Your medical records—no expectation of privacy

Government profits $51 billion from student loans

Story at Huffington Post, May 14, 2013

“The Obama administration is forecast to turn a record $51 billion profit this year from student loan borrowers, a sum greater than the earnings of the nation's most profitable companies and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets.

Figures made public Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office show that the nonpartisan agency increased its 2013 fiscal year profit forecast for the Department of Education by 43 percent to $50.6 billion from its February estimate of $35.5 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the nation's most profitable company, reported $44.9 billion in net income last year. Apple Inc. recorded a $41.7 billion profit in its 2012 fiscal year, which ended in September, while Chevron Corp. reported $26.2 billion in earnings last year. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo reported a combined $51.9 billion in profit last year.”

Maybe this will fix it

To solve a glitch or long term program failure

If you've spent a lot of money to solve a problem, and you're not successful, spend a lot more. It won't work, but will make you feel good. That's the model for Obamacare rollout of 3 weeks (est. at 1 billion already paid to contractors) and Head Start after 48 years (estimated $180 billion) based on 3rd grade tests.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/03/05/parents-deserve-to-know-the-facts-about-head-start/

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/obamacare-website-glitches-cgi-private-contractors

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/25/gop-lawmakers-threaten-subpoena-over-obamacare-launch-documents/

Lerner and Sebelius get to keep their high profile jobs that caused great loss of faith in government, but a lowly Obamacare enrollment guide? She gets fired.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/24/obamacare-operator-fired-after-hannity-radio-call/

“After 16 long days of vowing to Republicans that they would not cave in any way, shape or form on ObamaCare, Democrats spent their first post-shutdown week caving in every way, shape and form. With the GOP's antics now over, the only story now is the unrivaled disaster that is the president's health-care law.

Hundreds of thousands of health-insurance policies canceled. Companies dumping coverage and cutting employees' hours. Premiums skyrocketing. And a website that reprises the experience of a Commodore 64. As recently as May, Democratic consultants were advising members of Congress that their best ObamaCare strategy for 2014 was to "own" the law. Ms. Shaheen has now publicly advised the consultants where they can file that memo.”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303615304579155962427302786

Grain free cookies

I haven’t tried these—I don’t eat gluten free, but am interested in the concept. They are crunchy, not chewy says the author of this blog post.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 3 tbsp. coconut flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup coconut crystals
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (softened or melted)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 -1/2 cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.

2) Mix almond flour, coconut flakes, tapioca flour, coconut flour, coconut crystals, sea salt, and baking soda in a medium sized bowl.

3) In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined. Now add the coconut oil and keep mixing.

4) Add your flour mixture. And finally, fold in the chocolate chips.

5) Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and scoop approximately a tablespoonful onto the parchment paper. Pat out the cookies into small circles. Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will spread and turn golden brown. Let them cool on the sheet for a few more minutes, then ideally set them on a rack to cool completely before you move them into a storage container.

The cookies will turn chewy if you close them up in a closed container. I keep them in the fridge, and they stay delicious and crunchy.

Abby Johnson urges you to get help

I follow Abby on Facebook.  She has such a positive, upbeat attitude and her goal is to close abortion clinics and find jobs for the workers.

“I've had two abortions. I've stood by as thousands of babies died right in front of me. I know the pain of abortion very intimately.

But I have also healed from that pain and regret. In fact, I don't even call myself a "post abortive woman" because I don't want that label. My abortions do not define who I am today.

If you are a woman or man who finds it difficult to watch videos about abortion, or who continually mourn for aborted child, there is help and healing available. You do not have to live with that pain. God does not want you to!

There are so many ministries to help! Here are just a few that you can look into. ...
- Surrendering the Secret (my personal favorite)
- Save One
- Project Rachel
- Forgiven and Set Free
- Healing a Father's Heart
- PACE
- Rachel's Vineyard
- Healing Hearts
- Life Redeemed
I'm sure some of you have other ones to include.

Find help today!”

MARINE CORPS EXERCISE REGIMEN FOR PEOPLE OVER 60

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room on each side.

With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides. Hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags. Then try 50-lb potato bags, and then eventually, try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (I'm at this level.)

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.

Why I left the Democratic party

Michelle Bachmann wrote in her autobiography.

“In 1976, I was still a Democrat. The Democratic Party, while it was then edging toward an abortion-on-demand stance, still allowed room in its ranks for pro-life leaders. Carter himself proved to be a clover waffle in the abortion issue, suggesting that he was pro-life to the pro-lifers and prochoice to the prochoicers--and yet the media, always Carter friendly, never nailed him on his hypocrisy. So in our naiveté, we failed to realize that Carter was playing a duplicitous double game. And the Republican Party, meanwhile, still seemed at that time to be dominated by defenders of the proabortion stance.

Yet back in the seventies, the parties had not yet sorted themselves out on the rival issue of abortion. So in 1976, many pro-life and socially conservative Americans could be found conscientiously voting for the Carter-Mondale ticket, thinking they were voting pro-life. And Marcus and I did more than that; we helped on his campaign, handing out fliers and making phone calls.”

I remember it was still possible to be a pro-life Democrat and a Christian evangelical back in the 80s—at least in Ohio--maybe even into the early 90s. Although I wasn’t particularly political then.  Campaigners kept quiet about the issue.  But then they really clamped down. By 1996, there was no point in even struggling with the issue.  The party of the poor and dispossessed and minorities had become the party of death on a huge scale—with 38% of the 50 million abortions being for black women--and much wealthier.  Now abortion was included in the Democrat platform—promoting killing the smallest and weakest of society in order to placate the lust for power in the women’s movement and to “cure” poverty.

If you don’t know

when life begins, don’t take a chance at making a mistake and killing a human being. Or supporting a law that will do it for you.

Remember, the Democratic Party is Pro-Abortion life—any reason, any time, any gender-- and included that in their last several campaign platforms.  Barack Obama is the first openly pro-abortion President, and supporter of Planned Parenthood.

2000-2012/Protecting A Woman's Right to Choose. The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right. Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way. We also recognize that health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. We strongly and unequivocally support a woman's decision to have a child by providing affordable health care and ensuring the availability of and access to programs that help women during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including caring adoption programs.

2004/Embryonic stem cell research. Pres. Bush has rejected the calls from Nancy Reagan, Christopher Reeve & Americans across the land for assistance with embryonic stem cell research. We will reverse his wrongheaded policy. Stem cell therapy offers hope to more than 100 million Americans who have serious illnesses-from Alzheimer’s to heart disease to juvenile diabetes to Parkinson’s. We will pursue this research under the strictest ethical guidelines, but we will not walk away from the chance to save lives and reduce human suffering.  (Adult stem cell research  surged ahead during the Bush years  providing many medical miracles.  So far, none have come from embryonic research which was never illegal and several lines were always available,  and there was no problem for privately funded researches, but to no avail.)

Bill Clinton on abortion.

September jobs numbers—the left is blaming the shut down and refusing to see how Obamacare is hurting employment

“Last week’s Federal Reserve Beige Book includes direct references to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) causing employers not to hire workers. The Beige Book “summarizes comments [the Fed] received from business and other contacts” in each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. The October 16 Beige Book mentions the Affordable Care Act and its regulations 10 times—and each time, the districts report it has hurt employers, increased costs, and/or depressed hiring. Look at what businesses are reporting about the Affordable Care Act:

Summary. “Several Districts reported that contacts were cautious to expand payrolls, citing uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and fiscal policy more generally.” “

http://blog.heritage.org/2013/10/22/proof-that-obamacare-is-hurting-the-economy/

This is Peggy . . .

Twitter accounts and twits accounted for

A senior White House official, director of nuclear non-proliferation on the White House National Security Council, got fired for having a secret twitter account. A very disgruntled Democrat--he criticized not only key members of the administration, but also journalists. However, Lois Lerner of the IRS scandal who remained loyal and tight lipped,  refused to cooperate with the investigation, went on leave with pay, got no penalty and quietly retired with her pension.

Example of his tweets: “I'm a fan of Obama, but his continuing reliance and dependence upon a vacuous cipher like Valerie Jarrett concerns me."

http://www.ibtimes.com/white-house-official-jofi-joseph-fired-bashing-administration-under-fake-twitter-name-1437120

Single payer vs. Obamacare

Even I believe single payer would be better than this terrible roll out of Obamacare; and I think that was the goal. Britain's system is about 65 years old, but with Obama technology, it would have died in its infancy. Everyone in Britain gets a basic level of care through NHS, and then the rich buy insurance or pay cash, and get special treatment. It looks like Medicaid to me with shortages, lines and one size fits all. Except for the rich. In Canada it's different, so they come to the U.S. to buy additional treatment options without the wait. Universal health care would suit government officials--of both parties. Everyone gets the same deal, except those who don't. http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/01/16/the-awkward-world-of-private-insurance-in-the-uk/

Cookie or dessert plates

I don’t do a lot of entertaining, but for the holidays (now upon us) I do like to put out pretty dessert plates, or give away cookies on them without the need to return the plate.  I found this one today at Volunteers of America for $.30. Verso says “fine China” Japan. On e-Bay it’s $10.

Somebody always pays, Cindy. There is no free lunch.

IRS overpays EITC 132 billion in 10 years

EITC, The Earned Income Tax Credit,  was primarily a Republican idea, and was signed into law in 1975 with bi-partisan support. The "refund" doesn't affect any other benefits received like welfare (TANF), food stamps, Medicaid, housing, etc. In fact, for some families it would be a loss if they got a raise at work and weren't eligible for EITC--which is how we hurt the poor with government transfers.

132 billion in EITC was overpaid by IRS to people who paid no income tax. From the IRS website:  "The EITC is a refundable tax credit. This means taxpayers may get money back, even if they have no tax withheld [from earned income]. Nationwide last year [2011], over 27 million eligible individuals and families received nearly $62 billion in EITC." This overpayment is an IRS problem, not an Obama problem. It has been going on for as long as the law has existed. There was recently a law passed to get the figure lowered which has been ignored. This is the agency that will be enforcing ACA, the Obama insurance law declared a tax by SCOTUS. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/04/24/IRS-Overpaid-Low-Income-Tax-Credit-by-132-Billion

Even Vermont with a mix of socialists and Democrats, can’t make it work

“But despite the urgency of getting the exchange launch right and the givens that should make it easier rather than difficult—small state, high rate of literacy, 98 percent English speaking—Vermont’s website seems as bad or worse than the federal system. I’m not a Vermont resident, but I have been in the past and still spend a lot of time in the state. In the past week, I’ve spent hours on the state’s health-care system and have experienced nothing but a series of maddening problems reminiscent of computer life 15 years ago. On a half-dozen occasions I’ve fought my way through the system to register, only to return to discover the system has no trace of my registration. I expect that each of these visits and each of these “registrations” have been recorded as unique visits and registrations, which could help explain in part the disparity between “visits” and “registrations” versus “enrollments.” ”

So says the liberal lefty site.

I have now read so many of the screw-ups with enrollments, both state and federal, and read or heard so many horror stories of people losing their insurance, that I am even more convinced this is just a planned step to single payer,  which Obama always said he wanted, to make people so frustrated they’ll beg for low level, single payer Medicaid type coverage.

But he promised we could keep our plan and doctor"!

From the Chicago Tribune

“The computer problems may be fixed in weeks or months — although as the nation learns more about the extent of those computer problems, there's far less confidence that a fix will come soon ... or ever.

But the problems with Obamacare go much deeper than a few million lines of faulty code and a sign-up system that swallows enrollee applications in a single electronic gulp.

The bugs aren't just in the software. They're in the law itself.

Consumers are finally seeing insurance rates and plans. In many cases, insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays are rising. Illinois officials said premiums here would be lower than expected. But a Tribune analysis of 22 of the lowest-priced plans showed that those plans required huge annual deductibles of more than $4,000 for an individual — and $8,000 for family coverage.

Lower premiums also come with a troubling tradeoff: access to a narrower networks of hospitals and doctors. If people aren't careful in choosing coverage, they may be shocked to find they have to pay much more for out-of-network care to go to their preferred doctor or hospital.”

Civility Democrat style

Alan Grayson (D) calls Tea Party people KKK and distributed an ugly photo of a burning cross for fund raising. That's civility Democrat style and how they demonize anyone who disagrees with Obama. I wonder if he knows the KKK was a wing of the Democrat Party, a terrorist group, and that some revered Democrats in our government were members? Robert Byrd, a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010, became a Kleagle and Exalted Cyclops of his local chapter, and that was just fine by all the Democrats who reelected him to be the longest serving Senator, and those fellow senators who welcomed and voted for all his pork.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan_members_in_United_States_politics

After he changed the Constitution, he ran for a third term

“Ilham Aliyev came to the third term as the head of Azerbaijan.
According to the agency, this is the first oath, that Ilham Aliyev gave after making changes and amendments in the Constitution of Azerbaijan at referendum held on March 2009, during which the restrictions, on one person staying in office for more than two consecutive terms, were changed.”

This doesn’t look like a bad translation, but seems to say the President made the changes to the Constitution.  That’s what happens when you write a Constitution and then ignore the executive powers.  I wonder if anyone in the U.S. objected?  Azerbaijan is an American ally, and their lobbyists have spent over $5 million the last 3 years in Washington. (Open Secrets)

Azerbaijan held presidential elections on October 9, where Ilham ALiyev took a victory with 84,58% votes. According to the preliminary data, Jamil Hasanli a single candidate from the oppositionist National Council of Democratic Forces is on the second place. He scored 5,54% of votes. The leaders of the "Musavat" party Isa Gambar, the head of the Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli, the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Sardar Jalaloglu and leader of the movement “EL” Eldar Namazov have declared about "total violations" and frauds during the presidential elections. The candidate of the National Council Jamil Hasanli has also noted the mass election frauds and announced incumbent President Ilham Aliyev responsible that. Jamil Hasanli’s headquarter has regularly issued releases describing election violations in details - ballot stuffing, "carousels", pressure on observes, etc.

Sort of sounds familiar.