Political Roundtable - Part V

[Zonkerbl]

If I recall correctly, Congress does not get much oversight over the NSA or the CIA's budget. They get to vote up or down on a number and that's it.

[dckingsfan]

If I recall correctly, Congress does not get much oversight over the NSA or the CIA's budget. They get to vote up or down on a number and that's it.

Pretty much correct, although there are some oversight committees... but yes, it is largely on the administration.

[Zonkerbl]

So kind of a bellweather organization. If corruption is going to happen anywhere, it's most likely to happen there first.

[Wizardspride]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... src=nl_eve

States embracing Obamacare are doing a better job of covering the uninsured, surveys show



New surveys out Wednesday morning provide a glimpse into just how many Americans have gained insurance since the Obamacare health insurance marketplaces opened in October.

First, Gallup reports that states which fully embraced the law by setting up their own exchanges and expanding their Medicaid programs saw their uninsured rate drop this year three times faster than the states that didn’t.

Gallup just last week reported that the uninsured rate had dropped from 17.1 percent to 15.6 percent between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014 — the lowest rate since 2008. It's not all that surprising that states which have embraced the law have seen a larger decline in the uninsured rate. They have more resources for outreach and greater enthusiasm for getting people enrolled.

Meanwhile, the Urban Institute has further details on its finding that the number of uninsured nonelderly adults fell by 5.4 million people between September and early March. Urban finds that states that expanded their Medicaid programs saw their uninsured rate drop 4 percent, while states that didn't expand saw a much slower drop at 1.5 percent. The expansion states also did a better job of covering young adults and especially Hispanics — demographics targeted by supporters of the health-care law.

UPDATE: Another Gallup poll released late afternoon Wednesday found that 4 percent of Americans say they're newly insured this year, with slightly more than half (2.1 percent) reporting they received coverage through an ACA exchange. The rest said they received coverage from another source, which could either be Medicaid, an employer or a health plan purchased directly from an insurer. Another 7.5 percent said they had a new health plan that replaced an old one.
The poll also found that newly insured people are, on average, younger than the rest of the population. People between 18 and 29 years old accounted for 30 percent of the newly insured, though they represent just 21 percent of the population. However, the newly insured in this age bracket were much more likely to get coverage off the exchange (24 percent exchange vs. 37 percent off-exchange).

[Wizardspride]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-h ... z2zB3EliAL

Obamacare cost forecast is reduced 7% by U.S. fiscal watchdog


WASHINGTON — Lower-than-expected health insurance premiums under Obamacare will help cut the long-term cost of the program 7% over the next decade, according to the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office.

The government's reduction of $104 billion in subsidies for those premiums was the main factor that led the nonpartisan fiscal watchdog to cut its projection of the nation's federal deficit by nearly $300 billion through 2024.

According to the CBO report, released Monday, the average annual premium for the new healthcare exchanges' mid-level Silver plan — used as a benchmark — is expected to be $4,400 by 2016. That would be 15% lower than the office's estimate before President Obama's signature health law was passed four years ago.

The cost was cheaper because the benefits offered, including doctor choice and coverage, were narrower than the CBO initially expected, though it predicted benefits and premiums would rise in future years.
Because health plans are expected to cost less, federal subsidies offered this year to low-income individuals also will decrease — as much as $300 per enrollee from a previous estimate.

Those subsidies account for more than $1 trillion of the nearly $1.4-trillion cost of the Affordable Care Act over the next decade.

The White House said the CBO revisions show that the health law is achieving one of its primary goals by limiting the growth of healthcare spending.

[dckingsfan]

Read the report in detail... there is some really bad healthcare cost news in the report.

[dckingsfan]

Law of unintended consequences.

First the Federal Govt guarantees loans -> education costs skyrocket -> no bankruptcy for student loans -> education costs skyrocket more -> Federal Govt forgives loans -> education costs skyrocket more -> Federal Govt can't afford the program.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 72308.html

[Zonkerbl]

Who the heck is Cliven Bundy and why should I care about what he says about anything?

[pineappleheadindc]

Who the heck is Cliven Bundy and why should I care about what he says about anything?

Apparently, he's some rancher dude whose only crime is breaking Federal law.

Edited to add: And apparently, he thinks blacks would be better under slavery. So yeah, you should NOT really take anything he says with any sense of seriousness.

Listen to and respect him? No. Submit a bitingly funny script for SNL to consider regarding him? Yes.

[hands11]

Wow

Anyone catching this Oklahoma lethal injection case.

Amazing.

[pineappleheadindc]

Wow

Anyone catching this Oklahoma lethal injection case.

Amazing.

Government sanctioned torture. Till death.

Next time you run into a "Mr. Super Patriot" at the mall or where ever...he's the guy with the "America, love it or leave it" bumper stickers, the Gadsden flag license plate, he likes "freedom fries" and on weekends dresses up in colonial garb to protest his lack of liberty....that guy. Next time you see him talking about how we are so much more enlightened and better than those other, barbaric (generally Islamic) countries, remind him of how we torture our own people. Just like the crappy "savage" countries.

[dckingsfan]

Wow

Anyone catching this Oklahoma lethal injection case.

Amazing.

Government sanctioned torture. Till death.

Next time you run into a "Mr. Super Patriot" at the mall or where ever...he's the guy with the "America, love it or leave it" bumper stickers, the Gadsden flag license plate, he likes "freedom fries" and on weekends dresses up in colonial garb to protest his lack of liberty....that guy. Next time you see him talking about how we are so much more enlightened and better than those other, barbaric (generally Islamic) countries, remind him of how we torture our own people. Just like the crappy "savage" countries.

This is quite pathetic - and to think the cost are higher to execute someone than to just leave them in prison. I boggles the mind.

[hands11]

I have heard the same but I am not an expert on the subject.

Something about the amount of litigation cost.

But the review I heard on this case was.

There was a supreme court case that specifically laid out how you could do lethal inject. It spelled it out. Even the drugs to be used. It had to be human.

Two inject feeds in case one failed...one in each arm. These people did one an in the groin.

1) sedation using a specific drug not manufactured or imported into this country anymore.
2) a paralysis drug so the eye witness wouldn't see them flopping around.
3) a drug to stop their heart.

In this case, they did so many things wrong and because the first drug is no longer available, this is being done across the country is all kind of make shift ways that will now get challenged constitutionally.

In this case the prisoners challenged the process and drugs used. Then the governor over road that. I think it might have even gone higher to the courts. Anyway, they forced the timing of this. Nothing could be delayed. Now that governors finger are all over this.

They inject one feed into the groin. Used other then specified drugs. And this is all witnessed. The catheter that was set in the groin, not one in each arm was not set right so when it failed, there wasn't a back up for finishing the process. None of the drugs were injected properly. The prisoner was not even fully sedated so in pain and suffering he was moving around in pain and making noise. Eventually they pulled the curtain from the eye witness audience. Doctors were consulted. Not enough was injected to kill him and they didn't have any more on hand to inject properly to finish the job. WOW.

So after 10 something minutes with the curtain down, they said he died.

How ? What happened ? Did they kill him some other way ? Did they suffocate him ?

What a train wreck. From the sounds of it, this is going to be a big case.

[popper]

Meet Obama's Kissingers

The National Security Council is no place for speechwriters and lobbyists.

By
KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
June 5, 2014 7:32 p.m. ET

If the Bergdahl uproar feels creepily reminiscent of the Benghazi uproar, or the Syrian "red line" uproar, or the choose-your-own- Obama -foreign-adventure uproar, it's because they all have a common denominator. This is what happens when political hacks formally take over foreign policy.

It's the "formal" point that bears some meditation. Barack Obama isn't the first president to make foreign-policy decisions on the basis of domestic political calculations. He does, however, win the distinction of being the first president to utterly disregard—to treat with contempt—the institutions and procedures that were designed to help the commander in chief insulate the serious business of foreign policy and national security from baser political concerns……………………

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... 1402011139

[dckingsfan]

Isn't that what withdrawing from a world leadership role means?

He was elected on that platform - Obama didn't mislead anyone. He just carried though on his campaign promise.

You might not like what that means but you aren't in the majority.

[dckingsfan]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/19/617

[dckingsfan]

http://www.americans-world.org/digest/o ... c_role.cfm

[dckingsfan]

So, what you should be protesting is the notion that many Americans want us to become more isolationists.

[hands11]

Wow.

Canter is gone.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor loses Virginia GOP primary, AP reports

56%-44%

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06 ... p-reports/



The Tea Party just voted out its own puppet. Amazing.

Canter 5.5M and spent over 5M
Brat raise 206K and spent 122K

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Wow.

Canter is gone.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor loses Virginia GOP primary, AP reports

56%-44%

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06 ... p-reports/



The Tea Party just voted out its own puppet. Amazing.

Canter 5.5M and spent over 5M
Brat raise 206K and spent 122K

Defeat was incredible on many levels....

1. The margin (11 points) is amazing to me. I could have understood a last week swell and support and a narrow victory, but this guy beat Cantor fairly easy.
2. How did his political advisers and consultants not see this one coming?
3. First time a majority leader has been ousted since the invention of the position.
4. Cantor was likely the next Speaker.
5. The money discrepancy. I guess there is a silver lining for all the people who believe that there is too much money being pumped into politics.