Giving Thanks

"For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." - 1 Timothy 4:4-5


My eyes flew open at 5:47 this morning, two minutes later than every other weekday morning of the year.  Typically, the local Classic Rock station jars me out of bed at 5:45 with some memorable (and loud) hit from AC/DC, Rush, or Van Halen, but today, my body told me when to wake up.

There is work to be done.  

On a normal Thanksgiving Morning I would already be hovering over the kitchen sink running cold water into a turkey which, according to the instructions on the bag, 'should' have thawed out several days ago.  My hands numb from the combination of the rushing cold water, the frozen neck (and organ bits) the 'bird man' packs into wax paper that always 'shreds' when you attempt to remove it from the innards of the bird, and the dawning realization that if the turkey isn't thawed soon...  Nobody's having lunch until sometime after four this afternoon - just like last year. 

Today, however, I'm sitting here at the trusty old Gateway laptop...  Relaxed.

Are we going 'out' for Thanksgiving this year?  The answer is both an honest 'yes' AND 'no'.  My oldest son is attending Graduate School in South Carolina and only had a couple of days off for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  As he'll be home for Christmas break in a few weeks, he's hanging out down there this Thanksgiving Day.  It's the first Thanksgiving I won't be seeing Ben for Thanksgiving, but I realize that it won't be the last time we won't see him for the day either.

The middle boy, Jon, remains at Sasebo Naval Base stationed in Japan.  This is the third year that we haven't seen our Sailor Boy on Thanksgiving Day.  Being a bit more exact, we actually haven't seen him since he deployed to Japan in May of 2011.  This being Thanksgiving Day, I'll let this last comment speak for itself - I miss my boy something fierce, but I am thankful that he continues to be safe so far from home.

So that leaves my wife, our youngest, the two dogs, and yes, yours truly home this Thanksgiving morn.  Is anyone else up, you may wonder?  No.  My wife and my son's biological clocks run on a much different schedule than mine.  I will wake them shortly as we do have 'places to go, and people to see', but for now, well, it's just you and me.

Sandy Woo - December, 2012

Well, actually, the 'little dog' was just here to let me know that she is hungry and must be fed.  The forlorn and pleading look in her eyes let me know that if she didn't eat soon...  She might die.  I'll have no dogs dying on my watch this Thanksgiving morning.  

As for our big girl, Kelly, the 'almost thirteen years old' Golden Retriever, she'll be thumping around a bit later this morning - it's still a bit early for her morning constitutional.

I mentioned above that we are 'kind of' going out for Thanksgiving this year.  This is a true statement.  We are not, however, going out to eat.  We are going out to help other people eat.  

Being short a couple of people on Thanksgiving Day makes cooking a whole turkey, baking pies, making cornbread stuffing from scratch, well, you know, kind of like 'Overkill'.  We had picked up a Perdue Roasting Chicken a few days ago, but for today, at least, that bird will remain in 'the bag'.  

Instead, we decided that we would spend this Thanksgiving with people we do not know.  We began a few days ago looking for somewhere to go bu calling around to charitable organizations who might be looking for volunteers for this Thanksgiving Day.  

The local Binghamton High School Thanksgiving Meal?  Nope, you have to be a student, or have a student the school system.

Volunteering at the local Animal Shelter?  Nope, you must have a complete background check, go through a several-hour orientation, and be able to commit to hours every week, not just one day of 'volunteerism'.

The Varna Community Center Thanksgiving Day Meal?  "Yes.  Please.  We need help."

This Thanksgiving we'll be spending our day with people we do not know, in a place we've never been before, serving meals to people who do not want to be alone on this Thanksgiving Day.  

But I guess that's what Thanksgiving Day is really about - giving thanks for the things we have, the people we share our lives with, and remembering the obligation we have to be good to one another, whether we know each other or not.  

I've said it before, I'm a lucky guy - I'm not in a position to "Spread the wealth around" as a Presidential Candidate once told a plumber in 2007, but I can walk, I can talk, and yes, I can serve (AND having worked for seven years in a Diner growing up...  I know how to clean up a kitchen) some meals to perfect, and sometimes 'imperfect' strangers.

So today my wife, my 6' 3" tall 'little boy' and I will be serving others at a place called 'Varna' because we don't want to be alone on this Thanksgiving Day either.  We're out to "Spread the Thanks around" on this Thanksgiving Day. 

In the end, the thing that binds all of us together is not our wealth, not our poverty, not our political viewpoint, but rather, our core humanity.  That spark which makes us all special in the eyes of whichever 'Creator' you happen to believe in.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you on this cold Thanksgiving Morning - enjoy the day, but mostly, take time to enjoy what you have, and you know, be 'Thankful'.  

Moo

p.s.:  Cows are thankful on Thanksgiving because they are NOT on the menu.

Black Set, White Chair, Long Beard

A look at life before (and after) the Duck Commander Duck Call.  

Told by three generations of Robertsons.  
  

Why You Should NOT Argue with Democrats...

"You've Got One Side of Capital Hill Investing In Failure"

"Failure to Launch"

I miss Ronald Reagan.

He'd know what to say at a time like this.

I'm thinking that it would be something like, "Well, there you go again..."

It's funny (and tragically predictable) how themes from the past revisit us in the present day.  Democrats, Progressives, and Liberals in general are like old dogs - clinging to well-worn and gummed-up bones regardless of how ratty, and smelly they are simply because 'they own them'.  Speaking of 'owning them' - Dems, Progs, and Libs own, "Health Care" now.   

The thing that's 'not quite so funny', however, is that in 2013, we have NO Reagan to look the Opposition in the eye and say, "Well, there you go again..." and then go on to clarify what his actual position was, following the misrepresentation of the opposition.

No Republican leader in the House or Senate stands ready to face this generation's 'Jimmy Carter', and tell him that he...  Is full of 'it'.  

(Yes, I'm being really nice here with the choice of words, because for some reason I cannot fully explain, I am in an unusually good mood today.)

Meanwhile, what is President Obama (currently completing 'Carter's Third-Term') saying about US (or them, as in Republican Leadership, if you prefer)?

Funny that you should ask... 

Hold my hand.  We're going in.

Photo Credit - AP

Washington Examiner, November 19, 2013:  Obama: GOP 'invested' in health law failing 

President Obama on Tuesday laid part of the blame for Obamacare's problem-riddled rollout on Republicans, saying that “one side of Capitol Hill was invested in failure.”


Recalling how he and his supporters had to “fight tooth and nail” to get the law passed by a slim margin in Congress, Obama said his administration should have anticipated that dynamic would create a “rockier rollout – that one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure and that makes the iterative process of fixing glitches and fine-tuning the law” difficult.

...

“We probably underestimated the complexities of building out a website that needed to work the way it should,” he said.


Obama also singled out the federal government’s information procurement process.


“I probably could have identified earlier the way the federal government does procurement and does IT is just generally not very efficient,” said Obama.


“What we probably needed to do on the front-end is blow up the way we do procurement for IT,” he said.


The troubled rollout of the healthcare.gov website intended to register consumers in Obamacare's new insurance exchanges and the president's broken promise that the public could keep their current health plans even under the new law threaten to undermine support for the law.

Perhaps we need to have a few defining moments before we proceed?  I do this only because I want to be COMPLETELY accurate in interpreting what the President said at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council.

 

According to the President, Republicans have 'Invested in Failure' as it pertains to the Affordable Care Act.  O-k-a-y...

From a historical perspective, Republicans have NOTHING TO DO with the Passage of or Implementation of ObamaCare.  

Trust me, I even looked it up online to make sure I wasn't making this stuff up...

LOOK!  A source!:   Wikipedia


Republican House Members Voting for ObamaCare = 0
Democrat House Members Voting for ObamaCare = 219 

Republican Senators Voting for ObamaCare = 0
Democrat Senators Voting for ObamaCare = 58
Independent (Democrat) Senators Voting for ObamaCare = 2
 

 

Adding the total number of Republicans in the House and Senate who voted FOR ObamaCare equals (shoot, I don't even need to pull my shoes off for this one)...

Zip.

Zero. 

None.

Null.

Nobody, no how, no way.  

So how can the President blame hapless Republicans - because the Bill which HIS Party rammed through the House and Senate via the 'Nuclear Option' is 'stinking up the place'?  

And how exactly does he justify his assertion that Republicans are somehow involved in 'screwing the health care pooch'?

In two very unique ways:

1. The President says that he, "should have anticipated that dynamic would create a “rockier rollout – that one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure and that makes the iterative process of fixing glitches and fine-tuning the law”, and,
2. “I probably could have identified earlier the way the federal government does procurement and does IT is just generally not very efficient,” said Obama.

Yeah, okay.

First, addressing Item 1 above, the Law is being enacted by HIS Administration.  Could someone please get me a count of EXACTLY how many Republicans work for HIM regarding the implementation of the ACA? 

Second, regarding Item 2, did he just BLAME the failure of his hallmark 'massive Federal bureaucracy expansion' on a procurement-related failure of a 'massive Federal bureaucracy'?

Yes, I believe that he did.  

The only thing Republican Leadership is guilty of is for being naive and gutless in not expressing their concerns (outrage?) regarding this legislation over the past four years to the extent that it needed to be conveyed (to the American People).  

Oh, I guess I can also toss in the fact that they keep 'dissing' members of their own Party who went to DC to do what their constituents requested that they do...  

Repeal ObamaCare.

So, Mr. President, if we use the BING-provided definitions of 'Investing' and 'Failure' to describe YOUR Law, and lay blame where it belongs, if there is, "One side of Capital Hill investing in Failure"?


It is YOUR side which has invested in failure (or, if you prefer, the 'catastrophe', 'disaster', 'fiasco', or 'disappointment') of your crowning legislative achievement.  

You wrote, funded and implemented this 'Failure' on YOUR terms because you told Republicans Members in Congress that 'You won' and you didn't need THEIR input regarding the running of your government.

Congratulations, you are a WINNER!  

You own it baby!

Enjoy the fruits of your hard-won victories surrounding your valiant health care battle against the will of the majority of Americans!

It looks good on you...

Just THREE more years.

Buh-bye!

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And then...  Hello Sexy!!!

Hillary Clinton - circa 2012

No aging required for the requisite Hillary Clinton Presidential image!

You'd people had better get with the program if you want to avoid this particular 'man-made disaster'.

See ya later Big Guy...

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
.
. 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.
. .
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.
.
.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. 
.
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.
.
--  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863
.

.
 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.
.
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". 
 .

 .
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...  
.

 

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?