Obamacare: The Promise vs. The Reality...And Then Some

The Promise                                                    The Reality

Health care premiums will                               Cost of premiums may double         
go down by 2500/yr/family                               or more

Everyone will be insured                                  There will be 26 million people
                                                                          uninsured

You can keep your health plan                        You may not be able to keep your
 if you like it                                                      insurance plan. Those policies
                                                                         that don't meet the new standards
                                                                         may be discontinued

There will not be rationing of                           There will be rationing of care
health care                                                       determined by an unelected
                                                                         board of bureaucrats
                                                                         (aka 'death panels')

Obamacare won't increase                              Deficit will increase by
deficit                                                               $6.2 trillion

You can keep your doctor                                83% doctors are considering
                                                                         leaving field after court
                                                                         upheld Obamacare. Besides
                                                                         this stat, there'll be a shortage
                                                                         of 90,000 doctors by 2020

Obamacare will create jobs                             Thanks to Obamacare,
                                                                         retailers are cutting
                                                                         workers' hours from full
                                                                         time to part time to avoid
                                                                         punitive fines

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/06/04/5-lies-the-democrats-told-to-sell-obamacare-n1612356/page/full
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/07/obamacare-leaves-millions-uninsured-heres-who-they-are/

According to new statistics, among small businesses, 41% have stopped hiring new employees and 19% have reduced the number of staff. This is due to the fact that they don’t know what impact Obamacare will have on their business. http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/obamacare-small-business/

"Retailers are cutting worker hours at a rate not seen in more than three decades — a sudden shift that can only be explained by the onset of ObamaCare's employer mandates." http://news.investors.com/economy/050313-654674-retail-workweek-3-year-low-on-obamacare.htm

Some of the enormous potential costs: "To try to keep premiums low, some states are allowing insurers to charge patients a hefty share of the cost for expensive medications used to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other life-altering chronic diseases.

Such “specialty drugs” can cost thousands of dollars a month, and in California, patients would pay up to 30 percent of the cost. For one widely used cancer drug, Gleevec, the patient could pay more than $2,000 for a month’s supply, says the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society."  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/13/ap-cancer-ms-patients-may-face-outrageous-costs-under-obamacare/

"Medicare’s Part A trust fund is projected to be insolvent by 2026 and the total program has a long-term unfunded obligation of more than $35 trillion. This means the government has made $35 trillion worth of benefit promises to current and future seniors that are not yet paid for — a staggering amount that is more than double the nation’s total current debt.  According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Obamacare will reduce Medicare reimbursements by $716 billion over 10 years. These cuts will hit Part A providers such as hospitals, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and hospices, along with Medicare Advantage plans."  http://savingourfuture.com/2013/06/morning-bell-obamacares-negative-impact-on-seniors/

The White House has given new authority to the IRS when it comes to Obamacare. They will now be in charge of enforcing the new taxes and regulations associated with Obamacare; all 2800 pages of new law, and 13,000 new regulations; 16,000 new IRS agents have been hired to oversee these.  And with the recent discovery that the IRS has been specifically targeting conservatives for political beliefs, they will now be in charge of everyone's private and sensitive medical information. http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/28/let-the-irs-implement-obamacare-are-we-nuts/

Regarding the privacy issues, according to the Wall Street Journal, “To monitor compliance with these rules [i.e., Obamacare], the IRS and HHS are now building the largest personal information database the government has ever attempted. Known as the Federal Data Services Hub, the project is taking the IRS’s own records (for income and employment status) and centralizing them with information from Social Security (identity), Homeland Security (citizenship), Justice (criminal history), HHS (enrollment in entitlement programs and certain medical claims data) and state governments (residency).”  http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/28/let-the-irs-implement-obamacare-are-we-nuts/

And let's not forget that the official in charge of the unit at the IRS which targeted the conservative groups, will be overseeing the Obamacare unit. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/17/second-irs-official-to-leave-amid-tea-party-scandal/

Gun Play

Recently, when an 8th grader wore an NRA t-shirt to school and refused to take it off at the request of a teacher, he was then suspended from school. When he showed up after the suspension, he wore the same t-shirt, (many other students wore the same shirt in support) and was subsequently arrested. He was charged with obstructing an officer - he had refused to stop talking.  He wasn't violent nor did he make any threats. Now he faces up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.  http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/18/teen-faces-500-fine-one-year-in-jail-aft

In May, a five year old boy was suspended for 10 days when he brought a cowboy-style cap gun to school to show his friend. The kindergartner was interrogated for 2 hours over this until he wet his pants. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/31/interrogated-until-he-wet-his-pants-and-suspended-for-10-days-this-is-what-happened-to-a-5-year-old-who-brought-a-cap-gun-to-a-school/

In March, a seven year old boy in Maryland was suspended from school for eating a pop tart in the shape of a gun.  Since then, this story got so much attention, the NRA awarded the boy a junior membership into the organization. http://www.inquisitr.com/682190/pastry-gun-boy-becomes-nra-life-member/

A ten year old boy in Virginia was arrested and fingerprinted for bringing an orange-tipped plastic toy gun to school. He was also suspended for six days and faced possible expulsion. The 10 year old is potentially facing a permanent criminal record.  http://www.infowars.com/ten-year-old-arrested-for-toy-gun-has-probation-officer-lawyers-and-second-court-date/

A six year old girl came to school with her brother's clear plastic toy gun for show and tell and was expelled.  http://www.wltx.com/news/article/219116/2/6-Year-Old-Expelled-for-Bringing-Toy-Gun-to-School

Two six year old boys were suspended in Maryland for playing cops and robbers during recess and using their fingers to make imaginary guns. Another six year old boy was suspended for pretending to fire an imaginary gun.  http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/15/parents-furious-after-young-boys-suspended-after-playing-with-imaginary-weapon/

And just the mere discussion of a toy nerf gun between 2 twelve year olds, forced two schools in New York into a lockdown, in which armed police officers came, weapons drawn, to hunt for the weapon. The brightly colored nerf gun wasn't even in school - it had been left at home.  http://www.prisonplanet.com/discussion-about-toy-nerf-gun-causes-lockdown-at-bronx-elementary-schools.html

A young elementary schoolgirl in Pennsylvania had a paper gun in her pocket.  When it was discovered, she was not only chastised in front of her classmates, she was threatened with arrest. She then started having nightmares because her classmates had been calling her "murderer."  http://www.prisonplanet.com/discussion-about-toy-nerf-gun-causes-lockdown-at-bronx-elementary-schools.html

Two seven year old boys were suspended for making shooting noises while pointing pencils at each other.  http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/05/07/2-va-boys-suspended-for-using-pencils-as-guns/

The list goes on and on. Is it really necessary to scare and intimidate our children like this? Is the fear of another Columbine or Sandy Hook causing us to lose common sense?  Why are these children being punished this way?  Do we want our children to grow up afraid of guns?  Do we want them to be defenseless?  Is there some reasonable middle ground here?

Social Security Cards - More Than a Number?

Some technology companies are pushing for the manufacture of plastic social security cards with a security chip on them.  The reason for the chip would be for employers to scan and see whether or not a prospective employee is a legal citizen. And, it would render stolen social security cards useless.

However, this puts all the information in one database and thus, opens it up to cyberattack. And, although one's legal status may be the stated reason at the start, we've seen where data collection  technologies take us. At this point, we can probably assume it will not end with legal status....after all, these smart chips can hold a lot of information.  http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2479993387001/social-security-card-20/?intcmp=obnetwork

Edward Snowden - An American Citizen

In My Opinion...

The level of vitriol aimed at Edward Snowden has been very high. It's curious as to why, when in reality, he was serving the public by revealing to us the depth of intrusion into our private lives.  And, as frightening as it is to find out that our own government is collecting every bit of information on every one of its citizens, somehow that doesn't seem to horrify people as much as the 'treasonous' act they believe Snowden committed by revealing this. The name-calling from both political sides has been over the top - from traitor, to high school dropout, to narcissist, to clown, and the list goes on. He simply calls himself an American citizen.

This American citizen has sacrificed a comfortable life, living with his girlfriend in Hawaii, making a lucrative salary and enjoying all the benefits that go with that. He acknowledges that he'll probably never go home again, may never see his family again, and, may in fact, be tortured or killed when found. This is not the sign of a clown, but a serious person, who sincerely believes his country is slipping away.  "The greatest fear that I have, regarding the outcome for America, of these disclosures, is that nothing will change. People will see in the media all of these disclosures, they'll know the lengths the government is going to grant themselves powers unilaterally to create greater control over American society and global society..."

“I can’t in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building,” he said.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/09/nsa-leaker-comes-forward-i-know-i-have-done-nothing-wrong/

In a scathing editorial in thedailybeast.com, Kirsten Powers writes, "Apparently we are supposed to “respect institutions” so much that we never feel entitled to information about how they operate, even when it involves our private communications. Only because of Snowden do we know that our government is storing records of our phone data that can be mined for God only knows how long."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/14/the-sickening-snowden-backlash.html

So, why is Edward Snowden getting trashed? Maybe it's to protect this President (although the easy litmus test for this would be to ask, what if George Bush were President?). Or, maybe because they truly believe he has compromised national security.  Whatever the reason, one has to wonder why he became the object of discussion rather than the stunning information of his disclosure.

Are You Still Outraged?

When the 2013 Barack Obama called the data mining on every American (phone records and  internet records, just to name a couple) a "modest encroachment" on privacy, it reminded us that the 2007 Barack Obama was strongly against this type of tracking activity.

In 2007 Obama insisted he would capture terrorists "without undermining our Constitution and our freedom....no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens, no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime, no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war, no more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient....this administration acts like violating civil liberties is the way to enhance our security, it is not."  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WAQlsS9diBs

The PRISM program, which allows for data collection from internet servers, and includes audio, video, photos, emails, documents and connection logs, began in 2007 (with one company). Senator Obama then frequently criticized President Bush for his surveillance programs (although Bush targeted suspected terrorists, not American citizens). Since Obama took office, PRISM has  grown exponentially and has expanded to nine companies. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/06/bombshell-report-govt-also-tapping-servers-of-top-internet-companies-to-collect-americans-emails-photos-messa

So, if you supported the 2007 Obama and his stance on surveillance, and were outraged over Bush's surveillance programs, where do you stand now?  Are you still outraged?

Are We Gaining Security?

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."  Ben Franklin
                        
In light of all the intrusions into our privacy over the years, Franklin was nothing less than prophetic. The level of surveillance in this country has become increasingly disturbing with each passing day of new revelations.

We learned from The Guardian that the NSA has been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans regardless of any wrongdoing. James Bamford, author of several books on the NSA, commented “Here we are, under the Obama administration, doing it sort of like the Bush administration on steroids,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. “This order here is about as broad as it can possibly get, when it comes to focusing on personal communications. There’s no warrant, there’s no suspicion, there’s no probable cause … it sounds like something from East Germany.”  William Binney, who's worked at the NSA for 40 years, estimates that the agency collects 3 billion calls per day. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/06/nsa-whistleblowers-startling-claims-records-on-3-billion-calls-collected-per-day-and-its-not-just-verizon/

In defense of the government collecting phone records from Americans, the Obama administration says, such information is “a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats.”  However, this contradicts Obama's announcement that the war on terror is over.  http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2013/05/29/obama-declares-war-on-terror-over-n1607729

And we learned from The Washington Post that the NSA and the FBI are tapping into 9 leading internet companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Apple, Skype, AOL, and PalTalk. This program, named PRISM, extracts audio and video chats, photographs, emails, documents and connection logs, which allow analysts to track networks of associates.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html

All this in the name of security, and yet, with all the warnings and evidence the government had to halt it, the terrorists in Boston were still able to accomplish their mission. 

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

SCOTUS Says Yes To Less Liberty

In a slap to the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable search and seizure, the Supreme Court voted 5-4, allowing law enforcement to forcibly collect warrantless DNA samples from individuals who are arrested, but not convicted of a serious crime.  Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, and in a surprising twist, was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Breyer and Alito. Kennedy wrote that there's no difference between a DNA swab and fingerprinting, and it would result in the prosecution of more violent offenders.

Dissenting were Justices Scalia, Kagan, Sotomayor and Ginsburg. Scalia wrote the dissenting opinion. “As an entirely predictable consequence of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason.”
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article scotus_upholds_dna_swabs_for_some_arrestees_scalia_says_majority_reasoning_/

Senator Ted Cruz, in his criticism of the decision, said “So now the government can capture, without a search warrant, the most personal information about an individual, and use it to search vast databases for unrelated offenses.”  http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/03/ted-cruz-denounces-supreme-court-ruling-on-warrantless-dna-collection/#ixzz2VHSoW6wW

Common Core - Why You Should Be Concerned

Common Core
 As part of the stimulus bill of 2009, passed by democrats in Congress, the administration offered  financial incentives through its Race to the Top initiative to establish national educational standards. To compete for this money, states had to adopt standards common to multiple states; it was Common Core which met this proposal. While it was touted as being voluntary,  many states contend it resembled coercion through its carrots and sticks approach. Many states were in poor financial shape at the time and agreed to adopt Common Core. While the constitutional authority over education rests with the states and localities, this move to centralize the control of the public education system is clearly unconstitutional. To date, 46 states have adopted these standards in exchange for much needed federal money. For the first time, however, the federal government is now dictating curriculum content.  http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/states-must-reject-national-education-standards-while-there-is-still-time
http://www.cato.org/blog/pushed-common-core-thanks-volunteering

English and Language Arts
Common Core shifts away from classic literature and emphasizes instead, informational text. It requires students to spend only half of their class time studying literature, and by their junior and senior year of high school, only 30% of their class time.  http://frontpagemag.com/2012/mary-grabar/common-core-phasing-western-culture-out-of-education/
http://michellemalkin.com/2013/01/25/rotten-to-the-core-part-2-readin-writin-and-deconstructionism/
Some claim the substitution of great literary works for informational text reflects political propaganda. Consider the example of using an essay from 2009 New Yorker on health care to show that Obamacare is wise policy.  http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/12/obamacore-the-substitution-of-propaganda-for-great-literatiure-in-our-schools.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+powerlineblog%2Flivefeed+%28Power+Line%29

Although the stated effort is to make students 'college-ready', Common Core "may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking," claims University of Arkansas professor Sandra Stotsky.
Says Michelle Malkin, investigative journalist, "Stotsky, an unrelenting whistleblower who witnessed the Common Core sausage-making process firsthand, concluded: “An English curriculum overloaded with advocacy journalism or with ‘informational’ articles chosen for their topical and/or political nature should raise serious concerns among parents, school leaders, and policymakers. Common Core’s standards not only present a serious threat to state and local education authority, but also put academic quality at risk. Pushing fatally flawed education standards into America’s schools is not the way to improve education for America’s students.”   http://michellemalkin.com/2013/01/25/rotten-to-the-core-part-2-readin-writin-and-deconstructionism/

Math
NYU Professor John Goodman found that the math standards under Common Core offer much lower expectations when it comes to algebra and geometry than standards set in other countries.
http://michellemalkin.com/2013/01/23/rotten-to-the-core-obamas-war-on-academic-standards-part-1/
According to Malkin's research "Under Common Core, as the American Principles Project and Pioneer Institute point out, algebra I instruction is pushed to 9th grade, instead of 8th grade, as commonly taught. Division is postponed from 5th to 6th grade. Prime factorization, common denominators, conversions of fractions and decimals, and algebraic manipulation are de-emphasized or eschewed. Traditional Euclidean geometry is replaced with an experimental approach that had not been previously pilot-tested in the U.S."
Ze'ev Wurman, longtime math advisory expert, says, “I believe the Common Core marks the cessation of educational standards improvement in the United States. No state has any reason left to aspire for first-rate standards, as all states will be judged by the same mediocre national benchmark enforced by the federal government."  http://michellemalkin.com/2013/01/23/rotten-to-the-core-obamas-war-on-academic-standards-part-1/

History
CSCOPE curriculum in Texas (which falls under the umbrella of Common Core) and not subject to regulation since they claim it is 'instructional material' and not 'curriculum' injects political correctness into its teaching of history. In March, historian David Barton, along with other guests, discussed on the Glenn Beck show what was being revised in the teaching of history. "Using a chart, Barton documented and mapped out core CSCOPE material, which eliminates national values, Americanism or rather, American exceptionalism, the study of federalism and majority rule (the core of our constitution) along with patriotic symbols like the Liberty Bell. Christopher Columbus, Rosh Hashanah and Christmas are all relegated to the dustbin along with American military history. Equality and a belief in justice is replaced by “fairness” and instruction on American propaganda and imperialism."  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/07/cscope-exposing-the-nations-most-controversial-public-school-curriculum-system/
Update: CSCOPE will no longer be providing lesson plans for Texas, thanks to strong opposition from parents and teachers to abandon the program.


Data Mining
Very disturbing will be the data mining on our kids - using various devices to measure behavior in the classroom - MRI scans, wireless sensors, posture seats, cameras, etc., all in the name of trying to create more effective teaching. The purpose is to provide constant streams of data to examine behavioral and psychological characteristics such as: frustration, motivation, flow, confidence, boredom and fatigue.  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/28/eye-trackers-wrist-bands-posture-seats-mood-meter-a-close-look-at-the-tech-proposed-to-track-your-kids-in-schools/
According to the Dept. of Education's own handbook, "data mining techniques can track students’ trajectories or persistence and learning over time, thereby providing actionable feedback to students and teachers. In addition, functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, and psychological indicators offer insight into the biology and neuroscience underlying observed students’ behaviors."
For further information about this handbook and its implications, see interview by Glenn Beck with Medical Technology Analyst Nic Anderson.  http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/04/10/medical-technology-analyst-discusses-the-spooky-implications-of-data-mining-in-common-core/
Other information to be collected from students will include health history, blood type, parents' income, parents' voting status, religious affiliation and more.

See post on "Tracking Students" for actual examples of technological intrusions implemented so far in some schools.

Government Directed Education
Hundreds of studies have shown that movement towards free market education produces greater outcomes than greater centralization of education.
"Out of 150 statistical comparisons, market-like delivery of education outperformed government monopoly delivery by a ratio of 15-1."  http://www.cato.org/publications/testimony/common-core-threat-state-districts-students
At this point in time, some states are looking to reconsider and/or pull away from instituting Common Core (e.g. Indiana, Michigan, Alabama).  http://www.heritage.org/search?query=common+core

Conclusions About Common Core

• It removes parents from decisions over what their children are taught.

• Control over content taught in local schools is given over to bureaucrats in Washington, rather than being in the hands of local school leaders and parents.

• Education by government monopoly delivers poorer outcomes in achievement.

• Data mining through technology will create intrusions into all of our lives - real purpose of which has not been revealed yet.

• Lessons in math, language arts and history will serve to lower academic standards rather than raise them.

Tracking Students

Some schools in Florida are scanning the irises of students for identification. This program is called "Eyeswipe-Nano" under the guise of bus 'security' and has done so without parental permission.

“'It simply takes a picture of the iris, which is unique to every individual,” Rob Davis, the school board’s senior director of support services, wrote home to parents in a letter dated May 23. “With this program, we will be able to identify when and where a student gets on the bus, when they arrive at their school location, when and what bus the student boards and disembarks in the afternoon. This is an effort to further enhance the safety of our students.The EyeSwipe-Nano is an ideal replacement for the card based system since your child will not have to be responsible for carrying an identification card,” he added." The letter to parents offering an opt-out of the program went out on May 24, but the program began on May 20, and by the 24th, the scanning had been done. 
http://www.infowars.com/schools-scanned-students-irises-without-permission/

Recently, two schools in Texas have begun tracking students with the use of computer chips embedded in their ID cards.  This allows administrators to know where the students are; the classroom, the bathroom, the stairwells, or not in school at all. Students were told they needed to comply or face expulsion. When one student refused, she was told she would face consequences and that she shouldn't speak out against it.
Parents created a group called "Chip Free Schools," to organize opposition to this invasion of privacy.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/wear-radio-chip-or-leave-school-tells-students/

Another school in Maryland has students flash their palms instead of using cash to pay for lunch. A preschool in California experimented with putting a computer chip in kids' clothing.

A senior analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns that consequentially, children will grow up to be de-sensitized to being watched by government agencies, and, that as people become more aware they are being tracked, they become less free.
http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/26/14705346-texas-schools-begin-tracking-students-with-computer-chips-in-id-cards?lite