December, 2016, Part 2, Politicians Say The Darnest Things: Barack, Michelle Obama, and Second Rate Journalists That Love Them

Ever so often we run a series of posts under the theme,“Politicians say the darndest things.” It is a parody of an old television show, “House Party,” where host Art Linkletter would ask simple questions of young kids and wait for their often funny responses. This segment of his show was called “Kids Say The Darndest Things.” 

Unfortunately when kids say silly or dumb things, it is funny. When politicians say silly or dumb things, there are usually serious ramifications across the land that often involve stupid laws, wasteful spending, self delusion of a politician’s intelligence or abilities, or a continued lack of faith that today’s politicians are smart enough to get anything right.

So let’s take a look at the latest darndest things that American politicians are saying today:

1) While yesterday we focused on politicians saying inane, stupid, and ignorant things, we will diversify a little now and look at Democratic and liberal types and some of the hatred they spew forth with quotes that betray their inane claim that they are the tolerant ones in our society. Let’s start with a tweet/quote from Journalist Julia Ioffe who tweeted that Donald Trump is either “F***ing his daughter" or “shirking our nepotism laws.” 

Ioffe is not some unknown blogger of minimal fame. At the time she was a contributing writer at Politico and an contributor to Foreign Policy. But she is a perfect example of why broad swaths of Americans no longer trust the profession of journalism anymore, not when such pettiness, hatred and immaturity has become more and more of the trademark of journalists today.

2) Let’s stay with journalism for our next quote, one that also shows how far integrity has been diminished in the journalism profession. MSNBC TV Morning Joe co-host Mika Brezinski, actually had the gall to be honest and for that she almost lost her job. Consider her quote and experience when she dared to mess with the American political class: “Listen, when I was concerned the campaign was not understanding that perhaps there was some arrogance, that they need to get off their high horse and understand that this wasn’t over. I’ll just say it; NBC received a call from the campaign. Like I had done something that was journalistically inappropriate and needed to be pulled off the air. I mean, think about that. That’s just shooting the wrong messenger.”

Reporting the truth almost cost her her job. And it was not like what she did was wrong, vicious, or mean spirited. In fact, she was actually trying to help a political side, a sure breach of journalistic integrity. And yet, she was still threatened by daring to speak out.

3) More media and journalism garbage. David Leavitt, an actual CBS employee and reporter, recently tweeted that “Trump died sleeping,” an obvious fabrication. More hateful intolerance from a member of the media, hoping for the death of another human being who happens to not be on the same political side as himself. Not only do politicians say the darndest things but so do so-called journalists who are really disgraces to their profession.

4) Barack Obama : “Part of it is Fox News in every bar and restaurant in big chunks of the country, but part of it is also Democrats not working at a grassroots level, being in there, showing up, making arguments. That part of the critique of the Democratic Party is accurate. We spend a lot of time focused on international policy and national policy and less time being on the ground. And when we’re on the ground, we do well.”

Let’s be clear, the Democrats got their butts kicked in November. They lost the Presidency, they no longer control either part of Congress, they lost state government seats across the country, and much of Obama’s sad legacy may get erased. And rather than self examine and honestly assess what they may have done wrong, how they misjudged the mood and anger of the country, where their tactics failed, Obama prefers to obsess about Fox News. How pathetic and petty and dishonest with himself.

5) Michelle Obama: “Because we feel the difference now, See, now, we’re feeling what not having hope feels like.”

Comment: So it seems that Michelle is bummed out that Trump got elected, so much so that she is trying to convince herself that Americans have lost hope even though over 60 million Americans voted for Trump. As with most political comments, this one is done either out of ignorance or is an outright lie since the latest iteration of the Consumer Confidence Index shows that it has hit its highest level since 2001. 

The Conference Board’s latest results are summarized by Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Board: “The post-election surge in optimism for the economy, jobs and income prospects, as well as for stock prices which reached a 13-year high, was most pronounced among older consumers.” 

And others have come to the same conclusion: “The election of Donald Trump has raised household expectations for the economy to a very high level,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. “It remains to be seen whether Trump can deliver, but the ground would certainly appear to be ripe for a pickup in consumer spending based on these confidence data.”

Surge in optimism, raised household expectations, ripe for a pickup in consumer spending. Sorry Michelle, does not look like you quite have the pulse of the American public, there is hope, there is confidence, and you missed the boat on this surge in hope across the country.

Hate, intolerance, and the misreading of America, sounds about right for the American political class and the dishonest and second rate journalists that support them.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

By The Numbers, Part 2: Obama's Numbers Sink Further, Poverty Numbers Rises Despite Trillions of Dollars And More

This is our second post in a three part series themed, “by the numbers.” In this series, we look at the reality of the numbers facing our country, whether they are polling numbers, government statistics, or from other sources. By looking at the numbers, it is easier to determine the reality of our world and the issues that we face rather than using the hatred, prejudices and lies of our political class. Their purpose is not to resolve issues using reality but to ensure their perpetual reelection chances by stoking emotions rather than understanding the numbers. 

So let’s continue our analysis today using the real world’s numbers to determine our real world situation, a situation driven by our politicians’ bad decisions and selfishness.

1) According to reputable sources, we have previously discussed the fact that all levels of government within the country spend about a trillion dollars a year to help the less advantaged in this country, a spending level that has been increasing steadily over the years. At this level of expenditures, you would think that our politicians would have eliminated poverty long ago.

And you would be so wrong, at least according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to their analysis, over one in five kids in the U.S. today are living in poverty. In 2012, there were 15,437,000 children under 18 years old, or 21.3%, who were classified in the “below poverty” threshold, according to the Census and a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entitled, Poverty in the United States: 2012.

When President Johnson declared “war on poverty” back in 1964, the percentage of American kids living in poverty was 22.7%. Fifty years and $22 TRILLION later, the American politician class has only been able to reduce the level of kids living in poverty from that 22.7% to the current 21.3%. And even though the percentage has decreased slightly, I would bet that the absolute number of kids living in poverty is much higher today than in 1964 given that the population of the United States is so much more 50 years later.

Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. After 50 years and TRILLIONS of dollars with no substantial improvement in the number of kids in poverty, I would say that our politicians fit that definition quite well. Insane. 

2) Consider what the we spend for national defense in this country, as estimated by the Cato Institute:

• On average, every American spends about $1,900 every year for national defense.
• $1,900 figure is roughly four and a half times more than what the average person in other NATO countries spends on defense even though these countries boast a collective GDP of approximately $19 trillion, 18 percent higher than the United States. 
• South Koreans spend about a third as much on national defense than Americans even though we spend billions of dollars every year protecting that nation from its northern neighbor.
• Americans also outspend people in Japan by more than four to one even though we have troops and military assets posted in that country to help with its defense.
• Thus, despite having a national debt that is fast approaching $18 TRILLION, we continue to pay for the defense of our allies as if the Cold War never ended.
• While the United States spends 16.8% of the budget on the military, Japan spends a measly 2.4%. 
• South Korea’s share of military spending is only 11% of their GDP, and they having a crazed and hostile regime on their northern border. 

As Cato points out very well: “The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the federal government should provide for the “common defence.” But the document never talks about providing for the defense of other nations. We could have revisited our alliances after the end of the Cold war. We could have paid more attention to the culture of dependency we created among our allies. Instead we continued to spend vast sums on the military, discouraging others from developing their capabilities, and removing their will to use their militaries in ways that could have advanced both their and our security. Today, our wealthy allies are little more than wards of Uncle Sam’s unending dole, and they will remain militarily irrelevant so long as we continue along our present path.”

Well said, we are providing military welfare for allies that are more than capable of paying their own way while many in this country suffer for the exporting of wealth to wealthy and underpaying allies around the world.

3) Where do logical people want to live? Most of then tend to migrate to areas within the country where they get to keep more of their hard earned wealth and income. Usually, this means living and working in states where there are lower and fewer taxes, as shown by the following graphic from the website www.howmoneywalks.com:

















The states with the highest income taxes have had a net loss in taxpayer Adjusted Gross Income of $107 billion, and the states with no income tax have had a net gain of $146 billion. In other words, there’s been an exodus from high tax states to those with no taxes. 

Thus, even though the politicians in those red states above thought they could get more state government revenue by having a higher tax burden, on average those states shrunk their tax base by about $12 billion per state in the past 15 years, probably wiping out any benefit of raising taxes on a continually shrinking tax base. Back to Einstein's insanity observation.

4) According to a recent Fox News poll, the country’s citizens do not have a really good feeling about Obama’s performance in office relative to his predecessors:

• A majority of those polled say the Obama administration is less competent than Bill Clinton's administration. 
• And in what has to be an ego deflating finding, a plurality of those polled say it is less competent than George W. Bush’s administration.
• Sixty-eight percent say the Obama administration is less competent that the Clinton administration. 
• Forty-eight percent say it is less competent than Bush's, compared to 42 percent who say it is more competent. 
• Seven percent judge Obama's and Bush's administrations the same.
• Fifty-five percent say that the Obama administration has made the country weaker; 35 percent say his administration has made it stronger.

Now I am sure some of my liberal friends will dismiss the findings out of hand since they saw the word “Fox” associated with the poll. That’s fine but understand that this is not the only poll out there or that we have discussed that shows how poorly Obama’s performance is being perceived. Just yesterday we showed that according to a CNN poll, he receives approval ratings for major issues that never exceed fifty percent on any of those issues, a finding consistent with this Fox polling. 

That will do it for today. But we will need one more day to do our “by the numbers” analysis to show that we are living with the worse and most inept set of politicians in our history, as measured by the numbers. That is our reality, politicians that do the same thing over and over at every increasing spending levels but never resolve any major issue of our time.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

February, 2014 The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care, Part 2: Keeping Americans Poor, Illegal Delays, and Still Nobody Likes The Law

Yesterday started another monthly series of posts regarding the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care. We have had to do this series on a regular monthly basis since last August in order to cover the havoc, idiocy, and trauma the legislation is creating for individuals American families, our economy, and freedom. It seems everyday something else is going wrong relative to this law, easily the worst piece of legislation ever passed by the Washington political class, which today consists of the worst set of politicians ever.

So let’s get started, what hath Obama Care wrought for us in the past thirty days or so:

1) Every American was supposed to be equally impacted by Obama Care on January 1, 2014. But when things started to fall apart, the President unilaterally, and illegally, postponed the individual insurance mandate for those Americans that work for middle to large companies for on year. He did push through the law’s tenets and requirements onto Americans who were not covered by employer plans at middle and large sized companies.

We know what hell has rained down on those poor Americans who had their lives turned upside down on January 1, 2014 by Obama Care. Cancelled polices, more expensive premiums and deductibles, loss of access to preferred doctors and hospitals, loss of medicine payment support, etc. Fortunately, those who worked for larger companies were spared the trauma for at least a year, given the President’s illegal reprieve.

The cynics among us saw through the President’s train of thought: the more people impacted by Obama Care, the greater the political damage to Democrats would be in the midterm 2014 elections. Thus, the delay was surely a political move, something that drives this President’s every decision.

But now, he has delayed the mandate for middle and large sized companies into 2016, beyond the next Presidential election cycle, something the Democrats do not want to deal with, the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care during a Presidential election.

Now, I am thankful that Obama Care pain has been delayed, illegaly, for two years. But the two year delay just puts more uncertainty into the market and the economy and uncertainty is the biggest inhibitor of economic and employment growth. Thus, Americans suffering from unemployment and under employment have another burden placed on them and the economy, and uncertain marketplace created by political decisions, not the right decisions.

2) According to a new Fox News poll, 64% of Americans say Obama Care would have never passed had the public known everything they do now. Now, I rarely quote Fox News since my liberal friends and family automatically assume that it is wrong, based on nothing more than their bias. This is their right. 

However, I challenge them to come up with contrary information to the fact that almost two thirds of Americans now think that this law never should have been passed, given the lies and deceptions that the President and his political allies put forth to promise a rosy future when the exact opposite has happened. 

The bottom line: we were hoodwinked into believing the lies of a President of the United States, one of which was named the lie of the year by the Washington Post. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. How many Americans, including myself, will never believe anything this President says until he is able to reestablish his integrity and creditability with me and the rest of the country.

3) If we dive under the top line findings of the poll from the previous point we find the following American sentiment and feelings:

• Majorities of Republicans (74%), Independents (68%), AND Democrats (54%) say the unpopular health care program would not have passed if truth be known.
• Only 9% of Americans believe their family is better off under Obama Care.
• 56% of respondents said Obama Care was about government seizing control of citizens’ lives.
• Only 40% felt the government health care overhaul was about improving health care.
• 60% of independent voters and even one-third (33%) of Democrats agreed that Obama Care is more a governmental power grab than an effort to make health insurance more affordable, not good news for an incumbent Democrat up for reelection this November.
• 55% of voters said they wish Obama Care had never been passed including majorities of younger voters under 30 (55%) and middle class voters with annual household incomes under $50,000 (52%).
• One out of four Democrats (28%) said they wish Obama’s signature legislative achievement had never been passed.
• Voters lay the blame for Obama Care at Obama’s feet, with 76% of American voters, including 61% of Democrats, blaming the Obama administration for the Obama Care debacle.

Again, my liberal friends and family will likely outright reject the findings since Fox did the survey. But these findings are totally consistent with polls conducted by Harris, Kaider, Gallup, and others: the majority of Americans do not like/detest this legislation and they recognize who is responsible. This latest Fox survey is just confirmation of what we already knew.

4) We have already reported on the serious breech of security that exists with Obama Care navigators and the fact that criminal background checks were not being done for most, if not all, of the current navigators. These are people that could have access to Americans' personal information, making identify theft a piece of cake for those people that signed up for Obama Care through the health insurance exchanges and toll free telephone lines.

But out in Colorado, the potential for criminal behavior is not restricted just to Obama Care navigators. According to recent reporting by the Denver Post, the director of Colorado’s Obama Care health exchange has been placed on administrative leave after the state discovered she had been indicted for stealing from a non-profit in Montana. 

The charges accuse Christa Ann McClure of paying herself “significant sums” for consulting services, although she was already on the payroll as a full-time employee at the Montana non-profit organization. The indictment for McClure runs 12 pages and if convicted on all counts, she could face a fine of $250,000 and 10 to 20 years in jail.

The pathetic thing is that those running the Colorado Obama Care exchange actually did a background check on McClure and she came up clean. If they ran a check and still hired her, at a salary of $130,000 a year, how badly infested with criminal elements and identify thieves are the Colorado navigators who probably got far less attention than a top executive like McClure in the hiring process? Scared yet?

5) The Congressional Budget Office updated their view of Obama Care about a week ago and there were two very serious findings that would have negative economic effects. First, they upped the amount that Obama Care would add substantially to the national debt. Remember, the President originally claimed that the legislation would actually LOWER the national debt, not raise it.

The second conclusion and finding is even more distressing: the CBO estimated that the legislation is so perverted in its construction that over time, 2.3 million Americans will take themselves out of the active work force because it would be economically better for them to stay poor and not work than to start working, earn a living, and see their Obama Care subsidies shrink or disappear.

I can think of no other piece of legislation in the history of the country that encouraged so many millions of Americans NOT to work. It has always been the American way, work hard, move up the economic ladder and improve life for both yourself and your families. Obama Care in its perverted way is the exact opposite of that tradition and successful strategy and philosophy.

Consider how the Wall Street Journal described this idiocy:

As the CBO admits, that’s a “substantially larger” and “considerably higher” subtraction to the labor force than the mere 800,000 the budget office estimated in 2010. The overall level of labor will fall by 1.5% to 2% over the decade, the CBO figures…

…The CBO’s intellectual conversion is all the more notable for accepting Mr. Mulligan’s premise, which is that what economists call “implicit marginal tax rates” in ObamaCare make work less financially valuable for lower-income Americans. Because the insurance subsidies are tied to income and phase out as cash wages rise, some people will have the incentive to remain poorer in order to continue capturing higher benefits. Another way of putting it is that taking away benefits has the same effect as a direct tax, so lower-income workers are discouraged from climbing the income ladder by working harder, logging extra hours, taking a promotion or investing in their future earnings through job training or education.

Some people will have the incentive to remain poorer. You cannot make this insanity up. This overall level of labor percentages cited above translates into 2.3 full time American workers. Workers will now be in a continual cycle of being poor, will not work and pay taxes, and will live off the wealth generated by those Americans that actually work for a living. Perversion political class style. Disgraceful and humiliating for those Americans find themselves in such a ridiculous economic situation.

Encouraging Americans not to work and to remain poor and dependent, potential criminal elements at all levels of the Obama care organizational chart, illegal and un-Constitutional changing of the law's rollout dates, and a majority of Americans now realizing they have been hoodwinked by Obama and his political allies. You could not set out to write a more idiotic and ineffective piece of legislation if you tried. And the idiocy will continue for at least another day.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

December, 2013 The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care, Part 4: Vindictively Auditing Cancer Patients, Taking Care Of Illegals But Not Citizens, and Making Insurance Companies Rich

This is the fourth in what will likely be a long series of updates on the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care. The first discussion in this month’s series can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-2013-unfolding-disaster-that.html

At that post you can get easy access to the disaster of Obama Care that we reviewed in August, September, and October.

Unfortunately, three posts this month have not been enough to cover just the past month’s Obama Care fiascos. And it is unlikely that task will be accomplished in just four but let’s get started and see where we end up:

1) A Heritage Foundation report from November 27, 2013 shows two insane and inane ramifications from Obama Care that have not been discussed at length at all. Basically, according to the Heritage analysis, Obama Care is a better deal for non-citizens living in this country than for real citizens:

• In states that expand their Medicaid programs, citizens with incomes under 138% of the official Federal poverty level will be automatically enrolled into Medicaid. However, non-citizens living in this country will be able to receive Federal subsidies to purchase health care insurance coverage in the state’s Obama Care exchange. In other words, citizens get no choice and have to go into the worst medical health insurance program around while non-citizens get to choose what real insurance policy they want and get paid subsidies for having that choice. Crazy.
• Second, in those states that do not expand their Medicaid programs, non-citizens will be able to purchase subsidized health insurance in the exchanges, while American citizens below 100 percent of the poverty line may not qualify for any government subsidized coverage at all.

I swear you can not make this insanity up. We pay non-citizens to have lower insurance costs and better options but we do little for citizens in the same vein. But politicians called us racists for opposing Obama Care on its merits. The world turned upside down.

2) Obama Care is bad but what the Obama administration is doing to a common citizen as a result of Obama Care is down right wrong and soulless. Bill Elliot lives in North Carolina and is a cancer patient who lost his insurance due to Obama Care. Any new policy he could find was much more expensive than the policy he had before Obama Care’s tenets wiped it out.

As a result, he went on Fox News and explained that he couldn’t pay the expensive new premiums in any replacement policies he found without putting an undue burden and debts on his family. He was talking about and seriously looking at the option of paying the Obama Care fine for not carrying insurance and going without health insurance and cancer treatments, “letting nature take its course.”

Fortunately, by going on Fox News his story was seen by C. Steven Tucker, a health insurance broker who helped him keep affordable health care insurance. The good news.

The bad news: all of a sudden, the IRS has decided to formally audit Bill Elliot’s tax returns for 2009. The IRS has scheduled an audit interview with him scheduled in April 2014. That assumes he lives that long. How heartless can you get? The man is dying of cancer and the government is going to hassle him in his last days of life with a sudden audit of his four year old tax returns? Who does not believe that this came about only as a result of this citizen exercising his freedom of speech rights in criticizing a government program that deserves all of the criticism it is getting.

Oh, by the way, the insurance broker that stepped up and helped Mr. Eliot get affordable insurance despite a pre-existing condition, is also now being audited back to 2003. Coincidence or bastards? You decide.

3) Let’s keep this personal line of discussion going as a follow up to the unneeded and disgusting plight of Mr. Eliot and look at other, real life Americans that are getting pounded in so many different ways by Obama Care. The following list was put together on November 27, 2013 by the Minority Report website. They went about documenting the plight of Americans who are feeling the real pain of Obama Care. Their blog post went as follows, I hope they do not mind be using it here word for word, given their outstanding reporting on the issues and disaster that is Obama care:

OBAMA PROMISE: “…we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.” (President Obama, 6/15/09)

SEBELIUS PROMISE: “The bottom line is that under the Affordable Care Act, if you like your doctor and plan, you can keep them.” (Sec. Sebelius, 6/14/10)

‘They’re Doing Away With My Doctor… That’s Not Right’ 

“As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals.” (“Insurers Restricting Choice Of Doctors And Hospitals To Keep Costs Down,” Washington Post, 11/20/13)

 “A number of the nation’s top hospitals — including the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, and children’s hospitals in Seattle, Houston and St. Louis — are cut out of most plans sold on the exchange.” (“Insurers Restricting Choice Of Doctors And Hospitals To Keep Costs Down,” Washington Post, 11/20/13)

FL Senior: “The AARP managed care network [George Smith] had relied on for years will drop all eight of his and his wife’s doctors as of Jan. 1. ‘I couldn’t believe it. I have my house and car and everything insured through AARP,’ said Smith, 73. ‘I thought, “They are not going to drop me. I’ve been a member for years.”’ … Patients have received letters telling them to seek new physicians if they want to stay on the plan. Doctors … have learned that AARP plans will stop paying for their services next year.” (“Patients Scramble After AARP Medicare Advantage Plans Drop Providers,” Tampa Bay Times, 10/21/13)

New Hampshire Doctor: ‘pretty shocking not be able to come to your own hospital’ “…in New Hampshire… a rude awakening for Dr. Jocelyn Caple, who works at one of the excluded hospitals, Frisbie Memorial in Rochester, N.H., where she’s president of the medical staff. … ‘We all use Frisbie physicians,’ she said. Although there’s another facility she could go to next year, ‘it’s pretty shocking not be able to come to your own hospital.’ As an Obama supporter, Caple is troubled.” (“Limited Patient Choice Next Health Overhaul Issue,” AP, 11/20/13)

New Mexico Resident: “I am one of the previously happy insured who is going to lose my existing policy at the end of the year, lose my primary care physician and pay substantially more for comparable coverage.” (“Losing Policy, Longtime Doctor, Cancer Specialists,” Albuquerque Journal, 11/22/13)

New York Senior: ‘Obama had said I could keep my doctor. Now they’re doing away with my doctor. They kicked him out! After 20 years, that’s not right.’ “ObamaCare is making seniors sick. Elderly New Yorkers are in a panic after getting notices that insurance companies are booting their doctors from the Medicare Advantage program as a result of the shifting medical landscape under ObamaCare… [Dr. Jonathan] Leibowitz’s patients are furious. Alfred Gargiulio, who has cerebral palsy with a seizure disorder, has been seeing Leibowitz since 1993. ‘Obama had said I could keep my doctor. Now they’re doing away with my doctor. They kicked him out! After 20 years, that’s not right. We love Dr. Leibowitz,’ said Gargiulio.” (“Elderly Patients Sick Over Losing Doctors Under Obamacare,” New York Post, 10/25/13)

Texas Artist: ‘I am one of those Democrats who wanted it to be better… I wouldn’t be able to go to the doctor I’ve been going to for years’ “Marlys Dietrick, a 60-year-old artist from San Antonio, said she had high hopes… But she said they have been turned off by high premiums and deductibles and would rather pay the fine. ‘I am one of those Democrats who wanted it to be better than this,’ she said. … ‘I wouldn’t be able to go to the doctor I’ve been going to for years,’ she said. ‘That is not a deal.’” (“For Consumers Whose Health Premiums Will Go Up Under New Law, Sticker Shock Leads To Anger,” Washington Post, 11/3/13)

Arizona Resident: “My son is 1-1/2 and he has a preexisting condition. It’s a heart defect. My wife and I received a letter this week that his cardiologist group is getting dropped from our health care provider on November 1st… being forced upon them by Obamacare.” (“Victim of Obamacare Loses His Doctor,” The Rush Limbaugh Show, 10/31/13)

Florida Senior: “A Medicare Advantage plan that covers 35,000 beneficiaries in Southwest Florida is dropping at least 300 doctors and hard-to-find medical specialists from its Southwest Florida network… Cape Coral resident Joseph Ryan said his 92-year-old mother will lose access to her regular dermatologist, orthopedist and gastroenterologist, among others. He’s heard similar stories involving scores of doctors from others. ‘That’s an awful lot of doctors and an awful lot of people who are going to have to figure out what to do in January,’ Ryan said. ‘It’s not just one or two doctors.’” (“United Healthcare Dumps Doctors,” The News-Press, 10/18/13)

New York Senior: “It hurts, it hurts inside and it’s a terrible feeling to think that you can’t get what you want” “Doctors are getting bumped off plans and their patients are getting worried, Brennan reported. ‘I just can’t believe it because this is the man you rely on,’ heart patient Leonard Goldberg, 82, said. ‘It hurts, it hurts inside and it’s a terrible feeling to think that you can’t get what you want,’ Tony Molesphini, 83, said. ‘Nobody wants to die, me above all people,’ 79-year-old Jim Heffernan said. The three men with heart trouble say their biggest problem is losing the doctor they’ve had for decades, and they fear for their future. … They claim that they that this is a way of cutting costs which they have to do because they are getting a reduction in their reimbursement for the Medicare Advantage plans due to the Affordable Care Act,” [Dr. David Hess] told Brennan.” (“Doctors Dropped By Insurers As Affordable Care Act Rollout Continues,” CBS New York, 11/1/13)

Patient: ‘I don’t want to change my doctor’ “MEGYN KELLY: ‘…we get a chance to sit down today with a few people from a growing group of Americans now losing their plans and their doctors. We don’t know all of the reasons yet. We know that these patients and their positions believe it is due to ObamaCare and they are not happy.’ CATHY YAPOUZIS, PATIENT: ‘I don’t want to change my doctor, I don’t want to go to another office. I like my doctor. I’m happy.’ CARMINE REGINA MINICHINO, PATIENT: ‘We got a letter in the mail. A very cold letter.’ ROB DZODZO, PATIENT: ‘All of a sudden, you get a letter in the mail? You know, stating that the doctor is no longer in the plan. They don’t give you any reason why.’ WALMOTH STRAKER, PATIENT: ‘With your specialist, you have to find somebody different, too. So, there is a phone number in here. This letter that I can also call. I’m saying, gee, what am I doing? Shopping for groceries or what? This is a serious situation here. It’s a health problem.’” (Fox News’ “The Kelly File,” 10/28/13)

This are real Americans getting royally screwed by their government and their political class with no redeeming societal benefits in return. They are not racists because they oppose Obama Care as many Democrats and their supporters claim they are. They are real people losing access to their favored health insurance policies, their favorite doctors, their favorite hospitals, or are paying substantially more for policies they previously had and they were previously happy with. 

How many of these folks do we think the Obama administration will go after because of them voicing their stories much like Mr. Eliot did? The Obama Care is moving from disaster to despicable very quickly.

Through all of their stories we are starting to see a common thread relative to the collusion between the Obama administration and private insurance companies. The insurance companies signed up for Obama Care and support it for two reasons.

First, the administration and the Democrats in Congress promised them that the legislation would force millions of Americans to purchase insurance policies from these companies, significantly increasing insurance company revenues. Failure to do so would change millions of innocent Americans into criminals in the eyes of Obama Care.

Second, and much more insidious, the insurance companies are now working to cut their operating costs by greatly restricting policy owners to less expensive care, doctors, and medical facilities, resulting in a substantial positive boost to their profitability. After all, why send a cancer riddled policy holder to Sloan Kettering, the premier cancer facility in the world (and likely the most expensive), when Obama Care allows insurance companies to send cancer riddled patients to a less expensive, and likely less effective, medical facility?

Higher cost, lower quality, what a deal. And it is the average American who pays the price, both in terms of their health and their wallet while insurance cmpany stock values skyrocket as does their financial results and profitability.

Okay, what did we learn today:

• Non-citizens get a better deal under Obama Care than citizens.
• If you voice a negative opinion about Obama Care, even if you are dying from cancer, the administration might send the IRS after you for exercising your First Amendment rights.
• Real people across the U.S. are finding themselves in dire straits healthwise as a result of Obama Care.
• The insurance companies love the legislation, allowing them to easily increase revenue and dramatically reduce choice to reduce their expenses.

More to follow tomorrow and beyond, the legislation that never stops disappointing and hurting the country and its people.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Part 3, August, 2013 Obama care Update: Poll Results Are Unfavorable, Hospitals Getting Screwed, Illogical Pricing, and More

This is the third post of what is hopefully only a four post series for this month that reviews the disaster that is Obama Care. In the past two days we have learned how the majority of Americans and small businesses correctly assessed that Obama care will raise health insurance costs, curtail economic and business growth, and will not solve the problem of escalating health care costs in this country. We have learned of American workers getting their work hours and salaries cut as businesses and government entities try to cope with the onerous taxes, fines, and requirements of Obama Care. Not a pretty picture.

And the next pieces of that not pretty picture continue below:

1)  Fox News recently conducted its own public opinion poll relative to how people feel about Obama care and found the following results, all consistent with the previous polls we reviewed from NBC, CBS, Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

• The poll found that 57% of registered voters believe that implementation of  Obama Care is a joke while 31% say it’s “going fine.”
• Poll participants overwhelming say that Obama Care will have a negative effect on their wallet.
• 71% of those polled  believe Obama Care will  raise their taxes.
• 62% agree with the premise that Obama Care  increase their health insurance premiums.
• 65% believe Obama Care will raise the Federal budget deficit.
• Pluralities of participants of the survey agree with the notion that ObamaCare will reduce the quality of healthcare for themselves and all Americans.
• 63% of Americans say that the law needs to be amended and that Congress should continue working on legislative fixes for the law. 
• That’s up from 58% in July. 
• Only 31% say think that Congress should move onto other issues and leave Obama Care as it is.

Again, for my liberal friends that automatically knee jerk and convulse whenever Fox News is mentioned, feel free to ignore these poll results, but they are consistent with poll results from mainstream news sources other than Fox.

2) The Associated Press recently did an investigative report on what Obama Care is doing to smaller sized hospitals across the country. Remember that Obama Care cuts the funding for hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid patients in order to fund Obama Care’s programs. 

If the cut in  Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals goes through, many of these hospitals will either close because of financials or stop accepting Medicare and Medicaid patients, endangering the health and welfare of those patients:

• Since 2000, 19 hospitals in New York have closed due to financial pressures and two more are about to close. 
• Among other causes, the article notes that, “Revenue from government health programs like Medicaid has gotten smaller,” and that situation is expected to get more dire as a result of Obama Care.
• According to the article, actuaries at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services have been warning about this growing crisis since the passage of Obama Care in 2010.
• Paul Spitalnic, the acting chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is quoted in the article that assuming the Obama Care cuts go into effect, “the prices paid by Medicare for health services are very likely to fall increasingly short of the costs of providing these services. Medicare prices would be considerably below the current relative level of Medicaid prices, which have already led to access problems for Medicaid enrollees, and far below the levels paid by private health insurance. Well before that point, Congress would have to intervene to prevent the withdrawal of providers from the Medicare market and the severe problems with beneficiary access to care that would result.”

What a mess. We actually have a health care law that will make health care less accessible to Americans in the form of fewer financially viable hospitals or fewer hospitals that take Medicare and Medicaid patients in order to stay financially viable. And if the Washington political class gets scared enough to restore the funding to Medicare and Medicaid hospital payments, then the financial model for Obama Care blows up even more.

How badly does it blow up? According to a General Accountability Office  analysis, such a scenario would add about $6.2 TRILLION to the national debt. So much for Obama Care “not adding a single dime to the national debt,” as was promised when the legislation was enacted. Just another unintended consequence/disaster of Obama Care, fewer hospital resources to treat the sick.

3) We have made the case many times that those who actually wrote Obama Care were pretty much out of touch with reality. For instance, the law says you will be fined if you do not purchase health care insurance for yourself and your family:

• But the financial penalty for not purchasing insurance is a small fraction of the cost of purchasing insurance so why would anyone feel the overriding need to pay more, especially younger, healthier Americans, for insurance that they probably do not need. 
• Additionally, that fine can only be imposed if your IRS tax return says you are entitled to a tax refund and the government/IRS withholds the Obama Care small penalty from that refund. Assuming they can even find out that you do not have insurance AND you are getting a refund.
• Additionally, the law says anyone with a pre-existing condition cannot be turned down for health insurance, so why not delay purchasing health care insurance until you need it since you cannot be turned down? Insanity and a complete loss of touch with reality. 

We go through this review to show an example of how inane this law is when you get down to the details. Consider the following scenario, as calculated via the Kaiser Foundation’s Obama Care benefits calculator:

• If an individual or family makes “too much” money, they will lose their eligibility for a Federal Obama Care health insurance subsidy, and be stuck paying the entire insurance premium themselves and their families. 
• Theoretically, a pay raise or other household income enhancement would force them to fork over thousands of dollars more to the insurance companies, all because they made over the federally mandated income threshold.
• The income thresholds are based on the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), which varies by family size, age and other factors. 
• For example, if a family made between 300% and 400% of the FPL, that family would be responsible for paying no more than 9.5% of their income toward insurance premiums. As long as the family’s income remains at or below 400% of their respective FPLs, they would get federal Obama Care subsidies to pay the remainder of the insurance premium.
• As soon as a family makes even $1 over 400% of the FPL, they’re no longer eligible for a federal subsidy, and they must pay the entire premium themselves.
• Consider an American family of five as an example. Both parents are 56 years old, and they have three kids. Their income is exactly 400% of the FPL at $110,280. 
• Because their income is at the highest threshold, they are responsible for paying no more than 9.5% of their income toward insurance premiums, and they qualify for an Obama Care  subsidy that picks up the difference.
• Using this data and the Kaiser Family Foundation “subsidy calculator,” the calculator determines that the Obama Care “Silver” plan’s annual premium is $19,832. 
• The subsidy would cover $9,355, and the family would be responsible for the remaining $10,477 (9.5% of their $110,280 income).
• Now assume that mom and dad each get a 50-cent raise in their ANNUAL salaries. 
• Their household income climbs an entire dollar to $110,281, putting their household income exactly $1 over 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. 
• This $1 annual increase to household income means that the family no longer qualifies for Obama Care’s 9.5-percent-of-household income cap on their health-insurance premiums. 
• According to the legislation’s inane calculations, the family’s total annual premium for their Silver health-insurance plan remains $19,832 but now because they earn too much money to qualify for the Federal Obama Care subsidy, they must pay all of that $19,832 premium. 
• As a result, the cash they must pay out of pocket for their health insurance plan goes from $10,477 per year to $19,832 per year, an increase of $9,355.
• Thus, a $1 dollar annual increase in annual household income is negatively offset by the additional $9,355 they must pay for health insurance.

This is obviously an extreme example. No one gets an annual raise $1. But the concept is still valid. The drop off in benefits and help in paying sky high health insurance costs, given changes in household income, is drastic and plain stupid relative to whoever wrote the law. If we were going to have a law like this, the dropoffs should have been smoothed over so that American workers could still enthusiastically look forward to raises without having to worry about losing money as a result of those raises. Government logic run amok.

Americans who think the legislation is a joke. Hospitals going bankrupt or cutting services as result of the legislation, the exact opposite of what you want in a health care crisis. And dumb government logic that makes workers' raises a potentially very large negative on household income. What else could go wrong? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w 

61 Reasons Why Jimmy Carter Is Off The Hook, Part 2 - The Legacy Of Failure Of The Obama Administration

This is the second of a two part discussion that lays out my belief that the Obama administration is likely the worst Presidential administration of the past century or so, clearly replacing the Presidential administration of Jimmy Carter. Before we review the final 31 reasons for my conclusion and summarize all of the findings, let me set the stage:

• Until the midterm elections in November, 2010 I had never voted for a Republican for national office, President or Congress, in my life.
• I have voted for very few Republicans for local, county, and state elections in my life.
• Thus, I am not a long term Republican voter or conservative.
• The reason I wrote and published my book, “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” was because of the insanity I witnessed during the Republican Bush administration. The waste, stupidity, and corruption of that era was something I found unacceptable in a democracy and wanted to do my part to fix our ailing democracy. It had nothing to do with the Obama administration and its failures.
• Thus, I am not out to do a hatchet job on the President, I would do a similar assessment on any other person with the same dismal track record.
• I am not saying that John McCain would have been more effective than Obama has been. We will never know, given McCain did not get elected.
• I am not enthusiastic about Romney by any stretch of the imagination and I am not saying that Romney would be more effective than Obama has been.
• My information sources for my conclusions almost never include Fox News and never conservative/Republican blogs or forums. Most of the time my sources are unbiased or liberal leaning organizations that tend to portray the Obama administration in a more favorable light than it deserves.
• I believe that in sports, politics, and life, the old saying that “you are only as good as your record” should be the only guide to reality. Saying you tried hard or claiming the failure was not your fault are easy to do. But results are the only things that count in the final assessment. Excuses are a sign of weakness and immaturity when it comes to leadership in life. However, they are an ongoing trait of this administration.
• Some of the points of failure listed below might be viewed as petty and unimportant in the big picture. However, this assessment is meant as a comprehensive view of the Obama Presidency and one person’s view of pettiness and unimportance might be viewed as a failed opportunity at leadership by someone else. That is why everything was included.
• Harry Truman once eloquently stated: “The buck stops here.” He realized he was the overall boss so that anything that went wrong on his watch ultimately was his responsibility, a responsibility he was willing to accept. The Obama administration should not be held to any lower standard of excellence.
• For the first two years of his Presidency, Obama’s Democratic party held a majority in the House of Representatives and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. His approval ratings were sky high. He could have done anything he wanted. He wasted that historic opportunity and as a result, he does not now get to blame Bush, the Arab Spring, the Iranians, the Japanese tsunami, ATM machines, Congress, the Republicans, or anything else for his failures. The buck stops at his desk, he accepted the job and both the glory and the blame that goes with it.

The following 31 reasons complete the list of why Jimmy Carter is now off the hook, replaced by the failed legacy of the Obama administration:

31) Failure to provide a national energy strategy, a void that has seen the price for a gallon of gas rise about 100% since his inauguration.

32) Failure to run a tight operation when it comes to national security leaks from the highest levels of his administration, leaks that appeared in the New York Times and elsewhere that have endangered our national security and the lives of our fighting forces around the world.

33) Failure to represent the rights, integrity, and humanity of about half the women in this country when he remained silent in the face of demeaning, sexist, and disgusting comments about Republican women:

• When the campaign manager of Democrat’s Gerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign called his female Republican opponent a whore, Obama was silent.
• When TV host Montel Williams had publicly hoped that Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachman would commit suicide by decapitating herself, Obama was silent.
• When Ed Schultz, an on air commentator for the Democratic leaning MSNBC news channel, called Laura Ingraham of Fox News a slut, Obama was silent.
• When HBO TV host Bill Maher, a major/million dollar donor to Obama’s 2012 Presidential Super PAC, said on air that Republican Sarah Palin “would f*** Rick Perry if he was black,” Obama was silent.
• When Bill Maher called Republican Sarah Palin a disgusting and derogatory name that I will not repeat here, Obama was silent.
• When Playboy magazine’s online website offered a detailed analysis on why and how each of ten Republican women in politics should be hate raped, Obama was silent.
• When a rap artist gave a Minnesota concert that was billed as the “F*** Michelle Bachman” concert (spelling out the entire f word), a Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, Obama was silent.
• When a Democratic operative insulted Ann Romney, and millions of other American women, by slandering and demeaning her as a stay at home mother, Obama was silent.

I am not saying that Obama should have responded to all of these degradations of Republican women. However, he cannot claim he is working hard for all of the women in the country when he allows half of them, those with a differing political view, to be called sluts, whores, worthy of hate rapes, and other terms to graphic too repeat here. He should be a leader, he should be setting the tone of civil political dialog, not remaining silent.

34) Failure to represent the rights, integrity, and freedoms of millions of citizens when he remained silent when his Democratic Party allies demeaned, slandered and slammed Americans for simply expressing their freedom of speech and having a difference of opinion:

• When Democrat Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi called opponents to Obama Care unpatriotic for simply having a difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington, Obama was silent.
• When Democrat Charles Rangel slandered millions of Americans who opposed Obama Care by calling them racists for simply having an honest difference of opinion with many politicians in Washington, Obama was silent.
• When Democrat Shelia Jordan Lee slandered of Americans who opposed Obama Care by associating them with the Ku Klux Klan, Obama was silent.
• When White House czar Van Jones called all Republicans a**h****s, Obama was silent.
• When Democrat Alan Grayson called all Republicans knuckle dragging Neanderthals, Obama was silent.
• When union boss and Democratic supporter Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. stated that his union was at war with the Republicans and Tea Party and that those people "need to be taken out," Obama was silent.
• When Democratic Congressmen Mike Doyle and Henry Waxman and Vice President Joe Biden slandered Americans opposed to unfettered and destructive government spending and debt by calling them terrorists (those people that bomb and kill and innocent civilians), Obama was silent.
• When ordinary Americans objected to the building of a Islamic mosque near the World Trade Center property because of the memories of 9-11 and Democrat Nancy Pelosi said they should be investigated for simply having an opinion on the mosque, Obama was silent.
• When Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen likened Republican critics of Obamacare to the Nazis and their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Obama was silent.
• When Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Walters said all Tea Party American citizens can go to hell simply for having a difference of opinion with her, Obama was silent.

You cannot say you are the leader of the entire country when political allies attack citizens for simply having an opinion or political opponents are called terrorists, a**h****s, racists, Nazis, or Neanderthals and you remain silent. That does not celebrate our freedom and celebrate diversity.

35) Failure to respect the tenets of religious freedom in this country by forcing certain organizations to conform to government mandates that are at odds with these organizations’ religious tenets, not realizing that in many parts of the world when government dictates religious terms and conditions it is called the Taliban.

36) Failure to respect the Constitution and rule of law on many occasions including, but not limited to:

• Violating the Constitution and War Powers Act by unilaterally involving U.S. armed forces in the Libyan conflict in order to protect the flow of oil to Europe.
• Violating the rule of law by ignoring a judge’s explicit order to lift the moratorium on Gulf oil drilling.
• Violating the rule of law by unilaterally refusing to enforce DOMA requirements (a law that needs to be repealed in the name of freedom but cannot be ignored by a President until that Constitutional process is completed).
• Violating the rule of law by making high ranking government appointments while Congress was still in session, bypassing the checks and balances inherent in the Constitution.
• Violating the rule of law by unilaterally trying to change welfare requirements as established the welfare reform legislation signed by the Clinton administration.
• Violating the rule of law by allowing his Cabinet department heads to actively and openly campaign for his reelection, a gross, unlawful violation of the Hatch Act.
• Violating the rule of law by selectively deciding to enforce or not enforce parts of current Federal immigration law relative to his dissatisfaction with the state of Arizona.
• Violating the rule of law by allowing thousands of guns to illegally walk across the border into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels under the Fast and Furious program.
• Violating the rule of law by selectively deciding to enforce or not enforce parts of the current Federal welfare law.
• Establishing a shadow government of czars, bypassing Constitutionally mandated reviews, vetting, and debate of all high ranking government officials.
Bypassing Constitutional checks and balances by implementing a long string of executive orders, the latest of which, gives the executive branch control over all forms of communications whnever it desires for whatever reason it wants, hardly a behaviorf conducive to liberty.

37) Failure to reduce the repugnant practice of cronyism in Washington by continuing to hand out taxpayer wealth to political cronies and campaign donors with little regard for what value the American taxpayer may get in return, with the most egregious examples including the alternative energy companies (e.g. Solyndra) and alternative auto companies (e.g. Fisker, Telsa, GM), wasting billions and billions of dollars in the process.

38) Failure to respect the right of American citizens to have a fair trial by their peers by authorizing the first official assassination of an American citizen in the history of our country and establishing a formal process to determine what other American citizens deserve to be assassinated by the Federal government in the future.

39) Failure to adopt more stringent safeguards to freedom when he automatically renewed the Patriot Act as is along with failing to appoint members to a panel, as prescribed by the Patriot Act, which is supposed to ensure that freedom and liberty are not destroyed by Patriot Act usage and abuses.

40) Failure to veto the NDAA legislation which could lead government officials to legally hold American citizens in custody without trial and without cause for as long as desired by the same government officials as long as those officials claim it is in the name of national security.

41) Failure to respect freedom of the press, trying many times to directly or indirectly shut down news outlets that hold and broadcast a contrary view of reality to their users and viewers.

42) Failure to approve the construction of the Keystone pipeline solely for political reasons, ignoring the fact that thousands of jobs would be created, without taxpayer support, and that the “dirty” crude oil from Canada will be burned somewhere in the world. If not in North America than likely in China so that environmental impacts will not be affected with or without the Keystone pipeline.

43) Failure to understand basic business mentality in that uncertainty is the greatest inhibitor to business, employment, and economic expansion and his approach to the economy has created tremendous uncertainty due to the following:

• His insistence that tax policy be changed on a short term, ad hoc basis has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• His 2,500 page health care reform legislation and its dozens of new taxes and thousands of new rules and regulations has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• His 2,000 page financial industry reform legislation and its hundreds of new rules and regulations has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• Thousands of other regulations from all Federal departments during his administration have added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.
• His continued class warfare rhetoric has added uncertainty to the marketplace and the economy.

No wonder we have suffered through the worst post recession period in a very long time, the uncertainty this administration has introduced into our lives has led businesses and entrepreneurs to be cautious and conservative and the resultant economic growth to be anemic.

44) Failure to recognize that small business owners are hardworking, risk taking heroes when he unbelievably asserted at a campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia that business owners are not responsible for the success of their businesses, slamming the very people who provide benefits to society and jobs and benefits to fellow citizens.

45) Failure to understand that great leaders (FDR, Churchill, Lincoln, Washington) unite their people during times of stress and challenges with this President constantly trying to divide, and conquer Americans with his class warfare rhetoric that pits rich against poor, liberal against conservative, pro life against pro choice, unemployed against employed, etc.

46) Failure to speak out when Daniel Adkins, Elizabeth Hutchenson, and Ladarious Phillips were killed, electing to speak out only in the Trayvon Martin killing because it was politically advantageous for him to do so for the Martin case but not the other cases.

47) Failure to give individual Americans recognition and White House photo opportunities for great teaching, heroic police and fire fighting acts, outstanding job creation, compassionate acts of charity, etc., instead, saving photo opportunities for untold numbers of college and professional athletic teams.

48) Failure to stop Iran from being three and a half years closer to having nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them.

49) Failure to stop North Korea from being three and a half years closer to having nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them.

50) Failure to establish a peaceful process to resolve the long standing Palestinian/Israeli problem.

51) Failure to foresee the Arab spring, resulting in an unpreparedness that has considerably weakened the American influence in the entire Middle East region.

52) Failure to establish the necessary civilian and military platforms in Afghanistan, wasting American lives and wealth in the process, a failure that will lead to the reestablishment of a Taliban and terrorist state once NATO combat troops leave in two years.

53) Failure to understand what just about every other country in world understands: that airport security should be trusted to trained private sector companies, with appropriate government oversight, rather than another gigantic, ineffective, bumbling, and groping set of government employees in a bumbling, crime infested bureaucracy.

54) Failure to understand that a Presidential political “enemies list” is a bad, anti-freedom idea when Nixon put the first one together and the concept has not gotten any better with this President’s issuing of his own enemies list and the ensuing harassment of innocent Americans.

55) Failure to lead on these previous topics relates to his inability to build consensus, to seek diversity of opinions, to consider other approaches, to be inclusive. When he does not get what he wants in the way he wants it, he gives up and blames the Republicans or someone else, That is not leadership, that is ego. Great leaders are inclusive and unifying, non-leaders are selfish, divisive, and inwardly focused.

56) Failure to understand that “Great leaders give the credit and take the blame.” This President gets it backward, taking credit when things go right, always inserting himself and his ego into the center of positive attention while backing away from the spotlight when things go wrong.

57) Failure to protect our embassies and sovereign soil in other countries when our embassies were attacked and their security sometimes breached.

58) Failure to protect our consulate in Libya despite warnings from Libyan and American security experts that a terrorist attack was highly likely, resulting in the needless deaths of our Libyan ambassador and three other Americans, a security failing so atrocious that it was native Libyan citizens that took the dying ambassador to the hospital, not U.S. security personnel.

59) Failure to be truthful with America immediately after the terrorist attack in Libya, claiming that a poor quality anti-Islam YouTube video caused an ad hoc attack when the administration knew it was a coordinated terror organization siege.

60) Failure to attend more than half of his daily security briefings, including the security briefing the day after the fatal attack on the our consulate in Libya even though he had enough time to fly to Las Vegas for a campaign fund raising event.

61) Failure to clear his calendar to honor a meeting requested from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu to discuss the rising nuclear weapon crisis with Iran but who had enough time to hold dozens of fund raisers over the past few months.

I may be wrong but I do not remember Carter coming anywhere close to this number of failures during his entire four years as President. I do not think he set anywhere near the number of records that the Obama administration has set as far as the weakest economic recovery ever, the most failed economic programs, the most consecutive months of unemployment above 8%, the most Americans ever on food stamps, etc.

I do not remember Carter having nearly as many negative firsts as Obama such as the first government sanctioned American citizen assassination, the first ever U.S. credit downgrade, the first ever TRILLION dollar annual government deficit, etc.

I do not remember Carter having nearly as much disdain for individual Constitutional rights, Constitutional tenets, or the rule of law.

I do not remember Carter having so many excuses for the dire economic conditions that his administration put the country through, unlike the Obama administration which has an excuse for everything.

I do not remember Carter having so much disdain for freedom of the press, political opponents, American women, individual freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and small businesses.

So, in summary, why does this President deserve a second term, based on the list of failures from above:

• His understanding of micro economics, how businesses think, work, and succeed, is non-existent, resulting in a high degree of business uncertainty and anemic economic growth.
• His understanding for macro economics, how the overall economy works, has been abysmal, resulting in failed, short-sighted economic programs.
• His lack of respect for the Constitution and the rule of law has been disgraceful, endangering personal freedom and liberty.
• His inability to lead has been disappointing.
• His foreign policy successes are minimal.
• His ability to divide the country with class warfare actions and rhetoric has been surprising, based on the promise of his 2008 campaign: “The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party.”

I truly believe that the President does not “get” America:

• He does not get that American families are losing their homes at record rates to foreclosure.
• Even though the unemployment rate is still around a morale crushing 8%, he does not get it and is so out of touch with America he thinks that the private sector is “doing fine.”
• He does not get it or understand of how American small businesses owners struggle, scrimp and save, make sacrifices of time, energy, and family but in his mind do not deserve the credit for building successful businesses, creating value for society, expanding  the economy, and providing jobs for others.
• He does not get or understand Americans who live outside of major cities, considering them “bitter” as they “cling to their religion and guns.”

But most of all, Obama’s inability to take personal responsibility for his actions and the ineptness of his administration is most distressing. When a so-called leader keeps looking backward and blaming Bush, ATM machines, the Euro crisis, the Arab spring, the Japanese tsunami, the Republicans in the House, wealthy Americans who do not pay enough in taxes, and other aspects of life, he ceases to be a leader and becomes a dead weight on the future.

Leaders look forward, leaders care about more than their self image, leaders unite, leaders give credit and take the blame, leaders understand and obey the rule of law agreed to by all within the democracy. This President and this administration have none of these leadership traits. And that is why Carter, in my opinion, is now off the hook for the most inept, ineffective, and destructive Presidency of my lifetime, being replaced by the Obama administration.

We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/