Monday, March 24, 2014

The Real Truth About ObamaCare via Robert Reich


The Real Truth About ObamaCare

http://robertreich.org/post/80376118247
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Despite the worst roll-out conceivable, the Affordable Care Act seems to be working. With less than two weeks remaining before the March 31 deadline for coverage this year, five million people have already signed up. After decades of rising percentages of Americans’ lacking health insurance, the uninsured rate has dropped to its lowest levels since 2008.
Meanwhile, the rise in health care costs has slowed drastically. No one knows exactly why, but the new law may well be contributing to this slowdown by reducing Medicare overpayments to medical providers and private insurers, and creating incentives for hospitals and doctors to improve quality of care.
But a lot about the Affordable Care Act needs fixing — especially the widespread misinformation that continues to surround it. For example, a majority of business owners with fewer than 50 workers still think they’re required to offer insurance or pay a penalty. In fact, the law applies only to businesses with 50 or more employees who work more than 30 hours a week. And many companies with fewer than 25 workers still don’t realize that if they offer plans they can qualify for subsidies in the form of tax credits.
Many individuals remain confused and frightened. Forty-one percent of Americans who are still uninsured say they plan to remain that way. They believe it will be cheaper to pay a penalty than buy insurance. Many of these people are unaware of the subsidies available to them. Sign-ups have been particularly disappointing among Hispanics.
Some of this confusion has been deliberately sown by outside groups that, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision, have been free to spend large amounts of money to undermine the law. For example, Gov. Rick Scott,  Republican of Florida, told Fox News that the Affordable Care Act was “the biggest job killer ever,” citing a Florida company with 20 employees that expected to go out of business because it couldn’t afford coverage.
None of this is beyond repair, though. As more Americans sign up and see the benefits, others will take note and do the same.
The biggest problem on the horizon that may be beyond repair — because it reflects a core feature of the law — is the public’s understandable reluctance to be forced to buy insurance from private, for-profit insurers that aren’t under enough competitive pressure to keep premiums low.
But even here, remedies could evolve. States might use their state-run exchanges to funnel so many applicants to a single, low-cost insurer that the insurer becomes, in effect, a single payer. Vermont is already moving in this direction. In this way, the Affordable Care Act could become a back door to a single-payer system — every conservative’s worst nightmare.

Who`s Really Feckless? Via Randi Rhodes


In the search for the missing airliner, Malaysia’s Prime Minister announced today that their "analysis" concludes that the flight path of Flight 370 "ended in the Indian Ocean." He said that the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch conducted the study that generated that conclusion. Really? Then please have the Brits announce it. After this mess? I wouldn’t believe my own words if they came from the Malaysian government.

Possible wreckage of the plane was sighted by satellite over the weekend, and has now supposedly been spotted by search planes. Searchers say they've even found a wooden pallet. Did anyone take any pictures of it? Examine it? Then how do we know the pallet came from the missing plane? Those pieces of trash are almost as common as propaganda in the U.S. media today. Looking for an old wooden pallet? Look in any abandoned lot, ditch, culvert, or riverbank. Wooden pallets are the most common large item of trash this side of rubber tires.

Speaking of propaganda trash, Fox contributor Erik Rush says that President Obama had the plane diverted to the U.S. base at Diego Garcia and had everyone on the plane "murdered." Well so much for Obama being "weak" and "feckless!" Tell me this, Erik - Was Obama wearing "mom jeans" when he murdered all of these people?

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is attacking President Obama for "faulty judgment about Russia's intentions." Tell us again about the extent of your foreign policy experience, Mitt. Isn't it mostly finding foreign countries to hide your money in? Mitt said, "I think effective leaders typically are able to see the future to a certain degree." Well then, it's funny how the results of the election really seemed to creep up on you, Mitt.

On a positive note, on Sunday, Obamacare turned four years old! Unfortunately, somebody still has to convince Republicans that it’s too late to strangle it in its crib!

The Republicans have been trying for the last four years to get rid of Obamacare. I would say that they’re tilting at windmills, but they want to get rid of windmills too! The Republicans in the House have voted on repealing Obamacare 51 times. I can't honestly say that number is correct, though — in the time it took me to type that, they may have voted a 52nd time.

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While you might be laughing at the ridiculous incompetence and arrogance of Republicans, the oligarchs are still laughing at how badly Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives may bumble the 2014 elections. In fact, the oligarchs have been laughing at most Americans for thirty years. Want to flip the script on 'em? Listen to what Bill Maher has to say about the power of words.

Read more: http://www.randirhodes.com/articles/daily-blog-380723/on-todays-show-mon-mar-24-12184933#ixzz2wvgbAOot

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The number and severity of attacks on U.S. Embassy personnel under George W. Bush FAR surpasses those under President Obama.

The Norman Goldman Show
The number and severity of attacks on U.S. Embassy personnel under George W. Bush FAR surpasses those under President Obama.

Randi Rhodes To Richard Quest on Flight 370 Coverage: Go Do Some Meth And Tie Up Your Nads

Randi Rhodes To Richard Quest on Flight 370 Coverage: Go Do Some Meth And Tie Up Your Nads https://t.co/KqXmG5lMTY

Questions Still Flying - Randi Rhodes

might re-register/file as a to fly undetected? Practicing to be a


Another day and still no sign of that missing Malaysian airliner. The only thing we know for sure at this point? Anything the Malaysian government says will be reversed by them within 24 hours.

Radar data from Thailand now seems to confirm that the plane definitely made a sharp left turn to the West. That information has the added benefit of not being from anybody involved with the Malaysian authorities. The more we learn about how corrupt and screwy the Malaysian government is, the less bizarre this whole scenario seems. I’m surprised more things aren’t mysteriously disappearing from Malaysia - or that there aren’t yetis chasing chupacabras through the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Retired Air Force General Thomas McInerney said that the plane could be hidden in a hangar in Taliban-controlled areas of Pakistan, waiting to be used in a terrorist attack. Of course, he said it to Steve Doocy on Fox - but it still could be true. They do get things right on Fox once in a while.

There are even more questions. Why were there no cellphone calls from passengers on the flight, especially after it veered off course? The plane may have been too high for passengers to make calls. And when it climbed to 45,000 feet, it may have been too high for passengers to survive - which may be why the plane went that high.

Thanks to the mystery of the vanished plane, ratings for CNN have skyrocketed past Fox News. When people need real breaking news, they go to CNN. Even Fox's own people go to CNN for real news. They go to Fox News when they need to have incorrect opinions reinforced. Sure, a lot of what CNN is reporting is pure speculation, but unlike Fox News, that speculation won’t include speculation that this is all President Obama’s fault.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin today annexed Crimea to Russia. It looks like Putin is trying to slowly reassemble the old Soviet Union. And at this point, the best we can do is hope that it’s "slowly." Russia felt that the Western powers had left them cornered. Well, Putin just made their corner a little bit bigger.

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Read more: http://www.randirhodes.com/articles/daily-blog-380723/on-todays-show-tue-mar-18-12167465#ixzz2wQJrbHcm

If Our Founding Fathers Were All Christians, Why Did They Say This? by Tolerant Libertarian

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/18/1285607/-If-Our-Founding-Fathers-Were-All-Christians-Why-Did-They-Say-This?detail=facebook

Nobody can deny the fact that Christianity has played a huge role in our history. From the first Thanksgiving to the ideas of Jesus Christ that are embroidered in our culture today, Christianity and the Bible is responsible a big part of our heritage.
However, many conservatives will take this fact way out of context. They'll think that you have to be a Christian to be patriotic, which is simply not true. Following the more secular teachings of Jesus Christ (being charitable, loving one another, treating strangers with kindness) is what the men who founded this country were for.
I don't want to waste my time listing all these obscurant far-right arguments, so instead I'll list the facts straight from our forefathers.
“If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
"In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.”
- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.”
- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)
“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”
- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758)
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people build a wall of separation between Church & State."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead."
- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
Note: You can read Paine's whole pamphlet, where he expresses his atheistic beliefs, here.
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
"Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."
- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)
"There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."
- George Washington, address to Congress (1790)
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)

Originally posted to Tolerant Libertarian on Mon Mar 17, 2014 at 10:52 PM PDT.

Also republished by Progressive Atheists and Street Prophets .

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Rep. Elijah Cummings' mic was shut off by Rep. Darryl Issa

Are you upset about how Rep. Elijah Cummings' mic was shut off by Rep. Darryl Issa? Call 866-87-RANDI (866-877-2634) http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/fireworks-capitol-hill-after-former-irs-official-wont-testify-n44866

Fireworks on Capitol Hill After Former IRS Official Won't Testify

A tense scene ensued on Capitol Hill on Wednesday after a former IRS official targeted by Republicans in an investigation into the agency's targeting of conservative groups refused to testify before a House committee.
Lois Lerner, the former director of exempt organizations for the IRS, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights -- as she had during a previous hearing last year on the IRS's inapprorpriate scrutiny of conservative groups seeking non-profit status -- during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.
The scene became particularly tense after Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., immediately gaveled the hearing closed after peppering Lerner with a series of questions that she refused to answer. Democrats were barred from participating in the hearing in any meaningful manner.
Republicans had recalled Lerner to testify after arguing that she had waived her Fifth Amendment rights during a May 22, 2013 hearing by delivering a brief opening statement before asserting her decision not to testify.
Issa had suggested this past weekend that Lerner had, in fact, decided to offer testimony. Her attorneys disputed Issa's characterization, and she ended up invoking her Fifth Amendment privileges on Wednesday.
Issa quickly gaveled the hearing shut over the impassioned objections of Rep. Elijah Cummings, Md., the top Democrat on the committee who was barred from asking questions or participating in the hearing in any official capacity.

It`s Time for the Congress to SAVE the Postal Service, NOT dismantle it -Sen. Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders
There's No Need to End Saturday Mail Delivery - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
The U.S. Postal Service is one of our most popular and important government agencies. It provides universal service six days a week to every corner of America, no matter how small or remote. It supports millions of jobs in virtually every other sector of our economy. It provides decent-paying union jobs to some 500,000 Americans, and it is the largest employer of veterans.
Whether you are a low-income elderly woman living at the end of a dirt road in Vermont or a wealthy CEO living on Park Avenue, you get your mail six days a week. And you pay for this service at a cost far less than anywhere else in the industrialized world.
Yet the Postal Service is under constant and vicious attack. Why? The answer is simple. There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service. They see an opportunity for Wall Street and corporate America to make billions in profits out of these services, and couldn't care less how privatization or a degradation of services affects ordinary Americans.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/theres-no-need-to-end-saturday-mail-delivery


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

AXIS of Insanity via RandiRhodes.com


Looks like Americans are getting another lesson in geography with what's going on in the Ukraine, the Crimea, and Russia.

Right now, Putin says he "reserves the right to use all means at our disposal" in the Ukraine. In other words, he’s willing to go the "full Bush in Iraq." He should just call the invasion "Operation Ukrainian Freedom." Then he can get on a battleship off the coast of Crimea and pronounce the entire thing a huge success.

Is Putin crazy? German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at length with Putin and reportedly thinks he might be going insane. Maybe we should have Dennis Rodman talk to him. After all, Rodman speaks 'crazy.' Putin has been living in a parallel information universe for so long that he’s starting to believe his own propaganda - a situation I like to call "the Fox News effect."

Speaking of insane people, Sarah Palin discussed the situation in the Ukraine last night with Sean Hannity. Wow. Talk about an echo chamber of idiocy. I love it when Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity bounce ideas off of each other, because actual ideas can’t do anything except bounce off of those two cement-heads. Seriously, there is an international crisis, and these are the two people that Fox News chooses to analyze it for the edification of their audience? They’d be better off watching the Kardashians discuss the Crimea.

In other news of the stupid, Rep. Steve King is now worried that people will pretend to be gay so that they can sue businesses for discrimination. No, seriously - he really said that. King's idea sounds like the script for an Adam Sandler movie - one that got rejected! Steve King has clearly gone insane. He should resign from Congress and become the leader of Russia. I know, he can’t really become leader of Russia. But if we tell him he’s the leader of Russia, I bet he'll believe us.

Finally, Rush Limbaugh says that the only reason "12 Years a Slave" won the Oscar for Best Picture is that it had the word "slave" in its title. Rush also said that he didn’t actually see the movie. Duh! It’s an anti-slavery movie. If he had seen the movie, I'm sure that Rush would have cried at the end of it, when the main character escapes from slavery. It’s just that Rush would be crying for a different reason than most people. "That’s so tragic! That poor slave owner is out the cost of a slave!"

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Once again, Jon Stewart hit the nail on the head when it comes to that crazy Russian nut Vladimir Putin and the ego trip/invasion he's dragged his nation into in the Crimean peninsula. Thank you Jon!

Read more: http://www.randirhodes.com/articles/daily-blog-380723/on-todays-show-tues-mar-04-12123409#ixzz2v2whkHxQ