The flailing infant Obamacare

  Well, this is the last day to officially sign up for Obamacare.
  FNC interviewed Principal Security Consultant founder David Kennedy today who said the website is not yet secure; he said his firm was not authorized to hack into healthcare.gov but rather examine its security from the web and they found information "open on the internet." It took Kennedy 4 minutes to find people's information through healthcare.gov.
  Earlier today (3 a.m.) healthcare.gov was down; they've changed the front page to read that they've had a lot of visitors this morning and that's why it's not functioning correctly. Also they've discovered another "bug."
  Then there's the fact that the back end hasn't been built yet and the appeals process to correct mistakes is pretty much non-existent. 
  From the WaPo early February:

Roughly 22,000 Americans have filed appeals with the government to try to get mistakes corrected, according to internal government data obtained by The Washington Post. They contend that the computer system for the new federal online marketplace charged them too much for health insurance, steered them into the wrong insurance program or denied them coverage entirely.

For now, the appeals are sitting, untouched, inside a government computer. And an unknown number of consumers who are trying to get help through less formal means — by calling the health-care marketplace directly — are told that HealthCare.gov’s computer system is not yet allowing federal workers to go into enrollment records and change them, according to individuals inside and outside the government who are familiar with the situation.

  Add to this mess the charge that Dr/Senator Barrasso makes that the White House is "cooking the books" on the numbers and it's hard to see how this monstrosity survives.
UPDATE: Yeah, it's going well over there, software bug and all:

"We've been overwhelmed," Ms. Anderson said. She told the crowd: "Go home. We'll call you back."

Federal officials said HealthCare.gov had two million visitors over the weekend. On Friday, the site had blocked people trying to log in for about two hours starting at 4 p.m. Eastern, and they were told to wait until the site had fewer users, said a person familiar with the site's operations. On Sunday, the site was holding up well, the person said, handling some 50,000 simultaneous users, up from a previous peak of 40,000.

Long waits to reach a federal call center for help also frustrated some applicants. Federal officials said the center received about 270,000 calls Saturday from people trying to apply by phone or resolve problems with their online application.

You Pick Your President, Mr Adelson, and We'll Pick Ours

It's seldom that I find myself agreeing with Washington Post columnist Dan Balz but I will concede he has a point when he writes " The ‘Sheldon Primary’ is one reason Americans distrust the political system". It may well be that an Adelson endorsement is the kiss of death in the upcoming Republican primary. Balz goes on to write about his ideas on electoral reform that would take the role of king maker from Adelson and invest in a reliable bureaucrat such as Lois Lerner who has to date compiled an enviable record of keeping of keeping grass roots activists in check.
Up until this last weekend I could endorsed Scott Walker but his appearance in Vegas makes me wish he would stay in Vegas. So Shelly summoned his list of acceptable candidates for us to chose from and we are now supposed to dutifully pick a winner from a deck of losers? No thank you. We don't need Jeb Bush's amnesty and Common Core. We don't the New Jersey Pachyderm and his cast of clowns smoozing Obama and blocking traffic. I would vote for Bridget Ann Kelly first. John Kasich? Wow! Pass the Medicaid approved Pepto Bismol. Given the freedom to do so he would tax the Utica boom into bankruptcy. John Bolton? He couldn't even get confirmed to an ambassador's post.
Where were Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry? Why didn't they make the cut? All three brought the house down a CPAC. If Adelson must pick our president we would prefer that he didn't start at the bottom of the heap.

Common Core math sucks

  Borrowed from The Daily Caller via Carpe Diem, we have a pristine example of Common Core math students might be "axed" to do to increase their ability to think mathematically.
  This is really incredible video. I couldn't get it to play here but you can view it over at The Daily Caller.
  A simple problem--32-20-- becomes a labyrinth of configurations that make little sense.

Will Obama himself now appear on SNL?

    Huh. It appears Saturday Night Live has discovered that the Obamacare fiasco--and its progenitors--is theater of the absurd.
  Who can say what triggered the actual moment when the script writers sat around that long wooden table, slurping Starbucks and eating imported bonbons when it suddenly dawned on one of them like the light from the Spring sun reflecting off their bewhiskered churlish cheeks that Obama, like the once cool Fonz, has jumped the shark and reduced himself to absurdity.
  He's been everywhere, including between two ferns, hawking his stupid health care plan, lecturing Latinos to get rid of their cell phones and cable bills to buy it, using his best shmoozey raised eyebrows and smirky face to convince the "you're stupid" crowd to buy his stupid plan.
  Tomorrow's the deadline, of course. Well, sort of. We're assured that the website can handle the crush, which seems totally unnecessary considering that

• 1) many of the people who put the plan in their 'carts" haven't paid for them  
• 2)  many of those people who think they have insurance don't  
• 3)  all this stuff is on the "honor system" which is one big "ha" 
• 4) Obama's been trawling Latino neighborhoods and the Mexican consulate for illegals to get on board the system  
• 5) they're counting the people who had insurance, lost it and now are desperate   
• 6)  they're counting people who were put on Medicaid as new enrollees   
• 7)  those criminal navigators are signing up prison inmates and, yes, you read that right.

  Other things aren't going so well for the Obamas. Michelle's vaca has drawn fire and an ex-aide is squealing that she's difficult to work for. Like, you get screamed at if she wears the wrong skirt that makes her a$$ look big. No, really.
  Obama's getting ripped on for being a light weight. Where's the light bringer we all elected, the deceived sob? And a Democrat (what's the world coming to??)  actually had the nerve to tell the truth about the poseur, thus rendering himself a "nonperson" to the press and the establishment Democrats.
  Yes, things are not looking up for The One.
  Next thing you know, he'll want to actually turn up on SNL himself. He doesn't like getting dissed...at all. 
  And, of course, when a lightbringer walks into the room, the room forms a halo around his head.

And who represents the 1%?

Before you weep crocodile tears over income inequality notice who represents the 1 percent. Eight of the 10 richest congressional districts are represented by Democrats. Per capita income means every man woman and child in Carolyn Maloney's Upper East district has an average annual income of $75,479. Compare this wealth to Ohio's where household income was $46,093 in 2010, down from $54,395 in 2000.

 "He knew that when the belly is full (and only when the belly is full) men can afford to grieve and that sorrow after supper is almost a luxury."..Aldous Huxley

Represenatative	Congesssional District	Per Capita Income
Carolyn Maloney D	NY 12	$75,479
Henry Waxman D	CA 33	$61,273
Jerry Nadler D	NY 10	$56,138
Anna Eshoo D	CA 18	$54,182
Jim Himes D	CT 4	$50,732
Jim Moran D	VA 8	$50,210
Leonard Lance R	NJ 7	$48,556
Nancy Pelosi D	CA 12	$48,523
Steve Israel D	NY 3	$47,991
Frank Wolf R	VA 10	$47,281

FBI raids Democrats in New York & Indiana

The FBI raids continue. At least two more Democratic office holders were subjected to federal raids. The FBI refused to comment on the reason for the raids. Queens assemblyman William Scarborough was rousted out of his Albany motel room. at 5:45 AM. His smart phone was confiscated and his capital office and home were searched as federal agents removed boxes of documents. Scarborough claimed the reason for the raid was the large per diem travel and lodging expenses he claimed in the past. One doubts if the FBI would devote a team of agents just to help the state of New York recover a few thousand dollars it may have overpaid the assemblyman. Legislators are paid $172 per diem when the Assembly is in session. How many days could he have fudged to attract the FBI's attention?
The raid in Gary Indiana seems, on the surface, equally petty. Agents from the FBI, IRS, and Indiana state police descended on the Calumet Township trustee's office and executed a sealed search warrant around 9:15 a.m. Township Trustee Mary Elgin opined the cause of action was an audit filed in April 2011 by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. Elgin has been criticized for hiring family members and her handling of assistance and other expenditures. That's a federal case? As in Scarborough's case there must be more to the story. Arrest of township trustees is not unusual in Indiana. Usually the crime is embezzlement and the trustee does a year or two and is ordered to make restitution. It barely makes the news.
One might question the reporter's objectivity when she asks, "Why do you think you 're being attacked?"

Trey Gowdy grills IRS Commissioner John Koskinen

The person everyone would like to see as Speaker of the House, Trey Gowdy, goes after IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for his failure to produce the subpoenaed Lois Lerner's email. It's time the committee gave the Commish a drop dead date.

Leftist Democrats continue donkey rampage through country: arrest after arrest

  Every day it's something.
  Some new insult to the intelligence, some new conniving to control the lives of others, some new revelation of crimes committed by Leftist Democrats.
  I'm not saying some Republicans aren't crooks because they are.
  It's just gets to a point where the evidence is overwhelming that Leftist Democrats do whatever they want to get what they think is their just due.
  The media dutifully rarely notes the particular party or political persuasions of the American Donkeys.
  In fact, the evidence is so overwhelmingly sickening that some days I shut off the news worried that six years from now someone will find my mummified corpse with the remote in my hand and a perpetual scream on my face, locked that way for eternity in response to all the rotten things Leftists are doing.
  I will certainly have died wondering how anyone, anyone in their right mind could vote for such creatures. They're so diseased and corrupt but then so are the people who vote for them. 
  Could we have a new tv series, please? It could be called Zombie Jackasses Take Over DC, or Jackasses Breaking Bad Wind or Game of Drones Flown by Jackasses.
  Let's take a cursory look at current corruption. What's going on? The number of Democrats who've been arrested (hasn't every officer of the "law" been told that Democrats are exempt from arrest?) has swelled like a belly full of beans.

• Hey, if you're for voter ID, you're a racist. We all know this, which is why presidential advisor Al Sharpton celebrated the early release of a woman convicted of voter fraud, who cheerfully admitted on camera that she'd voted six times for Jackass Number One Barack Obama and ended up serving time with early release.
• Here's a California Jackass who really, really likes money.
• This child pornographer Jackass resigned for "health reasons," which apparently means he couldn't reach his computer keyboard to boot up the naked kiddies.
• Let's not forget gun control advocate Jackass Leland Yee, who was just arrested for--wait for it---gun running. UPDATE: And, WOW, this story is a big one. Yee, while working to disarm Americans, was allegedly gun running for Islamic terrorist groups. And  more here, via Instapundit.
• Wee doggie, that California is a pit of Jackassery, ain't it?
• And then there's the corrupt Jackass Pennsylvania Attorney General who mysteriously dropped charges against 4 corrupt Philadelphia Democrats.Because racism.
  
• Let's not forget the Mayor of Charlotte, who served only 6 months before he got caught with his hand in the people's cookie jar. Arrest moi? But I'm a Jackass!
• Even their celebrity Jackasses judges are in trouble these days for bad attitudes and asking the eternal question, "Don't you know WHO I AM?"
• And then there are the Jackasses in DC who immorally act in their own best interests, repeatedly "eating out the substance" of the American people...people like Majority Jackass Leader Harry "you're too stupid to sign up for Obamacare plus you stink" Reid and Kathleen "some will live and some will die" Sebelius are?
• Whoops! Harry Reid's granddaughter's jewelry business provided the perfect opportunity for corruption holiday gifts bought with campaign money for Reid supporters, now fixed by reimbursement by Glary Harry.
• Hoosierman has other info here about corruption and arrests in the Dem party.

  So that's that. I think it's safe to say that, in my lifetime, it's pretty unlikely that I'll ever vote for a Democrat again, regardless how Leftist he or she may be. Maybe locally I could, if I knew him or her. 
  But. Um. No.
  Because too many of them treat people like me like this. Despicable.
UPDATE: Democrats in handcuffs. 
UPDATE II: And let's not forget about New York Democrats! 
UPDATE III: So the media aka Pravda doesn't cover this crap but they DO cover the Republican's 5 month old investigation.

Breaking Bad! Three high profile Democrats targeted by FBI

Maybe Eric Holder should file a RICO suit against the DNC. The FBI has hit three high profile Democrats, north, south and on both coasts. Last Friday the FBI raided the office of the Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox. What they found remains a mystery as the search warrants and the affidavits supporting them have been sealed by a court.
Next to feel the tug of the long arm of the law was state Senator Leland Yee, a former San Francisco supervisor and one-time mayoral candidate who was criminally charged in federal court in San Francisco with two felony counts of conspiring to import and traffic in firearms, and six corruption counts. Yee's arrest put him in good company among California Democrats as Senator Ron Calderon was indicted on corruption charges, and State Senator Rod Wright,was found guilty of voter fraud, and both took paid leaves of absence earlier this year.
Yee makes a compelling case against restrictions on gun ownership. While plotting to traffic in illegal guns Yee was very much concerned about abridging the rights of honest gun owners. From the gun rights website Bearing Arms;

Like so many in the citizen control cult, Yee has seldom found a law restricting the rights of citizens that he didn’t support. He’s attacked hunting, supported a law to ban the sale of “M” rated video games that was struck down by the California Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds, and has been the author of multiple gun control bills.
Yee had made repeated attempts to outlaw popular semi-automatic rifles, and his most recent effort, SB 374, was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown last year. Yee had vowed to reintroduce the legislation again in 2014, but will likely be more concerned about finding a good defense lawyer instead.

Also on his way to the pen is Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon who fell victim to an FBI sting operation. Cannon was charged with theft and bribery and accused of taking cash payoffs at least five times.
Forget draining the swamp, Nancy, you're up to your ass in alligators. Three high profile Democrats arrested in one week! Coincidence? The FBI was involved in all three cases. Did it wait until Obama was out of the country to make the arrests? Is it trying to regain some of the credibility it has copiously lost since Eric Holder and Barack Obama hit town? Does FBI Director James Comey worry about his legacy as much as Obama? My bet is we will learn more about these arrests.

Joni Ernst wakes up Iowa

I think we are going to like Joni Ernst. I also think someone in her organization is pretty damn clever. Yesterday the story of Rep. Bruce Braley disparaging comments about having a farmer on the Senate Judiciary Committee bounded over the internet and evening news. Even ABC picked it up which is not something it does often when it's a Democrat who shoots himself in the foot. The point Braley was making was that if the senate was lost for the Democrats then Sen. Chuck Grassley would be the new Judiciary Chairman- a farmer who never went to law school. Even without the farmer comment the video is bad enough. Braley brags that he has fought tort reform for 30 years and the backdrop of the liquor table makes the trial lawyer who specializes in workmen's comp claims look downright greasy.



Enter Iowa farmer Joni Ernst. According to Slate Ernst or someone has been sitting on the video since it was shot on January 23. The day before the Braley video went viral Ernst introduced herself as a "hog castrating mom". After she set Braley up with the left hook Sarah Palin delivered the right cross. “Any question about the type of Senator Joni will be?” the former Alaska governor wrote on her Facebook page. “Check out her first ad -- she makes it pretty clear.”
I wonder if Sarah Palin knows what Rocky Mountain oysters are. 
An endorsement from Palin packs a wallop. Aside from giving Ernst instant credibility with a large segment of Republican caucus voters it will help in fund raising, a weak spot in her campaign that Ernst concedes. It might even bring a stipend from Sarah PAC. A February 25th PPP poll ranked Ernst second in a six candidate GOP field. With 42% of the voters undecided it is a wide open race. As one might expect Braley beats all 6 of his opponents simply by being known in his home district. He leads Ernst 41% to 35%. As of December 31 Braley has raised $4,215,139 with $2,610,791 cash on hand. He has spent $1.6 million and leads Ernst by 6 points! Ernst has raised $455,171 with $289,514 cash on hand.
Iowa is a caucus state but the GOP makes it more confusing. Ballots are cast at the precinct level and the totals are relayed to the state convention. The ballots are non binding so in actuality the candidate is selected by the convention. Ernst picked up a second endorsement and it is important too. She will go into the caucuses with endorsements from both Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin and it's doubtful anyone else will bring that kind of firepower.


 

Update: A Rasmussen poll has Joni Ernst only 3 points behind Braley. It's Braley 40% Ernst 37%.

Drunken Secret Service Agent Sent Home

More evidence that the Obama Administration's is incapable of maintaining even a pretense of discipline surfaced as three Secret Service agents were sent home from Amsterdam and placed on administrative leave. One was reported to be quite inebriated. Thanks to the professionalism of the Dutch hotel staff, which appears to be light years ahead of the the US government in terms of competence, the drunken agent was reported to the US embassy.
This is the Secret Service's second scandal. Following the 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia Obama fired the director and replaced him with the first female SS head, Julia Pierson, as if gender based affirmative action rather than competence would solve the moral problems that bedevil his military, his Secret Service, his CIA, his State Department and if insider reports are to believed his White House staff. One would think the country is being run by a community organizer. More

The Obamacare spin machine goes into full motion

    Hey, I just spent almost a week in Chicago, which is quite an adventure for a small town retiree. The city moves like an underground river all the time, people everywhere, walking, celebrating, running. It's certainly a beautiful and interesting city.
  One thing I noticed is that flyers advertising Obamacare were everywhere. And I mean, everywhere.
  They were on doorknobs, on sidewalks, on the streets. 

 

  Of course, on the back of this advert was a Spanish version with a Hispanic mother and daughter. It's pretty interesting that adult males are never featured. Just the poor defenseless females without providers, sorta like the unforgettable Julia.

  Let's not forget the billboards:

  Because, you know, your dog really wants you to stay healthy so it can have a free ride too.

  This campaign was funded by an HHS grant. Speaking of, did you know that the Obamabots will have spent at least $52 million in three months to advertise Obamacare alone?

  The Daily Caller figures this to be $17 per signup in the first two months of this year alone.

  Indeed, an article at The Greenville Post lists the figures of what these advertising campaigns are costing American taxpayers. The money set aside for advertising in Section 4002 of the ACA is revealed here:

In 2010 it is $500 million, in 2011, $750 million; in 2012, $1 billion; in 2013, $1.25 billion; in 2014, $1.5 billion; and for 2015 and thereafter, $2 billion!  For Congress to appropriate that much money to promote legislation that kills health care underwriting while raising health care insurance costs through a myriad of new taxes, fees and compliance requirements, is obscene.

  We might mention that one of the reasons the administration can afford to do this is cutting back on services: that is, rationing, which is already started. 
  Two billion dollars a year to hang tags on doors in Chicago while turning down a Medicare request for a new knee.
  Leftists are still in denial about the disaster that is their signature legislation, blaming recent events on the boogeymen Koch brothers and "low turnout," which to a Democrat simply means the dead did not turn out to vote.
  No, no, no. It's not Obamacare.
  It's low turnout.
  And the wealthy libertarian Koch brothers.

Emken's Louis Vuitton Hand Bags and cheap shoes

Elizabeth Emken seems to be combining business with politics. While you're volunteering for her campaign you can also pick up a snazzy hand bag. She also features authentic cheap Nike shoes. Emken is running as a Republican congressional candidate for California’s 7th Congressional District. She has previously run for congress from the 11th district and ran for senate against Dianne Feinstein in 2012.

Indiana adopts Common Core Lite

Indiana has become the first state to withdraw from Common Core but the replacement standard might be called Common Core Lite. Retired University of Arkansas professor Sandra Stotsky who was hired by Governor Mike Pence as a consultant calls the change "a grand deception".

"It makes a fool of the governor," Stotsky said. "The governor is being embarrassed by his own Department of Education if the final version is too close to Common Core."

She claims 70% of Common Core remain in effect.

Breaking Medicare's promise

The ad begins with "Tell President Obama to stop hurting seniors and women. Reverse these devastating Medicare cuts.” Produced by the Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity and already on the air in Iowa the ad hits at the funding for Obamacare. Obamacare is nearly half funded by diverting Medicare money into Obamacare. Although the Coalition for Jobs will focus primarily on Midwestern races the theme of this ad bites and is sure to be copied by other organizations and campaigns.



Since 1965 over two generations have paid into Medicare and funded health care for older Americans but now Obama and the Democrats have broken the covenant. Are people who can't be trust the ones to "mend not end" Obamacare? How will senator X fund Obamacare without debauching Medicare and breaking the covenant?
 These are not hypothetical, out year cuts. They are happening now. Kathleen Sibelius cut the maximum amount she could from Medicare’s payments for home health-care services – when a professional from a Medicare-certified home health agency comes to an elderly person’s house and provides nursing care, physical therapy, or speech-language pathology services. Sibelius cut the maximum permitted by law, 3.5 percent, and declared HHS would do the same for the next three years.

Support for Obamacare diminishes with age. If voter turnout in the fall elections follows the trend seen in primary elections so far supporters of Obamacare face a bleak future. In a recent post I noted that in the entire city of Chicago less than 19,000 voters under age 45 voted.

The Gas Man Cometh

Kudos to Mr. Putin for refining the debate on the need to reduce carbon emissions. The bureaucrats at the European Union, who know more than the citizens of its member states, have proposed a bold, new, green, pipe dream to reduce carbon emission levels to 40% of 1990 levels by the year 2030. By his invasion and annexation of Crimea Putin has illustrated that the price of cutting carbon emissions may be national sovereignty. Up until the the crisis in the Ukraine it was thought that a cozy deal would be worked out in Paris in 2015 where all the right thinking nations of the industrialized world sign a UN backed suicide pact.
Now Eastern Europe is beginning to question the wisdom of becoming servile vassals to Putin and his thugs. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, who have memories of life under Russian dominance and who can perceive the connection between green energy, in this instance natural gas, and jack booted Russian hegemony. They are not enthralled at the prospect of living in abject fear of Putin's whims as the price they must pay to heal Mother Gia. To them, Putin has become the face of green energy.

Tacky! Tweet photos of your injury to sell Obamacare

Tomorrow, share your own #TBT "life happens" photos—and tell people to #GetCoveredNow. pic.twitter.com/1GUKt5W6MU
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 19, 2014

Do you have any gory injuries you would like to share with the public? Minor injuries won't do as you will probably have at least a $5,000 deductible with an ACA compliant policy.

Charges filed against UC Santa Barbara professor for stealing protestors' sign

The young anti abortion protestors who had their sign stolen at the University of California Santa Barbara will get their day in court. Dr. Mireille Miller-Young, an associate professor with UCSB’s Feminist Studies Department has been charged with three misdemeanors, theft, battery, and vandalism. You may view the press release here.
In her statement to police which you may read here, Miller-Young explained that she felt “triggered” by the images on the signs and posters. Feeling triggered often happens to good people on the left who live in the passive voice. They are stampeded into illegal acts by words and actions of others. They don't behave badly. They are forced into bad actions. It's not as if they ever lie rather the "fact are misrepresented" by unnamed actors. They careen through life like so many billiard balls always being propelled by others, never acting, only reacting to malevolent forces beyond their control. Life's a bitch!

Obama doesn't make Fortune's World's 50 Greatest Leaders list

"President Obama wasn't excluded from Fortune's World's 50 Greatest Leaders list,” Fortune said in a statement. “He simply didn't make this year's list of 50 outstanding individuals who have demonstrated rare leadership, leadership in multiple areas or who have demonstrated a long history of leading.”

Gee, he does have a pen and a phone. Obama didn't make the cut but here are the top 10;
Pope Francis, Angela Merkel, chancellor, Germany, Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Co. Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Former, President Bill Clinton, Aung San Suu Kyi, chair, National League for Democracy, Gen. Joe Dunford, Commander, U.S. Forces, Afghanistan, Bono, lead singer, U2, Dalai Lama, Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com.

Smart politicians don't get caught with their pants down

Two points. We do occasionally get details of a story wrong here and we are not in the habit of fact checking fellow bloggers. Sometimes mistakes glare too brightly to ignore. Here the poster did worse then get a detail wrong the whole point of the post is in error. At Red State we read; FL-13 Fallout Watch: Two Democratic House candidates drop out this week. As much as I like to report bad news for the Democrats something jolted my intuition as I read the post.

(H/T: AoSHQ) The two were Mike Parrish in PA-06 (Lean Republican) and Buffie McFadyen in CO-06 (Safe Republican). Of the two, obviously Parrish is the more disappointing news for Democrats… but it’s interesting to note that ‘R+5′ is apparently enough to be effectively out of the realm of possibility for Democrats this cycle anyway. I remember a time when it was not, and that time was 2006 and 2008.

The inference is that in the wake of the Alex Sink's loss in Florida credible Democratic candidates are loath to run in competitive or highly competitive House races this fall. So how credible were the candidates? From the Daily Koz's Will PA District 6 Dems Take a Gamble on Mike Parrish? We find that Mike Parrish has been a Democrat for less than 6 months.

Up until December 2013, Michael D. Parrish of Malvern, PA was a registered Republican. Parrish's whirlwind conversion from Republican to Democrat has raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle. While Parrish's ideological talking points appear to be compatible with the general Democratic Party platform, announcing his bid for the District 6 seat a month after switching parties seems a bit premature.

The post then points out that Parrish has donated over $6,000 to Republican PACs since 2008. This was a credible candidate?
What's in a name? The name, Buffie McFadyen, sounds more suitable for Playmate of the Month than member of Congress. Indeed Buffie is a playmate in the lower case meaning of the word. Presently she is a member of the Pueblo County Commission who had the misfortune to get caught in a dirt parking lot with Pueblo Democratic Party Chairman Ron Greenwell while sitting in her SUV and both were more than a bit intoxicated. Plotting her campaign strategy? Oh course. They needed plenty of privacy.

There is only so much Democrats can blame on Alex Sink. Smart politicians don't get caught with their pants down.

Manchurian Candidate Obama's news theater

  Drudge has linked to a couple interesting items regarding press briefings and the so-called most transparent administration.
  In local interviews, Jay Carney admitted that he receives the questions in advance during press briefings. These are printed out, along with his answers, which reporters hold while "querying" him about matters of the day.
  During local interviews with Obama, reporters are limited to 4 minutes:

According to a local CBS Arizona affiliate, President Obama and his team have 3 tactics to make sure reporters stick to the 4 minutes the White House has allotted them to interview the leader of the world: a countdown clock, a looming aide, and they have to conduct the interview with the president while standing up. 

  We've known for years that Obama's news conferences are highly scripted. Each reporter has to have a question screened in advance and Obama calls on them in the order he is given from his staff.
  This procedure is quite unlike anything we've seen previously. Remember the days when reporters actually did their jobs? Yeah, that would be when a Republican was president.
  It's not like that haven't planned this carefully choreographed presidency since its inception.
  Though Obama campaigned on transparency and fiscal responsibility, as soon as he got into office, his people conjured the phrase "White House equities" in a bid to dilute the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 
  This procedural move allows them to claim anything is off limits for release to the public or anyone other than themselves, for that matter. The Washington Examiner as the story:

The equities exception is breathtaking in its breadth. As the Greg memo put it, any document request is covered, including "congressional committee requests, GAO requests, judicial subpoenas and FOIA requests."

And it doesn't matter what format the documents happen to be in because, according to Greg, the equities exception "applies to all documents and records, whether in oral, paper, or electronic form, that relate to communications to and from the White House, including preparations for such communications."

  By now it's pretty apparent that Obama is a figurehead for others who are determining the disastrous direction the country is headed.
  How else to explain a visit to The Gap instead of meeting with the national security council last Saturday, a repeat of his behavior when the Ukraine mess first broke out?
  How else to explain the daily schedule with nothing on it?
  How else to explain the lies about the realities of the health care law which his people have rewritten and rewritten in ways Ted Cruz could only dream?
  How else to explain the complete lack of interest in what is going on in the world? In our economy? The complete disconnect with social norms being flouted daily? With the persecution of people of faith?
  How else to explain making a spectacle about his "bracket" while the rest of the world burns?
  After all, what's important is a White House screening of a movie on a Wednesday afternoon, right? But Obama couldn't stay, so he asked to be given a copy of the "cd" of the movie, to which someone corrected him "dvd." Did you hear about that? Did you hear that Obama responded with a "Whatever. I'm technologically challenged."
  Rather than notice Obama's repeated gaffes, the Left continues to repeat the myth that George H.W. Bush was "amazed" by grocery scanners, something that was completely untrue and fabricated to make him look unsympathetic and unconnected to the daily lives of Americans.
  The pampered Obama doesn't have to fiddle with such trivialities as dvds; someone does these things for him.
  More and more it looks as if Obama has pretty much abnegated his responsibility as the leader of the world. 
  Just who (Valerie Jarrett of Iran) is pulling the strings of the puppet, who barely has time to do anything other than play golf, go on vacation and have parties at the White House?

Video: Rand Paul at Berkeley

Senator Rand Paul spoke at University of California Berkeley. He has spoken at predominately black Howard University and will address the NAACP. He is a gadfly yet a credible politician.

Illinois voter turnout was abysmal

If primary voter turnout is indicative of the fall election then the future is indeed bleak for Democrats. Voter participation in Chicago hit a record low. A mere 7.3% of registered voter voted in the City of the Big Shoulders. Admittedly there was little interest in the Democratic Governor or Senate elections as in both races the incumbents, Pat Quinn and Dick Durbin were unopposed or faced minimal competition but here were down ballot races that were contested and some Democrats urged the party faithful to vote for Dillard in the GOP primary for governor. Dillard was favored by some public sector unions.
The apathy was not uniform. CBS 2 in Chicago offered this breakdown by age. From about 103,000 votes cast

75 & up	17,506
65 to 74	23,418
55 to 64	24,906

Less than 19,000 voters under age 45 went to the polls. So much for the youth vote. Here are the statewide total for governor.

Governor GOP - Primary -- 10,073 of 10,130 precincts reporting (99%)
Bruce Rauner 325,792 40%
Kirk Dillard 302,920 37%
Bill Brady 122,762 15%
Dan Rutherford 61,447 8%
Total vote cast 812,921

Governor Dem - Primary -- 10,083 of 10,130 precincts reporting (100%)
Pat Quinn 314,085 72%
Tio Hardiman 122,868 28%
Total vote cast 436,953

Even if we put Dillard's entire vote in the Democrat column the Republicans have the larger turnout.

The Dark Side of Portlandia

  I'm a big "Portlandia" on IFC fan, partly because it's the only comedy show where liberals make fun of liberals and partly because many of the skits reflect reality, such as when an environmentally conscious couple query in detail the ethical character of the farmers who raised the chicken they are about to consume or when one fellow visits a halfway house for retired chickens. 
  But "Laughing at Liberals" has uploaded a shocking video of anarchists marauding through Portland, overturning recycling bins, breaking windows and shouting invectives at the police. Demanding "no justice, no peace," these anarchists (whose goals are often simply to create chaos,) in this protest have unclear goals. LAL says:

Windows smashed out, garbage dumped in streets, public transportation blocked, and attempts to shut down the free press were all part of the "March Against Police Brutality" in Southeast Portland, March 15h, 2014, as several black bloc anarcho collectivists took the streets to, uhh, well, I'm still not quite sure what their motives were.

  Here's the video, hopefully not coming to a town near you. One might reflect that this is what happens in a society where the social contract has broken down. It's not that these people necessarily have been deprived of the riches of a capitalist nation: it's that they're not willing to conform to social norms. One might also suggest that what you see below is the flowering of academia's push to kill western civilization. Who doesn't remember, "Hey, hey, ho, ho! Western Civ has gotta go?"

Bobby Schilling is back

One of the most likeable Tea Party candidates swept into office in 2010 was Bobby Schilling of Illinois' 17th congressional district. The affable father of 10 and operator of Saint Giuseppe's Heavenly Pizza lost his seat in 2012 to Cheri Butros after the the district was made more Democratic by the 2010 redistricting. Yesterday both he and Butros ran unopposed in the Illinois primary.
Schilling is facing a huge funding gap as Butros has raised over $600,000 PAC money but enthusiasm will sometimes trumps cash as it did in the special election in Florida's 13th special election where Alex Sink out spent David Jolly 4 to 1 in her losing effort.

Cheri Bustos (D) * Raised: $1,232,715
Spent: $349,820
Cash on Hand: $908,141
Last Report: February 26, 2014
Individual contributions
- Small Contributions $119,251
- Large Contribution $486,968
PAC contributions $615,741 (50%)


Bobby Schilling (R)Raised: $334,615
Spent: $104,474
Cash on Hand: $269,852
Last Report: February 26, 2014
Individual contributions
- Small Contributions $42,847
- Large Contributions $207,140

PAC contributions $68,594 (20%)

Cory Gardner trails Mark Udall by 2

The Colorado senate just got a lot more interesting! Just as State Sen. Owen Hill announced he was leaving the race and endorsing Cory Gardner Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a poll showing Gardner trailing incumbent Senator Mark Udall by just 2 points, 40% to 42%. Tea Party Express has been backing Hill. I wrote in another post that there was some lingering acrimony between Gardner and TP Express. It looks as if it's time to kiss and make up. Tea Party Express executive director Taylor Budowich told the Daily Caller,

“We endorsed Owen Hill because we saw him as a promising, young conservative candidate that would match up well against Senator Mark Udall. So while our support remains strong with Owen, a campaign for Senate is a serious decision and Owen must do what’s right for him and his family. We have the utmost respect for Owen and see a bright future for him,” Budowich told The Daily Caller.
“With that said, Senator Udall is vulnerable and we feel we have a great chance at defeating him in November,” he added. “We have yet to make a decision on our next step in Colorado, but we look forward to meeting with Rep. Cory Gardner in the near future to discuss his campaign.”

Gardner has room to grow his numbers. His approval number is 23% with 26% indicating disapproval but 53% not sure meaning he is unknown to as many as half the state's voters. Senator Udall has a 41% approval / 40% disapproval which is slightly better than Obama whose approval /disapproval ratio is 43% / 53%

Meet Lee Whitnum - another new kind of Democrat

One would think that after two generations of the corrupt Dodd family Connecticut voters would be beyond embarrassment for their political class. Maybe they are but the Nutmeg State Democrat Party has yet to exhaust its wealth of low life meshuggeners. Meet Democrat Lee Whitnum candidate for governor. Aside from being rabidly anti Israel, some would say anti Semitic, the 53 year old perennial candidate brings some conspicuously personal insights into the workings of the state's criminal justice system. Last year, she was charged with second-degree stalking, second-degree harassment and disorderly conduct after prosecutors say she contacted the judge presiding over her acrimonious divorce in state Superior Court in Stamford at the judge's home. Whitnum said in a news release and telephone message last weekend that the charges were dropped. That assertion is open to debate, however.
Normally I would be tempted to simply dismiss this dingbat out of hand but Dapper Dan Malloy "the metrosexual governor, slim and bespoke, with snazzy expensive eyeglasses and coiffed hair" struggles to reach 40% in the polls. Aside from making criminals out of a sizable number of gun owning voters with an over reaching registration law that is being ignored by almost everyone Malloy has a wife who really should, for the sake of his career, keep her mouth shut. The First Lady appears to think state law is sexist because while it will allow her husband a chauffeur it does not visit the same munificence on his hard working spouse.

“One of the things about public life, whether they’re Republican or Democrat, is that people do not appreciate people in public life the way they should. They beat their politicians up every day, and this is a huge problem. Not only do we get beat up, our children get beat up. It’s a tough business,” she said.
“In April I drove to work and I forgot to put my seat belt on, and I was pulled over by police. Of course, they had no idea who I was because I drive this really shitty car, and they didn’t believe that I was the governor’s wife in this shitty car. And I was driving myself, because of course, governor’s wives only get security when we’re with our husbands. We’re pretty second-class without them.

Moving beyond the First Lady's eloquence, Whitnum does not stand a chance in hell of winning the Democratic nomination but she can certainly bring untoward attention to the race. In 2008 she sued Malloy for slander after he publicly admonished her for her harsh criticism of Israel and characterized her comments as anti-Semitic. To protect himself from future suits the governor deems frivolous Malloy was able persuade a judge to place a restraining order against Whitnum.
In 2012 Whitnum, while running in the Democratic primary for senator, in a momentary lapse into her true nature she called fellow candidate Chris Murphy "a whore" during a televised debate earning her a public rebuke from State Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo. As I said, I think Connecticut voters are beyond embarrassment.

State sponsored welfare fraud

If you must think in stereotypes the next time you think of a welfare cheat think of a man in a fine suit surrounded by a gaggle of servile flunkies as for instance Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York or smarmy RINO Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania. Last month as Congress passed the so called farm bill, that spends 80% of its outlays on food stamps, it arrived at a compromise. Instead of real cuts of $40 billion over the next 10 years it instead settled for $8.7 billion in savings by changing the rules of a program called Heat and Eat. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia participate in this boondoggle that allows states to boost the amount of food stamps household receives by an average amount of $90 per month.
Here’s how it works: Some food stamp households that receive Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) benefits are automatically eligible for higher deductions on their utility bills. A higher deduction means eligibility for more food stamps. So some states had simply been mailing out LIHEAP checks for amounts as small as $1 to trigger the higher food stamp benefits.
So for a single dollar per household the participating states could goose federal outlays by $90. Pretty good leverage! To close this loophole Congress raised the minimum to $20. So forget every damn thing John Boehner and Eric Cantor have told you about reining federal spending. Seven states ( Connecticut, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont ) and the District of Columbia still like the leverage and began mailing out $20 checks thus negating much of the projected savings.
Some even have the temerity to dignify this perfidy as a states right issue rather than a shakedown of the federal taxpayer. By spending just $6 million New York was able to rake in $457 million in food aid for 300,000 households. Connecticut will spend $1.4 million of its federal LIHEAP money to preserve $66.6 million in food aid for 50,000 households. RINO Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania surprised many by agreeing to spend $8 million in federal LIHEAP money to save $300 million in food aid for 400,000 households. The big winner was Montana where for only $24,000 it will be able to prevent a $2 million cut in food stamp benefits.
Maybe one of these days governments will find some sympathy for those who still buy their own food.

Senator peddles Obamacare door-to-door

Doing some door-knocking in Norwalk w @senatorduff making sure ppl #getcovered. @AccessHealthCT #ACAworks pic.twitter.com/uX8wlr3hod
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 17, 2014

Imagine being badgered by your senator to buy insurance. Is it fair to infer Democrats are nervous about the Obamacare final enrollment numbers? Murphy has no cause to be nervous as he won't be up for election until 2018 so we must assume he just an inveterate ass kisser.

Powerful women unite to scold their inferiors

  So for the last week I have patiently tolerated the admonition of the Left to disabuse myself of the desire to use the word "bossy" in reference to women.
  "Bossy" is hurtful for women, we're told because women get hurt by being viewed as aggressive, as opposed to the assertive male.
  I was disappointed to see Condoleezza Rice as part of the ridiculous campaign; you sort of expect Leftist women to be part of it because they're always about censorship and the heavy hand of conformity to achieve their goals.
   The originator of this ban is one Sheryl Sandberg, a Facebook big shot worth gazillions who is also possessed of some pretty sharp elbows. Sandberg and her "Lean In" organization (which includes the hard core Leftist Girl Scouts CEO) feel that it is hurtful to leadership development of little girls when they're called bossy, partly because little boys' acts of leadership are encouraged, whereas little girls' are put down, *put down* oppressed by the man....
  We can get to this equation by denying the natural differences between males and females and the qualities that manifest themselves even when they're tiny.
  Leftists, of course, would like to erase those differences. We're all just people but society doesn't encourage females.
  Like hell, it doesn't.
  That's all girls get, it seems to me, is encouragement, while boys are the ones in the office (for good reason, most times), told to be quiet, to sit down. Who's the primary focus of child medication? Boys or girls?
  A ten year old article in USA Today explores the differences between the coddling girls get as opposed to the prescriptions boys get for "success":

Recent federal testing data show that what starts out as a modest gap in elementary-level reading scores turns into a yawning divide by high school. In 12th grade, 44% of girls rate as proficient readers on federal tests, compared with 28% of boys. And while boys still score slightly higher on federal math and science exams, their advantage is slipping.

Most startling is that little is being done to correct the imbalances. All of the major players — schools, education colleges and researchers — largely ignore the gender gap. Instead of pursuing sound solutions, many educators merely advocate prescribing more attention-focusing Ritalin for the boys, who receive the drug at four to eight times the rate of girls, according to different estimates. "Too often the first reaction to an attention problem is 'Let's medicate,' " says Rockville, Md., child psychologist Neil Hoffman. "Some schools are quick to recommend solutions before they've fully evaluated the problem."

  But it's so easy to lean in to the whole War on Women shtick.
  They make me sick, to be honest. Perpetuating the ridiculous paradigm that if we only coddle girls into believing in themselves, then they'll become great leaders is absurd, inaccurate and, frankly, unfair to these entitled little princesses.
  My own suspicion is that the Leftist person who started this whole ridiculous campaign is actually using it politically to get back at someone who criticized her once. 
  Imagine carrying a grudge that long. Imagine getting it into your privileged, pampered, fabulously wealthy perfume soaked brain that calling girls "bossy" will somehow mar them for life.
  Women have catty--a still unbanned word--ways of getting back at people with whom they are displeased.
  The war on Western civilization continues.
  Selfish, rich, beautiful, powerful women unite!!!

What culture of corruption?

No wonder Obama is such screw up. He's a product of his environment. When the Illinois primary is held today the Democratic ballot in Chicago will include a man who was released from prison for bribery a second who is awaiting trial for bribery and a third who is facing bank fraud charges. That's 3 cons on one ballot and that is just the latest chapter in the city's sad history. Consider:

1. Chicago ranked first in the nation in public corruption over the past three decades and  has had 1,531 public corruption convictions since 1976.
2. Governor Rod Blagojevich went to prison for trying to sell Obama's senate seat.
3. Governor George Ryan, was convicted of racketeering and served five years in  federal prison.
4. Jesse Jackson Jr. went to prison for misusing campaign funds.
5. Last year former Congressman Mel Reynolds, who had been convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker, lost a bid to replace Jackson.

Adopted native son, Obama, has proven that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Church Committee members call for new special committee to investigate NSA, CIA, FBI

A letter signed by 16 former counsel, advisers, and professional staff members of the Church Committee called for the creation of a new special committee to investigate the NSA and other intelligence agencies.

We have seen a consistent pattern in which programs initiated with limited
goals, such as preventing criminal violence or identifying foreign spies,
were expanded to what witnesses characterized as "vacuum cleaners",
sweeping in information about lawful activities of American citizens. The
tendency of intelligence activities to expand beyond their initial scope is a
theme which runs through every aspect of our investigative findings.

For younger readers, in 1975 a Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church of Idaho found that the CIA, FBI and NSA had abused their powers under 6 presidents - two Republican and four Democratic. As a result of the committee's investigation reforms were enacted, the most notable elements being the creation of the FISA court and the Freedom of Information Act. Forty years later the FISA court has become nothing more than an enabling rubber stamp and FOIA requests are ignored until court actions on behalf of the petitioners are initiated or redacted beyond comprehension.
In an excellent post at The Nation the former chief counsel of the Church Committee, Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. writes,

Almost forty years ago, a Senate select committee known as the Church Committee for its chair, Idaho Senator Frank Church, investigated America’s secret government. The committee’s investigation remains the most extensive of its kind in this nation’s history. Now it is time for a new committee to examine our secret government closely again, particularly for its actions in the post-9/11 period.
This need is underscored by what has become a full-blown crisis, with Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein accusing the CIA of spying on the committee, possibly violating the Constitution’s separation-of-powers principles, the Fourth Amendment and other laws.
The Church Committee uncovered shocking conduct by numerous agencies, including the FBI, CIA and NSA. For example, the FBI tried to get Martin Luther King Jr. to commit suicide; the CIA enlisted the Mafia in its attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro; and the NSA and its predecessor, the Armed Forces Security Agency, obtained copies of most telegrams leaving America for a period of thirty years. An agency little known then but these days at the center of the news, the NSA’s example provides an urgent warning. Its original aim was to decode encrypted telegrams sent home by foreign ambassadors. But then, exemplifying the “mission creep” that the Church Committee found endemic, the NSA trained its sights on anti–Vietnam War protesters and civil rights activists.

There was much contemporaneous criticism of the Church Committee and criticism did not abate until the critics died off. To their credit Democrat Frank Church and Republican Howard Baker determined to keep the investigation nonpartisan and succeeded to a great degree. The committee held 271 hearings and questioned over 800 witnesses. It is doubtful that the present Senate leadership would allow such an investigation even at the behest of Senator Feinstein. Under Republican leadership a select committee could be formed and chaired by someone other than Senators McCain and Graham. It would also have to excluded any senator who was remotely harboring presidential aspirations which would exclude Senators Cruz, Paul, and Rubio. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon a Democratic critic of the NSA would be a personal choice for ranking minority member. If public confidence is to be restored in the intelligence community and government in general the committee must not appear to be partisan nor may it appear to be captive to the intelligence agencies it is supposed to investigate.
Understandably Obama would prefer to focus on the future rather than the past or present Once Snowden blew the whistle, according to the president who promised Americans they could keep their health care plans, it created the impression that the U.S. is "out there willy-nilly just sucking in information on everybody and doing what we please with it. Now, that's not the case."
And it is also not the case that the public will be convinced that it has been told the whole truth nor that his purported reforms go beyond window dressing, election year, tweaks.
Germane to reforms I would propose two points that I would like to see enacted into law. A city cop or county sheriff can and are frequently sued for violating the civil rights of citizens. Suing a federal employee for a civil rights violation in his personal capacity, where he must pay for his lawyer, is much more difficult. Attorney Cleta Mitchell who represents several Tea Party victims of IRS harassment indicates that she has sued Lois Lerner in both her personal and professional capacities but states it is very hard to sue a federal official. A NSA spook would think twice about putting his pension, home, and life savings on the line just to please his superior.
A second imbalance that should be rectified relates to truthfulness. Lying to just about federal official in a formal setting is a crime punishable by imprisonment. Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby were both jailed for lying to the FBI even when in both instances the underlying case collapsed. If an IRS or FBI agent lies to a citizen in a formal setting why should he be treated differently. If suppose, an agent, or just a desk bound bureaucrat, denies having documents requested in a FOIA request is found to have lied should he not be jailed?
The public has been far too trusting with the powers it has relinquished to an overbearing Leviathan. It must reclaim those powers where it can and restrain the beast where it cannot.

Sen. Schumer call home! NY Senate nixes in state tuition for illegals

When we last heard from Sen. Schumer he was advancing the notion that either the House GOP get in line and pass so called immigration reform or Obama would implement his version through dictatorial fiat. It's time to call home, Chuckie. Just hours ago the New York Senate shot down, in cold blood, that state's version of the Dream Act. Thirty Democrat senators voted for the bill which needed 32 votes to pass. Only 29 senators voted against the bill all of them Republicans except for two rebel Democrats, one from Rochester and the other from Brooklyn. The bill would have granted in state tuition rates to illegal immigrants.
“Illegal immigration is illegal,” said Sen. Greg Ball, (R-Putnam), in a statement. “Providing tuition assistance to those that are here illegally is simply unreasonable. We have millions of New Yorkers wondering how they heck they are going to pay for student loans and help their children go to college. Meanwhile, legislators in Albany want to use taxpayer dollars to fund college tuition for illegal aliens. The DREAM Act is a slap in the face to hardworking New Yorkers and immigrants that are here legally, paying taxes and doing it the right way.”

Club for Growth opens RINO season

The Club for Growth officially opened RINO season with a blistering attack on Congressman Mike Simpson who represents Idaho's 2nd Congressional District. Simpson faced under funded primary opposition in 2010 from a handful of challengers who held him to 60% of the Republican. This year he has a real opponent you can raise money, Bryan Smith. Smith has been attacked in an ad by the Chamber of Commerce who sees itself as the soul of the Republican Party whose chief functions should be, in the Chamber's eyes, to provide TARP bailouts when necessary and supply a steady stream of low skilled foreign labor constantly.
Here is the Club's attack on Simpson.

Rand Paul leads GOP field in CNN/ORC poll

Rand Paul has taken the lead among GOP hopefuls in the latest CNN/ORC poll. He is favored by 16% of respondents while 15% choose Paul Ryan and 11% prefer Rick Perry. Jersey Shore favorite Chris Christie has fallen all the way to 8%. Jeb Bush is at 9%, with Ted Cruz at 8%. The sample includes 367 Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP and 372 Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party. I would prefer to see a poll of likely Republican voters.

Sen Schumer; Pass amnesty or Obama will

There is such a thing as overplaying one's hand and Sen. Chuck Schumer may have done just that. In a Face Book rant the smarmy New York senator wrote.

It’s crystal clear where the issue of immigration reform is headed, and Republicans have only two choices to make. They can either help pass comprehensive reform which will greatly reduce the flow of illegal immigrants, grow our economy by bringing in needed workers in high tech and agriculture areas, and provide a hard-earned path to eventual citizenship for the 11 million in the shadows, or they can sit idly by and watch the President greatly curtail deportations while 11 million continue to live in limbo here in America. The choice is clear; a reform bill has the support of liberals, moderates, and conservatives and all we need is the courage of the Republican leadership to make the right and obvious choice. -cs

If, as Karl Rove has suggested, the GOP needs to do more than just run against Obamacare Sen Schumer has certainly provided more gasoline for this fall's impending bonfire. Let's see how "A vote for Kay Hagan is a vote for amnesty" plays in North Carolina.

ATF violates restraining order. Raids Ares Armor

Is there any word for this other than lawless? The ATF raided Ares Armor in spite of a federal court order specifically barring them from doing so. At issue is the company's customer list which seems to the ATF's main interest. Ares claims this list is confidential and obtained a temporary restraining order. It is reasonable to believe that authorization to contramand a federal court order could only have come from the highest level of Eric Holder's Justice Department. It is apparent that Holder harbors contempt rather than respect for the constitution he has sworn to uphold.


This far more than a gun rights issue. This action is worthy of a banana republic and invites the question whether the courts are an adequate check on the powers of the executive.

Scott Brown steps into New Hampshire senate race

Listening to voters at the Pink Cadillac Diner in Rochester. Hearing they want change in Washington #nhpolitics pic.twitter.com/ZnssUaEeET
— Scott P. Brown (@SenScottBrown) March 15, 2014

Scott Brown has taken the first step toward entering the New Hampshire Senate race. The former Senator from Massachusetts has left Fox News and begun forming an exploratory committee. Brown was endorsed by the Tea Party when he ran for the Senate in Massachusetts but he proved to be an unreliable conservative vote. Originally elected to stop passage of Obamacare he has the credibility to run full square against it. Although he lost his Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2012 to Elizabeth Warren by 8 percentage points, he has maintained high favorability ratings.
Indicative of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's weakness is the the size of the Republican primary field. In addition to Brown former Sen. Bob Smith, former state Sen. Jim Rubens, and conservative activist Karen Testerman, have announced for the seat as Republicans. Brown's strongest suit is his ability to raise money. In his race 2012 against Elizabeth Warren he raised $28,159,602. To put that in perspective in an apple to oranges albeit compelling comparison Shaheen raised $8,879,307 in her 2008 senate run. If nothing else Brown will give national Democrats heartburn at the prospect of having to fund one more expensive race in its attempt to hold the Senate.

Obama lies

  The lies are catching up with our fearless leader; perhaps even the tech industry will begin to see where all this is leading: less freedom, more rules, more regulations, more conformity demanded.
  And underlying it all is a desire to reduce the power and productivity of America, just as Dinesh D'Souza's film showed. 
  And all based on lies. It's an Ayn Rand world.

Gallup: Americans not too concerned about climate change

Obama says the science is settled. Kerry says the threat global warming ranks with disease outbreaks, poverty, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Senate spent all night "debating" the subject just this week but the American public merely yawns. Gallup has been polling the subject since 1998, and yes, it turns out that about a third of Americans perceive global warming / climate change as serious threat to their way of life. That's up from 1998 but down from the high in 2008.


Supposedly the subject gets real traction with the unfortunate millenials who have had to endure years of watching An Inconvenient Truth as part of their civic indoctrination but no. Fifty-seven percent don't think it's going to harm them. Obama might just as well try selling them health insurance.

Trey Gowdy delivers the speech of the decade

Rep. Trey Gowdy had House members standing and applauding when he spoke in favor of the ENFORCE Act. This is a barn burner!

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David Jolly ran against Obamacare and won

From the same great phrase makers who gave us "we're madly for Adlai" we now have "mend don't end" the subject being Obamacare. Trite as it may seem this phrase is the Democrat's presumed solution to what will dog them in the fall elections, namely Obamacare and the accompanying expense and inconvenience it has visited upon million of angry voters. Good luck with that. The trouble is Obamacare is a web of lies and now the liars want a do over.
If solely for the sake of argument we entertain the notion that Obamacare is salvageable what parts are to be kept? Once we get past the no precondition and stay on your parents policy into early middle age parts everything else is like jackstraws. Move one straw and two or more move. Repealing the medical device tax which has some bipartisan support will cause a $30 billion shortfall over 10 years. Restore the funding looted from Medicare which is causing the cancellation of Medicare Advantage plans and that blows a $700 billion hole in the budget. Repeal the individual mandate? The administration is already about to do that or at least suspend it until 2016. It quietly redefined "hardship" as in the hardship exemption making almost anyone who had a policy that was cancelled free to opt out until after the 2016 election. Since the unhealthy are more prone to purchase insurance without the mandate eliminating mandatory coverage weakens the risk pool which in turn will drive up premiums even further.
Democrats say and stupid Republicans believe them, that most Americans want to keep a law that is more than 15 points upside down in the RCP average of polls. Really? Yes, mend don't end. David Jolly has given the Republicans the winning strategy. Make the Democrats provide the list of needed changes. Don't accept, "Congressman Dufus is working to make the ACA better" make Congressman Dufus explain how to make the ACA better. Republican should run on nothing less than unconditional repeal.
 

Reflection on the glorious Up4 Climate debate

@ 5:25 a.m., I'm now the only reporter on the Hill covering the all-night Senate debate on climate change. Kinda surreal feeling.
— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) March 11, 2014

If you stay abreast of your GEICO commercials you know that when a tree falls in the forest it does make a noise but what about a group of senators who speak all night without a reporter present? Are they ever heard? Evidently the Capitol press corp had the good sense to go to bed as they recognized the so called Up4Climate debate was a mere publicity stunt. When the media doesn't do its job the people suffer. Most Americans will never know that Sen. Cory Booker drove to Hawaii in the first car he bought.

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Sen. Barbara Boxer was good enough to do some of the job that the media wouldn't do in an excellent post at the Huffington Post that would have earned a B+ in most public high schools but were it not for the vigilant and unsleeping Daniel Lippman generations of children would never know of the epic all night debate on climate change.
Who is Daniel Lippman? Why did he alone stay with the senators while the mainstream media slept? Did he draw the short straw in the press pool? Was it an act of public penance? Only Lippman knows his motivation but Lippman is a 19 year old college freshman who was befriended by Ron Fournier. He came to Fournier's attention by writing replies to about 80% of his articles. In a podcast Fournier elaborates.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: So how did Daniel Lippman pop up on your radar?

RON FOURNIER: Well, he popped up not on my radar but in my email [BROOKE LAUGHS], like he does on dozens of other reporters’ and editors’ email. For several years now he’s been sending me notes, when I'd write a story, pointing out three or four things I had wrong with it, [LAUGHS] either typos or matters of grammar, in some cases, matters of fact.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Could you tell who this guy was, how old he was?

RON FOURNIER: I had no idea. I presumed he was a gray-bearded law professor wearing a tweed jacket and elbow patches. And I found out that he lived just a few miles away from where I'm sittin’ right now and attended George Washington University.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: [LAUGHS] And so, you invited him to take a tour of the AP’s Washington bureau. Politico described it as a visit from royalty, or at least that’s how he was treated by the AP newsroom.

RON FOURNIER: It was. I - it was. [LAUGHS] I don't know if I could have turned as many heads if I had brought the president of the United States in.

[BROOKE LAUGHS] As soon as I walked out and said, hey, does anybody here know Daniel Lippman, a bunch of heads popped up.

[BROOKE LAUGHS] Phones were hung up and people jumped up from their desks and, you know, before I knew it, there was, I don't know, eight, 10 reporters gathered around him, talking him up. And, you know, as a journalist, sometimes you forget who you’re writin’ for. And here, in the flesh and the blood, was a young man who we'd been writin’ for, for several years and has actually been a part of what we do.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So what’s his writing style? What’s the substance?

RON FOURNIER: Well first, it’s very polite. It always starts, “In the fine article” or “In the wonderful article,” so he starts with a [LAUGHS] flattery. It’s not partisan or, you know, heartily charged or, you know, like some of the emails we get. They're always just very point by point, almost as if you were correcting a school paper in a way that you didn't want to insult the student.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Is his batting average near perfect?

RON FOURNIER: They're almost always spot-on. Then you start looking for his name. For the last year or two whenever I’d see Lippman pop up on my queue, I'd be drawn right towards him.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: You know, there’s a lot of talk about citizen journalism, and I think it brings to mind the image of thousands of citizens knocking on thousands of doors.

RON FOURNIER: Mm-hmm.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Do you think that Daniel’s is a more efficient manifestation of that idea?

RON FOURNIER: I don't know if it’s more efficient, necessarily, it’s just one of the forms. In, in many ways we're becoming a lot more closely connected with our audience. For the last 20 years, supposedly I was writin’ for Daniel Lippman. What’s wrong with me now actually engaging with Daniel Lippman?

BROOKE GLADSTONE: You haven't been writing for Daniel for 20 years ‘cause he’s only 19.

RON FOURNIER: [LAUGHING] Good point, very good.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: This wouldn't have been possible before the Internet.

Further down the interview we learn that Lippman reads scores of online posts per day and I assume replies to many and is building an online persona just by commenting on them. He was interviewed by CNN when he was 15 evidently through his efforts to call attention to himself. He has a 1715 Twitter followers including The Hill, Fred Barnes and Bobby Jindal. Evidently Lippman has wheedled Senate press credentials from someone.
Reflecting upon the great climate debate, it says quite a bit about the level of the discourse when the only person who would listen was a hardcore media junkie.

The CIA Has forced a constitutional crisis

It's seldom that I'm in the odd position of agreeing with Mother Jones but some acts are just so egregious they offend all Americans. Jones has nailed it. Its post is entitled The Senate-CIA Blowup Threatens a Constitutional Crisis. Never mind the fun of watching a Democratically controlled Senate clashing with a Democratic White House in an election year the nation is at risk. Let me back up a bit. The nation is not further endangered from abroad as the Feinstein would have us believe in the case of Edward Snowden but the nation as Feinstein knows it is at the verge of civil war. Tut tut, Rand Paul we have kept vigilant oversight over the NSA, no need to worry the masses about affronts to their liberty. Now the rest of the country can plainly see the nation of the Potomac is as grossly incompetent in keeping the intelligence community in check as it is running health care.
Under which CIA Director, Panetta, Petraeus, or Brennan, all of whom were confirmed by the Senate with ample praise form the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairlady, was the clandestine access to Senate computers begun? The Democratic leadership and Feinstein herself voted for all of them. The country has tolerated the intelligence community's excesses because people like Feinstein were supposed to know what the hell they were doing. Dianne Feinstien looks like a fool. She looks like a hypocrite and she has gone too far in the battle with the CIA to back off. For the sake of her credibility and her pride she must finish the fight. Edward Snowden obviously enjoying the scandal, said in that the situation was one "... where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it's a scandal when a politician finds out the same thing happens to them."

Obama hits new low in WSJ/NBC poll

President Obama reached a record low in the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The same poll also found Obamacare underwater by 14 points 35% approve and 49% disapprove.

Yes it Jolly well was a referendum on Obamacare

There is no way David Jolly's win in Florida's 13th congressional district can be judged as anything but a resounding defeat for the Democratic Party. They played their trump card and lost. Alex Sink carpet bagged into the district as if she were ascending a throne. There was no primary. After all this was Alex Sink, the lady who almost beat out Rick Scott for governor. She had run a statewide race and Jolly had never even run for precinct committeeman. He was a former congressional aide turned lobbyist who had been battered in a contentious primary.
In another post I quoted Stuart Rothenberg;

It’s rare in politics that anything other than a presidential contest is viewed as a “must win” — but the special election in Florida’s 13th District falls into that category for Democrats.
A loss in the competitive March 11 contest would almost certainly be regarded by dispassionate observers as a sign that President Barack Obama could constitute an albatross around the neck of his party’s nominees in November. And that could make it more difficult for Democratic candidates, campaign committees and interest groups to raise money and energize the grass roots

Naturally the Democrats will not admit it but the race was a referendum on Obamacare and the back and forth of the campaign produced a new conundrum for incumbent Democrats this fall. Supposedly it is the Republicans who must come up with a plan to replace Obamacare but when a Democrat who wants to keep but fix Obamacare is asked to be specific good answers are hard to come by. When asked what she would change Sink could not name specific changes that would pass muster with the voters without rendering the ACA inoperable. This fall the question Republicans should be asking of all those who want to keep but fix Obamacare is "Which parts of the law that Obama has not already delayed do you want to keep?"

Republican Jolly wins in Florida

  A special election in Florida to replace deceased Republican Bill Young was being closely watched today for its tentacles to the Obamacare train wreck. 
  David Jolly, Republican, has won.
  He was running against Alex Sink, the Democrat candidate who suggested that immigration is needed because Americans need lawn caretakers and maids. She supported Obamacare, saying it need to be overhauled but not repealed. Jolly supports repeal and ran against Obamacare during his campaign.
 Though the Tampa area district had been in Republican hands for years, Obama won it in both contests.
  Rand Paul publicly supported Jolly while Bill Clinton campaigned for Sink.
  Sink outspent Jolly by 3-1 on television ads. 
  This election was considered a "must win" for Democrats.
UPDATE: I should have originally mentioned that the Libertarian candidate pulled almost five percent, which indicates that this indeed was a blowout against Alex Sink, as Hoosierman has indicated. 

  In a completely unrelated event, it was revealed that the woman whose 6 year dead mummified body was discovered in her Jeep in Detroit voted in the 2010 gubernatorial contest between Snyder and Verg Bernero. 
  Though the dead often manage to vote in Democrat contests, Snyder pulled one out in that contest.