They Can't Stop Lying About Obamacare

Professional conservative health care policy wonks are paid to lie about Obamacare, because getting enough people to hate it and demand that legislators scrap the plan before it's fully implemented is the only way to stop it now.  So, people like Forbes columnist Avik Roy have to lie.  They're paid to do so.

Last week, the state of California claimed that its version of Obamacare’s health insurance exchange would actually reduce premiums. “These rates are way below the worst-case gloom-and-doom scenarios we have heard,” boasted Peter Lee, executive director of the California exchange. But the data that Lee released tells a different story: Obamacare, in fact, will increase individual-market premiums in California by as much as 146 percent.

Ezra Klein calls out the lie:

Roy got his 146 percent by heading to eHealthInsurance.com, running a search for insurance plans in California and comparing the cost of the cheapest plans to the cost of the plans being offered in the exchanges. That’s not just comparing apples to oranges. It’s comparing apples to oranges that the fruit guy may not even let you buy.

Remember, right now there's two big caveats to health insurance that Obamacare fixes:  one, plans have to have minimum coverage standards, and two, insurance companies can no longer reject people based on prior illness.  So yes, Roy purposely tried to make Obamacare look as bad as possible by comparing a cheap plan with a huge deductible that wouldn't qualify under Obamacare rules as meeting minumum coverage, a cheap plan that depending on your history you can be rejected for, to plans that do meet the Obamacare standards.

And let's keep in mind the same people who, like Roy, are paid to make Obamacare look as awful as possible are the same people who warned these exchange plans would be $500 a month or more in California.

They're not.  They're roughly half that cost.  Plus, subsidies assure that those who can't afford the plan can get help paying it, and in some cases they won't have to pay a dime.

That's the truth of Obamacare.  Those who need insurance the most will be able to get it, and get help paying for it.

Paul Krugman sums it up:

Right now, California has a basically unregulated individual market, in which insurers are free to reject whoever they choose, and charge whatever rates they choose. This means that a few young, healthy people with no record of prior medical problems can get cheap plans; these are, of course, precisely the people who need insurance least, and these plans are cheap not just because they’re only available to the very healthy but because they don’t provide much insurance. If you’re not healthy or wealthy enough to get by with this kind of insurance, too bad.

So looking at these rates tells you nothing at all about the success of a program that offers insurance to everyone, regardless of medical history, and sets fairly high minimum standards for the quality of that insurance.

But it makes for nice headlines, especially when "respected conservative policy wonks" like Avik Roy tell huge lies in order to try to convince people to scrap the program.  He has to:  otherwise, it proves government can work.

Haven't Learned A Thing, And Never Will

For anti-immigration reform conservatives, every immigration bill is "amnesty" and every day is 2007, where they can kill legislation and never pay a price.

“I think opposition is going to escalate dramatically once the bill hits the floor in a way that people do not expect. People are working tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure that happens,” said an aide to a conservative Republican senator.

“There’s no question that it’s going to be significantly more pushback. The question is if it’s enough to stop the bill in the Senate. I’d say the odds are better than even,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

He says conservatives have been distracted by the controversies swirling around the IRS, Benghazi and the Department of Justice’s seizure of journalists’ phone records.

“There are so many scandals going on with the Obama administration that it’s distracting a lot of people. The outrage can only be focused in so many directions,” he said.

The message is clear:  Obama brought up these scandals himself to take the heat off the Brown Horde Coming For Our Wal-Mart Jobs!

Sure he did.  The outrage is all that matters.  It rules our political discourse.  It's the reason why we can't have a nice country.

Of course, the "scramble" to stop the bill in the Senate is itself nothing but hot air:  any bill that will pass the Senate will never get a vote in the House.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Some five people dead, 71 injured, and 210,000 without power in Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois as 17 tornadoes ripped through the Midwest on Friday.
• Japan is blocking imports of US wheat after genetically altered crops from agriculture giant Monsanto were found growing wild.
• The little-known Federal Surface Transportation Board could put the brakes on California's high-speed rail line from Fresno to Merced.
• Evidence that the Fed could begin its exit from quantitative easing stung the bond market for its worst day in 3 years.
• E-book publishers may have settled up with the feds over price collusion, but not Apple, as the tech giant's trial begins next week.

Last Call For Illinois Equality

Same-sex marriage in the states has been on a real roll as of late, but it's run into a roadblock in the Land of Lincoln, and once again it's African-Americans unfairly taking the heat as homophobes.

Stubborn resistance within the House Black Caucus, a 20-member bloc of African-American lawmakers who have faced a withering lobbying blitz against the plan from black ministers, has helped keep Harris’ legislation in check, with several House members still undecided.

“For me, there’s really no net gain for me one way or another. I’m hearing equally. Do I philosophically disagree? No, I don’t. But I would like to see absolute protections for churches and religious organizations so they’re not pushed into something they don’t want,” said Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood). “For me, [a decision] will literally be when the bill comes up and after I sit and listen.”

Several in the caucus have urged Harris to push the issue into the fall veto session — after which nominating petitions for the 2014 ballot have to be filed — to bring up same-sex marriage for a House vote.

“The sense I have is blacks are tired of being lobbied or targeted. They’ve kind of turned back on some of the advocates and lobbyists and are asking, ‘Why don’t you get some Republicans?’” one high-level Democratic insider said Friday.

And yes, black ministers are certainly in the wrong here...but so are Republicans.

Two House Republicans have publicly endorsed the legislation, Rep. Ed Sullivan (R-Antioch) and Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove). A likely third GOP supporter, Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Westchester), switched to a no as he contemplated a possible run for House Republican leader.

Quinn has spent weeks pitching rank-and-file members, and Attorney General Lisa Madigan joined the effort in making calls Thursday, when at least five black House members, including Davis, reported hearing from Madigan.

Only 3 Republicans out of  47 are even considering the vote.  Why are LGBT advocates in Illinois stupidly hanging the shame solely on African-American legislators?

Oh yes, that's been the plan all along, to fracture the Democrats when the real bad guys are the Republicans.

How Much For Just One Rib?

The answer to Chris Rock's eternal question in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is apparently "three to five years, and fifty for the rack."

All Willie Smith Ward wanted was his baby-back ribs, but it cost him 50 years in prison.
His problems started when he tucked a large rack under his shirt and tried to leave the H-E-B store at 1102 Speight Ave. without paying in September 2011.


A jury in Waco’s 19th State District Court also didn’t like the 43-year-old Ward’s previous five felony and four misdemeanor convictions and recommended that Ward be sentenced to 50 years in prison as a habitual criminal.

Jurors took two minutes Wednesday to convict Ward on robbery charges and about an hour to decide his punishment.

Ward’s theft of the $35 rack of pork ribs turned into a robbery when he threatened a grocery store employee who saw the huge bulge under Ward’s shirt and tried to stop him in the parking lot.

“This verdict shows that the citizens of this county will not tolerate a continued disrespect and disregard for other people and their property,” said Assistant District Attorney J.R. Vicha, who prosecuted Ward with Chris Bullajian. “People who choose to do so will be dealt with seriously and appropriately.”

50 years for a rack of ribs is "serious and appropriate"?

 

Oh, NOW it is, right?

Captain Cavemaaaaaaaaaaan!

Unga-bunga, me Erick Erickson, me knuckle-dragger who think women should stay in kitchen.  Me go on FOX News to talk science:

“I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science. But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role.”

Sure it is.  Just ask praying mantises, or lions, or seahorses, or...

..you know what, I'm not doing this guy's biology homework again.  Let him flunk.

StupidiNews!

• The FBI is focusing on Texas as the source of a recent batch of letters testing positive for ricin, sent to President Obama and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
• The Boy Scouts of America keeping a ban on LGBT adults as scout leaders may cost the organization its tax-exempt status in California.
• 13-year old Arvind Mahankali of Queens, NY is your Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, with the winning word of 'knaidel', a traditional Yiddish dumpling.
• Tokyo is shoring up its defenses against the future possibility of a major flood along the city's Arakawa River, a flood which could affect 35 million.
• High sodium content maybe bad for people, but good for young stars as it appears the element may be preventing them from entering the red giant phase.

Last Call For Second Amendment Remedies

Tell me again how the Tea Party is a non-violent movement of "concerned citizens" again and not a bunch of heavily armed bullies making threats.

A caller on a tea party-sponsored conference call Wednesday suggested that the way to change Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)’s mind on immigration reform would be to “shoot her.” According to Think Progress, the violent suggestion was not condemned, but met with hoots of laughter by others on the call.

Far-right conservative group The Eagle Forum held the call, which featured Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)’s communications director Stephen Miller and the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector. The suggestion that Collins should be shot came when the call moderator turned the discussion over to callers.

An individual identified as “Bob from Maine” said, “I’m from Maine and our tea party will be meeting up next week. What is the best way that we can get our senator to listen to us?”

“Shoot her,” said another caller, who did not identify himself.

The call to violence was met with laughter by the people on the conference call. No one on the line raised any audible objection.

Hmm.  There's a term for using violence or the threat of violence to affect a political outcome, but apparently we only reserve such a term for those of a darker-skinned or non-Christian persuasion.  I'm sure joking about assassinating members of Congress is all fun and games until one of them gets shot in the head or something.

Keep it up, conservatives.

What Did News Corporation Know, Part 2

So the amnesia factory that is News Corp is still denying the Department of Justice ever told them about the James Rosen subpoenas three years ago, and the DoJ apparently has had quite enough of this nonsense and went to CNN to prove it.

Under fire for seeking records of journalists' communications, government officials pushed back Wednesday against statements from Fox News that it was not notified about government subpoenas to the organization.

On Wednesday a law enforcement official showed CNN paperwork to support Justice's claim that on August 27, 2010 three messages were sent out about the subpoenas and went to both a lawyer for Fox News' parent company, News Corporation, and reporter James Rosen.

The Justice Department subpoenas were for two days of phone records in 2009 during a national security leak investigation. The department said it notified Fox News about seeking toll records for five phone lines but did not tell them about seeking access to Rosen's personal email traffic. When news of the search warrant became public, Fox News released a statement acknowledging Rosen was the reporter described in the affidavit and expressing outrage.

The official said two notifications were sent to Lawrence Jacobs who was the senior counsel for News Corporation. The law enforcement official showed CNN a fax receipt with a time stamp to show something was faxed to Jacobs at precisely 4:09 pm on August 27. In addition, CNN was shown a U.S. Postal Service certified mail receipt indicating a registered letter was sent to Jacobs the same day. The official did not show the messages sent to Jacobs.

So yes News Corp, you were told in August 2010 about this.  Stop acting all surprised.  You knew, you said nothing then, but are screaming bloody murder now?  Have a damn seat.

Letters From A Boring Ham, Jailed

Remember the guy calling for a mass armed march on Washington DC as a gentle reminder we live in a country with millions of heavily armed assholes who equate their gun rights to manifest destiny?  He's back, and he's skipping the "civil disobedience demonstration" stage and going right to the "call for armed insurrection" stage.

About a month ago, a gun activist named Adam Kokesh called for thousands of people to join him in an armed march on Washington, D.C. to “put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny.” As of this writing, nearly 5,200 people have RSVPed for Kokesh’s armed march.

Late last week, however, Kokesh decided to abandon this march in favor of a much larger effort to bring down the entire federal government. In a statement written from a jail cell in Philadelphia (Kokesh faced charges for allegedly resisting arrest during a pro-marijuana rally. He now says he’s been released), the gun activist called for his supporters to form a secessionist “army”:

Roll the manifesto music, boys.

A new American revolution is long overdue. This revolution has been brewing in the hearts and minds of the people for many years, but this Independence Day, it shall take a new form as the American Revolutionary Army will march on each state capital to demand that the governors of these 50 states immediately initiate the process of an orderly dissolution of the federal government through secession and reclamation of federally held property. Should one whole year from this July 4th pass while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible.

Good luck with your single brigade spread over 50 state capitals there, ace.  That's what, a largish platoon of douchebags at each statehouse versus local cops, who can call on state police and national guard if needed?  I'm sure that's going to be totally successful, and the Governors will just fold right then and there.  Also, I'm completely sure they totally won't gas you clowns and put you in prison for a good long time, either.

You get right on your second American Revolution there, skippy.

StupidiNews!

• President Obama is expected to nominate former Bush Deputy AG James Comey as FBI Director, but the rumored choice is already drawing criticism from the left and right.
• Two letters sent to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg have initially tested positive for ricin, both letter contained threats and referenced Bloomberg's gun control efforts.
• A new study finds the cost of four-year public universities are increasingly out of reach for low-income families due to decreasing student aid budgets.
• New Obamacare rules mean employers can charge higher premiums to employees for not meeting wellness program standards, but employee protections are being built in.
• Texas lawmakers are sending a drone spying ban to Gov. Rick Perry to sign, but critics say the legislation has massive loopholes for both private industries and law enforcement.

Last Call For That Syrian No-Fly Zone

A no-fly zone over Syria is not going to happen, folks...and here's why.

Delivery of long-range anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces “is a stabilizing factor,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, even as Israel denounced the decision. 

“We won’t cancel this contract,” Ryabkov told reporters today in Moscow. “We understand the concerns and the signals that are being sent to us from different capitals. We see that many of our partners are worried about this, but we have no reasons to reconsider our position.”

The S-300 missiles with a range of 200-300 kilometers (186 miles) are a threat to Israel and can reach aircraft over Ben Gurion airport, Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Minister of International Relations, told reporters today. That makes them “not just defensive weapons, but offensive,” he said, calling the Russian move “terribly wrong.”

The exchanges came hours after the European Union authorized arms sales to the Syrian opposition. While Britain and France, the prime movers behind the decision, said there would be no immediate shipments to rebels, both countries said the move was intended to narrow the options for Assad, who has clung to power during two years of civil war that has cost 80,000 Syrian lives.

Ryabkov accused the EU of “pouring oil on the flames of the conflict.” The Russian minister declined to say what stage the S-300 deliveries have reached, but Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said the systems have not yet been shipped. “If, by some misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do,” he told reporters today. 

What Israel will do is precisely nothing, because those S-300 SAMs will shred the Israeli Air Force, and they damn well know it.   Getting rid of them, once they're in place, is going to require a serious military effort on the part of Israel (and most likely the US too.)  Since there's no stomach for that in either country, Russia is playing this card to take Israel's air power out of the picture.

That means the Syrian Army can bring in Hezbollah and Iraqi fighters to continue the civil war.  Hell, at this point Syria is turning into Vietnam.

Enjoy the show, folks.  This one's going to be around for a while.

In The Dark Recesses Of The Mind(less)

Apparently all 45 Republican senators, even the "moderate" ones, now believe that every other President in history could make recess appointments except for, well, you know, the black one.

All 45 Republican senators co-signed an amicus brief filed Tuesday calling on the Supreme Court to curtail the President’s power to temporarily appoint nominees without the Senate’s approval.

“[R]ecess appointments have become a means to sidestep Senate confirmation,” the brief declared. “In any case, the President himself has made clear that he will resort to recess appointments, and indeed has done so, precisely to circumvent perceived Senate opposition.”

In January, a three-judge panel on the conservative-leaning D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Obama overstepped his constitutional authority when he recess-appointed three members of the National Labor Relations Board. The court decreed that the president may not recess-appoint nominees during pro-forma sessions, when the Senate tends to meet briefly, sometimes just for a few minutes, without holding debate or votes.

The Obama administration has appealed that decision; the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to take the case. 

See, the wacky part is the President's power to make recess appointments is actually in the Constitution, whereas the Senate using the filibuster and secret holds to block appointments is not.  Republicans suddenly don't care about that anymore, because A) it's not part of the Second Amendment, and B) Obama is a fascist for exercising a power he has used far less than any other remotely recent President, Democratic or Republican.

We'll see what SCOTUS does.

Scouting Out The Backlash

I am completely unsurprised at the fact that the first mega-church to abandon the Boy Scouts over their decision last week to include gay youth in troops is right here in backwards, homophobic, hate-filled Kentucky, just down the road in Louisville.

Southeast Christian Church will break ties with a Boy Scout troop because it believes the youth organization has become too polarizing, its executive pastor said.

The organization’s National Council voted last week to allow openly gay youth but maintained its ban on gay leaders.

Tim Hester, executive pastor of Southeast Christian, said the youth organization’s consideration of that issue started the discussion that eventually led to the church’s board of elders deciding against renewing the church’s charter with Troop 212, but it wasn’t the deciding issue.

The charter was going to be broken regardless of the Boy Scout vote, he said.

“Truly for us it’s a logical decision,” he said. “We cannot be distracted from the mission God has called us to.”

The Scouts have until the end of the year to relocate.

Barry Oxley, CEO of the Boy Scouts’ Lincoln Heritage Council, said Southeast Christian had notified the council earlier this year that scouting would not be offered on its campus in 2014.

He said the Boy Scouts are working to identify a new organization to charter Troop 212 and Cub Scout Pack 212. He said about 300 families participate in Scouting in the two groups at Southeast Christian.

Sure.  Boy Scouts accepting gay members wasn't the "deciding issue" and I'm really the King of Versailles.   Nice message of Jesus's acceptance, tolerance, compassion and humility there, guys...and way to put Kentucky on the map again nationally.

StupidiNews!

• With a growing campaign ethics investigation swirling around her, GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota announced she will not seek re-election in 2014.
• Wal-Mart has been fined a record $110 million for pleading guilty to dumping toxic chemicals and pesticides in California.
• As the EU has lifted its ban on arming Syria's rebels, Russia has countered by pledging to provide missiles and arms to the Assad regime.
• Sergei Guriev, head of a Russian economics think tank and associate of PM Dmitry Medvedev, has fled the country ahead of criminal prosecution over money laundering.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't have a high opinion of Google Glass, but still finds wearable computers "profoundly interesting."