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POPSGood Intentions with Disastrous Effects
But fraud and corruption are only part of the failed system that is Medicare – the other is basic accounting. In this morning’s Washington Post, Robert J. Samuelson compares the troubles with Medicare to the “public option,” which he calls a “mirage,” that is gaining strength in Congress. While Medicare is a monopoly, the proposed government-run health insurance plan seeks to attract investment capital to subsidize the enormous costs that it will incur (such as marketing campaigns). If this fails, which it undoubtedly would, Congress would step in to bail it out. When asked why it has taken Medicare so long to figure out they were being scammed, Attorney General Eric Holder told CBS’s Steve Kroft, "I think lack of resources probably. And then I think people I don't think necessarily thought that something as well intentioned as Medicare and Medicaid would necessarily attract fraudsters. But I think we have to understand that it certainly has." Good Intentions maybe but...
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POPSCDC Massive Misinformation Campaign: Error Rate Up To 97% Back then, the media was all over the shortage and the incompetence it exposed. Once again, the vast majority of the vaccine will have been made available too late to have any significant impact on the spread of the disease. Whether it will have any impact on the public’s perception of the government’s competency to control health care is a matter of speculation, entirely, but it seems liable not to help. And that is perhaps why Obama determined that this is the moment in which it was most propitious to declare an emergency, so that when the epidemic ends he can recycle his rhetoric regarding jobs created or saved. Whether the administration will use the declared state of emergency to stifle the babblings of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan remains to be seen. Likely the decision will be made by CDC poobah Eric Holder.
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POPSReefer sanity In an act of merciful sanity, the Obama administration has made good on its promise to stop interfering with states that allow the medical use of marijuana. It's a good move, long overdue. But is it enough? Not quite.
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POPSCalif. Lawyer Who Challenged Obama Citizenship Fined $20,000
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching one of her press conferences, then you can't truly appreciate the "train wreck" that is Orly Taitz, Attorney-at-Law. Ms. Taitz is a leader in the so-called "Birther Movement," the movement that challenges President Obama's right to hold office on the grounds that he is not a U.S. citizen. The ABA Journal Law News Now reports that a federal judge in Georgia fined Taitz $20,000 for her wild accusations in court and ordered her not to pursue any further frivolous actions in court - ever. In my opinion, this should render Taitz unable to practice law. Not to be dissuaded, Taitz filed a motion for reconsideration the next day. This motion was apparently denied, the judge writing, “Counsel’s wild accusations may be protected by the First Amendment when she makes them on her blog or in her press conferences, but the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes, not as a platform for political rhetoric and
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POPSShip of Fools: Obama's Intimates and Advisors 5. Samantha Power -- Senior Director, Multilateral Affairs, National Security Council. Ms. Power, a professor of public policy at Harvard was only seemingly thrown under the Obama campaign bus for referring to Hillary Clinton as "a monster" during the 2008 Democrat primary. In 2009 President Obama, tapped her to occupy her senior White House foreign policy position. Ms. Power, a "fierce critic of Israel,... was indisputably Barack Obama's closest foreign policy adviser during the campaign 6. Charles Freeman -- Nominated, but not confirmed, as Chairman of the (United States) National Intelligence Council - which is responsible for producing national intelligence estimates for the president and his advisors. Mr. Freeman has a distinguished résumé of long service in both the State and Defense Departments... however
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POPSShip of Fools: Obama's Intimates and Advisors A sampling of President Barack Hussein Obama's morally bankrupt White House "Brain Trust" 1. Valerie Jarrett - Jarrett served in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington (who, prior to his election, failed to file income tax returns for 19 years and during it maintained dubious Socialist ties) as well as in the scandal-ridden, current Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. 2. Patrick Gaspard - Prior to coming on board as President Obama's right-hand man, Mr. Gaspard was a registered federal lobbyist for the SEIU - the union members (thugs?) called-in by the Administration to run interference (sometimes violent) between Democrat members of Congress who support ObamaCare and their own constituents. Prior to that, Gaspard worked for ACORN - 3. Eric Holder- "In 1999, over the objections of the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons, and prosecuting attorneys, Holder supported Clinton's commutation of the sentences of 16 FALN conspirators.
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POPSObama Talks Afghanistan and Counterterrorism, Acorn Chief Addresses Scrutiny, Feingold Examines ‘Czars’ Antiterrorist: Obama will also make his first public visit to the National Counterterrorism Center today where he will deliver remarks. It’s the first terrorism-related event for the president since the arrest of terror suspect Najibullah Zazi last month in Denver. Obama’s remarks come a day after Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stressed the importance of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies to stop terrorism at a Monday law enforcement conference in Denver.
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POPSLamar Smith Sent a Letter to Attorney General Eric Holder: Investigate Allegations of Criminal Conduct Against ACORN
“Because the President’s political ties to ACORN may discourage senior Justice Department officials from authorizing an investigation, I have called on the Attorney General to appoint a special counsel who is independent of the administration and free from any undue political influence. “Political favoritism has no place at the Justice Department. We’ve already seen this administration dismiss one case against a political ally"the New Black Panther Party"for no apparent reason. I remain concerned that politicization at the Justice Department once again may result in the administration’s political friends getting a free pass. Only an independent investigation can ensure that justice is served in this case.” Last month, Ranking Member Smith sent letters to Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine and FBI Director Robert Mueller calling for investigations into ACORN’s use of federal funds and possible criminal violations.
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POPSObama Can't Outsource Afghanistan FTA: Biden in 2002.... "Security is the basic issue in Afghanistan. Whatever it takes, we should do it. History will judge us harshly if we allow the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate because we failed to stay the course." One commentator has suggested that he's going to "outsource" it to NATO.
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POPS Najibullah Zazi Indicted in Terror Plot NYPD raids in Queens last week turned up nine backpacks and cell phones, raising fears of a potential attack in the city's sprawling subway system. Authorities withheld the targets of the plot. But sources had told the Daily News that Zazi did computer searches involving baseball stadiums - and carried maps of other New York venues on his computer. Whatever the target, "Zazi took substantial steps toward carrying out the plan," according to a government memorandum demanding his immediate incarceration. The feds painted the bearded Zazi, 24, as a mad bomber whipping up batches of lethal explosives over a stove inside an Aurora, Colo., hotel suite. While inside the suite on Sept. 6-7, Zazi tried several times to reach an unidentified individual "seeking \ correct mixture of ingredients to make explosives," a government memorandum said. "Each communication \ more urgent in tone than the last." Traces of bomb-making material were discovered in a vent .
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POPS Holder's Show Investigation Winding Down based on the facts or on his political instincts. But a government source asserted that Holder was briefed on some of the details by advisers and that the attorney general was troubled by the material he read. Authorities have not pointed publicly to new evidence or witnesses that would strengthen the cases under review. I'm sure that, like Obama's Gitmo press conference, reopening these investigations was a feel-good announcement for Holder when he made it. Maybe the conclusion of this utterly non-politically motivated investigation will free up enough resources for Holder to voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. As if. Posted by Tom Maguire
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POPSBirds of the Feather
ACORN executives have also changed their organization’s name, which was tarnished by investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign... ACORN’s radical goals to transform the U.S. into a Marxist utopia have not changed in the four decades since Alinsky wrote: “The means-and-ends moralists, constantly obsessed with the ethics of the means used by the Have-Nots against the Haves, should search themselves as to their real political position. In fact, they are passive — but real — allies of the Haves. The most unethical of all means is the non-use of any means.” .... On cue enter ACORN and Barack Obama. After staged demonstrations across the county and several changes of tactics, SEIU hires ACORN as a “consultant” to protest the Carlyle Group. ACORN readily accepts the money, but has one problem — how to turn the people out, to make them care about the issue. Using the same tried and true manipulation tactics that S
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POPSObama Surrounds Himself with Radicals to Lead “Silent Revolution” Green Czar: Van Jones 2009 August 25 http://bejohngalt.com/2009/08/green-czar-van-jones/ Obama’s Communist Advisor and His Billion-Dollar Army http://newsrealblog.com/2009/08/25/obamas-communist-advisior-and-his-billion-dollar-army/ the radical agendas of the Obama Administration…. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1511 Radical in the White House? Obama's Green Jobs 'Czar' Exposed http://www.thefoxnation.com/czars/2009/08/25/radical-white-house-beck-exposes-obamas-green-jobs-czar
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POPSJustice Dept. to Recharge Enforcement of Civil Rights To bolster a unit that has been battered by heavy turnover and a scandal over politically tinged hiring under the Bush administration, the Obama White House has also proposed a hiring spree that would swell the ranks of several hundred civil rights lawyers with more than 50 additional lawyers, a significant increase for a relatively small but powerful division of the government.
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POPS Suicide of the West? by Thomas Sowell the idea of a "war on terror"-- as if that will stop the terrorists' war on us. The ostensible reason for releasing al-Megrahi was compassion for a man terminally ill. It is ironic that this was said in Scotland, for exactly 250 years ago another Scotsman-- Adam Smith-- said, "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." Tragically, those with this strange inversion of values include the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder. Although President Obama has said that he does not want to revisit the past, this is only the latest example of how his administration's actions are the direct opposite of his lofty words. It is not just a question of looking backward. The decision to second-guess CIA agents who extracted information to save American lives is even worse when you look forward. This is not simply an injustice to those who have tried to keep this country safe, it is a danger recklessly imposed on future Americans whose safety cannot always be guaranteed
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POPS Eric Holder's Hidden Agenda Recall that the president chose to install former Yale Law School dean Harold Koh as his State Department's legal adviser. Koh is the country's leading proponent of transnationalism. He is now a major player in the administration's deliberations over international law and cooperation. Naturally, membership in the International Criminal Court, which the United States has resisted joining, is high on Koh's agenda. The ICC claims worldwide jurisdiction, even over nations that do not ratify its enabling treaty, notwithstanding that sovereign consent to jurisdiction is a bedrock principle of international law. As a result, there have always been serious concerns that the ICC could investigate and try to indict American political, military, and intelligence officials for actions taken in defense of our country. Here it's crucial to bear in mind that the United States (or at least the pre-Obama United States) has not seen eye-to-eye with Europe on significant . . .
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POPSPresident Obama Should Fire Attorney General Eric Holder: Newt Gingrich Americans could be forgiven for believing, on the basis of shamefully twisted mainstream media coverage, that the recently revealed 2004 CIA Inspector-General report at the center of this controversy is merely a cataloging of CIA abuse. But in fact, the report methodically described a carefully limited and, with a few exceptions, faithfully implemented program of enhanced interrogation techniques - techniques that yielded what the report itself deems valuable results. The report also details the exceptions, cases in which interrogation techniques were used that were outside the carefully developed regime. But here is the crucial fact for Holder: All of the allegations of unauthorized methods - all of them - have already been carefully evaluated by career prosecutors. These were legal officials who, unlike Holder, do not owe their jobs to any partisan political figure. Impartial prosecutors evaluated 20 incidents of unauthorized activity and decided against taking legal
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POPSLaw, Not Torture, Protects National Security
Politicians and pundits ought to understand by now, the American system of justice was always meant to apprehend and prosecute criminals, and to ensure that those who apprehend them do not violate the law in doing so. That system routinely investigates law enforcement officials who use excessive force because we recognize that the credibility and authority of the law depends on universal accountability. The author, Joe Conason, got it exactly right. According to Cheney, preserving the rule of law will expose the nation to devastating terror attacks. This is total BS. “He has repeatedly claimed that waterboarding as well as other abusive methods are all that stand between us and a repetition of 9/11 or much worse”. Absolute scare tactics that reasonable adults know is not true. Through the release of the 2004 CIA inspector general’s report on the agency’s use of “enhanced interrogation,” provides little support for the former vice president’s bluster. Bring them to justic
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POPSWhat Side Are They On? A declaration of war against common sense? What this question says, in the context of this commentary, is that anyone who stands for an ethical America is on the wrong side. When I ask the question “what side are they on?” I mean it as asking why is America becoming a terrorist nation? Why do we have to keep rehashing the ethics of torture? The common sense is that we all want an America that is free from terrorism. We are all on the same side. The common sense is that the use of torture turns the torturer into a terrorist. It can have no other effect. The common sense is that torture is not the only way to get info out of someone. There are more humane methods. We have intelligence gathering protocols in place that have been working for decades without the use of torture. Why is anyone defending the use of torture now? What has changed that now makes it okay for America to compromise its ethics?
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POPSTypical rebuttal to Cheney/CIA documents
Peter Bergan, of the left-wing New America Foundation provides the main talking points behind the continued criticism of Bush/Cheney's authorization of so-called torture. This is effectively countered by the WSJ editorial today: Some will argue that these details could have been elicited without enhanced techniques. We'll never know. The question is whether Attorney General Eric Holder and his new special counsel intend to second-guess the decisions of CIA officials who were operating in the shadow of 9/11 and who, we now know, successfully unraveled terror plots and saved lives... These plots were "just talk." Nothing to worry about, then. Let them talk. They're Muslim fanatics and that's what they do. Why worry? Be happy! Left-wingers, like Bergan, will seize upon this argument to salve their own consciences as to the coming witch-hunt against the CIA by Obama. It seems convincing today but it's obviously an argument by hindsight"the worst kind of historical fallacy. If we'
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POPSWrist-slap and Tackle: Obama Goes Mild on CIA Torture http://chris-floyd.com/component/content/artic Holder has announced a tepid probe into some of the possible "excesses" committed by a few CIA interrogators, while letting the true architects and perpetrators of an elaborate, deliberate, inherent system of torture get off scot-free. Glenn Greenwald has many of the details here and here, among them the telling – and damning – fact that Obama and Holder have apparently decided that the "torture memos" prepared at the White House's order should be considered "settled law;" that is, only those agents whose tortures might have gone a bit beyond the already heinous tortures "allowed" by the White House memos are to be investigated for possible prosecution. As long as you stayed within the gruesome "guidelines" of the White House torture memos, then your atrocities are now to be considered "legal." This is yet another open reinforcement of the long-established covert practice of what we might call Nixon's Law: "If the president orders it, it cannot be illegal."
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