When the House passed legislation to defund ObamaCare but would keep the government running through mid-December, the Senate, led by Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) stated that they would not budge on Obamacare and the legislation was defeated.
On Monday, Dr. Harold Pease, an expert on the United States Constitution, stated that the authority in dealing with Obamacare funding belongs to the U.S. House, not the U.S. Senate and that the House is doing this all wrong.
Pease said, “Everything hinged upon funding which was given exclusively to the House of Representatives, the only power that they alone had.”
Pease went on to say, “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. To fund anything, in this case Obamacare, first approval is required by the House of Representatives.”
“If that does not happen taxpayer money cannot be spent. The people, through their representatives to Congress, have determined, after a three-year closer scrutiny of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), that it does not protect the patient, is not affordable and is not even workable; hence in the interests of the vast majority of the people needs to be defunded.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 01:00:152013-10-03 01:00:15Obamacare Can Be Defunded Without Senate Approval
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has called on Obama administration employees to engage in civil disobedience and allow veterans to access Washington’s World War II memorial during the federal government’s ongoing partial shutdown.
Palin wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday that it is “beyond shameful to see Barack Obama disrespect and mistreat our World War II veterans so blatantly,” charging that he sent more guards to bar World War II heroes from seeing their memorial after the government shut down than he sent to Benghazi to protect Americans under assault by terrorists.
“Obama’s political stunt to ‘shut down’ their memorial by barricade is to elicit an angry response,” she asserted, “to generate bad publicity for people the president uses in his continual blame game.”
To make her point, Palin linked to a photo of a singular barricade at the World War I memorial. “The difference is obvious. There aren’t any World War I veterans alive today to mistreat in a shameful political stunt,” she wrote. “He’s deployed more guards to bar our World War II heroes from their memorial than he sent to Benghazi when our consulate was under attack.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 01:00:112013-10-03 01:00:11Palin Calls for Civil Disobedience at the WWII Memorial “Barrycades”
Congressional leaders emerged Wednesday night from a meeting with President Obama at the White House reporting little progress as all sides struggle for a solution to the government shutdown, which began Tuesday and showed no signs of breaking.
At the Capitol, the House continued to try to chip away at the problem by passing bills to fund high-profile programs such as national parks and the National Institutes of Health. But Mr. Obama has vowed to veto those bills, saying he won’t fund the government piece by piece.
Instead, Democrats held firm on their insistence that Republicans pass the Senate’s version of a spending bill that would fund the entire government at last year’s levels, and would preserve Mr. Obama’s health care law.
“They will not negotiate,” House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, told reporters after the meeting.
Although both sides said they didn’t want a shutdown, congressional aides were predicting that the fight could last for weeks. Mr. Obama canceled part of a trip to Asia, scheduled to begin this weekend, to keep working on the issue.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 00:50:502013-10-03 00:50:50No Go: Boehner says Obama Still Won’t Negotiate on Government Funding
The director of the National Security Agency revealed Wednesday that the government collected Americans’ cellphone location data in bulk as part of a secret pilot program in 2010 and 2011.
The program tracked the locations of an unknown number of people in the United States who were under no suspicion of wrongdoing.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander said the agency “received samples in order to test its systems” but that the cellphone location data was not used for any intelligence analysis.
He said the NSA is no longer collecting the information under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and promised that the agency would notify Congress before it resumes the program.
“This may be something that would be a future requirement for the country, but it is not right now because when we identify a number, we can give that to the FBI,” Alexander said. “When they get their probable cause, they can get the location data they need.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 00:50:122013-10-03 00:50:12NSA Admits Tracking Locations of Cellphones in the United States
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is blaming Republicans for the National Institutes of Health turning away cancer patients. But when asked why the Senate wouldn’t try to help “one child who has cancer” by approving a mini-spending bill, he shot back: “Why would we want to do that?”
The tense exchange occurred Wednesday, as Senate Democrats tried to lambaste Republicans ahead of a vote where the House ultimately approved funding the NIH and other agencies — a bid to ease the pain amid the budget stand-off.
Reid has opposed the measures, saying that if Republicans want to end the government suspension they’ll have to simply approve a “clean” budget bill — devoid of any provision that would hurt ObamaCare.
But Reid was challenged at a Democratic press conference by CNN’s Dana Bash about why the Senate wouldn’t consider the NIH bill.
“If you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?” she asked.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 00:35:462013-10-03 00:35:46Help Kids with Cancer? Reid Asks: ‘Why Would We Want to do That?’
The IRS is still collecting taxes during the government shutdown, but it isn’t sending refunds — and it also has stopped complying with a subpoena to turn over documents to members of Congress who are investigating the agency’s targeting of tea party groups.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee have stopped getting documents from the Internal Revenue Service.
“The IRS has indicated to the committee that their furlough decisions will affect the agency’s responsiveness to committee requests, including the outstanding subpoena,” said Ali Ahmad, a spokesman for the oversight committee.
The government shutdown, which began Tuesday morning, has kept home an estimated 800,000 federal employees, including more than 85,000 who work for the IRS, according to the agency’s contingency plan. That leaves slightly more than 9 percent of the IRS staff on the job.
That is too few to process refunds but does not let taxpayers out of their obligations.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 00:25:072013-10-03 00:25:07IRS Collecting Money but Not Sending Tax Refunds During Shutdown
In Tennessee, those shopping on the new health insurance co-ops could end up with more than just some health insurance. They might even walk away with a free smartphone.
The Nashville Business Journal is reporting that Community Health Alliance, Tennessee’s Obamacare health insurance co-op, is using the prospect of a free phone to encourage folks to enroll:
Community Health Alliance, Tennessee’s health insurance co-op, is running a unique promotional program to drive enrollment in its plans for sale on the exchange: health insurance in exchange for a smartphone.
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the appointment of an independent monitor and a community advisory board to ensure that an Arizona sheriff is complying with constitutional requirements after finding his office engages in racial profiling.
U.S. District Judge Murray Snow found in May that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office singled out Latinos and deputies unreasonably prolonged detentions.
It was the first finding by a court that the agency covering Arizona’s most populous county engages in racial profiling after a small group of Latinos sued the Arpaio for violating their constitutional rights, saying they were being detained simply because of their race.
Snow had delayed ordering remedies in the case to allow time for both parties to reach agreements, but disputes over key issues prevented consensus.
In his ruling Wednesday, Snow ordered that a monitor be appointed to oversee the agency’s re-training of deputies and ensure the Sheriff’s Office is complying with constitutional requirements. Snow also ordered the creation of a community advisory board aimed at helping restore the public’s confidence, among other remedies.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-10-03 00:10:572013-10-03 00:10:57Judge Orders Monitor to be Appointed to Oversee Arizona Sheriff Arpaio
It’s possible for a law to be really stupid, but still constitutional, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Wednesday in a lecture at Tufts University.
Scalia’s appearance attracted a couple dozen student protesters outside the venue. Inside, Tufts’ president said school officials had to increase seating capacity twice and even turn down ticket requests from some local law students.
Scalia talked about his approach to interpreting the U.S. Constitution, calling it a legal document and “not an organism.”
The justice also called himself a conservative, saying he’d put more people in jail if it was up to him, just not in violation of that document.
Scalia has served on the nation’s highest court since 1986, following a nomination by President Ronald Reagan.
The White House and the Department of the Interior rejected a request from Rep. Steven Palazzo’s office to have World War II veterans visit the World War II memorial in Washington, the Mississippi Republican told The Daily Caller Tuesday.
Palazzo helped the veterans commit an act of civil disobedience against the Park Service Tuesday, when the heroes stormed through barricades around the closed memorial. (Related: WWII vets storm closed memorial as GOP congressman reportedly distracts cops)
The veterans were visiting the memorial as part of Honor Flight, a non-profit that provides veterans free transport to the nation’s capital to visit the memorials to the wars they fought in…
In a statement, Palazzo noted that he is introducing legislation to ensure that all Honor Flights are granted access this week. “This is an open-air memorial that the public has 24/7 access to under normal circumstances — even when Park Service personnel aren’t present,” Palazzo said in the statement. “It actually requires more effort and expense to shut out these veterans from their Memorial than it would to simply let them through. My office has been in touch with NPS officials and the Administration to try to resolve this issue.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________ World War II Veterans Storm Memorial: Pols Help
by Mackenzie Weinger and Jose Delreal – Politico
(Politico) An Honor Flight of almost 100 WWII veterans on the Mississippi Gulf Coast flight didn’t let the barricades set up due to the government shutdown stop them from entering the memorial, according to reports and Tweets from the area. Shortly after, a group of Iowa vets wearing matching yellow shirts also entered the memorial and more visitors poured in….
“We’ll be here every day we’re shut down, until it’s done,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) who was out doing her “usual morning walk” when she received an email from another member of Congress about the veterans. “I ran over here to do what I could,” Bachmann said…
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert (R) also tweeted a photo of him with a veteran at the memorial, writing, “Proud to stand with #WW2 veterans today in Washington, DC,” and Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga (R) told his followers, “Amazing grace sounds even more beautiful on bagpipes when I am helping WWII vets tour the monument they risked their lives for. #freedom.” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Steve King (R-Iowa) were also on hand.
________________________________________________________________________________________ Veterans Break Past World War II Memorial Barricade
By Laura Koran and Ashley Killough — CNN
Busloads of World War II veterans, many in wheelchairs, broke past a barricade Tuesday morning to cross into the World War II Memorial, as onlookers applauded and a man playing the bagpipes led the way.
Moments earlier, a few Republican members of Congress had removed a section of the black gates that surrounded the site, allowing a line of veterans to roll past security officers, who willingly stood aside…
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, called the moment heart-warming, if infuriating that intervention was necessary in the first place. “We don’t have guards around them at any other time,” King said of the monuments in a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon.
He referred to the gating off of the memorial as “a completely spiteful act,” by President Obama, comparing it to the White House canceling school tours in the aftermath of the automatic budget cuts of the sequester. “Perhaps the most bitter, spiteful act ever committed by a commander in chief”…
Carol Johnson, the spokeswoman for the National Mall and Parks, said the memorial hosts Honor Flight visitors every day. “We want to make sure that they have a good time and are enjoying the memorial, but legally, the National Mall and the memorial are closed,” she said. Asked if she was off the clock and volunteering her time, Johnson replied: “Apparently so.”
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has called on Obama administration employees to engage in civil disobedience and allow veterans to access Washington’s World War II memorial during the federal government’s ongoing partial shutdown.
by Charles C. Johnson – Daily Caller