When it comes to Obama Care, even if the doctor is "in" – he is probably clueless.
A recent survey shows two-thirds of all doctors don’t understand Obama Care. They don’t know about the plans, benefits, patient coverage terms, how they’ll be paid, the claims process, and more.
The concern is that many patients rely on their doctors for this kind of information, but not with ObamaCare.
In just a few months Obama Care open enrollment may begin.
All of these changes are being brought to you by our folks in Disney East!
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Obama said yesterday on the campus of some college the swirling scandals were phony and Congress had taken its eye off the ball.
If truth be known, the alleged scandals are not phony and the only person taking his eye off the ball is Obama when he putts!
Obama continues the supreme denier in the hope those he continues to dupe will forget about the four deaths in Benghazi, the IRS gum shoe efforts to block freedom of speech, NSA snooping, the Fast and Furious program sending weapons to Mexican Drug Lord thugs, the unconstitutional appointments to the NLRB among others matters.
Obama continues to lay blame elsewhere while he mesmerizes us with more insidious speechifying.
In truth, Obama decries, for ideological and political reasons, the disparity between the rich, middles class and poor and yet his own very policies have helped create the circumstance about which he complains. The Fed's policy of stimulation has not resulted in substantial employment but has caused a boon for stock holders and Wall Street.
Obama's energy policies have restrained employment and kept America more dependent on unstable external energy sources.
His health care and air quality policies have added restrictive costs and other cumbersome restraints on employment, retention of workers, expanded work hours and pay increases and yet his speeches blame others for conditions and he wants listeners to ignore his own absence, five years of golf playing, lavish travels and circumventing Congress.
In the final analysis, Obama remains an ideologically mired leftist and a worthless and pathetic leader!
Obama is the real phony in the room!
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Is Kerry dreaming? (See 1 below.)
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Hanson reminds us that history has a way of repeating itself! (See 2 below.)
Police in Detroit announced the discovery of an arms cache of 200 semi-automatic rifles with 25,000 rounds of ammunition, 200 pounds of heroin, 5 million in forged US banknotes and 25 trafficked Latino prostitutes -- all in a semi-detached house behind the Public Library on Woodward Ave.
Local residents were stunned, and a community spokesman said: "We're all shocked, we have a library?"
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Lloyd Marcus keeps telling blacks what they need but refuse to hear.
(See 3 below.)
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Dr. Lerner offers practical solutions which are being ignored. (See 4 below.)
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Dick
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1)Kerry's mad mission – Misreading the Middle East
By Amir Taher
Egypt is in turmoil while Syria is fragmenting into ungoverned “territories” and Lebanon is inching toward civil war. Iran is setting the stage for another diplomatic rope trick to speed up its nuclear project and jihadists are reappearing in Iraq’s Arab Sunni provinces. Washington’s closest regional allies, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are falling out over Egypt and Syria.
Well, that’s the Middle East, you might say, and it should be no surprise that John Kerry has visited it six times in his first five months as secretary of state.
The trouble is, Kerry’s visits had little to do with real threats to the region’s stability. He visited in pursuit of an old chimera: peace between Israel and the Palestinians. That he has now persuaded both sides to agree to talk about possible peace talks is even less impressive than it seems.
A long shot: Secretary of State John Kerry looks out a helicopter window during his latest trip to the Middle East in pursuit of peace talks. (Reuters)
Kerry says he’s spent months “listening to all sides.” The result is the mysterious “package of ideas” he has presented to the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.
Anyone could’ve told Kerry that he was not only wasting his time but might actually diminish chances of peace. He should’ve read the notes left by another Democratic ex-senator, George Mitchell, who was dispatched by President Obama early in his first term with the mission to create a Palestinian state within a year.
Mitchell quickly found that a peace settlement was not a priority for either protagonist. He also knew that, in his final months in office, President Bill Clinton had brokered the best deal imaginable within reason but failed to persuade Yasser Arafat to accept it.
The Mitchell mission failed because there was no active and urgent demand for peace. Today, there’s not even demand. A status quo has been established and both sides are comfortable with it.
This doesn’t mean that Palestinians and Israelis don’t suffer. They do, albeit in different ways. Nor does it mean that Palestinians and Israelis don’t want peace. They do, albeit with different definitions of “peace.” However, weighing the risks of a “golden” unknown against the certainties of the status quo, most Palestinians and Israelis tend to prefer the latter.
The Israel-Palestine problem has a regional dimension as well. From the 1940s to the 1990s, that regional dimension excluded any serious attempt at peace-making. Most Arab states wanted the Palestinian “cause” to remain alive and active; they had an interest in supporting Palestinian groups opposed to peace with Israel.
The current upheaval in Arab countries has plunged that regional dimension into uncertainty. Today, no one is actively interested in the Palestinian issue. Those who follow the Arab media would know that Palestine has all but disappeared even from public discourse. Thus, the regional dimension can’t be used as a lever either for war or peace.
Of course, if the new Middle East emerges as a more or less democratic space, solving the Israel-Palestine problem could become easier.
Thus, Kerry and, more importantly, Obama should focus their energies on helping the Middle East shed its despotic political culture and take the path of democratization. That, however, requires a clarity of vision and real commitment of intellectual and material resources to tackle the Herculean task of unchaining the peoples of the region.
Obama and Kerry aren’t ready to deploy the United States’ immense moral, economic, political and military power in support of such a task. They’re still debating whether or not the military coup in Egypt was actually a coup; the State Department says it is no longer sure whether the Taliban could be described as “terrorist,” and Obama fixes “red lines” on Syria but ends up pressuring US allies not to supply arms to anti-Assad rebels.
Kerry keeps repeating that “time is running out,” whereas, in fact, the only thing that never runs out is time. What is running out is the credibility of the Obama-Kerry tandem as serious leaders.
Palestinians tell me that Kerry’s “package” is a jumble of contradictions. For example, he promises to stop Jewish settlement in exchange for recognizing Israel as a “Jewish” state.
Kerry’s mission is twofold: to divert attention from Washington’s failure to even understand what’s happening in the Middle East, and, to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to agree to “talk about talks.”
That would let the Obama-Kerry duo claim they succeeded in restarting “the peace process” after winning the support of the Arab League. That the league, split three ways on a range of issues, is no longer a functioning entity is quietly forgotten.
However, no one in the region is ready to play the game.
“Kerry’s move does not make us angry,” says a Palestinian parliament member. “It only makes us yawn.”
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2)Back to Our 20th-Century Future
By Victor Davis Hanson
We may be in the era of Facebook and fracking. But 2013 is still beginning to look a lot like the cataclysmic century we just left behind.
More people probably died from the wars of the 20th century than from the battles of the prior 2,500 years combined. The bloodiest century saw the rise of fascism, Nazism, communism and jihadism.
Capitalism almost collapsed during the Great Depression. What followed was a Big Government antidote not unlike our own experience after the panic of 2008.
The end of most colonialism and imperialism was also a 20th-century development. So was the rise of modernist and postmodernist culture, along with civil rights, feminism and nationalism.
No wonder that despite the promise of the 21st century, we keep trying to make sense of the last 13 years by looking back through the lenses of the last action-packed 100.
Take the present chaos abroad. The rise and new assertiveness of China is eerily like that of Japan in the 1930s.
Japan also once tried to adopt Western-style industrial capitalism without consensual government. For a time, that nation grew rapidly.
The rising sun of Japan felt slighted by the supposedly weak and corrupt twilight Western powers after World War I. America and its European allies were not willing to grant Japan regional influence commensurate with its rising global power. What followed was a decade-long Japanese war in Asia.
Does the same depressing lesson now apply to China? Can Beijing square the circle of capitalism without democracy? Can it have much of the world's cash without the world's largest military?
Will China, like 1930s Japan, resent established Western powers to the point of another war in the Pacific?
The situation in Syria seems a lot like the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. Almost every regional power and world superpower is flooding Syria with either weapons, troops or both -- Iran, Hezbollah, the Gulf sheikdoms, Russia, Europe and the United States.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a sort of Franco-type thug, propping up his fascist effort with foreign arms and troops. If Syria follows the Spanish blueprint for a wider war, what follows will be even worse.
Talking loudly while carrying a small stick became infamous last century, after the British capitulation to Hitler at Munich in 1938. The same sort of "peace for our time" complacency characterizes Western sanctions in response to Iranian nuclear proliferation.
It is eerie how most responsible nations loudly condemn Iran's race to get a bomb, but they are just as reluctant to face down Iran as the early 20th-century democracies were to confront Hitler before he became too powerful and confident. Once again we are understandably unsure whether the bad choice of using force now is preferable to the nightmare of using even greater force later.
The wobbly European Union was based on the same 20th-century idealism that once launched the League of Nations and the United Nations. And Europe seems to be following the same tired script of the 1930s. Weak democracies are once again offering moral lectures to rising powers while disarming.
The 20th century's "German problem" was supposed to be a distant memory. But a reformed and democratic Germany nevertheless is once again earning both the envy and fear of its weaker neighbors.
Like 1938 Britain, most of the European Union has no clue how to prevent German economic dynamism from eventually leading to military and political dominance. In early 20th-century fashion, the volatile European street is swinging from hard left to hard right.
Vladimir Putin's Russia is as authoritarian as ever. As in the last century, Israel and the Palestinians still have no peace. Brazil still has unlimited but never-realized potential. Argentina remains the same self-destructive mess. The Arab Spring ended in the same old Middle East chaos.
The 21st-century United States is in a 20th-century fit of depression -- with the decline of America the same cultural motif.
In the 1930s, fascism was purported to be more efficient than American democracy. Then Nazism was said to create more idealistic and disciplined citizens.
After World War II, the new communist man was announced as the wave of the future.
Then came the superior 20th-century model of postwar "Japan, Inc."
Next was the all-powerful European Union.
The ruthlessly efficient Chinese juggernaut followed and seemed destined to outpace 20th-century America -- which was suffering everything from stagflation to a shortage of oil.
But once more, 21st-century America is confounding its critics by reinventing itself as it did last century.
The U.S. may soon become the world's largest gas and oil producer. Food exports are booming as never before. American brands from iPhones and Starbucks to Google and Twitter flood the world.
To find answers for this chaotic young century, just look back at the past one.
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3)Black America's True Nemesis: Liberals, Not Zimmerman
By Lloyd Marcus
In the midst of all the racial hullabaloo stirred up by so-called advocates for black empowerment after the Zimmerman trail, guess who is really being harmed? Answer: black America.
All of you black pastors, black politicians, and black celebs who have joined Sharpton and the MSM's lynch mob to "get Zimmerman" should be ashamed of yourselves. You are doing a huge disservice to the very people you claim to champion by chasing a straw man while ignoring the real issues that are devastating black America.
Everyone knows that the black community is a mess. White folks ain't killin' us. We are killing each other. Over 70 and increasing percent of black kids grow up in fatherless homes. Researchers warn that we blacks are aborting ourselves into extinction. Black school dropout rates are at epidemic levels. Fatherless households and school dropouts fuel through the roof high black unemployment, gangs, and incarcerations.
And yet, all of you so-called defenders of black America are hell-bent on destroying the life of one Hispanic for defending himself. Displaying remarkable evil intent, the MSM launched a false narrative filled with lies about the incident, not giving a darn about the consequences, like loss of property and lives.
To strengthen their "America is racist" storyline the MSM creatively called Zimmerman a "white Hispanic." The MSM edited Zimmerman's 911 call to make him sound racist. To gin up black rage, the MSM promoted a photo of Martin as an innocent 12-year-old rather than the 17-year-old 6'2"-160-lb. thug he was at the time of the incident. Yes, Martin's history documents that he was a thug.
By the way, black activists saying that the jury declaring Zimmerman not guilty means that it is open season on young black men is pure evil race-baiting crap. Statistically, blacks are 50 times more likely to assault whites than vice-versa.
You black avengers should be totally outraged that CNN's white liberal host Piers Morgan presented Rachel Jeantel's ignorant ghetto language as representative of how we speak in the black community. Morgan called Jeantel "one smart cookie," and you knuckleheads probably consider Morgan and his condescending fellow white liberals our friends.
Please forgive my use of "knuckleheads." I just find it extremely frustrating that liberals continue to urinate on blacks and tell us it is the Republicans' fault...and we fall for it. Liberal pandering has destroyed the black family and continues to wreak havoc in the black community -- and my fellow blacks cannot see it. They continue to kiss white liberals' derrieres. Yes, I am frustrated.
In the eyes of a relative of mine, her son could do no wrong. She created a spoiled brat who grew up to be a jerk -- no self-discipline or respect for authority. His personal relationships were disasters. He could not keep a job. He died young. While I believe that everyone is ultimately responsible for his own behavior, this boy's mom's lack of parenting contributed to his demise.
Folks, this is exactly what liberal black leaders and liberal whites having been doing to blacks: refusing to hold us accountable for destructive behavior and making excuses for us.
Real compassion is honestly dealing with the issues plaguing the black community rather than so-called advocates (Democrats and the MSM) using our dysfunction for their political and financial gain.
All of you black celebs and black politicians demanding Zimmerman's head on a platter make mega-millions of dollars a year. With blacks being only 12% of the population, you would not be who you are without white support. Thus, your accusation that America is hostile towards black males is absurd, racist, and worst of all, discouraging to young blacks.
America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it. Period! End of subject!
Black advocates indulging blacks in irresponsible self-destructive behavior serve only to undermine black progress, creating spoiled, entitlement-minded, undisciplined, hopeless, and angry black youths. Do you guys not see the disservice you are doing to your own people? It is the same as bad parenting.
But here is what is truly sad and frustrating: every word in this article is true, and yet, liberals, black and white, will read it and seek to silence, punish, and destroy me. They'll call me a traitorous sellout, an Uncle Tom, and a self-loathing stupid N-word.
Meanwhile, liberals' exploitation will further the decline and suffering of black America. Race-hustling ambulance-chasers like Sharpton will continue seeking opportunities to extort a buck and increase their political power. Liberals will continue treating us blacks like inferior idiots, demanding lowered standards and expectations. Lord, help us.
Black males will continue killing each other over the slightest dis. That 70% rate of black out-of-wed births and fatherless homes will continue rising, along with school dropouts, abortions, unemployment, and incarcerations. And blacks will continue rewarding liberal Democrats with almost 100% of their vote.
In keeping with liberals' lowering the bar for blacks, Rachel Jeantel will probably get her own reality TV show. Millions of black youths will be able to learn "new school," as Rachel described it, black language -- "creepy ass cracka" and "nigga." I wonder what her TV show will be titled. "Rachel Jeantel: She Be All Dat"?
Go ahead and accuse me of not being down with authentic blackness or of being a traitor to my race if you want to, but I will not be tuning into Rachel's show.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspired black excellence, must be turning over in his grave.
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4)Weekly Commentary: Obama hurts Abbas
Dr. Aaron Lerner#1. Obama hurts Abbas
Everyone involved knows that Abbas could have agreed to renewed talks with
his head held high if the event was marked by the release of all the
pre-Oslo terrorists in a single release.
And everyone involved knows the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu can
release all of these murderers in exchange for the immediate release of
Jonathan Pollard.
Add to all this: everyone involved knows that President Obama can release
Pollard with literally the stroke of his pen – this when he can readily
explain the move as a matter of justice, taken after due consideration of
the many learned appeals for Pollard that he has received.
Instead Mahmoud Abbas finds himself "nickel and dimeing" with the Americans –
even after Kerry's conditional announcement last Friday - as he seeks a way
to join the talks without jeopardizing his own shaky future.
#2. Interim arrangement shouldn't mean interim withdrawals
Many Israeli observers are suggesting that this round of talks, if it does
take place, cannot be expected to conclude with a final status agreement but
instead with some interim arrangement. The withdrawal supporters, as can be
expected, are already arguing that Israel will have to reward Abbas with
various withdrawals in order to make the interim arrangement palatable.
Withdrawals would be a terribly shortsighted mistake as they only set the
stage for more interim withdrawals another year two down the road.
There are arrangements that would be welcomed by the Palestinian street that
have nothing to do with Israeli withdrawals.
+ Investments in infrastructure to expedite Palestinian movement both
between Palestinian locations and transit that involves passing though
Israeli areas.
+ Extension of service hours for Israeli authorities that interface with
Palestinians.
+ Streamlining the procedures for Palestinian import/export through Israeli
ports.
+ And if we want to do something truly radical and dramatic: assigning a
terminal at Ben Gurion Airport that specifically handles traffic to and from
the PA complete with an arrangement for early check in at locations in
Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron so that Palestinians can board a
shuttle service to the airport. A shuttle service, by the way, that would
enable Palestinians to travel via the "Palestinian terminal" without needing
a permit to be in Israel.
#3. Oversight in war-making absent in peace-making
It is hardly perfect oversight, but the members of an elite special Knesset
subcommittee with top security clearance are aware of pretty much every
defense related plan and operation.
In sharp contrast, there is no oversight mechanism for “peace making”
activities.
And the absence of oversight can lead to a lot of mistakes – both technical
and otherwise.
This is not conjecture.
For example, almost every time, in the course of Oslo, that maps were drawn
in secret major, glaring errors were discovered after the fact and the fluid
nature of the process made ex-post corrections possible. This may not be
the case with final status maps bearing the initials of the parties.
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