An Administration Goes Down the Drain

Swirling The Bowl

 

 

 

 

” Among President Obama’s formerly greatest champions — minorities, unions, so-called journalists and young voters — the swirling-into-oblivion administration has engendered a remarkable sullen silence, given their loss, as they passively give up on recovering their once-loved gem, now sullied by this government’s own political excrement.

  Covered with the stench of debacles including Obamacare, the NSA, Syria, Benghazi, the IRS, and the AP, while demonstrating a level of incompetence so great that it must give pause to all but the most committed members of the cult of unlimited government, few liberals will be willing to dig through the muck to reclaim their once-prized possession.

  While the media like to focus on Tea Party froth and Republican infighting, the key to the 2014 and 2016 elections is the effect of the Obama flush on his key supporters’ desire to vote for Democrats, or to vote at all.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thomas Sowell : When Arrogance And Incompetence Meet

A NEW YEAR AND OLD PROBLEMS

 

 

 

 

” Obamacare looms large and menacing on our horizon. This is not just because of computer problems, or even because some people who think that they have enrolled may discover at their next visit to a doctor that they do not have any insurance coverage. 

  Obamacare is more than a medical problem, though there are predictable medical problems — and even catastrophes — that will unfold in the course of 2014 and beyond. Our betters have now been empowered to run our lives, with whatever combination of arrogance and incompetence they may have, or however much they lie.

  The challenges ahead are much clearer than what our responses will be. Perhaps the most hopeful sign is that increasing numbers of people seem to have finally — after nearly five long years — begun to see Barack Obama for what he is, rather than for what he seemed to be, when judged by his image and rhetoric.

  What kind of man would blithely disrupt the medical care of millions of Americans, and then repeatedly lie to them with glib assurances that they could keep their doctors or health insurance if they wanted to?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If Anyone Can Blow It , The GOP Can … Poll Shows GOP Advantage In Congressional Races

CNN Poll: GOP Has Edge In Early Midterm Indicator

 

 

 

 

” Democrats have lost their advantage and Republicans now have a slight edge in the battle for control of Congress, according to a new national poll.

  A  released Thursday also indicates that President Barack Obama may be dragging down Democratic congressional candidates, and that the 2014 midterm elections are shaping up to be a low-turnout event, with only three in 10 registered voters extremely or very enthusiastic about voting next year.

  Two months ago, Democrats held a 50%-42% advantage among registered voters in a generic ballot, which asked respondents to choose between a Democrat or Republican in their congressional district without identifying the candidates. That result came after congressional Republicans appeared to overplay their hand in the bitter fight over the federal government shutdown and the debt ceiling.

  But the Democratic lead evaporated, and a CNN poll a month ago indicated the GOP holding a 49%-47% lead. The new survey, conducted in mid-December, indicates Republicans with a 49%-44% edge over the Democrats.”

 

Related:  CNN Poll: Health care law support drops to all-time low

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obama’s “Symbolic” Healthcare Enrollment Due To Lack Of ID Verification

HEALTHCARE.GOV CAN’T VERIFY OBAMA’S IDENTITY

 

” The White House appears to have dropped a bombshell when it explained to the press why White House staff in Washington enrolled President Obama in Obamacare instead of Obama himself.

  Officials said it was because HealthCare.gov could not verify Obama’s identity.

  Here is what Ed Henry, Fox News White House correspondent, reported on air:

“ Somebody who’s not waiting in line to enroll is the president of the United States. We learned today from the White House. Initially, they said he signed up for what they called a bronze plan, paying about four hundred dollars a month in premiums. But, then they came back to us and said – ‘Well, wait. He didn’t actually enroll. They said his staff did it and that’s because of his unique circumstance obviously, as commander-in-chief, that his personal information is not in various government databases, so Healthcare.gov could not actually verify his identity, oddly enough. So, he had to do it in person this weekend, so he was signing up for the D.C. exchange, but his staff did it.”

 

 

Read the whole thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In A Symbolic Sop To The Serfs … Obama Staff “Enrolls” Pres In Healthcare Exchange

W.H.: Obama Has “Signed Up” For Insurance Under Obamacare

 

 

” President Barack Obama has signed up for health insurance through an Affordable Care Act exchange, the White House said Monday.

  In what an official acknowledged is a “symbolic” move since the president gets his medical care from the military, Obama selected a low-cost bronze plan through the District of Columbia exchange. He made the pick over the weekend while vacationing in Hawaii.

  But Obama did not directly sign up for insurance. Rather, his staff went in person to sign him up, an official told POLITICO.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Stereotypical Obamacare Ad Insults Gays , Christians And Any Other Thinking Individuals

Half Naked Gays Spread Obamacare Enrollment Message In New Commercial

 

 

” Apparently, according to Obama and his supporters who are pushing the failed Obamacare plan on the rest of us, gays are leering, oversexed men-children who romp about in speedo underwear and fondle each other… oh, and they like them some Obamacare, too.”

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Obamacare Continues To Circle The Drain On It’s Death Spiral

Obamacare ‘Death Spiral’ Scenario Is About The States, Stupid

 

” As problems continue to plague the rollout of President Obama‘s health care law despite improvements to the federal healthcare.gov website, one issue that continues to loom is the possibility of the dreaded “death spiral.”

  The term “death spiral” refers to an unraveling of the individual market if insurers are stuck with a disproportionate number of older and sicker enrollees with high medical claims without a sufficient number of younger and healthier participants to offset the costs.

  Though the Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t yet released a demographic breakdown of those who have picked a plan through Obamacare, early data from a handful of states has suggested that the risk pool has been disproportionately older.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obama Keeps The Obamacare Exemptions Coming

Administration Faces Backlash Over New ObamaCare Exemptions

 

 

 

” The Obama administration, in an 11th-hour change, announced significant exemptions for people who recently lost their insurance coverage and are struggling to get a new plan — drawing immediate criticism from the insurance industry and Republican lawmakers. 

  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed the changes, which include letting those individuals skirt the law’s individual mandate, in a letter to senators. She said she would allow people who got cancellations and could not find affordable new coverage to qualify for a “hardship exemption” in order to avoid a penalty next year for not having insurance. 

  Further, she announced that those individuals will be able to purchase bare-bones plans that until now were available only for people under 30. 

  The move, though, to allow potentially hundreds of thousands of people to sign up for “catastrophic” coverage plans was criticized by the insurance industry as a shift that would cause “tremendous instability.” “

 

Illustration by Gary Varvel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The 12 Days Of Obamacare …

… A Politically Incorrect Fable

 

 

” The 12 Days of Obamacare…havoc and devastation set to verse!

 

 

  On the first day of Obamacare, Pelosi gave to me . . .
A healthcare “gift” for my dear fa-mil-y.

 

   On the second day of Obamacare, Barack promised to me . . .
“Keep your doctor and your healthcare? Yes you can! Yes-sir-ee!” “

 

 

See the other ten days at Kevin Jackson’s Black Sphere .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obamacare Navigator Report Cites Mismanagement , Corruption , Lack Of Oversight

New Report Says Obamacare Navigator Program Marred By Mismanagement, Confusion

 

 

 

 

 

” A new report produced by Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reveals that Obamacare’s controversial “Navigator and Assister” program has suffered from chronic poor management, resulting in widespread disarray, since the law’s October 1 launch date. An advanced copy of the document obtained by Townhall raises a number of competency and security concerns. Below is a brief summary of its revelations and conclusions:”

 

 

More here 

 

 

 

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Three Kids Build Working Healthcare.gov Alternative Website In Three Days For Hundreds Of Dollars

Three 20-Year-Olds Fix Obamacare Website In Days

 

 

” To illustrate how incompetent CGI’s attempt at building a healthcare exchange website was, three 20-year-old programmers working in San Francisco built their own website. 

  In just a few days, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser build healthsherpa.com. This website launched two weeks ago and already solves the main problem with healthcare.gov.”

 

 

 

 

 “ They got it completely backwards in terms of what people want up front—they want prices and benefits, so that they could make the decision,” Liang said.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More Obamacare “Surprises” … Your Prescription Plan Is Not What You Think

How Will ObamaCare Impact Prescription Drug Coverage?

 

 

 

 

” This is a rush transcript from “The Kelly File,” December 9, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

  MEGYN KELLY, HOST: We are seeing new reports tonight about another possible consequence of the health care overhaul. While media outlets continue to dig into the issue of losing your plan or losing your doctor — you can see this cover here on the Cincinnati Enquirer — we are now hearing that you may also be losing your prescription drug coverage, or at least find to get much more expensive.

  Dr. Scott Gottlieb is a practicing physician and former senior policy adviser to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Doctor, good to see you again. And so, why is this a concern about possibly loosing or seeing a sharp uptick in the costs under your prescription drug coverage?

  DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, PRACTICING PHYSICIAN: Well, there are two issues. One is the co-pays on the drugs are very high. So, on average there is about 40 percent you’re going to have to pay on branded drugs compared to about 25 percent in the private sector.

  But the bigger issue is that the formula, the list of drugs or the plans cover in many cases aren’t very long. And if the drugs aren’t covered, then you’re on your own. You basically have to pay for it entirely out of pocket. And the money that you spend on those drugs doesn’t count against your out of pocket limits and it won’t count against your deductible. This could cost patients with special conditions, patients who need special drugs a lot of money. Literally tens of thousands of dollars a year.”

 

 

    Watch the whole thing . The covered prescription drug list included under Obamacare is not the same as it used to be and so many , many people are in for a shock when it comes to the drug payment coverage .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Volunteer Fire Departments Nationwide May Be Screwed By Obamacare

Obamacare Could Force Thousands Of Volunteer Fire Departments To Close

 

 

 

 

 

” Volunteer fire departments all across the U.S. could find themselves out of money and unable to operate unless Congress or the Obama Administration exempts them from the Affordable Care Act.

‘ I thought the kinks were worked out of Obamacare at the first of the month, Central Florida volunteer firefighter Carl Fabrizi told Sunshine State News.  ‘Man, oh, man, this could potentially destroy some real good companies in Florida.’

  The U.S. Department of Labor takes the term ‘volunteer’ literally, but the IRS says volunteer firefighters are technically employees if they’re on the job more than 30 hours per week, making them subject to Obamacare’s employee-mandate rules.

  Since the Obamacare law doesn’t specifically carve out an exemption for them, fire departments where 50 or more people work – either as volunteers or real employees – are expected to provide health insurance for every one of them. 

  In towns with more than one volunteer fire department, all the staffers will likely be lumped together for tax purposes, pushing many above the 50-worker threshold. 

  That could cost department of life-savers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Those that dump their volunteers into the federal insurance exchanges would still have to pay an annual $2,000 fine for each ’employee’ after the first 30.”

 

 

     The law of unintended consequences is the only consistent expectation one should have of any State policy . Due to the pols desire to always be passing some law or other and being seen as doing something no law is ever well thought out enough that it doesn’t end up generating more problems than it solves .

 

 

” Nationally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that volunteer fire departments make up 71 per cent of America’s 1 million firehouses. Another 16 per cent are ‘mostly volunteer…’ “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Judge Jeanine Pirro – Opening Statement 12.7.13

Mr. President, The Clock Is Ticking – Judge Jeanine 

Opening Statement – 12-7-13

Published on Dec 7, 2013

” In her opening statement on ‘Justice’ this week, Judge Jeanine Pirro continues to verbally assault the Obama administration on the total fiasco of the Obamacare rollout as deadline after deadline goes by and still there’s new problems discovered daily. “

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Could The IRS Association Doom Obamacare ?

IRS Guarantees Obamacare Collapse

 

 

 

 

” According to a report in the Washington Post, which has been handing out “Pinnochios” for the president’s lies, everything hinges on the IRS, whose tasks include “helping to distribute trillions of dollars in insurance subsidies and penalizing people who do not comply.” Those are part of “nearly four dozen new tasks” that represent the biggest increase in IRS responsibilities in decades. IRS bosses say they are ready to roll but others remain skeptical. MIT economist Jon Gruber, a designer of Obamacare mandates, told the Post“We should be absolutely clear we don’t know how this will work.” Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates sees “little hope we are going to get enough younger healthy people to sign up, and that means that this law is in grave danger of financial collapse.” “

 

 

     If the IRS carries out it’s Obamacare responsibilities in the fashion that we have come to expect from that agency , and the rest of government for that matter , there is little doubt that it is doomed .

 

 

Illustration by Michael Ramirez

 

 

 

 

 

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Generation Screwed , The Obama Youth , Are Waking Up And Smelling The Kool-Aid

Harvard: Students Turn On Obama, Want Him Recalled, Reject Obamacare

 

 

” The Obama thrill is gone among America’s millennials aged 18-29 just a year after they helped the president win a second term.

  A new and shocking poll from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics released Wednesday found that younger Americans are so disgusted with President Obama, Congress and the troubled Obamacare system that 47 percent support recalling the president and just 29 percent are planning to sign up for health insurance.

  How bad is it? Obama’s approval rating among millennials, many with big college loans and no job, is just 41 percent. Even young blacks are tiring of the president, with his approval rating among African-Americans dropping from 84 percent seven months ago to 75 percent today. “

     The only real surprise here is why the kids took so long to come to their senses . They have been bearing the brunt of Dear Leader’s horrific policies all along . From owing their souls to the company store of student loans that paid for educations which produce no job prospects and make them to move into their parent’s basements , to being forced to buy insurance that they don’t want or need , to being saddled with an over-whelming national debt , Obama has done nothing positive for the younger generation .

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Remember That $600 Million Obamacare Price Tag ? … Forget It … The Real Cost Has Climbed To $1 Billion

Healthcare.gov Pricetag Was $1 Billion And Counting ..As Of September 30th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

” If you asked ten people how much U.S. taxpayers spent on the embarrassingly non-functional Healthcare.gov website and exchage, you’d probably get ten different answers.  The official number offered by the Government Accountability Office is $394 million.  While that’s an awful lot of money, nobody believed it was anywhere close to an accurate figure. The more popular estimate was in the $600 million range but, now, even that seems downright reasonable.

   Bloomberg Government has an analysis which claims that the total cost of federal ACA implementation has easily topped $1 Billion and that it happened way back on September 30th. 

  Although the Affordable Care Act has been law for three and a half years, one third of the funds going to the top contractors working on the federal exchanges were awarded in the six months before the new insurance marketplaces opened Oct. 1, a Bloomberg Government Analysis has found.

  The torrent of late spending — almost $352 million of $1 billion in awards to the top 10 contractors — indicates the magnitude of the work still to be done as opening day approached, and helps explain the information technology problems that have dogged the exchange system since its launch. In a typical IT project, spending ramps up to a peak, then trails off during the final phase.”

 

 

   A billion dollars spent and nothing to show for it but enriched cronies and 404 messages . Now that’s Hope & Change®

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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HealthCare.gov Was Created With NO Thought To Data Security

No Security Ever Built Into Obamacare Site: Hacker

 

 

 

” It could take a year to secure the risk of “high exposures” of personal information on the federal Obamacare online exchange, a cybersecurity expert told CNBC on Monday.

” When you develop a website, you develop it with security in mind. And it doesn’t appear to have happened this time,” said David Kennedy, a so-called “white hat” hacker who tests online security by breaching websites. He testified on Capitol Hill about the flaws of HealthCare.gov last week.

” It’s really hard to go back and fix the security around it because security wasn’t built into it,” said Kennedy, chief executive of TrustedSec. “We’re talking multiple months to over a year to at least address some of the critical-to-high exposures on the website itself.”

 

 

    The most interesting quote from the security expert in the video reveals that because HealthCare.gov is a Federal program if your personal information is compromised the government has NO OBLIGATION to inform you of that fact . Think about that before you sign up with the help of that convicted felon Navigator from ACORN .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Complain And You Will Be Audited … Bill Elliot Is Learning This Valuable Lesson The Hard Way

Cancer Patient Who Spoke Out Against ObamaCare Now Being Audited

 

 

 

” Bill Elliot was a cancer patient who lost his insurance due to ObamaCare and couldn’t pay the expensive new premiums. He was talking about paying the ObamaCare fine, going without health insurance and “letting nature take its course.”

  He went on FOX News where his story was picked up by C. Steven Tucker, a health insurance broker who helped him keep his insurance.

  Now suddenly Bill Elliot is being audited for 2009 with an interview only scheduled in April 2014. Assuming he lives that long. That might be a coincidence, but Tucker is being audited back to 2003.

  That’s a rather strange coincidence.”

 

He promised as much …

 

 

 

This is despotism … pure and simple 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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`”Non-Partisan” Families USA Shills For Obamacare

‘Non-Partisan’ Group Paid $1 Million To Produce Positive Obamacare Stories

 

 

” Families USA (FUSA) — an organization that describes itself as a “national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans” — was given a $1.1 million grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on October 4, 2013, to gather “success stories” of Americans dealing with Obamacare and distribute them to the media who often refer to them as an “independent” group. This is part of a greater upcoming effort to bolster the perception of the lowly health care law.

“ The purpose is to bridge the information gap for people who can significantly benefit from the Affordable Care Act,” Ron Pollack, the Co-founder and Executive Director of Families USA, told TIME on October 25, 2013.

  However, the organization is a far cry from “non-partisan” and is extremely close to the Obama Administration and Enroll America – the group leading the efforts to sign people up for Obamacare.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Definitive Book On The Obamacare Debate

A Conspiracy Against Obamacare

 

 

 

 

” Last week, A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case was released, of which I am proud to be the editor. The book compiles the discussions and debates about the Affordable Care Act that occurred on the legal blog the Volokh Conspiracy, supplemented with new material. The posts are stitched together into a narrative structure. As a result, you can see the constitutional arguments against the Affordable Care Act develop in real time, from before the law was passed all the way to the Supreme Court.”

 

   The contributing author’s roster in a virtual who’s who of the libertarian legal movement and as such this book is destined to become a classic in the history of the fight against Statism.

” The contributors are Randy E. Barnett, Jonathan H. Adler, David E. Bernstein, Orin S. Kerr,David B. Kopel, and Ilya Somin, most of whom are closely associated with Cato in one way or another.”

Buy it … Read it .

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The Death Panels Are Real

Time Editor: Obama Also Lied About Death Panels ‘Built’ Into Obamacare

 

 

 

 

” On August 7, 2009, one former Alaskan Governor said this about Obamacare, “seniors and the disabled ‘will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care.”  It was roundly dismissed as crazy by the political left.  In fact, it was Politifact’s 2009 Lie of The Year.

  Four years later,  MSNBC contributor Mark Halperin admitted yesterday on the Steve Malzberg Show for Newsmax TV that death panels are included in Obamacare. And that they’ll be used to control costs.

STEVE MALZBERG: I think they focused on the death panels which will be coming, call them what you will. Rationing is part of it.

MARK HALPERIN: I agree. Huge. It’s going to be a huge issue, and that’s something else about which the President was not fully forthcoming and straightforward.”

 

 

Once again the truth wills out . Despite the best efforts of the MSM and the career liars of the Democratic party the facts have become known and they are as Sarah Palin and other prominent conservative figures on the right have maintained for years . Rationed care is built into Obamacare and rationed care is a de facto death panel .

   The fact is that you the individual will not be in charge of deciding what medical care is available to your terminally ill loved ones . The decision of life and death will be left up to a government appointed bureaucracy to which there is no appeal . Don’t you feel safer already ? 

 While it should be obvious to even the lowest information voter that Obama and his snake oil salesmen have been lying about the details of Obamacare that is hardly the most disturbing aspect of the scandal . That accomplishment belongs to our “free and independent” press , yes the very “gatekeepers” that are supposed to be the public’s bulwark against corruption in the political arena .

   As the facts are presently laid to public view it becomes ever more apparent that the very people that were vilified as “kooks” and “conspiracy theorists” by the press because they dared read the bill are being proven correct which goes a long way towards exposing the complicity of the MSM in foisting the unconstitutional mess that is Obamacare on their trusting viewers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Democrat Denial ? Never Heard Of It

Are Democrats In Denial About Obamacare’s Midterm Consequences?

 

 

 

”  Democratic leaders claim the bungled launch of Obamacare is just the latest news sensation — a media-stirred tempest that looks in the heat of the moment like it could upend the midterm election, but ends up fizzling well before voters head to the polls.

  Some party strategists say they’re in denial.

  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a forum hosted by BuzzFeed recently that the rollout won’t “hurt us in 2014,” adding that “we’re proud” of the law. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, in a recent appearance on CNN, went so far as to assert that Obamacare would be “an advantage” for Democratic candidates next year.

“  Democrats will run on the Affordable Care Act and win,” she has also told reporters.

  The White House, meanwhile, has come across as equally dismissive of Obamacare’s consequences for 2014.

  “The fact is that [the president] is focused on delivering the access to quality and affordable health insurance to the American people that the Affordable Care Act promises. He’s not concerned about the politics of that,” White House press secretary Jay Carney recently said.”

Denial ? What denial ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tips On How To Ruin Your Holiday Dinner Via The Obama Administration & OFA

It’s All Ho-Ho-Ho Til Obama Hijacks Your Holiday

 

 

 

 

” Loathe peaceful holidays? Detest the spirit of agreeableness and good will that tends to pervade during this time of year? Well, if you’re longing for it to be ’tis the season of debates, irritations, and shouting matches, you’re in luck: The Obama administration thinks the holidays are the perfect time to gather round and discuss … Obamacare.

  Wary about the effect bringing up the most polarizing political topic among your relatives and friends who likely span the blue-purple-red spectrum will have? Don’t be, because President Barack Obama’s Organizing for Action has launched a website with helpful tips about how to have “the talk.” (Here’s my first tip: If any adolescents or preteens are present, you might want to use a different phrase than “the talk” when broaching the subject if you don’t want an instant exodus.)

  The tips including asking your family and guests coming over for the holiday to bring the information they’d need to sign up for Obamacare, because it’s absolutely not awkward at all to tell someone you’d like him to bring wine and oh, his social security number and annual salary, too. You’re advised to bring up Obamacare during “family time … downtime after meals or between holiday activities.” Perfect: When your family is curled up in chairs in a turkey/stuffing/pumpkin pie-induced stupor, you can cut off the idle reminisces about bygone days and football and kids saying the cutest things, and launch that super festive health-care conversation that’s sure to have everyone bursting into a rollicking round of kumbaya, despite that pesky little fact that poll after poll shows the country is sharply divided on this issue.”

 

 

    In this new era of Hope & Change™ is nothing beyond politics ? Of course not . We have already seen this demonstrated with the Obama campaign’s “give us your gifts” registry asking for your graduation , wedding and birthday gifts .

 

   Who could forget this highlight of the 2012 presidential campaign ? Obama certainly found a way to top old “Slick Willie” and his Lincoln Bedroom rental scheme and while Bill’s fundraising methods had a distinctly “trailer-trash” appearance to them at least the taxpayers weren’t asked to ruin their holidays in order to further his Statist agenda. That cannot be said for the Emperor Obama .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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