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GAO Wants to End Obama’s $8.3B Medicare Quality Bonus Plan in a Stinging Rebuke to White House

April 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

President Obama is about to get another stinging rebuke, as the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling for the end of an $8 billion Medicare quality bonus program that congressional Republicans have criticized as a political ploy. The GAO report, which is slated for release Monday, states the $8.3 billion the administration has earmarked for quality bonuses to Medicare Advantage insurance plans, would essentially delay the  pain of cuts to the plans under the new health care law.  The Obama administration is defending the program saying that without the bonuses many plans wouldn’t have an incentive to improve quality.

Medicare Advantage is a popular private insurance alternative to the traditional health care program for seniors. More than 3,000 private plans serve nearly 12 million beneficiaries, about one-fourth of Medicare recipients. They offer lower out-of-pocket costs, usually in exchange for some limitations on choice.

President Barack Obama’s health care law trimmed Medicare Advantage to compensate for prior years of overpayments that had allowed the plans to offer attractive benefits — and pocket healthy profits. Source

In other words, they want to kick the can down the road for someone else to deal with, namely our children and their children. I guess it doesn’t mean much to the Obama White House that this bonus program is characterized as the costliest demonstration program in Medicare history.
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Georgia Settles Lawsuit Over Failure to Allow Public Assistance Recipients to Chance to Register to Vote

April 19, 2012 By 3 Comments

The state of Georgia has settled a lawsuit over its failure to offer poverty-stricken people who sign up for public assistance an opportunity to register to vote. The press release issued by the plaintiffs state:

A coalition of national voting rights groups have secured a landmark settlement with the State of Georgia to ensure that voter registration is offered to all public assistance applicants. The state has settled a lawsuit, brought by the coalition on behalf of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and the Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, alleging widespread violations of Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

Georgia’s Secretary of State and its Department of Human Services (DHS) have agreed to comply with Section 7 of the NVRA, which requires that public assistance agency clients be provided with the opportunity to register to vote every time they apply for or renew benefits, or when they submit a change of address.

Public assistance in numbers:

….[T]here has been a dramatic decline in the number of persons registering to vote at Georgia public assistance offices since the NVRA first took effect in the mid-1990s. During the 1995-1996 reporting period, DHS received over 100,000 registration applications, but in 2010 the number of registrations had dropped to a mere 4,430. By comparison, in 2009, Georgia, on average, received nearly 70,000 applications each month for just one of the public assistance programs (Food Stamps) covered by the NVRA’s voter registration requirements. Source

I wonder where the Republican legislators in the state of Georgia are today? Probably trying to find another way to stick it to the poor.

Georgia Settles Lawsuit Over Failure to Allow Public Assistance Recipients to Chance to Register to Vote
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Rush Limbaugh Faces New Threat When New Mike Huckabee Show Launches in His 12-3 PM Time Slot

March 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Rush Limbaugh faces new threat — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Why?  The new Mike Huckabee show launches on 100 stations in his noon-3 p.m. time slot. Um, give me Mike Huckabee any day over Rush Limbaugh.  Advertisers won’t be the only ones running from Rush Limbaugh, listeners will too.

David Frum points out that Limbaugh will face “a more-serious challenge” on April 2: “That’s when the new Mike Huckabee show launches on 100 stations in Limbaugh’s very own noon-to-3 time slot. Huckabee’s competition threatens Limbaugh not only because Huckabee has already proven himself an attractive and popular TV broadcaster, but also because Huckabee is arriving on the scene at a time when Limbaugh’s business model is crashing around him.”

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BREAKING NEWS: Justice Department Blocks Texas Voter ID Law

March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BLOCKS TEXAS VOTER ID LAW:  The Justice Department’s civil rights division on Monday objected to a new photo ID requirement for voters in Texas because many Hispanic voters lack state-issued identification.

 

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Centrists Becoming a Dying Breed in American Politics as Congress Becomes More Polarizing

March 12, 2012 By 4 Comments

It seems that centrists are a dying breed in Congress and that’s not representative of the general population. I am proud to say that I am a Centrist, but it’s very disheartening to see that is changing in Congress.

Congress is becoming more polarized and that’s not a good thing — either liberal or staunchly conservative.  If that’s not a breeding ground for dysfunction and sure disaster in American politics, then I don’t know what is. We don’t need a bunch of white and wealthy Republican men telling women what to do with their bodies.  There has to be a voice of reason in the middle.

Juan Williams: “The death of the political middle is the defining shift taking place in American politics today. It is ending the tradition of political leadership that rises above ideology, region, party, religion and even race to attain statesmanship… The Congress has become an increasingly uncomfortable place for voices of moderation. Many of them are fed up and have decided that 2012 is the year they will call it quits… Because of the exodus — if not expulsion — of the remaining moderates from Congress this year, American politics will become even more polarized and dysfunctional. If you like the ideological extremism and obstructionist paralysis that has characterized the 112th Congress, then you will love the 113th.”

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Rush Limbaugh Calls Obama “Boy President” in Between United Negro College Fund PSA

March 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

Rush Limbaugh denigrates President Obama by calling him a “boy president” on his radio show in between a United Negro College Fund PSA. Here’s the transcript from RushLimbaugh.com:

So, the Politico story, the headline: “Obama’s New Hurdle: Jobs Report Optimism — President Barack Obama has a new challenge with the jobs report due out Friday: rising expectations.” Oh, the poor guy. What a real challenge. “Several months of improving numbers filtered through an election-year prism have bolstered Obama’s standing — but also have fueled anticipation that the employment outlook will continue to improve. If new jobs aren’t added at the same rate, Obama’s political opponents will attack him for not doing enough to sustain the economy.” This is the Politico writing for a third grade anti-bullying class. Obama’s political opponents will attack him for not doing enough. “If they go up, he’ll almost certainly be slammed for the economy not improving enough. And if they tick down — or the unemployment rate rises — expect searing attacks about a president leading the country into a double-dip recession.”

Poor Obama. Boohoo! He just can’t catch a break. Even the news media talking up the economy for him might backfire on him. Oh, yeah! It’s so fraught with danger out there for Obama. Why, even if his sycophant, slavish media talk up the economy, that might backfire. Remember how the media fretted about all the problems of perception that President Bush faced? Right. We don’t, either. So obviously this piece in The Politico from which I was just reading was written before this morning’s unemployment report came out, and it is clear that the news media and the rest of the Obama campaign were sweating bullets over this number.

You remember how the media fretted about all the problems of perception that Bush faced? Poor Obama! He can’t catch a break. These venal Republicans, they’re just waiting to pounce on any uptick in the jobless rate! Those bullies. You notice that everything Republicans do is venal? Everything is calculated for political advantage? Everything is done to try to harm our little boy president, Barack Obama? The Republicans never have the country’s interests at heart like Obama does. In fact, this article sounds like the Obama campaign was using The Politico to tell their lickspittle minions in the news media to dial back their boosterism a little bit.

It sounds to me like this whole story is the White House calling Politico saying, “Hey, dial it back. We don’t want to make it sound too good out there! I mean, there are gonna couple of dips between now and Election Day. It can’t be that because we got this poll from Greenberg, don’t forget.” Stanley Greenberg, James Carville’s partner, big-time Democrat pollster, last couple of weeks puts a pull out and says: Mr. President, don’t go to town on this big story of a reviving, roaring-back economy because it isn’t going to work. They’re not feeling it. The reason a story based on a virtual economic recovery won’t work is because people are living in the economy.

When will Rush Turdbaugh get the boot? Seems like he thinks the heat is starting to cool off in the Sandra Fluke “slut” controversy.

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Michele Bachmann Says Outrage Against Rush Limbaugh Slut Comment “Overkill”

March 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
4377543217 b88b3c6b1a m Michele Bachmann Says Outrage Against Rush Limbaugh Slut Comment Overkill

Michele Bachmann Says Outrage Against Rush Limbaugh Slut Comment "Overkill" (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

GOP presidential has-been Michele Bachmann calls the outrage to Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” overkill. Um, remember when she appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s show and walked out to the music “Lying Ass Bitch?” Wasn’t she ticked off when she realized they dissed her and even called for an apology? What an ignoramus, who continues to make a mocker of elected office!

The Hill:  ”When you see the overkill that’s being done about Rush Limbaugh and then the comments that were said about me, there’s no comparison here,” she said on CNN, condemning “violent talk” toward women on both sides of the partisan divide. “Why is it that it’s an outrage when it’s an issue on the left but zero outrage when it’s on the right?”

Um, people shrugged off her episodes because she called President Obama and others all manner of ugly names, including accusing him of being a “gangsta” president. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Michele Bachmann Says Outrage Against Rush Limbaugh Slut Comment Overkill
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Andrew Breitbart Columnist Dan Riehl Accuses Democrats of Inciting Death Threats Against Rush Limbaugh

March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The so-called publishing empire of the late Andrew Breitbart continues to churn out right wing bullsh*t. The latest is an article written by Dan Riehl accusing the Democrats of inciting death threats against Rush Limbaugh after he called Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” over her birth control testimony. Um, Dan Riehl, get real and stop the inflammatory rhetoric. How many Democrats received death threats from Tea Party supporters over their Obamacare vote and over their stance on many issues? Andrew Breitbart led the charge on that front. Wait, remember Shirley Sherrod? It doesn’t feel so good now when the right is in the hot seat, right?

For the record, Rush Limbaugh apologized twice for denigrating Sandra Fluke, not from the goodness of his cinder block heart, but because advertisers, 30 from the last count, have jumped ship and radio stations are fleeing. You see, you can’t have it both ways. Had that been a Democrat, the outrage would have been the same. So, let’s quit the BS.

Limbaugh has already apologized for twice, the popular Conservative talk radio host is now the target of multiple death threats by the very same storm troops Obama and the Democrat Party unleashed in what even HBO host Bill Maher has acknowledged is a witch hunt with intimidation as its goal.

Maher: Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout

“I want your blood … coming to Florida … gonna pay you a visit my friend you love to pick on people get ready fatso,” is just one of many hateful threats regularly directed at Limbaugh as a result of the Democrat’s campaign.

“Execute Rush, now!” states one; “Don’t just drop sponsorship someone kill this pig now please!!!!,” reads another. These and others are documented below with images and names obscured, so as not to fuel the same targeted hatred the White House and Democrats have now gone to great lengths to stoke. Source: Big Government

As for quoting Bill Maher, he’s just as misogynistic as Rush Limbaugh and Ed Schultz. Funny, Dan Riehl is feigning ignorance when it comes to the inflammatory and oftentimes racist comments left on all the sites under the Andrew Breitbart publishing arm, that have called President Obama and Michelle Obama,  a nigger, a monkey, a gorilla, a terrorist lover, among other unsavory words. The truth is, Dan Riehl and what’s left of the “Andrew Breitbart” empire need to pick the speck out of their own eyes first before accusing the Democrats or anyone else of inciting death threats against Rush Limbaugh.

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Rep. Allen West Says He Would be Willing to Serve as Vice President, When Donkeys Fly

March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Every time I think some in the Republican Party sink to a new loan, something always pops up to re-affirm my viewpoint, with the latest being the suggestion by Sarah Palin that Tea Party darling Rep. Allen West be considered for the vice presidential spot. What’s worse, he said he would be willing to serve as vice president. Um, really? When donkeys fly. So, first we have Herman Cain saying he would like to serve as the Secretary of Defense (with zero experience and zero credibility) and now this?

During an appearance on CNN with Soledad O’Brien, Rep. Allen West said:

“As far as the vice president thing, you know, who knows what the future lies because it wasn’t too long ago, you know, I was sitting in the desert of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and now I’m here talking with you. But, you know, I am always willing and ready to serve my country in whatever capacity that the American people would desire.”

Right Rep. Allen West, you would be the right person for join Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum on the presidential ticket. Joe Biden and the Democrats would have a field day and Obama would win reelection easily. So, since he fought in the desert of Kandahar, that makes him a good vice presidential pick? Heck, if that’s the case, more soldiers ought to be tossing their hat in the ring for the job. SMH and LMAO at the same time.

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Jon Stewart Takes on Rush Limbaugh Over Calling Sandra Fluke “Slut” and “Prostitute”

March 6, 2012 By 1 Comment

Jon Stewart takes on windbag Rush Limbaugh controversy after radio show host calls Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” over birth control flap. This comes as advertisers continue to flee the conservative’s show and two radio stations have also dropped the show.

According to media reports, KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii, and WBEC in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, are no longer airing it. That’s in addition to the list of growing advertisers jumping ship:  Carbonite, Proflowers, Tax Resolution Services, Legal Zoom, Citrix Success, All State, Heart and Body Extract, AutoZone, Quicken Loans, Sleep Train, Sleep Number, Oreck and AOL.

Twitter users are also spreading the message using the hashtags #BoycottRush, #StopRush and #BoycottHate. Do your part and hold other misogynistic media personalities accountable too. Watch the Jon Stewart video, it’s hilarious:

pixel Jon Stewart Takes on Rush Limbaugh Over Calling Sandra Fluke Slut and Prostitute
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