Aint' He Tweet?

President Barack Obama and Obama Advisor Dan Pfeiffer - thick as theives

President Obama did not attend the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania yesterday.  We were told it was due to numerous scheduling conflicts, he's busy fixing the ObamaCare website, and still working on 'lowering the seas' as he promised during his 2008 campaign.

Yes, the President was too busy to attend Tuesday's commemoration (it's over 43 miles away from where he is after all), but he was able to squeeze in 18 holes this past Sunday.  In the end, the President remains conflicted, the website (and Legislation) remains 'busted', and 'sea levels', well, they are what they are - no changes to the good or ill recorded.  

It would have been nice if the President saw his way clear to spend a few hours celebrating the vision and sacrifice of those who fought and died so that he might one day become President of the United States, but 'Matters of State' being what they are, well, he had no time for mixing it up with the masses.

He has work to do.

For America?

No.  For his Democratic Party.

I say this not because I believe the President is an Ideologue who puts politics above all else (okay, I BELIEVE it, but I'm not saying it here, okay), but rather because White House Advisor, Dan Pfeiffer said it for me.  

A reporter inquired of the White House as to WHY the President would not be attending an event which would remember the 16th President who, passed Legislation which declared slaves free, allowing Barack Obama to become President, Oprah Winfrey to become a Racist, and Al Sharpton to, um, whatever it is that he is...

The President WAS busy, but he wasn't busy with matters of state, he was busy trying to address the only thing which matters to him...  His Party.

Ron Fournier's Question:  "What's on his schedule that is more important than Gettysburg anniversary?"

Dan Pfeiffer's Response:  "Oh, I don't know, there's this whole website thing that someone suggested might destroy the Dem Party."

Yes, this is the official response from the White House's 'Communications Guy', Dan Pfeiffer.

He's not looking to fix the website because people are losing their insurance, rather, he's looking to save his Party.  

Well played Dan, well played.  

Is this the first time Dan's been in a Twitter 'Roid Rage?  Oh no, he's been here before...

Someone tweeted Pfeiffer a note on October 8, 2013, that a website acknowledged race as a major factor in American political 'polarization', blaming the increased 'divide' on (radical?) Internet and cable sources, vs. traditional (Administration Friendly) Media outlets.

Pfeiffer responded that "It's a very smart point and massive factor in political polarization."

He then went on to Tweet, "Also a much nigger factor on the right."

Okay, I know that he was attempting to blame the 'bigger' political polarization on the 'Right', but seriously, Dan, do you read what you actually post?

I will NOT pick on Dan any longer, instead, I'm including a couple of Tweets sent to him following his 'N-Word' drop via Twitter...

Yeah, what they said.

The polarization of America continues.

It begins at the top and worms it way down into the core of our society.  

Getting Out from Under... God

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
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. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
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Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
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.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 
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It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
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--  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863
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 The above represents the Bliss Copy of the Gettysburg Address.  This is the version which adorns the wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.   This is the speech given by the Sixteenth President on November 19, 1863 - 150 years ago today.
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Documentary film-maker, Ken Burns, asked all living Presidents to read the Gettysburg Address for an upcoming PBS production.
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President Obama read the entire speech and it is presented here for your review:
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Well, my last statement is NOT entirely accurate.
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He read a different version of the speech leaving out two little words found in the final transcript of the Address.
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Those words, as you may have already guessed were, "under God". 
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Ken Burns' website, www.learntheaddress.org, put up a note by Noon today that the film maker requested that the President read the Nicolay version of the Address, the first draft of the speech (the one which pretty much no one knows), vs. the final version of the speech, the only one signed and dated by President Lincoln.
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I found this odd, as today we are are remembering the ACTUAL speech, rather than the draft version of the speech.
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But, between you and me?  I expect no less from our current President.
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If he couldn't sneak in a, 'under Me', into the address, there was no way on Earth he was going to say, "under God".
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The dude might burst into flames.

Not because he's Satan or anything, but just that the realization that there is something 'Greater than himself' he might vibrate so hard that he would spontaneously combust...  
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Obamaclypse Now - The ObamaCare 360 Edition

 

Somebody get me a dead horse, I've got some kicking to do...

Hey, here it comes now...

"This fix won't solve every problem for every person.  But it's going to help a lot of people... President Obama, November 14, 2013"

Mr. President, the 'Fix WAS in' almost one month ago when Republicans in the House of Representatives sent Harry Reid MULTIPLE Bills which postponed your Individual Mandate of ObamaCare for one year.  

YOUR guy, Harry, refused to allow any Bill touching 'your precious' prior to the Democrat-sponsored shutdown of the government (which, of course, no one remembers because for the past five weeks the ObamaCare fiasco has absorbed ALL oxygen in the room).

 

But, you probably don't remember that, do you?  

Yeah, that's what I thought.

So on Thursday you hold a Press Conference (the day before a vote in the House on a Bill which will 'legally' allow Americans to keep their health insurance) to um, tell us that we can keep our health insurance, if we can manage to...  Keep our health insurance.  

The problem, of course, is those 'evil corporations' providing Health Insurance to we, the great unwashed people of America - well, you neglected to tell them about your BOLD vision in advance of your 'ObamaCare 360' speech.  

In your haste to do what the House recommended that you do more than month ago, in advance of this past Friday's House Vote, you did what you do best...  

You led from behind.

Well, actually you DID tell insurance firms on Friday - after you told America what you needed the insurance companies to do for you.  You told them to take the next six weeks (two of which have major holidays within them) and figure out how to reverse a process which your administration took over three years to lay out for them. 

Yes, you gave providers roughly four and a half 'work-weeks' to bail your sorry rump out of the fire.  Their response to you came via a terse memo from Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans...  

Yes, the infamous Poop Sandwich re-appears once again - this time it's the President's turn to 'eat up'.

“Making sure consumers have secure, affordable coverage is health plans' top priority.  The only reason consumers are getting notices about their current coverage changing is because the ACA requires all policies to cover a broad range of benefits that go beyond what many people choose to purchase today.

Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers.  Premiums have already been set for next year based on an assumption of when consumers will be transitioning to the new marketplace. 

If now fewer younger and healthier people choose to purchase coverage in the exchange, premiums will increase and there will be fewer choices for consumers.  Additional steps must be taken to stabilize the marketplace and mitigate the adverse impact on consumers.”

  

President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and EACH Democrat who voted for this epic legislative over-reach...  I believe you've just been called out.   

"The only reason consumers are getting notices about their current coverage changing is because the ACA requires all policies to cover a broad range of benefits that go beyond what many people choose to purchase today."  

Roughly translated:  It's your fault Obama, and this ain't over yet.

In last week's post I had requested that President Obama PLEASE not remove the Individual Mandate and that he reinstates the Employer Mandate to its original implementation date of January 1, 2014.  

Why?  Because until EVERYONE knows what is in the Law, we will never kill the Law.  Once again, the President chose not to listen to me. 

I believe that he may, however, be listening to James Carville, Democrat Strategist, who counseled the President as follows, “I think the best thing he can do is take a toke on the mayor of Toronto’s crack pipe.”   James Carville made the comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earlier in the week.

James, buddy, the President does NOT need to travel to Toronto to take a pull off Ford's 'pipe' to improve his approval ratings - all he needs to do is walk into the House of Representatives, put his hands up, and say, "That's it, I was wrong - let's gut this ObamaCare thing..." and he'll be at a 85% approval rating in no time.  [Plus James, I'm pretty darn sure he's got plenty of good 'stuff' in the end table next to his bed in the White House building already.] 

Hey, wait one gosh darn minute!  

Since THIS President can change Law (hey, who needs a Legislative Branch!?!?!) with the mere force of his will, he can just tell us that it was all a 'misunderstanding' and that he was 'kidding' about the ACA in its entirety!

After all, isn't this what he did with BOTH the Employer and now the Individual Mandates?  He used his Barack Obama Super Powers to pre-empt legislation passed though the Legislative Branch and which HE signed into law.

What's the benefit of being an Imperial President if you can't 'change stuff up' when you need to?  

The Constitution?  He don't need no stinking Constitution...

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same
Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine
All a friend can say is, "Ain't it a shame?"

With apologies to the Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it's been (thus far). 

And ain't it a shame? 

Selective Prestidigitation

Prestidigitation:  Noun

• Sleight of hand

• French, from prestidigitateur prestidigitator, from preste nimble, quick (from Italian presto) + Latin digitus finger — more at digit 

I suppose I could have entitled this post, "Selective Magic".  However, these two words do not quite capture the sentiment I was going for as this post began to morph within my weary mind.  Not to mention, I very much appreciate the French / Italian / Latin origins of the word which you can also (after drinking an amber-colored beverage) mean a "Nimble, quick finger".  

One nimble, quick finger fully extended and intended for...  You guessed it - You.

  

Get the point (or, more accurately stated, 'finger')?

Here's the Magic which I'm trying to understand...

The Affordable Care Act was passed by a Democratic Majority in both the House and Senate.  It was passed via 'Reconciliation' because Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi didn't have enough votes to pass it 'normally'.  Nancy said we needed to "Pass the Bill to see what's in the Bill" and Harry just said something like, "Pass the Bill - or else" to his Democratic partners in the Democrat-controlled Senate.  No Republicans in either the House or Senate voted for President Obama's "Landmark Legislation", now officially referred to as, "ObamaCare".  

Remember WAY back when we used to joke about it being called "ObamaCare"?  

Since the Affordable Care Act's ill-conceived deployment on October 1st, 2013, no one says 'ObamaCare' out loud with so much as a smirk on their face.  Not only did the President get his Team to pass this abomination, now his name is firmly etched upon it for all eternity.  When CNN begins calling the ACA 'ObamaCare' - yup, it's ALL his now.   

Post ObamaCare 'launch', we speak in hushed tones, waiting for our health insurance cancellation notice to come in the US Mail.  We sit huddled quietly in our homes, hoping our neighbors (preferably ones we don't care for) will be the ones getting the health insurance cancellation notices as the ObamaCare Healthcare Angel of Death passes our home and hopefully alights somewhere else.  

Several people on my street have begun marking the doorway to their homes with Vick's Vap-O-Rub in an effort to ward off the the foul specter prior to it gaining entrance to their home.  As for myself, I've painted the entire exterior of my home with Preparation H.  

Why?  Because the past five+ years have been nothing less than a huge pain in my rump and if I can't prevent the thing from getting in, at least I can hopefully minimize the swelling, and itching associated with its entry into MY home.     

But here's the thing... 

There's more, (much more) to come - sorry, someone get the on the Internet and let the folks know to make LOTS more Preparation H...

President Obama gave the 'Employer Mandate' a 12-month extension, meaning that he pushed the ObamaCare 'Employer requirement' back a year for those companies who employ more than fifty people.

Why?  

1.  Because he could,  

And, 

2. Because no one in Congress wants to ask uncomfortable questions of the first White-African American President regarding his 'Legacy Landmark Legislation'.  

(If anyone has another explanation, please feel free to share it in the Comment section below - yes, I'd PREFER there be another explanation, offer one if you feel that it fits better than mine as stated here.)

How did he modify the Law?  In a word - Magic.  

The Legislative Branch (Democrats) passed ObamaCare and the Bill was signed into Law by the Executive Branch, a.k.a.: President Barack Obama.  

In July, 2013, President Obama took it upon himself to exempt 'some of the' legislation which HE and his minions passed through Reconciliation (a.k.a.:  'Cheating') in Congress - in effect, re-writing law at the Executive Branch, bypassing further Congressional approval.  

Yes, he over-rode his own legislation 'Extra-Constitutionally' just by...  

Making it up as he went along.

At this point you may be asking yourself, 'Hey, Mike, aren't laws normally passed in the Legislative Branch and approved at the Executive?  Well, yes, normally this is the case, but when you have a skilled Magician working magic to an enthralled (and pardon the expression, a 'Cowed' audience in Congress) no one seems (or wants) to stop the show.

As the ObamaCare juggernaut continues, cancellation letters are being printed by the millions, men and women fret about their ability to afford their 'Federally-Mandated' 'affordable' health care, and new insurance deductibles are in most instances higher than the 'unacceptable' policies the ACA, which forced the insurance cancellations of in the first place.

So, if the President is able to grant 'Companies', 'Firms' and 'Employers' a twelve-month waiver (delay) to allow time for the Law to get figured out by the people who are supposed to be implementing it, why won't the President grant a waiver on those people who are being hurt by the law TODAY?

He's shown that he has the power to do whatever he wants when it comes to overriding the Separation of Powers within the US Government already, so WHY won't he do it again, to the benefit of people suffering under his ill-conceived and single-party legislated Act?

ANSWER:  Because he chooses not to.  HIS Magic is done on HIS Terms - not ours.   

I guess maybe, as 'average Americans' begin to feel the pain inflicted upon them by the "Community Organizer In Chief", they'll also begin to feel the warmth and glow of his legislation in their own households.  I wonder, at this point, should Republicans be pushing to have the Individual Mandate pushed back?  

No.

And while we're at it, let's get rid of the Employer Mandate 'extension' as well - just in time for the 2014 elections.  

Between you and me?  There's not enough Preparation H in the WORLD to prepare what we're going to see once the Employer Mandate kicks in.

You think we've got flaming A-Holes in Washington, DC?  Wait until we, the 'Great Unwashed', begin to feel the magic of ObamaCare in our personal wellness, our finances, and in our daily lives by the end of this year..

But, as the President said, sometimes "maybe you're better off not having the surgery, you may be better off just taking the pain killer".

Sure, the pain killers won't CURE you, but you'll die quietly.   And seriously, the President is getting a such a terrible headache from all of your incessant yammering -- please be considerate of his very important thoughts and go back to fretting quietly as you've done in the past.  

If you can't be quiet, he'll dispatch a "Navigator" to your home to help you find your way back to civility...

Sure, what could go wrong?