States: ‘Blindsided’ by Plan to Shift Costs of ‘Uninsurables’ to Them Under ObamaCare

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Photo Credit: APThousands of people with serious medical problems are in danger of losing coverage under President Obama’s health care overhaul because of cost overruns, state officials say.

At risk is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, a transition program that’s become a lifeline for the so-called uninsurables — people with serious medical conditions who can’t get coverage elsewhere. The program helps bridge the gap for those patients until next year, when under the new law insurance companies will be required to accept people regardless of their medical problems.

In a letter this week to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, state officials said they were “blindsided” and “very disappointed” by a federal proposal they contend would shift the risk for cost overruns to states in the waning days of the program. About 100,000 people are currently covered.

“We are concerned about what will become of our high risk members’ access to this decent and affordable coverage,” wrote Michael Keough, chairman of the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans. States and local nonprofits administer the program in 27 states, and the federal government runs the remaining plans.

“We fear…catastrophic disruption of coverage for these vulnerable individuals,” added Keough, who runs North Carolina’s program. He warned of “large-scale enrollee terminations at this critical transition time.”

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Will the Last Religious Politician Please Turn Out the Lights?

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Photo Credit: istolethetvIf at one time being a member of a church was almost a requirement for anyone running for office, that time has long since passed. These days, portraying a candidate as a “fine, upstanding Christian” is enough to send any potential office seeker to the political graveyard. Due to constant stereotyping by liberals, such a description now conjures an image that is a combination of Boss Hogg, Huey Long, and Elmer Gantry.

The result, among others, is that the openly Christian candidate is out of favor with the political establishment here and abroad.

Across the pond in England, antagonism toward those who are churched and who openly express their religious beliefs has long prevailed. According to “Erasmus” a columnist for The Economist, Margaret Thatcher may well have been the “last British prime minister openly and emphatically to acknowledge the influence of Christianity on her thinking, in particular terms not fuzzy ones. […] In her religious origins, she was informed by a passion that was foreign to the English establishment.”
Erasmus goes on to explain that openly professed religious sensibilities evoke such revulsion from the British establishment that former Prime Minister Tony Blair experienced a great deal of pressure to keep his faith to himself: “Tony Blair is passionately religious but was famously discouraged by his advisors from ‘doing God’ in public because of the fear he might sound nutty. ”

The feelings of revulsion toward “nutty” people of faith certainly have not been confined to Britain. Most Western establishments, political or otherwise, are hostile toward openly Christian politicians, reserving their most vicious attacks for those who frankly profess their faith in Christ. In America, the vice presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin, to whom liberals assigned the perspicacity of Elmer Fudd, was a prime example of how worked up leftist wolf PACs become at the prospect of a conservative Christian running for high office.

When did the political tide turn against Christians and other people of faith?

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Man Bites Dog, Saves Wife (+video)

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Photo Credit: inquisitrSometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Or, at least bite with bite. A man in Grimes, Iowa, saved his wife from a dog attack by using some animal tactics of his own. Laine Henry bit the dog on the nose to step the animal from attacking his wife Caren.

According to KDVR, Caren and Laine were walking their pet beagle on Sunday afternoon last week when another dog, a Labrador retriever mix, got out of its yard and attacked them. The lab, named Buddy, attacked Caren. The dog bit her right thigh, stomach, and face. According to the Des Moines Register, the dog bit Carren’s nose and “ripped it off.”

The woman suffered serious injuries in the attack but it would have been worse if her husband Laine wasn’t around. The man was able to fight the dog and eventually got it to stop attacking by biting the dog on the nose.
Read more at https://www.inquisitr.com/647680/man-bites-dog-saves-wife/#UTadvehJrcgCUeX4.99

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Syria Says Israeli Strike Hits Military Center (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily StarBy The Daily Star. Massive explosions shook Damascus early Sunday and Syrian state media said Israeli missiles had hit a military research center on the outskirts of the capital.

“Initial information indicates that the explosions at the scientific research center in Jamraya near Damascus were caused by Israeli missiles,” the official SANA news agency. It gave no further details.

Damascus residents reported hearing massive blasts at 1:50 am Sunday.

“There was a large explosion. We first felt shakes like an earthquake and 30 seconds later heard gunfire,” one resident told The Daily Star by telephone from the Syrian capital.

“There was an electricity cut then a large boom.The door of my balcony opened from the after effect,” another resident said, adding that warplanes could be heard overhead.

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‘Israeli officials confirm Syria airstrike that hit Hezbollah-bound weapons’

By AP and Times of Israel Staff. Israeli officials on Saturday reportedly confirmed the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike against Syria and say it targeted a shipment of advanced missiles.

The officials said the shipment was not of chemical arms, but of “game changing” weapons bound for the terror group Hezbollah. One official said the target was a shipment of advanced, long-range ground-to-ground missiles.

The officials said the attack took place early Friday. It was not immediately clear where the airstrike took place, or whether the air force carried out the strike from Lebanese or Syrian airspace.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian officials, and no word of the airstrike on Syrian state media.

According to a source quoted by Reuters in a report Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for secret talks on Thursday night, hours before the strike. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Sings Mexico’s Praises, but Some Mexicans Hear Flat Notes (+video)

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Photo Credit: jurvetsonAfter President Obama’s upbeat speech in Mexico on Friday, many in attendance said they were flattered by the description of their country, but others said they hardly recognized the place he had just described.

“[That was] a really good speech by President Obama, but what Mexico was he talking about?” said Jose Carlos Cruz, 24, a graduate student in international relations. “Unfortunately in our country, the situation is terrible: There’s poverty, unemployment, and even worse, the future is anything but promising.

“How nice that he came to give inspiring speeches, but what’s happening in Mexico is far from what he talked about today,” Cruz said.

Alberto Rios Lara, 26, who is studying to be an economist, said: “Obama is a great speaker — it’s really impossible not to feel excited. However, the reality is different in Mexico. We need more action and fewer speeches.”

In the speech, delivered at National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Obama described Mexico as a nation that is “creating new prosperity,” has “lifted millions from poverty” and has institutions that are “more accountable to you.”

Watch video here:

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Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano Erupting

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Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and VideoAlaska’s Cleveland Volcano is undergoing a continuous low-level eruption following an explosion early Saturday morning, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Satellites and cameras suggest low-level emissions of gas, steam and ash, scientists said, and satellites detected highly elevated surface temperatures at the summit. A faint plume of ash extended eastward below 15,000 feet, but the Federal Aviation Administration said there were no flight restrictions as a result.

“Sudden explosions of blocks and ash are possible with little or no warning,” scientists said. “Ash clouds, if produced, could exceed 20,000 feet above sea level.”

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Facebook Causes ‘Psychotic Episodes and Delusions’, Claims Study

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Photo Credit: Mike KempFacebook and other social networking sites can actually send you mad, according to scientists in Israel.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have linked psychotic episodes in patients to internet addiction and delusions caused by virtual relationships cultivated on social networking sites.

Although all the participants had underlying problems of loneliness, none had any history of psychosis or drug abuse, the team say.

Lead researcher Doctor Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Shalvata Mental Health Care Centre said: ‘As internet access becomes increasingly widespread, so do related psychopathologies.

‘Computer communications such as Facebook and chat groups are an important part of this story.’

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Benghazi May Turn Out to be Obama’s Watergate

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Photo Credit: Greg GroeschBenghazi may turn out to be President Obama’s Watergate. The scandal is a growing cancer on the administration, threatening its very existence. The more information comes out, the more damning it is. This is why Democrats — and their media allies — are desperately trying to sweep the truth under the rug. Mr. Obama’s political survival is at stake.

High-profile lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing are in touch with State Department whistleblowers who were on the ground in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, when our diplomatic mission was attacked by jihadists. Mr. diGenova says they can no longer remain silent. The whistleblowers want to testify before a House congressional committee. There is only one problem. According to Mr. diGenova and Ms. Toensing, the whistleblowers are being prevented — and intimidated — from speaking out by the Obama administration. Vindictive State Department officials are denying their request for legal representation. Since the whistleblowers’ potential testimony relates to classified information, they refuse to go forward in public without effective legal representation. The possible personal and professional consequences are immense.

If — and I stress if — they testify, then the Obama presidency is in mortal jeopardy. Mr. diGenova stresses that the whistleblowers possess information that will expose the administration’s lies and cover-up. Republicans on Capitol Hill should pursue this scandal to the end.

Benghazi should have been prevented. During the summer of 2012, al Qaeda thugs were roaming the streets of the city. The Red Cross and the British diplomatic mission pulled out. Our consulate had been physically attacked several times. This is why U.S. officials there repeatedly asked the State Department for bolstered security. It was denied.

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Rear Admiral Will Not Back Down From ‘My Right Under the Constitution’ to Share Faith

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Faith in the military took center stage Thursday at the 62nd observance of the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C, as lawmakers and faith leaders gathered on Capitol Hill.

After a series of speakers addressed those gathered at the Cannon Office Building, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. William D. Lee, took the microphone to represent Americans serving in the military. Lee told the crowd he had 10 minutes of carefully prepared remarks, but he decided to leave them in his chair and “speak from the heart” instead. Lee, who described himself as “a man of deep abiding faith who happens to wear a uniform,” went on to defy any efforts to stop military personnel from openly sharing their Christian faith—a topic sparking widespread controversy in the media this week. (See “Religious battle lines” by Edward Lee Pitts.)

Lee mentioned last year’s record high number of military suicides, 349—roughly one per day—and said every 65 minutes a military veteran will take his or her own life. “I want you to remember that number,” he said.

He recounted a recent meeting with a 24-year-old soldier who had attempted suicide but survived his self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Lee said when he heard the man’s story, he knew the rules said he should send the man to a chaplain, but his heart said to give him a Bible.

“The lawyers tell me that if I do that, I’m crossing the line,” Lee said. “I’m so glad I’ve crossed that line so many times.”

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‘Blame America First’ President Says US Guns are Responsible for Mexican Violence (+video)

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Photo Credit: APPresident Obama used a speech at Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropología – the National Anthropology Museum – to claim that ‘most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States.’

‘I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms,’ Obama said. ‘And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will.’

‘But at the same time, as I’ve said in the United States, I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people.’

‘That can save lives here in Mexico and back home in the United States,’ Obama added. ‘It’s the right thing to do.’

‘So we’ll keep increasing the pressure on gun traffickers who bring illegal guns into Mexico. We’ll keep putting these criminals where they belong: behind bars.’

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