old people more as a matter of course the entire time is laughable. They will use whatever underwriting factors they can because it gives better projections and thus more certainty.

I want to see evidence of where a major insurer, say Blue Cross, is going to be using individualized underwriting factors for business plans AND where old fucks are being charged 3 times as much and not getting paychecks. This just sounds to me like you are pulling individual policies pricing.


Under 50 lives the carriers ARE rating individuals (including dependents) separately.

Right out of the Federal Register:


d. Age Rating

In 147.102(a)(1)(iii), we proposed that the premium rate charged by a health insurance issuer for non-grandfathered health insurance coverage in the individual or small group market may vary by age, except that such rate may not vary by more than 3:1 for adults, as set forth by the statute. We proposed todefine adults as individuals age 21 and older for purposes of this provision. For individuals under age 21, we proposed that rates must be actuarially justified based on a standard population. Further, we proposed that an enrollee's age for rating purposes be determined at the time of policy issuance and renewal and requested comment on whether other measurement points, such as birthdays, were appropriate.Show citation box
After consulting with the NAIC, we proposed the following standard age bands for use in all states and markets subject to section 2701 of the PHS Act:


Children: A single age band for children ages 0 through 20.
Adults: One-year age bands for adults ages 21 through 63.
Older adults: A single age band for adults ages 64 and older.



I've got quotes using exactly those parameters, right now for groups up to 14 employees (simply the first to hit my desk), but I should have dozens in the next month or so for employers up to 50; I'll let you know if any carriers are still using composite rating for small groups. Also we are hearing consistent rumors from some trade associations that "Small Group" is going to have a Federal Definition in the next couple of years of "Under 100".

Also, Fuzzy, my business has always been exclusively group (most over 30; a few smaller just happened); have never marketed, quoted or even seen an individual policy.

[boobie4three]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/23/1240741/-Vice-President-Palin-demands-that-the-Senate-obey-President-Cruz

I knew that's where you get indoctrinated every morning. Do you write any diaries over there? Maybe you're Markos HIMSELF.

[boutons_deux]

Vast Majority Of Tea Party Prefers Government Shutdown Over Compromise


http://a1.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/ed8ksjc4ddbfvpzdoyep.jpg

A huge majority of tea party types want likeminded lawmakers to defend by their convictions even if it results in a government shutdown, placing the ultra-conservative contingent sharply at odds with the rest of the country.

The latest findings released Monday by Pew Research Center (http://www.people-press.org/2013/09/23/blame-for-both-sides-as-possible-government-shutdown-approaches/) found 71 percent of tea party Republicans want lawmakers who share their views to stand by their principles even if doing so leads to a government shutdown. Only 20 percent of tea partiers said they want those lawmakers to compromise, even if it leads to a budget with which they disagree. Republicans in general were more divided, but a plurality — 49 percent — still said they would rather have their lawmakers stand by their principles rather than compromise.

Those views separate the GOP from both their Demcratic counterparts and the country as a whole. According to Pew, 57 percent of all Americans would prefer lawmakers who share their views to compromise, while only a third said they'd prefer them to stand by their principles even if it shut down the government.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-vast-majority-of-tea-party-wants-leaders-to-stand-by-principles-even-if-it-shuts-down-the-government

principles? :lol

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Under 50 lives the carriers ARE rating individuals (including dependents) separately.

Right out of the Federal Register:



I've got quotes using exactly those parameters, right now for groups up to 14 employees (simply the first to hit my desk), but I should have dozens in the next month or so for employers up to 50; I'll let you know if any carriers are still using composite rating for small groups. Also we are hearing consistent rumors from some trade associations that "Small Group" is going to have a Federal Definition in the next couple of years of "Under 100".

Also, Fuzzy, my business has always been exclusively group (most over 30; a few smaller just happened); have never marketed, quoted or even seen an individual policy.

Can I get a link please?

Again, I said they could do that before. There was no law preventing them. All it says in the quote is that they may do that ie they still can if they so choose and that there is a cap of 3:1. You are twisting that into "OMG IT'S NOW 3 TIMES AS MUCH" whereas before they could do more than a 3:1 ratio if they wanted to. There has been little to no actuarial oversight in health insurance. This isn't car insurance.

What I am seeing here is you going nuts over what might happen. You have rumors from trade associations etc. What I don't see here is something saying that there is a lower limit on composite group size. If that were the case then sure I could get the hand wringing. Why don't you call your carriers and see what they actually offer rather than see what they try and sell you on their own? Things changing does not necessarily mean the world is going to end.

[boobie4three]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/count_zps84166d2b.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/count_zps84166d2b.jpg.html)

Oooooh scary. A government shutdown. The end of the world as we know it.:lol

[FuzzyLumpkins]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/count_zps84166d2b.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/count_zps84166d2b.jpg.html)

Oooooh scary. A government shutdown. The end of the world as we know it.:lol

For a country where most live paycheck to paycheck then yeah even a day of shutdown is meaningful. Not to mention the effect it has on consumer and market confidence. Would you like to revisit what happened economically last time this happened? We have a recent emperical example of why it's a bad thing.

[boutons_deux]

4 months ago, worse now:

More and more Americans are feeling the effects of the sequester


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/29/more-americans-are-feeling-the-effects-of-the-sequester/

https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/44445-SpendReductions_1.pdf

[boobie4three]

For a country where most live paycheck to paycheck then yeah even a day of shutdown is meaningful. Not to mention the effect it has on consumer and market confidence. Would you like to revisit what happened economically last time this happened? We have a recent emperical example of why it's a bad thing.

If the Republicans play their cards right, 0bama and the Dems will look like THEY are responsible for shutting the government down in order to protect 0bamacare which everybody hates. Don't ask me how those cards will be played. People that make a lot more money than I do will have to figure that out.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/t7z9r4.gif (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/t7z9r4.gif.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/ReaganHeat_zps8229773c.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/ReaganHeat_zps8229773c.jpg.html)

[boutons_deux]

"Obamacare which everybody hates"

You Lie

[FuzzyLumpkins]

If the Republicans play their cards right, 0bama and the Dems will look like THEY are responsible for shutting the government down in order to protect 0bamacare which everybody hates. Don't ask me how those cards will be played. People that make a lot more money than I do will have to figure that out.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/t7z9r4.gif (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/t7z9r4.gif.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/ReaganHeat_zps8229773c.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/ReaganHeat_zps8229773c.jpg.html)

Saying that everyone hates it is fun I guess but people tha tactually pay attention to polls realize that favorability bears out pretty much to party lines. There is no pudding for proof yet. The GOP already tried this in 2011 and lost the midterm because of it. That is why the rank and file is telling the Randians to piss off. There is no 'do it the right way' tghat will pin it on the Dems. You paying attention ot the story as it goes on?

Putting a guy that ballooned national debt unlike any before is fun I guess. It just goes to show how clueless you are as to your mascot. Reagan was a through and through neocon. He is infinitely closer to McCain and the republican establishment than he is Cruz, Rand and co.

Middle class GOP types make me laugh doubly when it comes to economics.

[ChumpDumper]

The GOP will take the blame for shutting down the government. They will not be able to spin it any other way.

It's funny that with the shutdowns and sequester, Republicans have vividly illustrated how vital government spending is to the economy. Good job, guys!

[boutons_deux]

The House Republicans’ Dangerous New Constitutional Doctrine: Repealing Laws by De-Funding Them

Yesterday morning on ABC's "This Week," Newt Gingrich and I debated whether House Republicans in should be able to repeal a law - in this case, the Affordable Care Act - by de-funding it. Here's the essence:

GINGRICH: Under our constitutional system, going all the way back to Magna Carta in 1215, the people's house is allowed to say to the king we ain't giving you money. :lol (Gingrich "teaching" history to bubbas and rednecks)

REICH: Sorry, under our constitutional system you're not allow to risk the entire system of government to get your way.

Had we had more time I would have explained to the former Speaker something he surely already knows: The Affordable Care Act was duly enacted by a majority of both houses of Congress, signed into law by the President, and even upheld by the Supreme Court.

The Constitution of the United States does not allow a majority of the House of Representatives to repeal the law of the land by de-funding it. If that were the case, no law is safe. A majority of the House could get rid of unemployment insurance, federal aid to education, Social Security, Medicare, or any other law they didn't like merely by deciding not to fund them.

I believe the Affordable Care Act will prove to be enormously popular with the American public once it's fully implemented - which is exactly why the Republicans are so intent on bulldozing it before then. If they were sincere about their objections, they'd let Americans try it out - and then, if it didn't work, decide to repeal it.

The constitutional process for repealing a law - such as Congress and President Clinton did with the old Glass-Steagall Act - is for both houses to enact a new bill that repeals the old, which must then be signed by the President.

If the President vetoes it, then the repeal can only go into effect if the veto is overridden by two-thirds of the House and the Senate.

The Republicans who are now running the House of Representatives are pushing a dangerous new constitutional doctrine. They must be stopped. There should be no compromising with fanatics.

http://robertreich.org/post/62056653726

[boutons_deux]

Repug dirty tricks in TX

TX Repugs waited until a couple weeks before the enrollment to "disqualify" navigators, and force them into training which won't be completed until 2014, making it much more difficult for the TX poor, uninsured to enroll.

[boobie4three]

Repug dirty tricks in TX

TX Repugs waited until a couple weeks before the enrollment to "disqualify" navigators, and force them into training which won't be completed until 2014, making it much more difficult for the TX poor, uninsured to enroll.

0bama's Navigators

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/navigators_zpsa7289e00.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/navigators_zpsa7289e00.jpg.html)

[ChumpDumper]

Seriously?

Well, you do think Cruz is a genius and this bill will pass the Senate.

[boobie4three]

"Obamacare which everybody hates"

You Lie




If Kool-Aid drinking 0bama supporters would bother to pay attention, they indeed would hate it. At least the ones that will be getting screwed.

Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four

9/23/2013 @ 8:00AM

It was one of candidate Obama’s most vivid and concrete campaign promises. Forget about high minded (some might say high sounding) but gauzy promises of hope and change. This candidate solemnly pledged on June 5, 2008: “In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year….. We’ll do it by the end of my first term as President of the United States.” Unfortunately, the experts working for Medicare’s actuary have (yet again[1]) reported that in its first 10 years, Obamacare will boost health spending by “roughly $621 billion” above the amounts Americans would have spent without this misguided law.

What this means for a typical family of four

$621 billion is a pretty eye-glazing number. Most readers will find it easier to think about how this number translates to a typical American family—the very family candidate Obama promised would see $2,500 in annual savings as far as the eye could see. So I have taken the latest year-by-year projections, divided by the projected U.S. population to determine the added amount per person and multiplied the result by 4.

Simplistic? Maybe, but so too was the President’s campaign promise. And this approach allows us to see just how badly that promise fell short of the mark. Between 2014 and 2022, the increase in national health spending (which the Medicare actuaries specifically attribute to the law) amounts to $7,450 per family of 4.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/CostperFamily_zpsf841243c.png (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/CostperFamily_zpsf841243c.png.html)

Let us hope this family hasn’t already spent or borrowed the $22,500 in savings they might have expected over this same period had they taken candidate Obama’s promise at face value. In truth, no well-informed American ever should have believed this absurd promise. At the time, Factcheck.org charitably deemed this claim as “overly optimistic, misleading and, to some extent, contradicted by one of his own advisers.” The Washington Post less charitably awarded it Two Pinocchios (“Significant omissions or exaggerations”). Yet rather than learn from his mistakes, President Obama on July 16, 2012 essentially doubled-down on his promise, assuring small business owners “your premiums will go down.” He made this assertion notwithstanding the fact that in three separate reports between April 2010 and June 2012, the Medicare actuaries had demonstrated that the ACA would increase health spending. To its credit, the Washington Post dutifully awarded the 2012 claim Three Pinocchios (“Significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.”)

The past is not prologue: The burden increases ten-fold in 2014

As it turns out, the average family of 4 has only had to face a relatively modest burden from Obamacare over the past four years—a little over $125. Unfortunately, this year’s average burden ($66) will be 10 times as large in 2014 when Obamacare kicks in for earnest. And it will rise for two years after that, after which it hit a steady-state level of just under $800 a year. Of course, all these figures are in nominal dollars. In terms of today’s purchasing power, this annual amount will rise steadily.

more...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/09/23/its-official-obamacare-will-increase-health-spending-by-7450-for-a-typical-family-of-four/

[ElNono]

Democrats should send a thank you card to the Tea Party, tbh...

[boutons_deux]

Cruz, Rubio, Lee, WombatHair are fucked, and the Repugs are screwing themselves.

McConnell Shoots Down Ted Cruz's Plan To Risk Shutdown Over Obamacare

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) broke with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday, revealing that he won't filibuster legislation to fund the government in service of conservative goals to defund Obamacare.

The Republican leader's decision is a major blow to the push by Cruz (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/ted-cruz-to-gop-shut-down-the-government-or-you-re-voting-for-obamacare) and powerful conservative activist groups, who wanted Republicans to unite and filibuster a continuing resolution until Democrats caved agreed to gut funding for the Affordable Care Act.

"Senator McConnell supports the House Republicans' bill and will not vote to block it, since it defunds Obamacare and funds the government without increasing spending by a penny," McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told TPM in an email Monday. "He will also vote against any amendment that attempts to add Obamacare funding back into the House Republicans' bill."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mcconnell-shoots-down-ted-cruz-s-plan-to-risk-shutdown-over-obamacare

[boutons_deux]

a "contributor" to Forbes? weak shit

[101A]

Can I get a link please?

Again, I said they could do that before. There was no law preventing them. All it says in the quote is that they may do that ie they still can if they so choose and that there is a cap of 3:1. You are twisting that into "OMG IT'S NOW 3 TIMES AS MUCH" whereas before they could do more than a 3:1 ratio if they wanted to. There has been little to no actuarial oversight in health insurance. This isn't car insurance.

What I am seeing here is you going nuts over what might happen. You have rumors from trade associations etc. What I don't see here is something saying that there is a lower limit on composite group size. If that were the case then sure I could get the hand wringing. Why don't you call your carriers and see what they actually offer rather than see what they try and sell you on their own? Things changing does not necessarily mean the world is going to end.

What I am saying is based ENTIRELY on the first quotes I have gotten for carriers for 1/1/2014 renewals. IN THE ACTUAL QUOTES from the carriers, the cases are being shown, not with composite ratings, but with individual ratings. Go back to my original post in this thread, that is what I actually said. This is not theoretical, or panic, or anything else, it is what is actually happening, and what I am getting. It came as a complete surprise. Had no idea it was coming; did not expect it. I am going to try to take advantage of it, however.

[boutons_deux]

Forbes? Capitalist tool Forbes?

Here's the destroy-the-99%-shit that gets published by Forbes.

Give Back? Yes, It's Time For The 99% To Give Back To The 1%

http://www.forbes.com/sites/harrybinswanger/2013/09/17/give-back-yes-its-time-for-the-99-to-give-back-to-the-1/

[boobie4three]

a "contributor" to Forbes? weak shit

A lot more credible than the 'diarists" who spin their lies at the Daily Kos.

[boobie4three]

Forbes? Capitalist tool Forbes?

Here's the destroy-the-99%-shit that gets published by Forbes.

Give Back? Yes, It's Time For The 99% To Give Back To The 1%

http://www.forbes.com/sites/harrybinswanger/2013/09/17/give-back-yes-its-time-for-the-99-to-give-back-to-the-1/




I got a woody just reading that article. I can't believe you linked to such a cornucopia of truth. You're not helping your cause pal.

[boobie4three]

Here's a little gem from your article bouts:

An end must be put to the inhuman practice of draining the productive to subsidize the unproductive. An end must be put to the primordial notion that one’s life belongs to the tribe, to “the community,” and that the superlative wealth-creators must do penance for the sin of creating value.

[ChumpDumper]

lol Rand

[boobie4three]

Nobody ever got a job from a poor guy. Thank God for the 1%

[Th'Pusher]

I got a woody just reading that article. I can't believe you linked to such a cornucopia of truth. You're not helping your cause pal.
Lol. We've got our own real live joe the plumber here. How much did you make being an electrician last year?

[boobie4three]

Lol. We've got our own real live joe the plumber here. How much did you make being an electrician last year?

Not quite sure what you're getting at. Am I supposed to be upset that I chose to be an electrician and not quite make 6 figures? I say more power to the men and woman smarter than me that chose to use their brains instead of their backs to pull down 10 times what I make. You socialists want to punish hard work and initiative, taking from the productive members of society to give to the unproductive. The old USSR proved that doesn't work yet you liberals still think you can turn this country into some kind of socialist utopia. Hopefully we can put a good conservative in the WH and take the Senate and finally put the kibosh on your socialist wet dreams.

[boutons_deux]

"You socialists want to punish hard work and initiative"

You Lie

"taking from the productive members of society to give to the unproductive"

You Lie

"turn this country into some kind of socialist utopia"

You Lie

USA is now a dystopia of unregulated capitalism, which is criminal, predatory, rentier capitalism.

[boobie4three]

"You socialists want to punish hard work and initiative"

You Lie

"taking from the productive members of society to give to the unproductive"

You Lie

"turn this country into some kind of socialist utopia"

You Lie

USA is now a dystopia of unregulated capitalism, which is criminal, predatory, rentier capitalism.

Thanks for your input Karl Marx.

[Th'Pusher]

Thanks for your input Karl Marx.
Thanks for your input Rush Limbaugh. You've apparently swallowed the conservative rhetoric hook line and sinker. There is no substance or truth to anything you are claiming. Outside of a few fringe members of congress there is nobody pushing a socialist agenda. Most people believe some inequality is necessary and valuable. Nice strawman though.

[boobie4three]

Rush Limbaugh? Who's he play for?

[Th'Pusher]

Rush Limbaugh? Who's he play for?
Nice deflection generic conservative guy...

the rabble is so easily roused and duped.

[boobie4three]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/tedcruzspeaksandspeaksandspeaks_zpsdcf95848.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/tedcruzspeaksandspeaksandspeaks_zpsdcf95848.jpg.ht ml)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/jim_zpsf8ceec39.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/jim_zpsf8ceec39.jpg.html)

[boutons_deux]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/tedcruzspeaksandspeaksandspeaks_zpsdcf95848.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/tedcruzspeaksandspeaksandspeaks_zpsdcf95848.jpg.ht ml)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/jim_zpsf8ceec39.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/jim_zpsf8ceec39.jpg.html)

Texas asshole Cruz is more like:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Joseph_McCarthy.jpg/501px-Joseph_McCarthy.jpg

[ChumpDumper]

Well, if he passes out I'm sure he'll get the best medical care taxpayer money can buy.

[boobie4three]

Texas asshole Cruz is more like:



You've got some serious anger issues dude. A couple of weeks at charm school wouldn't do you any harm.

[SA210]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SeMUv_EMMQ

[ElNono]

lol Cruz

[Th'Pusher]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SeMUv_EMMQ
One of the biggest forum drama queens supports melodrama. I don't think you've commented two words on the ACA. I think you are just enamored by the filibuster ands all public denunciation of the POTUS. Tell us why you support defunding the ACA SA210...

[boutons_deux]

In Funding Fight, Senate Republicans Back Away From CruzMany Senate Republicans on Tuesday abandoned their colleague, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, in his tangled procedural fight over funding the government even as he took to the Senate floor and declared he would speak “until I cannot stand” :lol to rally voters against the new health care law.


While the Senate appeared increasingly likely to override Mr. Cruz in a preliminary vote scheduled for Wednesday, Mr. Cruz pressed ahead with his opposition and compared his fight to leaders who stood against the Nazis, ended the cold war or launched the American Revolution.

“Everyone in America knows Obamacare is destroying the economy,” :lol he said as he began speaking shortly before 3 p.m.

Yet outside the chamber, his colleagues worked to actively thwart his efforts to block a vote to take up the House-passed bill that does precisely what he wants: funds the government through mid-December while defunding the Affordable Care Act.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/us/politics/senate-democratic-leader-sets-stage-for-budget-showdown.html?from=homepage

Cruz is a fucking ego-maniacal nutcase, like so many of his tea baggin constituents and his crazy father, who told Cruz God had chosen Cruz. :lol

I saw that one of his Harvard guys said Cruz would only study with Harvard, Yale, Princeton students, refusing to study with people from lower-tier Ivy League schools like Brown, Penn,
Dartmouth. :lol

[TSA]

:lol Rand Paul putting up an amendment so ALL government will be covered by Obamacare, no one is exempt :lol

Brilliant. If its good enough for us, it must be good enough for them.

[SA210]

Tell us why you support defunding the ACA SA210...

Politicians dont wanna subscribe to it :lmao That should tell you something lol

[SA210]

:lol Rand Paul putting up an amendment so ALL government will be covered by Obamacare, no one is exempt :lol

Brilliant. If its good enough for us, it must be good enough for them.


:tu lol

[Th'Pusher]

You two realize this vote is going down tomorrow, right? This is simply grandstanding.

:lol Cruz asking Reid how long he has to filibuster (grandstand) :lol

[Th'Pusher]

Politicians dont wanna subscribe to it :lmao That should tell you something lol

So you're against expanding Medicaid to millions of low income Americans?

[TSA]

So you're against expanding Medicaid to millions of low income Americans?

I don't pay a dime and am fully covered by my employer so I won't see any changes financially. Are you okay paying more to fund everyone else's healthcare?

[TSA]

You two realize this vote is going down tomorrow, right? This is simply grandstanding.

:lol Cruz asking Reid how long he has to filibuster (grandstand) :lol

Again, If its good enough for us, why is it not good enough for them? Why isn't Obama signing up for Obama care?

[Th'Pusher]

I don't pay a dime and am fully covered by my employer so I won't see any changes financially. Are you okay paying more to fund everyone else's healthcare?
I'm in the same situation as you.

[Th'Pusher]

Again, If its good enough for us, why is it not good enough for them? Why isn't Obama signing up for Obama care?
I'm not signing up for Obamacare. I have insurance through my employer. Sounds like you do too. So why are you for defunding the law?

[TSA]

I'm not signing up for Obamacare. I have insurance through my employer. Sounds like you do too. So why are you for defunding the law?
Where did I say I'm for defunding? I simply think it's doomed for failure.

Why doesn't the entire government get the exact same Obama care they are forcing upon the people?

[SA210]

So you're against expanding Medicaid to millions of low income Americans?

No, but honestly we need more preventive care in America tbh.

I'm for Obama and the politicians signing up for Obamacare though :tu

[boutons_deux]

Cruz is filibustering today, right now.

Harry explained that a filibuster is to block business, specifically to block voting,

but Harry pointed out that there is no vote Tuesday for Cruz' filibuster to block, the vote is Wednesday. :lol

Fucking tea baggers, fucking Repugs, they don't give a shit about governing, so they don't know how government works, they are truly, WILLFULLY ignorant fucktards, the Know Nothing gang. (but they do know extremely well where their campaign contributions come from, which is who they really work for )

And Cruz keeps talking! :lol

Fucking TX assholes who elected this FUCKING asshole. :lol

[Th'Pusher]

Where did I say I'm for defunding? I simply think it's doomed for failure.

Why doesn't the entire government get the exact same Obama care they are forcing upon the people?
How is he forcing it on the American people when you, him and I are not going to be taking part in healthcare exchanges?

[pgardn]

Bravo Ted Cruz. Bob Corker, Sit Down.

Hugh Hewitt | Sep 20, 2013

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/cruz_zps3504aaad.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/cruz_zps3504aaad.jpg.html)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is drawing a lot of ire and fire from the Beltway GOP.

The eloquent and passionate Texas freshman has raised the hair on necks of the Republicans who sought a deal to avoid the unpleasantness of brinksmanship with the most incompetent president of modern times.

It is absolutely the case that the GOP will, in the end, have to vote for a Continuing Resolution that funds Obamacare. It will require winning the Senate for the GOP in 2014 and the presidency in 2016 to repeal Obamacare.

Cruz's strategy right now is to mobilize the public in 2013 so that those goals are possible in 2014 and 2016. Principled conservatives can disagree on tactics, and even on strategy, but they cannot disagree on the fact that Obamacare is killing jobs and the American health system.

Cruz and his fellow gifted rhetoricians Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have all inveighed against Obamacare consistently and for months. They have a plan to keep the fiasco that is Obamacare front and center of the American people, and they are working the plan. They are building a movement, not a dance card, in D.C.

The House Republican leadership would have mostly preferred to fade the issue, hoping that events would break their way or at least resolve in some sort of bipartisan consensus.

Events broke their way only in the fact that this disaster of a president was revealed to the world by Vladimir Putin as a bumbling, stumbling incompetent that only the Beltway GOP could not flank.

This president won't stand up to Assad or Putin, but he will bully Beltway Republicans. That's what he does. It is the only thing he has done well in the past five years.

But the four aces of the GOP in the Senate won't be intimidated and won't be bullied, even when their colleague John McCain calls them "whacko birds."

Cruz and his colleagues rallied hundreds of thousands of voters to sign on to the effort to defund Obamacare. That's called building a network that can be mobilized in future elections. That's called playing to win, now and in 2014 and 2016.

Even as I was talking with Senator Cruz about the end game, though, a long line of Republican time-servers lined up to criticize the Texas senator for daring to rally the troops and charge the hill.

The stunner came from entitled Tennessee senator Bob Corker, a very wealthy guy who won a very narrow victory in his first Senate race in 2006 with the help of serious conservatives of the sort now supporting Ted Cruz. Senator Corker won a comfortable re-election in 2012, so he thinks he doesn't need those sort of people any more. Thus he snidely attacks their favorite new face in D.C., demonstrating both envy and a profound ignorance of how quickly six years pass.

Corker, a household name in the Corker household, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, which I had always thought a prestigious university until today. Corker made a lot of bucks in the development biz. Like Terry McAullife. Like Terry McAuliffe, Senator Corker has a hard time cabining his contempt for people who prefer ideas to bank balances.

Recall that Cruz is the son of an immigrant and an exile, that Cruz is a self-made man and a genuine intellectual, who has argued eight times before the Untied States Supreme Court.

Recall that Cruz is everything anyone would want a second generation American to be --or an any generation American to be.

So what did Corker snark out over Twitter on Thursday?

Senator Bob Corker

@SenBobCorker

14h

I didn’t go to Harvard or Princeton, but I can count -- the defunding box canyon is a tactic that will fail and weaken our position. –BC

Get it? That climber, that immigrant's kid who did good in school and excelled at Princeton and Harvard Law and is oh so smart, well Bob Corker thinks he needs to sit down and shut up. Just like Clarence Thomas needed to sit down and shut up in 1991. Just like all the Tea Party nutters need to sit down and shut up. The rich guys who bought their seats have this one. Leave it to the guys who golf.

Speaker John Boehner's aides are flooding the Huffington Post with anonymous quotes blasting Cruz for forcing the House to force the Senate Democrats to get endangered Senate Democrats Begich of Alaska, Landrieu of Louisiana, Shaheen of New Hampshire, Pryor of Arkansas and Udall of Colorado to vote again for or against Obamacare, thus opening them up for devastating and deserved attacks in 2014.

The K Street Republicans, however, are really and truly enraged that Cruz is trying to win the Senate back and really intends to get rid of Obamacare. The country club Republicans are upset he didn't wait his turn and is getting more press than they are.

Bravo, Ted Cruz. And Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Press on. The country's in a bad place with a lost-in-space president. Ignore the sniping from the time-servers and the past-their-sell-date GOP. Reagan would be applauding.

http://townhall.com/columnists/hughhewitt/2013/09/20/bravo-ted-cruz--bob-corker-sit-down-n1705054/page/2


The lengths this fool from my State has gone to...
Just to get his mug seen.
Amazing what a self centered fool Cruz is.

So there is no better way to torpedo legislation you hate... Really? You got nothing else? Nothing?

[TSA]

How is he forcing it on the American people when you, him and I are not going to be taking part in healthcare exchanges?

C'mon don't play dumb. Millions will feel this negatively. Consider yourself fortunate, I do.

[angrydude]

The lengths this fool from my State has gone to...
Just to get his mug seen.
Amazing what a self centered fool Cruz is.

So there is no better way to torpedo legislation you hate... Really? You got nothing else? Nothing?

None nearly so effective at creating public debate.

[angrydude]

And honesty, anyone paying a bit of attention to what Cruz has been doing recently would have seen this coming a mile away

[pgardn]

None nearly so effective at creating public debate.

None.

Because Cruz either does not think there was any health care problem before Obama, or he has not a clue what to do like most republicans on the teabent thought train.

And, he is a prima Donna, I need attention, basket case who wants the next step up. Pure politician, no thought of public service.

[pgardn]

And honesty, anyone paying a bit of attention to what Cruz has been doing recently would have seen this coming a mile away

Recently? He was a self centered narcissist before he was elected.

I will stand on hot coals and allow Lobsters to pinch my testicles while I speak out against Obamacare. Much like Christ, I will burn my sole and soil my pants but I shall speak.
*cue shaky preacher speak*

[ElNono]

The law itself is abysmal, and since it doesn't address cost, it will still be expensive as fuck to get insured if you're not getting it from your employer.

But strategically speaking, it's besides the point. The GOP simply does not have the votes, and while the temper tantrums might rally the boobie4three of the base, those are votes they already have. It's the folk in the middle they keep on alienating by going full retard by parading the fringe guys, and being incredibly scared of what certain groups might put on their "scorecard".

The first thing the GOP needs to understand is that the vessel to power is winning elections, and in this day and age, considering the demographics and all, you need an all-inclusive message (even if it's bullshit).

If America would be as scared of Barrycare as Cruz is, then they wouldn't have kept this guy in office a year ago, nor gained seats in the Senate. What that tells me, IMO, is that while people might not like a lot of things about Barry, Barrycare or dems, they're actually more scared of the message and characters coming from the red team. It's simply unconscionable the GOP doesn't control both chambers after that terrible first term, and lose so badly when you're running against Joe fucking Biden.

So much talk about soul searching and lessons learned after the last election, but they haven't changed a lick. I was hoping they would take over both chambers in next year's mid-term, but I'm not even sure if they can pull it off anymore.

[angrydude]

The law itself is abysmal, and since it doesn't address cost, it will still be expensive as fuck to get insured if you're not getting it from your employer.

But strategically speaking, it's besides the point. The GOP simply does not have the votes, and while the temper tantrums might rally the boobie4three of the base, those are votes they already have. It's the folk in the middle they keep on alienating by going full retard by parading the fringe guys, and being incredibly scared of what certain groups might put on their "scorecard".

The first thing the GOP needs to understand is that the vessel to power is winning elections, and in this day and age, considering the demographics and all, you need an all-inclusive message (even if it's bullshit).

If America would be as scared of Barrycare as Cruz is, then they wouldn't have kept this guy in office a year ago, nor gained seats in the Senate. What that tells me, IMO, is that while people might not like a lot of things about Barry, Barrycare or dems, they're actually more scared of the message and characters coming from the red team. It's simply unconscionable the GOP doesn't control both chambers after that terrible first term, and lose so badly when you're running against Joe fucking Biden.

So much talk about soul searching and lessons learned after the last election, but they haven't changed a lick. I was hoping they would take over both chambers in next year's mid-term, but I'm not even sure if they can pull it off anymore.


The issues are irrelevant. Cult of personality wins every time. It's why reagan won, why clinton won, why Bush II won, and why Obama won.

[ElNono]

The issues are irrelevant. Cult of personality wins every time. It's why reagan won, why clinton won, why Bush II won, and why Obama won.

There is some of that, but I would be inclined to disagree. The problem is that 'the issues' are very different for different people, and when you get to the level of diversity we have now, it's even more important. IE: Latinos in general don't care about drones, abortion or the NSA, they care about things like immigration. So when your message is 'self-deportation' it resonates like crap.

[boutons_deux]

It's Wednesday Morning and Ted Cruz Is Still Talking


THE LATEST:

6:20 a.m.: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is currently giving Cruz a breather, while extoling the virtues of the free enterprise system.

1:12 a.m.: Ted Cruz is now reading the lyrics to Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." He chose not to sing the lyrics, joking that doing so might violate the Geneva Convention.

Ryan J. Reilly ✔ @ryanjreilly (https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly)

Ted Cruz quoting Obama supporter Toby Keith


12:44 a.m.: Mike Lee (R-Utah) has been speaking for about 20 minutes at this point, calling the Supreme's Court ACA decision the act of a "super-legislative" body.

11:41 p.m.: Cruz is reading tweets again, following a slight hiccup.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/ted-cruz-has-started-talking/69817/

so they're going to babble on all day Wed, the day of the vote?

Nice goin, Texas Repugs and shitkickers, you gave us assholes dubya, rickybobby, and now this flaming egomaniac UnSanta Cruz.

[SA210]

:lol still standing

[boobie4three]

Club for Growth sticks by Ted Cruz on Obamacare, will score cloture vote

By Sean Sullivan, Published: September 24 at 2:38 pm

The Club For Growth stood with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) Tuesday, calling for senators to vote against cloture on a stopgap spending bill that passed the House last week. The conservative, anti-tax group said it would it include the vote on its 2013 scorecard.
"To keep the House defund language secure, and to continue using the leverage of the continuing resolution, opponents of ObamaCare should vote "NO" on the cloture vote to end debate," wrote the group's vice president of government affairs Andy Roth in a note to congressional offices.

Cruz has been urging his colleagues to vote against cloture on the bill that keeps the government running and defunds Obamacare, even though the measure is exactly what he's long demanded.
Why? Because he wants to prevent Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) from stripping out the defund provision and passing a new continuing resolution that restores funding for the health-care law with a simple majority. Under Senate rules, Reid can do that.
Cruz has failed to win the support of high-ranking Republicans for his plan. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) both said they won't seek to block the bill. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) joined them Tuesday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/24/club-for-growth-sticks-by-ted-cruz-on-obamacare-will-score-cloture-vote/

Taking names. Finding out who's with us or a'gin us.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/tea_zps2ae4fa87.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/tea_zps2ae4fa87.jpg.html)

http://www.teapartypatriots.org/

[boutons_deux]

Administration Touts Lower-Than-Expected Obamacare Premiums

Premiums in the health insurance exchanges set to open next week will be lower than anticipated, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.


According to a released by the Department of Health and Human Services, "premiums nationwide will ... be around 16 percent lower than originally expected," and 95 percent of uninsured people live in a state with average premiums that are lower than expected.

But while the premium "" that many predicted may not be materializing, there may be other things about the new health plans that consumers may not like that much.

Until now, the only premium information that's been released publicly about the Obamacare exchanges has been for states running their own, and in many, the rates have been .

Now, however, the administration has released information for the 36 states where the federal government will operate the new exchanges in full or in part.

"Six in 10 Americans who currently lack insurance will be able to find coverage that costs less than $100 a month," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters in a conference call.

And in some cases, available tax credits can make health insurance really inexpensive. For example, said Sebelius, "Dallas families earning $50,000 a year will be able to buy quality coverage for as little as $26 a month."

One reason for the lower-than-expected premiums is higher-than-expected participation by insurance companies.

All year, it seemed that many , at least for this first year of the program. A few states and some counties within states will only have spotty competition. But administration officials say people in the 36 states where the feds are in charge will have an average of 56 different plans to choose from, offered by multiple insurance companies.

And competition is key to those lower rates.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/25/225858510/administration-touts-lower-than-expected-obamacare-premiums


http://touch.latimes.com/#section/5/article/p2p-77538217/

[boutons_deux]

Sabotaging Health Care, One Lie at a Time


A Koch-brothers funded conservative group, Generation Opportunity, is out with a wildly misleading, pernicious set of ads aimed at sabotaging the Affordable Care Act by discouraging young people from signing up for health insurance exchanges.

One targets young men, the other young women. In the “for him” version, a young man tells his doctor that he saw an ad for the Affordable Care Act and “figured, why not?” The doctor tells him to take his pants off, “hop up here, lay down and bend your knees to your chest.” He leaves the room. Then a man wearing an Uncle Sam mask snaps on a blue glove. As if the message weren’t perfectly clear, the ad states: “Don’t let government play doctor.”
The “for her” version is much the same, except in that case Uncle Sam’s performing a gynecological exam.


The ads are as offensive as they are derivative.

During the 2012 campaign, the reproductive rights site Lady Parts Justice released a web video (http://nymag.com/thecut/2012/10/lizz-winstead-mocks-mandatory-ultrasounds.html) attacking laws requiring women to undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds before receiving abortions. In that spot, a woman with her feet in stirrups explains that she wants an abortion because she’s “just not emotionally or financially ready to have kids right now.” The doctor, sitting between her legs, responds, “OK, well, just so you know, the law says that before I can do that, I need to do some things to you that you need to pay extra for. You know, just some things that will help you better understand what it is you really want.” These “things” include inserting a camera into her vagina and looking at pictures of what’s inside her uterus.

But that video made sense—states actually did pass laws interfering with the doctor-patient relationship—whereas the Generation Opportunity ads perpetuate outright lies. Young people who sign up for exchanges won’t be getting access to government-run healthcare (if only they were!), but to privately run insurance. Nor does the A.C.A. force doctors to ask patients about their sex lives or perform unwanted exams—as Politifact explained recently (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/sep/19/betsy-mccaughey/betsy-mccaughey-says-obamacare-will-question-your-/). Under the A.C.A., government doesn’t “play doctor,” it merely enables access to doctors who then decide, using their professional judgment, the best course of action.

Signing up for an exchange isn’t an act of political (or sexual) submission. It’s just a way to get insurance if you don’t have a job or your employer doesn’t provide it. The Generation Opportunity crowd surely knows that and obviously
doesn’t care because its priority now, as ever, is bringing down President Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment. The group also doesn’t care about the possibility that some number of young people, scared by its ads, will forgo access to affordable care, get sick, and go bankrupt paying their medical bills.


http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/takingnote/2013/09/23/sabotaging-health-care-one-lie-at-a-time/?from=mostemailed

[boutons_deux]

and the insurers doing their best to fuck up ACA, with the cartels of narrowed provider networks

Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices

many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans.

When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down costs, insurers say, they have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance. And those health care providers will, in many cases, be paid less than what they have been receiving from commercial insurers.

Some consumer advocates and health care providers are increasingly concerned. Decades of experience with Medicaid, the program for low-income people, show that having an insurance card does not guarantee access to specialists or other providers.
Consumers should be prepared for “much tighter, narrower networks” of doctors and hospitals, said Adam M. Linker, a health policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, a statewide advocacy group.

“That can be positive for consumers if it holds down premiums and drives people to higher-quality providers,” Mr. Linker said. “But there is also a risk because, under some health plans, consumers can end up with astronomical costs if they go to providers outside the network.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/health/lower-health-insurance-premiums-to-come-at-cost-of-fewer-choices.html?from=homepage&WT.z_mob_rel=1

Can't find the article now, but one network of clinics and hospitals that serves low-income people is being excluded from all the provider networks in CA.

For-profit health care, still a huge ripoff, scam, wealth redistribution upwards.

[boobie4three]

For example, said Sebelius, "Dallas families earning $50,000 a year will be able to buy quality coverage for as little as $26 a month."
:lmao

Drink the Kool-Aid my friend.

[boutons_deux]

DC Republicans in Full Panic Mode: Obamacare Will Be Hugely Popular and There's Little the GOP Can Do to Stop It

They can’t stop it from taking effect, just as they haven’t been able to repeal or defund it in every federal budget fight since it passed in 2009—including their latest rants.

Moreover, there’s billions already in the fiscal pipeline to states to implement the health insurance market reforms, whether or not there’s a federal government shutdown. Thus, their posturing, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s latest bill (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57604068/budget-bill-battle-over-obamacare-opens-new-gop-schism/)for complete defunding and his Tuesday filibuster (http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/harry-reid-filibuster-government-shutdown-97263.html), needs to be seen as the old cliché it is: a desperate measure for their desperate time.

What’s scaring Republicans is that the president’s most significant domestic initiative is about to hit prime time. Starting October 1, it is poised to start delivering on its central promise, which is giving millions of Americans more and cheaper choices to buy health insurance. These policies would be obtained from state-run insurance pools, or by a federal-run pool that would be accessed in person or online, and will take effect January 1. Poor people get tax refunds to buy insurance, although those won’t be seen until after next year’s taxes.

http://admin.alternet.org/personal-health/republicans-panic-over-obamacare?akid=10971.187590.XeIl34&rd=1&src=newsletter900814&t=5

[boutons_deux]

C'mon don't play dumb. Millions will feel this negatively. Consider yourself fortunate, I do.

which specific millions? the millions of red-state poor, including whites, that Repugs are blocking from participating in ACA?

[boutons_deux]

For example, said Sebelius, "Dallas families earning $50,000 a year will be able to buy quality coverage for as little as $26 a month."
:lmao

Drink the Kool-Aid my friend.

great comeback, always full of facts, evidence, cogent argument.

[TeyshaBlue]

Irony alert.

[AntiChrist]

Hey Millenials! This ACA clusterfuck is about to kick you in the nuts. And thanks for picking up the cost of my mom's heath care.

BHO, mmm mmm mmm

Have a nice day!

[boutons_deux]

Irony alert.

TB :lol The Great Boutons' favorite stalker

[AntiChrist]

Administration Touts Lower-Than-Expected Obamacare Premiums

Premiums in the health insurance exchanges set to open next week will be lower than anticipated, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.





http://washingtonexaminer.com/white-house-report-tennesee-men-face-290-women-197-obamacare-hike/article/2536363

[TeyshaBlue]

TB :lol The Great Boutons' favorite stalker

That's The Great TB to you pal.

[Th'Pusher]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/white-house-report-tennesee-men-face-290-women-197-obamacare-hike/article/2536363

Bad link. But let me guess, the conservative Washington Examiner has found some specific instances of insurance premiums rising? Amiright?

[AntiChrist]

Bad link. But let me guess, the conservative Washington Examiner has found some specific instances of insurance premiums rising? Amiright?


Premiums will go up for young, healthy people and go down for older folks.

[boutons_deux]

SENATE REACHES BIPARTISAN DEAL TO SHUT DOWN TED CRUZ


—In what is being hailed as a rare example of bipartisan coöperation, Senate Democrats and Republicans came together today on a near-unanimous vote to defund Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

The measure, which shuts down all nonessential functions of Sen. Cruz, passed by a margin of ninety-nine to one.

As the final vote was announced this morning, Sen. Cruz’s microphone was unplugged and the Senate exploded with cheers on both sides of the aisle.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said that the vote to defund the Texas senator showed that bipartisan coöperation is possible even in the usually rancorous Senate: “Every now and then the two parties can reach across the aisle and find something that we both despise with all our might.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) acknowledged that the budget impact of defunding Sen. Cruz would be minimal, but added, “This was never about money. We got Ted Cruz to stop talking, and you can’t put a price tag on that.”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/09/senate-reaches-bipartisan-deal-to-shut-down-ted-cruz.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(172)

[scott]

SENATE REACHES BIPARTISAN DEAL TO SHUT DOWN TED CRUZ


—In what is being hailed as a rare example of bipartisan coöperation, Senate Democrats and Republicans came together today on a near-unanimous vote to defund Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

The measure, which shuts down all nonessential functions of Sen. Cruz, passed by a margin of ninety-nine to one.

As the final vote was announced this morning, Sen. Cruz’s microphone was unplugged and the Senate exploded with cheers on both sides of the aisle.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said that the vote to defund the Texas senator showed that bipartisan coöperation is possible even in the usually rancorous Senate: “Every now and then the two parties can reach across the aisle and find something that we both despise with all our might.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) acknowledged that the budget impact of defunding Sen. Cruz would be minimal, but added, “This was never about money. We got Ted Cruz to stop talking, and you can’t put a price tag on that.”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/09/senate-reaches-bipartisan-deal-to-shut-down-ted-cruz.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(172)




I love Borowitz because he shows what it would be like if The Onion wasn't funny.

[TeyshaBlue]

I love Borowitz because he shows what it would be like if The Onion wasn't funny.

i've always thought he was The Onion without the talent. :lmao:lmao

[scott]

Sweet Filibuster Bro. Cloture motion passes 100-0, including Cruz voting against himself. LOL.

Rand Paul > Ted Cruz

[boutons_deux]

Rand Paul > Ted Cruz

duh, when then bar is so low ...

they're both extreme right wing losers

[Th'Pusher]

Club for Growth sticks by Ted Cruz on Obamacare, will score cloture vote

By Sean Sullivan, Published: September 24 at 2:38 pm

The Club For Growth stood with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) Tuesday, calling for senators to vote against cloture on a stopgap spending bill that passed the House last week. The conservative, anti-tax group said it would it include the vote on its 2013 scorecard.
"To keep the House defund language secure, and to continue using the leverage of the continuing resolution, opponents of ObamaCare should vote "NO" on the cloture vote to end debate," wrote the group's vice president of government affairs Andy Roth in a note to congressional offices.

Cruz has been urging his colleagues to vote against cloture on the bill that keeps the government running and defunds Obamacare, even though the measure is exactly what he's long demanded.
Why? Because he wants to prevent Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) from stripping out the defund provision and passing a new continuing resolution that restores funding for the health-care law with a simple majority. Under Senate rules, Reid can do that.
Cruz has failed to win the support of high-ranking Republicans for his plan. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) both said they won't seek to block the bill. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) joined them Tuesday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/24/club-for-growth-sticks-by-ted-cruz-on-obamacare-will-score-cloture-vote/

Taking names. Finding out who's with us or a'gin us.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/tea_zps2ae4fa87.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/tea_zps2ae4fa87.jpg.html)

http://www.teapartypatriots.org/

:lol all 100 senators are against you.

[ChumpDumper]

Cruz clotured himself?

lol

[Th'Pusher]

Any vote for cloture, any vote to allow Harry Reid to add funding to Obamacare with just a 51-vote threshold, a vote for cloture is a vote for Obamacare
- Ted Cruz on Sunday

:lol what a fucking moron :lol

[boobie4three]

:lol all 100 senators are against you.

It's all part of the plan.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/thtiptoeso8dd1.gif (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/thtiptoeso8dd1.gif.html)

[boutons_deux]

Health Care Costs Are Projected To Outpace Economic Growth

The nation's health spending will bump up next year as the Affordable Care Act expands insurance coverage to more Americans, and then will grow by an average of 6.2 percent a year over the next decade, according to projections by government actuaries.

That estimate is lower than the typical annual increases before the recession hit. Still, the actuaries forecast that in a decade the health care segment of the nation's economy will be larger than it is today, amounting to a fifth of the gross domestic product in 2022.

They attributed that to the rising number of baby boomers moving into Medicare and the expectation that the economy will improve, according to a published online in the journal Health Affairs.

The actuaries were not persuaded that cost-cutting experiments in the health law will have an impact. Neither were they convinced that new insurer procedures that change the way doctors, hospitals and others provide services will help.

They assumed "modest" savings from those changes from the law.

"It's a little early to tell how substantial those savings will be in the longer term," Gigi Cuckler, an actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and lead author of the report, told reporters Wednesday.

Still, the Obama administration enthusiastically greeted the report. "We are on the right track to controlling health care costs, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act," CMS Administrator said in a statement. "More Americans will have the ability to get the health care they need, and that is a good thing. We have identified several areas where our reforms to control costs are making progress and we must build on those efforts in the years ahead."

But not everyone agrees. "I think it's quite clear from the study that the notion that the health care law fundamentally bends costs is just totally unsupported by facts," , a budget adviser to President George W. Bush, said in an interview.

"Something more fundamental needs to be done to slow costs than what is in the health law."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/18/223812518/health-care-costs-projected-to-outpace-economic-growth?sc=17&f=1003

"Health Care Costs Are Projected To Outpace Economic Growth"

well, duh, that's been going for 30 years, and at annual increases, eg in insurance costs, often much greater than 6%

[Th'Pusher]

It's all part of the plan.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/thtiptoeso8dd1.gif (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/thtiptoeso8dd1.gif.html)
:lol they're making this shit up as they go.

[boutons_deux]

:lol they're making this shit up as they go.

Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Lee certainly are. "as they go" nowhere. ACA is unstoppable, will be a huge boost to the 2014, 2016 Dem candidates.

[Th'Pusher]

Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Lee certainly are. "as they go" nowhere. ACA is unstoppable, will be a huge boost to the 2014, 2016 Dem candidates.
Just more evidence of how delusional these tea bags really are. They are willing to accept that Cruz and company are playing the long game, chess while everyone else is playing checkers, even as the ringleader votes for cloture. Something he said, on Sunday, was tantamount to voting for the ACA. If that's part of the plan, it's one of the most fucked up plans I've ever seen.

Boobie4three and the tea bags blindly swallow it down like it's the New Testament. :lol

[AntiChrist]

Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Lee certainly are. "as they go" nowhere. ACA is unstoppable, will be a huge boost to the 2014, 2016 Dem candidates.


Yep. All those layoffs and cutbacks will surely be popular side effects.

[boutons_deux]

Yep. All those layoffs and cutbacks will surely be popular side effects.

small businesses say they intend to hire, not lay off

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-31/steady-small-business-hiring-in-july-adp

http://www.benefitspro.com/2012/12/07/service-sector-hiring-projected-to-hit-4-year-high

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9597449.htm

so Cruz and similar shit bags saying ACA is a job destoryer are LYING.

ACA even increases jobs to handle the 10Ms more with health insurance

http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/strategic-workforce-planning/bls-employment.aspx

[boutons_deux]

"In addition to the 55,000 seasonal workers, Walmart U.S. also said it would move more than 35,000 employees from temporary to part-time status, and another 35,000 from part-time to full-time by the end of the year."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/23/us-walmart-holiodaystaffing-idUSBRE98M0KS20130923

[boobie4three]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/ao7uhy_zps2ead76a3.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/ao7uhy_zps2ead76a3.jpg.html)

If the Republicans can negotiate a 1 year delay on the implementation of 0bamacare, would you consider that a victory for Republicans and a defeat for Democrats?

[ChumpDumper]

Did they do that?

[boobie4three]

Did they do that?

You kind of remind me of the little kid who's always asking his father questions: "Daddy, why is the sky blue?" "Daddy, why is the grass green?"

[Th'Pusher]

Yep. All those layoffs and cutbacks will surely be popular side effects.

Per the BLS, 6,430,000 jobs have been created since the ACA was signed into law in March 2010.

[ChumpDumper]

You kind of remind me of the little kid who's always asking his father questions: "Daddy, why is the sky blue?" "Daddy, why is the grass green?"You remind me of the guy who didn't answer the question. i would have to know more about the compromise before declaring a winner.

[Th'Pusher]

Did they do that?
No. Now he's glommed onto to the tea bag's next tactic, which was really part of the plan the whole time.

[boutons_deux]

Jon Stewart Eviscerates Cruz and Republicans on Anti-Obamacare Crusade
http://www.alternet.org/video/jon-stewart-eviscerates-cruz-and-republicans-anti-obamacare-crusade?akid=10975.187590.Lxaz-z&rd=1&src=newsletter901319&t=5

[boobie4three]

No. Now he's glommed onto to the tea bag's next tactic, which was really part of the plan the whole time.

Exactomundo.

[boutons_deux]

John McCain Defends Obamacare, Slams Ted Cruz For Comparing Implementation To Nazi Appeasement (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/25/2679001/john-mccain-defends-obamacare/)

McCAIN: I’d remind my colleagues that, in the 2012 election, Obamacare, as it’s called — and I’ll be more polite, the ACA — was a subject that was a major issue in the campaign. I campaigned all over America for two months, everywhere I could. And in every single campaign rally I said “we had to repeal and replace Obamacare.” Well, the people spoke. They spoke, much to my dismay, but they spoke and they re-elected the President of the United States. No that doesn’t mean that we give up our efforts to try to replace and repair Obamacare. But it does mean elections have consequences and those elections were clear, in a significant majority, that the majority of the American people supported the President of the US and renewed his stewardship of this country.

I don’t like it, it’s not something that I wanted the outcome to be. But I think all of us should respect the outcome of elections, which reflects the will of the people.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/25/2679001/john-mccain-defends-obamacare/

There still my be a molecule or two of democracy in McLiar's decrepit body.

Desperately, Cruz, tea baggers, Repugs, right-wing hate media are spewing all kinds of lies about ACA. Only the dumbfucks in their choir are believing the lies, as usual.

[boutons_deux]

The Next Campaign To Paint Obamacare As A Failure (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/25/2680481/obamacare-enrollment-slow/)

Next week, as uninsured Americans begin signing up for coverage in the Affordable Care Act’s health care marketplaces, Republicans will seize on the trickle of early beneficiaries and technical glitches to paint the measure as a failure. But administration officials tasked with implementing President Obama’s signature domestic policy accomplishment are anticipating these attacks and are confident they will win the public debate and meet their enrollment targets over the long term.

On Tuesday, the nation’s 48 million uninsured (http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf) will be able to log on to Healthcare.gov, dial a federal hotline, or visit a community “navigator” and begin enrolling in health care coverage through the law’s state-based exchanges to receive coverage next year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 7 million enrollees (http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/44190_EffectsAffordableCareActHealthInsuranceCover age_2.pdf) will participate in the marketplaces in 2014; 9 million will sign up for Medicaid. By 2023, the exchanges will hold 24 million people and the law’s Medicaid expansion will accompany another 13 million.

But health care experts caution that enrollment may prove to be more of a marathon than a sprint and will work best in states that are actively helping uninsured people sign up for coverage.

“It just takes time,” Stan Dorn, a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center, says, pointing to the nation’s experience in encouraging people to sing up for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a bipartisan Clinton-era initiative that primarily provides health insurance to children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid. Enacted into law in August of 1997, the plan began enrolling children in 1998, but initially fell short of enrollment goals.

Four years later, the Congressional Research Service issued a disappointing report noting that just 60 percent of eligible kids were enrolled in the program. Today, 87 percent (http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/chipra-irtc/index.pdf) of eligible children have coverage in CHIP or Medicaid.


“It’s like any other human activity, it takes time to figure out how to do it right,” Dorn remarks. “I think it’s far more realistic to expect [from Obamacare] what we saw with CHIP, which is a 5 to 6 year ramp-up and that’s in the states that want the program to work,” he explains. “In the states that are fighting tooth and nail, it will be a much slower trajectory.”

To meet enrollment targets, the federal government and its state partners will have to build what Dorn describes as a three-legged stool: grow public awareness about the law and what’s in it, perfect and simplify enrollment procedures, and ensure that uninsured families have help in applying for coverage. A certain percentage of the uninsured who are eager to take advantage of health care benefits will sign up for coverage in the early days of open enrollment, while the majority will likely wait until immediately before the enrollment period closes at the end of March.

That’s what happened in Medicare Part D, President George W. Bush’s program extending prescription drug coverage to the Medicare population. More than half of the beneficiaries who ended up signing up for insurance didn’t do so until after the first of the year and enrolled despite the Bush administration’s well-publicized initial glitches in extending coverage to low-income beneficiaries. Whereas only 21 percent of seniors had a favorable impression of the law and 66 percent didn’t know what was in it in April of 2005, by November of 2006, “half of the seniors polled (http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2013/rwjf406589) said the program was working well or that just minor changes were needed.”

The experience isn’t exactly analogous to the Affordable Care Act, a new stand-alone program that will have to reach individuals who are not already connected to the health care system and may be jaded by GOP efforts to dissuade them from obtaining coverage, but it does include lessons for federal and state officials implementing reform.

“Go in with an expectation that there will be glitches,” says Jack Hoadley, a Research Professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute who co-wrote a report (http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2013/rwjf406589) examining what lessons Part D holds for the new health insurance marketplaces. But “if you’re prepared for that possibility you can go in and fix most if not all of the glitches, soften the ones that you can’t completely fix, and get passed them and move on.”

Administration officials say they’ve learned from the Bush administration’s failures. “It’s not accident that there is a 6-month open enrollment period that is because of the experience of everyone looking back and saying one month was too short,” a senior administration official explains. “We also have the obvious lessons of Part D, trying to make sure we have communication with people…we train our trainers… making sure we have partners who are trusted partners in communities who know how the law works is critical because in Part D there was a lot of concern about whether or not some of the local advocates really understood the law and we worked very hard in trying to address that this time around.”

“We’re not saying we fail if we don’t get one of these [target enrollment] numbers, we’re really just trying to take this as, you know, recognize that we need to ramp up.”

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/25/2680481/obamacare-enrollment-slow/

The earlier programs mentioned above didn't have the Repugs, ALEC, Kock Bros, Fox, etc, etc, actively lying about them, blowing $10Ms sabotaging them at every step, etc, etc as we see now with ACA.

[boobie4three]

The thought of a 1 year delay in the implementation of 0bamacare is slowly becoming a reality to you because I get the sense your head is about to explode.

[boutons_deux]

The thought of a 1 year delay in the implementation of 0bamacare is slowly becoming a reality to you because I get the sense your head is about to explode.

your sense is wrong, along with all the other shit between your ears

[boobie4three]

your sense is wrong, along with all the other shit between your ears

My senses are never wrong,..... except when I thought the Senate was going to overturn 0bamacare of course, but hey, that was in the past, and we're not here to talk about the past.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/markmcgwire.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/markmcgwire.jpg.html)

[ChumpDumper]

The thought of a 1 year delay in the implementation of 0bamacare is slowly becoming a reality to you because I get the sense your head is about to explode.
Seeing as they didn't do it, doesn't seem to be a problem. Let me know if they do.

[boutons_deux]

Gohmert: ‘Amnesty’ and Obamacare are a plot for ‘firing every fulltime American’


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/newsmax_gohmert_guns_130918c-615x345.jpg

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/25/gohmert-amnesty-and-obamacare-are-a-plot-for-firing-every-fulltime-american/

[boutons_deux]

Sidekick McCain: If Obamacare succeeds, Hillary will be president (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/25/1241285/-Sidekick-McCain-If-Obamacare-succeeds-Hillary-will-be-president)


GRAHAM: Hillary Clinton decided today to own Obamacare, so in 2016, when this thing falls apart and the economy's in shambles because of Obamacare, I'm going to hereafter call it Clintoncare. She made a huge mistake today.VAN

SUSTEREN: And let's say that it's a huge success.

GRAHAM: Then she will win.

VAN SUSTEREN: In 2016?

GRAHAM: Yes. If it's a huge success, Hillary Clinton will win the presidency. If it's the failure I think it's going to be, then she needs to own the result of embracing this bill.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/25/1241285/-Sidekick-McCain-If-Obamacare-succeeds-Hillary-will-be-president

No surprise, the Repugs sabotaging ACA is all about 2014 and 2016, All Smash Mouth Politics, All The Time, no matter how many citizens get hurt, no matter how much PROGRESS gets blocked.

[boutons_deux]

Senate GOP's Constituents Are Confused About Obamacare VoteTwo other Senate Republican offices confirmed to TPM that they had been fielding calls from confused constituents. National Review Online's Roberta Costa reported that a harsh response from the base had reduced administrative assistants in two Senate GOP offices to tears.


One Senate GOP aide told TPM that the reaction was split between anger and mere confusion. "Bit of both," the aide said.

It's easy to see where the confusion came from. The unanimous vote came roughly 60 minutes after Cruz had held the Senate floor for 21 hours, decrying Obamacare and urging his party to support a procedural move to block Senate Democrats from restoring funding for the law.

But Wednesday's vote was on the motion to begin debating the spending bill. There will be another vote to close debate on the bill in the coming days. That's the one that Cruz said he wants Senate Republicans to oppose unless they get their way on defunding Obamacare.

That's why Cruz, Mike Lee (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and others voted in favor of Wednesday's motion. But it seems that the procedural machinations weren't clear to some of their constituents.

As another Senate Republican aide told TPM earlier this week: "Rule No. 1 in communications is if you are explaining, you are losing."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/senate-gop-s-constituents-are-confused-about-obamacare-vote

[Nbadan]

Mainstream Republicans in worse shape than Ted Cruz
By Jonathan Bernstein, Published: September 24 at 4:00 pm



But the truth is that Cruz’s faux-libuster — not actually a filibuster at all, but just a pointless speech in support of a losing strategy that will do exactly zero about the issue — perfectly typifies the GOP position on health care.

The truth is that it’s totally legitimate to bring up problems with health care reform on a budget bill, and use it to pressure the White House to make changes to improve the system. Republican constituents really are complaining about problems with the Affordable Care Act, which like every government program ever won’t be perfect.

But Republican politicians aren’t (contrary to what Cruz says) listening to those constituents. They’re not preparing fixes for real problems with Obamacare; indeed, they’re mostly trying to undermine the program.

And while Cruz is very easy to mock (and yeah, I’ve been on twitter this afternoon doing it too) as a demagogue who is out for the fundraising and his presidential campaign, but as I argued over the weekend, a large part of why he is successful is because the would-be reasonable politicians in the party have largely given up on policy. The reason that Cruz’s phony shutdown threat has everyone’s attention, and that the House went along, is because there was no Republican alternative that might have actually improved — at least from their point of view — the legislation.

Republicans and conservatives have been quick to bash Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and the others who have pushed this “defund” strategy. And rightly so: it’s a recipe for Republican disaster. But unless there’s some alternative — a real one, that would really make the insurance market run better and would yield better results for those constituents who are complaining to them — then the Cruz strategy is really all they have. And that makes mainstream Republicans really in worse shape than Ted Cruz.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/24/mainstream-republicans-in-worse-shape-than-ted-cruz/

[Nbadan]

Green eggs and ham....

http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/09/25/da-chipster-reads-aloud/


Barack I am
The Prez, in fact

…That Barack I am the Prez, in fact,
…I do not like the Prez, in fact!

Do you like the healthcare act?

…I do not like the healthcare act!
…I do not like the Prez, in fact!

Would you like it Later? Or Now?

…I would not like it later or now,
…I would not like it anyhow!
…I do not like the healthcare act!
…I do not like the Prez, in fact!

Would you like some hope and change?
Would you like a health exchange?

…I would not like some hope and change.
…I would not like a health exchange.

Would you like to help resist
Expensive ills that pre-exist?

…Screw pre-exist and health exchange
…And screw you Prez, your name is strange.
…I would not like it later or now,
…I would not like it anyhow!
…I do not like the healthcare act!
…I do not like the Prez, in fact!

Your kids! Your kids! How ‘bout for kicks
We cover them ‘til they’re twenty-six?

…I really do not give two licks
…About kids under twenty-six.
…And if they get Kerfuffle Flu
…Let them pay up like I do!

Preventive care will be for free
You will like that, you will see!

…No communist preventive care
…Or any free kids anywhere.
…Screw pre-exist and health exchange
…And screw you Prez, your name is strange.
…I would not like it later or now,
…I would not like it anyhow!
…I do not like the healthcare act!
…I do not like the Prez, in fact!

On this can we all agree:
personal responsibility?

…All this responsibility
…Is fine for others, not for me.

Think of all the money lost!
Wouldn’t you want lower cost?

…Responsibility and low cost
…Are socialist! Prez, you get lost!
…No communist preventive care
…Or any free kids anywhere.
…Screw pre-exist and health exchange
…And screw you Prez, your name is strange.
…I would not like it later or now,
…I would not like it anyhow!
…I do not like the healthcare act!
…I do not like the Prez, in fact!

You don’t have to yawp or yelp
The Prez is only trying to help.
Try it, try it, just to see
How good the healthcare act can be!

…I’ll never try the healthcare act
…Cause if folks try it, it’s a fact
…That they will like low costs you see
…And folks’ responsibility
…And the free preventive care
…Will help the people everywhere
…And children under twenty-six
…And illnesses that pre-exist
…Are covered and the biggest change
…The cost-effective health exchange
…They will like it now, and then
…Will never vote for me again.

…SO
…I DO NOT LIKE THE HEALTHCARE ACT
…Because YOU are the Prez, in fact.

[TSA]

Green eggs and ham....

http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/09/25/da-chipster-reads-aloud/

I got a good chuckle imagining you reciting that with Barack's dick half in your mouth.

[boutons_deux]

Rachel just said THERE WILL BE A GOVT SHUTDOWN, simply because the obstacles are so numerous, the path to avoiding a shutdown so narrow, there's no way it's done by Monday midnight.

And y'all tea bag suckers' hero Cruz just wasted a critical day, very very probably assured a govt shutdown.

[boobie4three]

Rachel just said THERE WILL BE A GOVT SHUTDOWN, simply because the obstacles are so numerous, the path to avoiding a shutdown so narrow, there's no way it's done by Monday midnight.

And y'all tea bag suckers' hero Cruz just wasted a critical day, very very probably assured a govt shutdown.

Rachel, the dude wannabe.

[boutons_deux]

House GOP Debt Ceiling Offer To Include Pro-Wall Street Provisions, Health Care Cuts

House Republicans plan to demand major perks for coal companies and Wall Street banks, alongside healthcare and social service cuts and a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling until the end of 2014, according to a source close to the House GOP leadership.

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have repeatedly stated that they will not negotiate over raising the debt limit, saying they will not make a political football of the U.S. government's creditworthiness.

The Republican plan, which would also constitute a significant overhaul of the environmental and financial regulatory system, would cut pensions for Federal employees and raise taxes on immigrant families with parents who do not have a Social Security number. The document claims $7 billion in savings from restricting the child tax credit to immigrants who do have a number, and up to $84 billion from "reform" to the Federal Employee Retirement System.

The plan would increase Medicare means testing, and would eliminate social service block grants and a fund for preventative healthcare in the Affordable Care Act that conservatives have characterized as a "slush fund." Block grants are a capped entitlement program given to states to help fund services like daycare, transportation and home-delivered meals. The Prevention and Public Health Fund has included funds for training primary care doctors and supporting healthy corner stores (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/19/the-incredible-shrinking-prevention-fund/).

Coal and oil companies would benefit from provisions to expand offshore drilling and drilling on federal lands. The proposal blocks the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and coal ash, and would give Congress the power to veto any "major" regulation issued by a federal agency (because an affirmative vote would be required, Congress could void new rules simply through inaction).

In addition, the document claims $23 billion in budget savings from a provision to "Eliminate Dodd-Frank Bailout Fund." The money, however, is not legally permitted to support collapsing banks. Dodd-Frank established the fund to allow regulators to pay some creditors of large banks when they fail, in order to prevent a domino of failures akin to what occurred in 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Absent the fund, the government would have no effective way of limiting the economic damage from a bank's failure, increasing the likelihood that a bailout would be necessary.

A total of 91 Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and current Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), voted for the 2008 bank bailout.

Wall Street banks would benefit from an item that gives Congress the authority to slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (http://www.thenation.com/blog/168954/cfpb-demonstrates-why-banks-fought-its-creation-tooth-and-nail) -- a signature achievement of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The CFPB is funded through the Federal Reserve, which currently prevents Congress from weighing in on its budget requests. The document claims $5 billion in "budget savings" from a CFPB overhaul; and because the CFPB's annual budget is currently about $450 million, to achieve that figure, the agency would have to be entirely defunded.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/house-gop-debt-ceiling_n_3988783.html

We'll see if Obama folds on his will-not-be-extorted-with-debt-ceiling stance.

[boobie4three]

House GOP Debt Ceiling Offer To Include Pro-Wall Street Provisions, Health Care Cuts

House Republicans plan to demand major perks for coal companies and Wall Street banks, alongside healthcare and social service cuts and a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling until the end of 2014, according to a source close to the House GOP leadership.

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have repeatedly stated that they will not negotiate over raising the debt limit, saying they will not make a political football of the U.S. government's creditworthiness.

The Republican plan, which would also constitute a significant overhaul of the environmental and financial regulatory system, would cut pensions for Federal employees and raise taxes on immigrant families with parents who do not have a Social Security number. The document claims $7 billion in savings from restricting the child tax credit to immigrants who do have a number, and up to $84 billion from "reform" to the Federal Employee Retirement System.

The plan would increase Medicare means testing, and would eliminate social service block grants and a fund for preventative healthcare in the Affordable Care Act that conservatives have characterized as a "slush fund." Block grants are a capped entitlement program given to states to help fund services like daycare, transportation and home-delivered meals. The Prevention and Public Health Fund has included funds for training primary care doctors and supporting healthy corner stores (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/19/the-incredible-shrinking-prevention-fund/).

Coal and oil companies would benefit from provisions to expand offshore drilling and drilling on federal lands. The proposal blocks the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and coal ash, and would give Congress the power to veto any "major" regulation issued by a federal agency (because an affirmative vote would be required, Congress could void new rules simply through inaction).

In addition, the document claims $23 billion in budget savings from a provision to "Eliminate Dodd-Frank Bailout Fund." The money, however, is not legally permitted to support collapsing banks. Dodd-Frank established the fund to allow regulators to pay some creditors of large banks when they fail, in order to prevent a domino of failures akin to what occurred in 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Absent the fund, the government would have no effective way of limiting the economic damage from a bank's failure, increasing the likelihood that a bailout would be necessary.

A total of 91 Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and current Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), voted for the 2008 bank bailout.

Wall Street banks would benefit from an item that gives Congress the authority to slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (http://www.thenation.com/blog/168954/cfpb-demonstrates-why-banks-fought-its-creation-tooth-and-nail) -- a signature achievement of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The CFPB is funded through the Federal Reserve, which currently prevents Congress from weighing in on its budget requests. The document claims $5 billion in "budget savings" from a CFPB overhaul; and because the CFPB's annual budget is currently about $450 million, to achieve that figure, the agency would have to be entirely defunded.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/house-gop-debt-ceiling_n_3988783.html

We'll see if Obama folds on his will-not-be-extorted-with-debt-ceiling stance.




I would add the requirement that government workers accept the same 0bamacare provisions that are being crammed down our throats. Watch them scream just as loud as the unions are.

[boutons_deux]

I would add the requirement that government workers accept the same 0bamacare provisions that are being crammed down our throats. Watch them scream just as loud as the unions are.

nobody's cramming anything down anywhere.

govt employees ALREADY have health insurance, dumbfuck.

ACA excludes all employees already with health insurance, UNCHANGED.

Here's the unions situation:

"At issue are the collectively bargained, multi-employer insurance plans that more than 15 million unionized workers access under the Taft-Hartley Act. Those plans currently allow workers like builders and electricians to change jobs among participating employers and stay in the same health-insurance plan. Because many of the jobs involve manual labor, the plans usually account for injuries and repetitive stresses, benefits that unions say their workers sought instead of higher wages.

But this could change. Under the Affordable Care Act, small companies could choose to stop covering workers through the union agreements and send their workers to the state-based exchanges instead. Through these exchanges, workers would pay lower premiums, thanks to federal government subsidies. But labor leaders fear that the workers who retain union plans will end up paying higher premiums, since there will be fewer people in the plans, and coverage could be less generous. No one knows for sure that this is how it will play out—companies could very well decide to continue in the union plans and keep the status quo—but unions are predicting the worst."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/20/obama-s-labor-pains-unions-rage-against-the-affordable-care-act.html

the structural problem for the unions and America is that the for-profit insured pools can be too small to have reasonable premiums, even if the for-profit gouging insurers agreed.

with a hard-core, univeral public insurance option/single payer, the insured pool is the entire country of 300M+.

[boobie4three]

[SIZE=3][FONT=arial]

nobody's cramming anything down anywhere.

govt employees ALREADY have health insurance, dumbfuck.

ACA excludes all employees already with health insurance, UNCHANGED.



Can't you read dipshit? I said the SAME provisions that are being forced on us. What government workers have now are Cadillac plans that they NEVER want to give up. Private companies that offer health plans now are shedding them faster than you can say "Bouton Loves Lenin" and forcing workers into soon to open 0bamacare Exchanges. Soon, State and Federal workers will be the only ones with quality health care plans. They'll be part of the "elite" class that we saw in former communist countries. You're a government worker, aren't you? Come on, fess up.

[boutons_deux]

"What government workers have now are Cadillac plans that they NEVER want to give up"

lots of private sector workers also have excellent palns, so what's your fucking gripe, other than that you hate and want to destroy all things govt?

[boobie4three]

[COLOR=#000000]

lots of private sector workers also have excellent palns,
not for long

[boutons_deux]

not for long

The more companies that drop employer group plans, the better prospect for a govt public health insurance/single payer to be seen as attractive by more Ms of people.

The perversion of employers running health plans goes back to WWII and SFO Bay Area shipyards trying to attract scarce workers.

[TeyshaBlue]

The more companies that drop employer group plans, the better prospect for a govt public health insurance/single payer to be seen as attractive by more Ms of people.

The perversion of employers running health plans goes back to WWII and SFO Bay Area shipyards trying to attract scarce workers.

It actually dates back way farther than that and at the time, it wasn't exactly a perversion. It was what insurance was supposed to be....a tool to leverage risk across time.

http://www.nber.org/aginghealth/2009no2/w14839.html

[ChumpDumper]

Can't you read dipshit? I said the SAME provisions that are being forced on us. What government workers have now are Cadillac plans that they NEVER want to give up.I'll bite, which ones?

[boutons_deux]

It actually dates back way farther than that and at the time, it wasn't exactly a perversion. It was what insurance was supposed to be....a tool to leverage risk across time.

http://www.nber.org/aginghealth/2009no2/w14839.html

Korrect. I confused ESI in general with the birth of Kaiser Shipyards' ESI in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Shipyards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Permanente

The perversion is employers being involved in health insurance.

[TeyshaBlue]

Korrect. I confused ESI in general with the birth of Kaiser Shipyards' ESI in WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Shipyards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Permanente

The perversion is employers being involved in health insurance.

I think the employers involvement is not necessarily the problem. Employers did/do, however, contribute by providing the incentive for morphing health insurance into HMO's and then offering that as insurance.

[boutons_deux]

House G.O.P. Leaders List Conditions for Raising Debt Ceiling

Also behind closed doors in the Capitol, House Republican leaders laid out their demands for a debt-ceiling increase to the Republican rank and file.

They include a one-year delay of the president’s health care law,

fast-track authority to overhaul the tax code,

construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline,

offshore oil and gas production,

more permitting of energy exploration on federal lands,

a rollback of regulations on coal ash,

blocking new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on greenhouse gas production,

eliminating a $23 billion fund to ensure the orderly dissolution of failed major banks,

eliminating mandatory contributions to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,

limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and

an increase in means testing for Medicare, among other provisions.

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority whip, said all of those measures have passed the House since Republicans took over in 2011, but they have gone nowhere in the Democratic Senate.

Now, Republicans say, they will use the threat of a potentially devastating default on United States government debt to force consideration. The laundry list of Republican priorities is also needed to build support for any debt-limit increase, which many Republicans say they cannot vote for under any circumstances.

“The president says ‘I’m not going to negotiate,' ” Mr. Boehner said. “Well, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.”

Given the president’s stance and resistance by Senate Democrats to any threat to postpone the health measure, the House proposal would seem to have no chance of success in the Senate.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/us/politics/house-gop-leaders-list-conditions-for-raising-debt-ceiling.html?from=homepage

[boutons_deux]

House G.O.P. Leaders List Conditions for Raising Debt Ceiling

Also behind closed doors in the Capitol, House Republican leaders laid out their demands for a debt-ceiling increase to the Republican rank and file.

They include a one-year delay of the president’s health care law,

fast-track authority to overhaul the tax code,

construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline,

offshore oil and gas production,

more permitting of energy exploration on federal lands,

a rollback of regulations on coal ash,

blocking new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on greenhouse gas production,

eliminating a $23 billion fund to ensure the orderly dissolution of failed major banks,

eliminating mandatory contributions to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,

limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and

an increase in means testing for Medicare, among other provisions.

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority whip, said all of those measures have passed the House since Republicans took over in 2011, but they have gone nowhere in the Democratic Senate.

Now, Republicans say, they will use the threat of a potentially devastating default on United States government debt to force consideration. The laundry list of Republican priorities is also needed to build support for any debt-limit increase, which many Republicans say they cannot vote for under any circumstances.

“The president says ‘I’m not going to negotiate,' ” Mr. Boehner said. “Well, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.”

Given the president’s stance and resistance by Senate Democrats to any threat to postpone the health measure, the House proposal would seem to have no chance of success in the Senate.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/us/politics/house-gop-leaders-list-conditions-for-raising-debt-ceiling.html?from=homepage




Notice how not a single one of the Repug demands is FOR the 99% nor FOR the environment. ALL are FOR the 1%/VRWC/corporate protection and enrichment. Absolute CLASS WARFARE.

[boutons_deux]

House GOP’s Ransom Note Predictably Not Extreme Enough For House GOP

t’s becoming clear that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) does not have enough votes to pass the extreme proposal — because the right wing of his caucus does not think that it’s extreme enough.

“We still have some challenges,” Deputy Majority Whip Tom Cole (R-OK) told The Hill (http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/324965-house-gop-doesnt-have-votes-to-move-debt-ceiling-plan#ixzz2g29yCaHd) on Thursday night. “We’ve got an awful lot of support, but clearly at this point we don’t have a final product that’s attracting the number that we need. Hopefully that’ll change, and I think it could.”

Congressman Tom Rooney (R-FL) laid out the right’s complaint with the proposal: “The problem for me is it doesn’t address the debt,” Rooney told The Hill.

Ironically, Rooney is right; the GOP proposal would actually do very little to bring down the national debt. Where Rooney is wrong, of course, is his assumption that forcing America to default on its debt would accomplish anything positive for the economy.

If The Hill’s report is accurate, and Speaker Boehner does not have the 217 Republican votes he needs to pass his ransom note, then the proposal is dead in the water (as no Democrat will vote for making the passage of the Romney/Ryan plan a precondition for America paying its bills). That would make the debt ceiling debate a magnified version of Boehner’s humiliating farm bill defeat (http://www.nationalmemo.com/boehners-house-implodes/), and leave the Speaker with two options. Either he could partner with House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling without preconditions — a political defeat that would almost certainly cost him the Speaker’s gavel — or he could give in to the right wing of his caucus once again, crafting a proposal that would be completely unacceptable to Democrats, sparking a fiscal disaster and quite possibly costing him his job and Republicans their House majority. In other words, there are no good options for the top-ranking Republican.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/house-gops-ransom-note-predictably-not-extreme-enough-for-house-gop/

If Obama won't fold on the debt ceiling, the Repugs' corporate/financial paymasters will force the Repugs' to fold, since they won't allow a default.

[boutons_deux]

:lol

CNBC poll: Conservatives oppose ‘Obamacare’ far more vehemently than the Affordable Care Act

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/27/cnbc-poll-conservatives-oppose-obamacare-far-more-vehemently-than-the-affordable-care-act/

:lol

[boutons_deux]

BREAKING NEWS: Senate passes bill to keep government open -- INCLUDES Obamacare funding






Despite Ted Cruz's stalling tactics, moments ago Senate Democrats voted 54-44 to keep the government funded, including Obamacare.

Now it's all on Boehner.

Republicans are expected to vote as soon as TOMORROW on whether they'll actually shut down the government just to defund Obamacare.

[boutons_deux]

FOX NEWS: OBAMA IN PLOT TO FORCE AMERICANS TO LIVE LONGER

—In a blockbuster documentary to be broadcast tonight, the Fox News Channel alleges that Obamacare is “little more than a thinly veiled scheme to force Americans to live longer.”

The documentary, called “The Ugly Truth About Obamacare,” claims that President Obama “is cynically using the health-care law to achieve his true objective: raising the life expectancy of Americans without their consent.”

“In America, how long you live has always been your own business,” says the documentary’s narrator, Sean Hannity. “Under Obamacare, though, it’s the government’s business—a government that wants you to live as long as humanly possible.”

The documentary lays out a nightmare scenario of Americans being saddled with sky-high life expectancies for years to come.

In perhaps the most chilling prediction of the documentary, Mr. Hannity warns, “If Obamacare goes into effect, Americans will be forced to live as long as people in Finland, Denmark, and other socialist countries.”

Speaking with reporters today, Mr. Hannity said he hoped that the documentary would be a “wake-up call about the secret agenda behind Obamacare.”

“President Obama is playing God with American lives,” Mr. Hannity said. “And if he stubbornly insists on making those lives longer, that could be grounds for impeachment.”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/09/fox-news-obama-in-plot-to-force-americans-to-live-longer.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(174)

[boutons_deux]

Fox Complains Unopened Obamacare Exchanges Haven't Insured Enough Americans Yet

Fox News host Steve Doocy jumped the gun to call the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a failure before its full implementation.


DOOCY: Remember during the original argument about whether or not we should go ahead and pass the Affordable Care Act, also now known as Obamacare, very famously Karl Rove said on this program, he said, you know, 85 percent of the country has health care and likes it. So why blow up the entire system for 15 percent? There is a new poll out this morning that says that, take a guess, how many people in this country, what percentage have insurance now for the very first time because of the Affordable Care Act? How many? What percent?

CO-HOST ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I mean, I'd go 20. Let's go 20 percent.

DOOCY: One percent.

HASSELBECK: Oh, great. :lol

DOOCY: One percent of the country now has insurance because of the Affordable Care Act.

HASSELBECK: That's it? :lol

DOOCY: Yeah, we were told we're helping out 15 percent. But so far, just one.

But Doocy's critique completely misrepresented the timeline of the health care law's implementation.

The public exchanges, which will offer new insurance coverage options to Americans who currently do not receive employer-sponsored health insurance, will not open for enrollment (http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/health/obamacare-open-enrollment/?hpt=he_c1) until October 1, and the new coverage won't begin to take effect until January 1, 2014 (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114870/obamacare-exchanges-start-tuesday-oct-1-heres-why-theyre-worth-it).

Expanded Medicaid access also doesn't take effect until January 1 (http://www.medicaid.gov/AffordableCareAct/Timeline/Timeline.html).

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in May (http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44176) that, once it is fully in effect, the ACA's exchanges will help provide coverage to 24 million currently uninsured Americans by 2023, and the Medicaid expansion will cover an additional 13 million.

Doocy also ignored the many benefits (http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/08/02/sean-hannitys-hour-long-obamacare-special-ignor/195213) that the law has already put into effect for individuals that currently have insurance.

Nearly three years after the law's enactment, 6.1 million (http://www.cms.gov/apps/files/MedicareReport2012.pdf) Americans with Medicare who reached the Part D coverage gap ("donut hole") saved more than $5.7 billion on prescription drugs.

Additionally, 71 million (http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2013/PreventiveServices/ib_prevention.cfm) Americans received coverage for preventive care in 2011 and 2012, and 78 million Americans saved a total of $3.4 billion (http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2013/06/white-house-aca-saved-americans-money-on-health-insurance-already.html) on their health insurance premiums in 2012.


http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/27/fox-complains-unopened-obamacare-exchanges-have/196121

[boutons_deux]

...

[boutons_deux]

Fox Complains Unopened Obamacare Exchanges Haven't Insured Enough Americans Yet

Fox News host Steve Doocy jumped the gun to call the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a failure before its full implementation.


DOOCY: Remember during the original argument about whether or not we should go ahead and pass the Affordable Care Act, also now known as Obamacare, very famously Karl Rove said on this program, he said, you know, 85 percent of the country has health care and likes it. So why blow up the entire system for 15 percent? There is a new poll out this morning that says that, take a guess, how many people in this country, what percentage have insurance now for the very first time because of the Affordable Care Act? How many? What percent?

CO-HOST ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I mean, I'd go 20. Let's go 20 percent.

DOOCY: One percent.

HASSELBECK: Oh, great. :lol

DOOCY: One percent of the country now has insurance because of the Affordable Care Act.

HASSELBECK: That's it? :lol

DOOCY: Yeah, we were told we're helping out 15 percent. But so far, just one.

But Doocy's critique completely misrepresented the timeline of the health care law's implementation.

The public exchanges, which will offer new insurance coverage options to Americans who currently do not receive employer-sponsored health insurance, will not open for enrollment (http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/health/obamacare-open-enrollment/?hpt=he_c1) until October 1, and the new coverage won't begin to take effect until January 1, 2014 (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114870/obamacare-exchanges-start-tuesday-oct-1-heres-why-theyre-worth-it).

Expanded Medicaid access also doesn't take effect until January 1 (http://www.medicaid.gov/AffordableCareAct/Timeline/Timeline.html).

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in May (http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44176) that, once it is fully in effect, the ACA's exchanges will help provide coverage to 24 million currently uninsured Americans by 2023, and the Medicaid expansion will cover an additional 13 million.

Doocy also ignored the many benefits (http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/08/02/sean-hannitys-hour-long-obamacare-special-ignor/195213) that the law has already put into effect for individuals that currently have insurance.

Nearly three years after the law's enactment, 6.1 million (http://www.cms.gov/apps/files/MedicareReport2012.pdf) Americans with Medicare who reached the Part D coverage gap ("donut hole") saved more than $5.7 billion on prescription drugs.

Additionally, 71 million (http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2013/PreventiveServices/ib_prevention.cfm) Americans received coverage for preventive care in 2011 and 2012, and 78 million Americans saved a total of $3.4 billion (http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2013/06/white-house-aca-saved-americans-money-on-health-insurance-already.html) on their health insurance premiums in 2012.


http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/27/fox-complains-unopened-obamacare-exchanges-have/196121





"A middle-aged man in a red golf shirt shuffles up to a small folding table with gold trim, in a booth adorned with a flotilla of helium balloons, where government workers at the Kentucky State Fair are hawking the virtues of Kynect, the state’s health benefit exchange established by Obamacare.The man is impressed. "This beats Obamacare I hope," he mutters to one of the workers.

“Do I burst his bubble?” wonders Reina Diaz-Dempsey, overseeing the operation. She doesn't. If he signs up, it's a win-win, whether he knows he's been ensnared by Obamacare or not."

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/09/27/fox-complains-unopened-obamacare-exchanges-have/196121

[boutons_deux]

BREAKING NEWS: Senate passes bill to keep government open -- INCLUDES Obamacare funding








Despite Ted Cruz's stalling tactics, moments ago Senate Democrats voted 54-44 to keep the government funded, including Obamacare.

Now it's all on Boehner.

Republicans are expected to vote as soon as TOMORROW on whether they'll actually shut down the government just to defund Obamacare.



Tea party: Obamacare is now ‘BoehnerCare’ :lol


Tea party (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/tea-party/) activists are planning to rally outside of House Speaker John A. Boehner (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/john-a-boehner/)’s Ohio office on Tuesday, telling the Republican speaker that if he doesn’t use this year’s spending fight to defund the health care law, it will hence be known to them as “BoehnerCare.”

“If he funds it, he will own it,” said Janet Porter (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/janet-porter/), president of Faith2Action (http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/faith2action/), one of the groups participating in the rally.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/26/tea-party-obamacare-now-boehnercare/#ixzz2g83l4MJh

[Th'Pusher]

:lol faith2action sounds like a nineties Christian rock band

[boutons_deux]

Probably a bunch more poor, white bubbas, rednecks, tea baggers will RUSH to sign up for BoehnerCare, just to stick it to that n!gg@ in the WH. :lol

[boutons_deux]

the real concern of most conservatives is that Obamacare will work, proving popular over the long run. Think about it: If they are so certain that the law will collapse under its own weight, why not step aside and allow it to do so? Why do they need to try to defund it and create creepy ads trying to persuade young people not to buy in? Why did they warn the National Football League not to promote the new health care exchanges?

If Obamacare succeeds, the generations-long conservative war against activist government would have lost another major battle, and more voters would be persuaded to vote for progressives. That’s the reason conservatives went all-out to defeat President Clinton’s similar health care proposal during his first term.

As Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, then fresh off his stint as Vice President Dan Quayle’s chief of staff, wrote in 1993: “… the long-term political effects of a successful Clinton health care bill will … relegitimize middle-class dependence for ‘security’ on government spending and regulation. It will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests.”


There you have it. They don’t dare allow Obamacare to proceed unimpeded because Americans might come to like it and depend on it, as the elderly like and depend on Medicare. Indeed, conservatives, including Ronald Reagan, fought the creation of Medicare, claiming it was pure socialism.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/republicans-are-terrified-that-obamacare-will-succeed/2/

[boutons_deux]

"and now for something completely different ..."

Cruz... repeatedly told a Texas audience Friday that he wants to avoid that prospect without backing off his hard line against funding Obamacare.

Instead, the Texas Republican tried to shift the blame for any impending shutdown to Democratic leaders. :lol (you knew that was coming! :lol )

“There is plenty of time to avert a shutdown. I don't want a shutdown; I don't think we should have a shutdown,” Cruz said in a videoconference appearance from Washington at the Texas Tribune Festival.

“The only reason we might have a government shutdown is if (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid and President Obama insist upon a government shutdown,” Cruz said in the long-distance interview with the Tribune's co-founder and editor-in-chief, Evan Smith.

The remark drew loud dissent from the audience at the University of Texas,

http://mobile.mysa.com/mysa/db_283105/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=lR6IrrpR&full=true#display

holee sheet, you scrotum sucking TX tea baggers really, really, really know how to choose your Senators. :lol

[Th'Pusher]

House GOP to attach Obamacare delay to CR

House Republicans will vote to pass a one-year delay of Obamacare in exchange for funding the government, a plan that drastically increases the chances of a government shutdown this Tuesday.

The decision was announced by the GOP leadership in a closed meeting Saturday afternoon, according to sources present. Republicans will also pass a bill to fund U.S. troops if the government shuts down, according to GOP lawmakers. The House’s funding measure will keep the government open until mid December.

This puts Senate Democrats and the White House at loggerheads with House Republicans, a standoff that could lead to the first government shutdown since 1995.
Senate Democrats passed a bill to fund the government until Nov. 15, but kept intact Obamacare.

“We’ve had enough of the disunity in our party,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told the meeting of House Republicans Saturday afternoon. “The headlines are Republicans fighting Republicans. This will unite us. This protects the people who sent us here from Obamacare.”

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it would be the “fastest whip check in history,” as every member raised their hand, saying they would support the bill.
The House is expected to vote Saturday, sources say.

This is just the first round of an entire fall filled with fiscal fights. The debt ceiling must be raised Oct. 17, and Washington will have to tackle government funding again before the new year.

Defunding, delaying and otherwise chipping away at Obamacare has been the centerpiece of the House Republican majority since they took control of the chamber in 2011. Obama has changed some portions of his signature legislative achievement. He has taken unilateral action to delay the mandate that employers provide health insurance to their workers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he would not accept any attempts to delay or defund the law as part of a government-funding bill.
Boehner tried to avoid this fight, and direct angst over Obamacare to the debt ceiling battle, where he thought Obama would want to cut a deal that would include replacing the sequester. He first proposed using the debt ceiling vote as a backstop — something Republicans could look forward to if they didn’t get their way in the CR fight. But the rank-and-file rejected that strategy. Then, leadership sought to have a debt ceiling vote before the one on government funding. Rank-and-file Republicans rejected that as well, saying they wanted to see what the ultimate resolution in the CR battle before committing to raising the debt ceiling.

It’s a small group of conservatives that have tied the hands of Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — just enough Republicans to prevent the leadership from being able to exert its will.
That explains the fits and starts of the past few weeks. Republicans have cycled through several fiscal strategies, all of them proving flawed in the eyes of the conservative base.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/house-gop-budget-strategy-government-shutdown-97496.html?hp=t1

[boutons_deux]

The 1-year ACA delay will be clearly voted down in the Senate.

The House tea baggers have chosen to shut down the govt.

This is standard Repug strategy: fuck up the govt with misgovernment, with non-government, then claim, to the acclaim of their ignorant choir of bubbas, shitkickers, redstaters, racists, Fox watchers and VRWC hate media, etc, that they have demonstrated, proved that govt is fundamentally not trustable and 100% evil and unAmerican.

[Capt Bringdown]

Obamacare forces citizens to be captured by the market. It is not a incremental step towards single payer, it is a move in the opposite direction, a policy written by and for the insurance industry. A boondoggle for the rentiers, as well as a precedent for eliminating what remains of the New Deal.
A safe bet that Social Security will be given the Obama treatment (privatize everything) by those who follow, either D or R.

[boutons_deux]

"Obamacare forces citizens to be captured by the market."

from whom else other than for-profit insurers could they buy insurance from? The overriding objective was to get them insured, out of the ER and into earlier, or any, medical treatment.

SS, along with public pensions, remains a target for Wall St, but Wall St targets EVERYTHING they can extract wealth from.

[boutons_deux]

And of course TX political leaders are always cutting edge (with hunting knives, even military tactical knives, no doubt :) ) :

Rick Perry Flip-Flops On Obamacare: ‘Defund It’ (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/28/2696821/rick-perry-defund/)

ST. CHARLES, Missouri — Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry took an uncharacteristically independent stance, bashing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’s plan to force a government shut down over Obamacare funding as “nonsensical (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/rick-perry-breaks-with-ted-cruz-calls-federal-shutdown-nonsensical/).”

But this Saturday, Perry was singing a different tune: “Defund it,” the Governor told ThinkProgress.

When asked by ABC News earlier this week whether the shutdown showdown was a smart move, Perry had said “I don’t think it’s a good option.” Rather, the Governor argued (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/rick-perry-breaks-with-ted-cruz-calls-federal-shutdown-nonsensical/), “there’s still time to sit down and try to fix Obamacare.” Amend, not defund.

On Saturday, Perry told ThinkProgress that “you in the media” were taking him out of context. He claimed his comments to ABC merely amounted to opposition to a shutdown.

“I don’t think anyone thinks the shutting down of the government was a good option,” he explained, a paraphrase inconsistent with the transcript (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/rick-perry-breaks-with-ted-cruz-calls-federal-shutdown-nonsensical/) of his ABC comments.

Perry went on to express support for fully defunding Obamacare, arguing that Obama and Reid have taken repairing Obamacare off the table by refusing to negotiate with Republicans over the shutdown crisis:

I thought there was an opportunity ten days ago to maybe come together and ‘fix,’ I think was the word I used…the President and Harry Reid clearly took that off the table this last week when they said ‘we’re not going to talk about it. It’s our way or the highway.’ Well, I’m like a lot of other people who, ‘you’ll negotiate with the leader of Iran, but you won’t even sit down with Republicans in the House and the Senate to try to find a reasonable middle ground on this? So yeah, I think we ought to defund Obamacare.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/28/2696821/rick-perry-defund/

You TX bubbas really know how to elect the "best and brightest" politicians! :lol

[SA210]

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/q71/1233395_520081478066013_1352469658_n.jpg

[boutons_deux]

I hear the Repgus LYING like they always do that it's not their fault the govt will shutdown. fucking anarchist asssholes, every one of them.

And we get to do it all again for the debt ceiling, which was raised 19 times under dubya, with nary a whimper from the Repugs. fucking anarchist asssholes, every one of them.