Month: December 2013

Categories
Politics

New Report: Republican Governors Refusing Obamacare Costing Taxpayers Billions

In addition to costing taxpayers billions of dollars, think about the many lives that will be lost because these partisan governors decided to take away healthcare from their citizens.

Texas, Florida, Georgia, and other GOP-led states rejecting Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion are costing their residents billions of dollars by making them pay taxes into a system from which they won’t benefit, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund.

Obamacare gives states general federal funding to expand their Medicaid programs to all residents making up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). According to the study, the funding designated for states accepting the expansion is so substantial that it will be, on average, more than double the amount that states currently receive for transportation funds.

But since Medicaid is financed through general tax revenue, all Americans — irrespective of whether or not they live in a state participating in the expansion — will pay into the system. Consequently, Texas residents will see over $9 billion flow out of their state in 2022 to help fund the expansion in states that accept it; Georgia taxpayers will lose out on nearly $3 billion; and Florida’s rejection of the expansion will cost residents over $5 billion:

CREDIT: THE COMMONWEALTH FUND

Categories
Politics

Rand Paul’s Wife Hasn’t Decided if He Should Run for President

There’s at least one member of Sen. Rand Paul’s family who isn’t quite on board just yet with a 2016 run – and that’s his wife.

After a speech at the Detroit Economic Club today, Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky, was asked whether he plans to run in 2016, and he revealed his wife’s displeasure with the idea of a run for the White House.

“Where’s my cellphone? Can I call my wife?” Paul joked. “There’s two votes in my family. My wife has both of them, and both of them are ‘no’ votes right now.

“If I’m a very able politician, I’ll tell you in a year whether I’m able to persuade my wife. Right now, I don’t know yet, but I thank you for your interest,” he added.

Paul has been frank in admitting he is considering a 2016 presidential bid and has said he is discussing the option with his wife and family

Categories
Politics weekly address

President’s Weekly Address: Extending the Unemployment Benefits

President Obama used his weekly address to continue his call for Congress to  extend unemployment benefits.

… if Members of Congress don’t act before they leave on their vacations, 1.3 million Americans will lose this lifeline. These are people we know. They’re our friends and neighbors; they sit next to us in church and volunteer in our communities; their kids play with our kids. And they include 20,000 veterans who’ve served this country with honor.

… We also have to look out for the Americans working hard to get those jobs. That’s why, as a country, we offer temporary unemployment insurance – so that job-seekers don’t fall into poverty, and so that when they get that job, they bounce back more quickly.
For many families, it can be the difference between hardship and catastrophe.

It makes a difference for a mother who suddenly doesn’t know if she’ll be able to put food on the table for her kids. It makes a difference for a father who lost his job and is looking for a new one. Last year alone, it lifted 2.5 million people out of poverty, and cushioned the blow for many more.

Categories
Featured News

Newlyweds Killed Man for The Thrill of Killing Together

(AP) — A couple married just three weeks lured a Pennsylvania man to his death with a Craigslist ad because they wanted to kill someone together, police said.

Elytte Barbour

Elytte Barbour told officers before his arrest Friday night that he and his wife, Miranda, had planned to kill before but their plans never worked out until last month when Troy LaFerrara responded to an online posting that promised companionship in return for money.

Elytte Barbour, 22, and Miranda Barbour, 18, both face criminal homicide charges in LaFerrara’s death. His body was found Nov. 12 in an alley in Sunbury, a small city northwest of Philadelphia. The couple recently moved to nearby Selinsgrove from North Carolina.

According to Sunbury police, Elytte Barbour told investigators he hid in the backseat of the couple’s SUV as his wife picked up LaFerrara at a mall on Nov. 11. He told police that, on his wife’s signal, he wrapped a cord around LaFerrara’s neck, restraining him while Miranda Barbour stabbed him.

The 42-year-old man was stabbed 20 times, police said.

Miranda Barbour

Miranda Barbour was charged Wednesday. She initially denied knowing LaFerrara, but her story evolved as investigators gathered evidence, including the discovery that the last call received by the victim’s cellphone was made from her number, according to a police affidavit.

The affidavit said Miranda Barbour acknowledged meeting the victim in Selinsgrove then driving with him to Sunbury, where they parked. She said LaFerrara groped her and she took a knife from between the front seats and stabbed him after he put his hand around her throat, according to the affidavit.

Police said Miranda Barbour had told them she purchased cleaning supplies at a department store after stabbing LaFerrara, then picked up her husband and took him to a strip club for his birthday. On Friday, police said Elytte Barbour told them it was he that had purchased the cleaning products, an account investigators said was backed up by surveillance footage.

Following his wife’s arrest, Elytte Barbour told The Daily Item of Sunbury his wife, whom he married on Oct. 22, regularly hired herself out as a “companion” to men she met on various websites, a business venture he said he supported because it did not involve sexual contact.

Barbour said his wife made anywhere from $50 to $850 for meeting with men for such activities as having dinner or walking around a mall. The ads she placed on websites including Craigslist all said upfront that sex was not part of the deal, he said.

Categories
George Bush Politics

The Obamas, The Bushs, The Clintons will Travel to Africa for Mandela’s Funeral

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will travel to South Africa next week to pay their respects to the late Nelson Mandela together with former first couple George W. and Laura Bush.

Ex-president Bill Clinton, who was in office when Mandela took power to become South Africa’s first black president, also said that he would be making the trip with his family.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the Obamas would “participate in memorial events” for the iconic leader who died Thursday at age 95.

Carney declined to provide more details on the trip, saying more information would be provided once it becomes available.

Categories
Nelson Mandela Politics South Carolina

South Carolina Sheriff is Defying President’s Orders on How to Honor Mandela

A South Carolina sheriff is defying the orders of President Obama to honor the passing of Nelson Mandela by lowering the flag at half staff.

Sheriff Rick Clark made his promise in a Facebook post to keep flying the flag at the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office at full height.

“I usually don’t post political items, but today is different. I received this notification today, ‘As a mark of respect for the memory of Nelson Mandela, the President orders that the flag of the United States be flown at half-staff effective immediately until sunset, December 9, 2013,'” Clark wrote. “Nelson Mandela did great things for his country and was a brave man but he was not an AMERICAN!!! The flag should be lowered at our Embassy in S. Africa, but not here.”

Clark said the flags at the Sheriff’s Office were at half staff Friday to mourn a deceased deputy. Clark said the flag would remain at half mast Saturday to mark Pearl Harbor Day. After that, he said, he “ordered that the flag here at my office back up” (sic).

Categories
Nelson Mandela ObamaCare Politics Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum Compares Apartheid to Repealing Obamacare

In a Thursday interview on Fox News, failed Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum had the audacity to compare the struggles of Nelson Mandela and his decades long fight against apartheid, to the Republican’s petty political game of trying to repeal Obamacare.

Said Santorum;

“He was fighting against some great injustice, and I would make the argument that we have a great injustice going on right now in this country with an ever-increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people’s lives — and Obamacare is front and center in that.”

These Republicans are without shame. It has dawned on me that what Rick Santorum did there, was and is a part of the Republican’s play book – keep your name in the news by saying the dumbest, most outrageous things you can, and hope that there are some in the audience who will believe.

Keep it up Ricky boy. Your plan is working and people are talking about you again. Elections must be coming again and it sounds like you’re planning another run.

Video.

Categories
Nelson Mandela Politics

Ted Cruz Post Facebook Tribute to Mandela – His Facebook Fans go Nuts

This is really a snapshot of the Republican party and the morally deficient base that makes up the party. Nelson Mandela, a world-renowned and world respected leader passed away this week, and although it wasn’t expected, Ted Cruz actually said something nice about the man. He took to his Facebook page and wrote this:

Nelson Mandela will live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty around the globe. He stood firm for decades on the principle that until all South Africans enjoyed equal liberties he would not leave prison himself, declaring in his autobiography, ‘Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.’ Because of his epic fight against injustice, an entire nation is now free.

We mourn his loss and offer our condolences to his family and the people of South Africa.

Seems innocent, right? Well based on some of the responses from Cruz’s Facebook fans, you will think Ted Cruz finally acknowledged that President Obama is in fact, the democratically elected and fully legitimate President of the United States.

Just look at some of the responses these people left to Ted Cruz’s post:

Categories
Politics unemployment rate

Umployment Rate Drops to 7 Percent – Lowest in 5 Years

Thanks Obama!!!

U.S. employers hired more workers than expected in November, cutting the unemployment rate to a five-year low of 7 percent – down from 7.3 percent in October – the Labor Department said on Friday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report for November says employers added 203,000 jobs, surpassing October’s revised gain of 200,000. The U.S. economy has now added jobs for 45 straight months now.

“The U.S. labor market is still far from healed, but it certainly is moving in the right direction,” Eric Stein, co-director of the Global Income Group at Eaton Vance Investment Managers in Boston, told Reuters.

The economy has now generated an average of 204,000 jobs each month from August through November, despite a 15-day government shutdown in October that furloughed 800,000 federal employees. That monthly average is up from the 159,000 added per month from April through July.

“Today’s report was yet another reminder of the resilience of America’s private sector following the disruptive government shutdown and debt limit brinkmanship in the first half of October,” said Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, in a statement. But, he added that the 7 percent unemployment rate – 11 million people – is “stilll unacceptably high.”

Categories
Food And Recipes

McDonald’s To Employees – Sell Your Christmas Gifts to Pay Bills

They’re at it again. Refusing to pay their employees a decent living wage, McDonald’s is now tell its workers to sell off their gifts to raise cash for their bills.

As the giving season approaches, fast-food giant McDonald’s has found a new way to avoid helping its low-paid workers with a living wage: this time by urging employees to sell their Christmas presents for extra money. The helpful bit of corporate advice was posted on the company’s “McResource” employee webpage in an effort to help staff manage finances and stress as the holiday season approaches. Companies like McDonald’s and Walmart are really outdoing themselves with the holidays appaoaching: Retail giant Wal-Mart’s recently requested help with the company’s food drive, with proceeds going to their  own employees, because Wal-MArt does not pay them enough to afford food.

Of course, McDonald’s also recently advised employees break food into little pieces in an effort to feel more full on less food. In yet more helpful tips from this very caring empyer, McDonald’s also recommended singing away stress and taking two vacations a year to lower the risk of heart attack. And, of course, selling your possessions is not just good for Christmas presents, they advise “selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist” for “some quick cash.”

The company recommendations were publicized on Tuesday through Low Pay Is Not OK, an advocacy group for higher wages for fast food workers, arguing that the conglomorate asking its employees to make up for a lack of financial stability because of pitifully low wages was reprehensible. The organization quickly experienced blowback from McDonald’s, with the company flaming that the company-wide advice was taken out of context.

“This is an attempt by an outside organization to undermine a well-intended employee assistance resource website by taking isolated portions out of context,” the company said in a public statement.

The group was in the news earlier this month for releasing a recording of McDonald’s workers calling the company hotline asking for assistance, where the operators then urge the decade-long employee to apply for federal food stamps and Medicaid assistance.

Categories
Politics Steven Colbert

Steven Colbert Dissects The Do-Nothing Congress – Video

Never, in the history of this nation, has there been another Congress as bad, as non-productive and as lazy as this Do-Nothing Congress. We’ll credit the Republicans and their no-compromising Teaparty friends for that dubious distinction.

Categories
Politics

Limbaugh – The Pope is Ripping America, Obama is Having an Orgasm

How can you call yourself a Christian,  even created a nice special name for yourself like Christian Conservative. How can you honestly say that you follow the teachings of Christ, but you listen religiously to this crazy heathen named Rush Limbaugh?

Oh I know, I know. You put your politics ahead of your religious beliefs and you prefer to listen to the heathen instead of the Pope. Especially if the heathen is critical of the Pope because the Pope preaches love, compassion and advises us to help the least among us. That message is right up your alley, so the heathen wins!

Carry on then Christian Conservative, carry on. You are known by the company you keep.

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