Another Obamacare Horror Story

Stephanie Morgan and her husband  live near Traverse City, Michigan.  Like many middle class families, they are working twice as hard as they once were to make ends meet.  

The Morgan's are responsible for their own medical insurance thanks to Obamacare. Their experience in trying to find an affordable healthcare program has been nothing less than a nightmare.  

Here is what Stephanie has gone through in her own words: " I have now spent 6-8 hours on the phone, applied in January with issues and have gone from $260 a month to now they say our payment is $339 a month. What a flipping waste of time, we absolutely CANNOT afford that especially given that is with a $12,700 deductible. So with much frustration and a complete waste of my life-I am officially protesting obamacare and my family will NOT be covered. We will continue to move on uninsured and pay the stupid fine! This is BS if you ask me, two hard working people on the lower end of the middle class gets screwed every which way we turn. I apologize for offending my very democratic friends and I am not excited for my very republican friends because left or right, democratic or republic-we, the middle class hard working americans are the ones who end up with the short end of the stick no matter what we do. I shall remain 100% independent and 100% uninsured at this time!!!!

They even counted my kids fast food jobs against us (as our income).......that's a great learning lesson to kids too. Hey, if you start working as a child-it will make your parents have to spend a ton more on insurance lol-maybe I should tell them to quit, that'll teach them the value of a dollar surely. "

New Tick Born Virus Spreading Across The U.S.

It’s called the Hearthland Virus. It’s named after a hospital near St. Joseph, Missouri. The illness first appeared in that part of the state. Eight people have come down with it, most of them are from Missouri. One person has died the rest have recovered.

Dr. Ericka Hayes is an expert in infectious diseases at Washington University Medical School. Dr. Hayes said, “It’s worrisome when we know there’s a new germ out there that can make people sick.”

Experts and the C.D.C. have been investigating the illness. There is no medicine no cure right now. Doctors can only treat the symptoms. Dr. Hayes said, “Fever, feeling very tired and really no specific symptoms like headaches, diarrhea, loss of appetite, sounds not unlike having the flu.”

It’s believed the Lone Star Tick carries the new virus. People who like to hike in the woods are a little uneasy when they hear about a new disease carried by ticks.

Doctors recommend that to keep ticks away tuck your pant legs under your socks, use bug repellant that has a high percentage of DEET and stay out of wooded and grassy areas. If you do go hiking, do a thorough check afterwards. Dr. Hayes said, “A tick has to be attached to you several hours, if not days, before it can make you sick. So if you have been outside and you come in and you check yourself promptly for ticks and remove them you can prevent yourself from getting sick.”

Seven cases of the illness have been reported in Missouri and one in Tennessee. Patients who’ve been exposed all had low numbers of cells that fight infection and that help blood clot. Most of them required hospitalization. The person who died from the heartland virus had already been battling some medical problems.

The lone star tick has a broad distribution in the U.S., occupying much of the Southeast. The tick's range has even been expanding over the past few decades, and it now thrives as far north as Maine.

It’s not clear if animals can be infected.

Bait & Switch: Are Tax Payers Paying For Baseball's Highest Paid Player?

Red Flags went up yesterday at the front offices of MLB after news broke that Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera was on the verge of signing a new contract that will guarantee the 31-year-old $292 million over the next decade, easily surpassing the previous record of $275 million guaranteed for New York Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez

Then if that wasn’t enough, Cabrera’s deal carries vesting options for two additional years worth $30 million each!

ESPN sports announcer / analyst, Buster Olney tweeted: “Haven’t heard as much disgust over a contract from rival execs since the Jayson Werth contract. Industry is in shock over the Cabrera deal.”

 But Tigers owner Michael Ilitch doesn’t need to use the same math as most of his contemporaries because he also owns the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. Money is fungible. The NHL has a salary cap. Baseball doesn’t.

And the Red Wings, among the most popular teams in hockey, are going to build a new, $450 million arena that will rake in tens of millions of dollars more annually than their current home, Joe LouisArena. 

The new arena is part of a $650 million plan to transform a 45-block area not far from Comerica Park into an entertainment district that will include $200 million in new retail, residential and office space.

Michigan taxpayers are responsible for 60% of the project.

The arena should be open in two years, just about when Cabrera’s rich contract extension begins.  

Obama Blaming Gas From Cows For Global Warming. Look For Milk And Red Meat Prices To Skyrocket

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Even though the Earth's Temperature has NOT risen since 1998, global alarmists are still saying that global warming is taking place.

As part of its plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is targeting the dairy industry to reduce methane emissions in their operations.

This comes despite falling methane emission levels across the economy since 1990.

The White House has proposed cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020. Although U.S. agriculture only accounts for about 9 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Some of these methane emissions come from cow flatulence, exhaling and belching — other livestock animals release methane as well.

“Cows emit a massive amount of methane through belching, with a lesser amount through flatulence,” according to How Stuff Works. “Statistics vary regarding how much methane the average dairy cow expels. Some experts say 100 liters to 200 liters a day… while others say it’s up to 500 liters… a day. In any case, that’s a lot of methane, an amount comparable to the pollution produced by a car in a day.”

“Of all domestic animal types, beef and dairy cattle were by far the largest emitters of [methane],” according to an EPA analysis charting greenhouse gas emissions in 2012. Cows and other animals produce methane through digestion, which ferments the food of animals.

“During digestion, microbes resident in an animal’s digestive system ferment food consumed by the animal,” the EPA notes. “This microbial fermentation process, referred to as enteric fermentation, produces [methane] as a byproduct, which can be exhaled or eructated by the animal.”

It’s not just the dairy industry that the Obama administration is clamping down on. The White House is looking to regulate methane emissions across the economy from agriculture to oil and gas operations — all this despite methane emissions falling 11 percent since 1990.

Methane emissions have largely been reduced because of the incentive for companies to capture it and sell it for monetary gain. Oil and gas companies, for example, have been looking for ways to increasingly capture methane leaked from drilling operations which they can then sell.

“The industry has led efforts to reduce emissions of methane by developing new technologies and equipment, and recent studies show emissions are far lower than EPA projected just a few years ago,” said  Howard Feldman, head of scientific and regulatory affairs at  the American Petroleum Institute. “Additional regulations are not necessary and could have a chilling effect on the American energy renaissance, our economy, and our national security.”

“Methane is natural gas that operators can bring to the market,” he added. “There is a built-in incentive to capture these emissions.”

Environmentalists have been pushing the Obama administration to crack down on methane emissions for some time, arguing that they drive global warming and pollute the air and water. Activists have argued that the methane leakage rate from natural gas operations is 50 percent higher than the EPA estimates.

“President Obama’s plan to reduce climate-disrupting methane pollution is an important step in reining in an out of control industry exempt from too many public health protections,” Deborah Nardone, campaign director of the Sierra Club’s Keeping Dirty Fuels in the Ground campaign. “However, even with the most rigorous methane controls and monitoring in place, we will still fall short of what is needed to fight climate disruption if we do not reduce our reliance on these dirty fossil fuels.”

Republicans and the oil and gas industry argue that the methane leakage rate has been estimated to be 50 times lower than the EPA’s estimate. The GOP argues that the EPA’s estimate is simply an attack on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

“The EPA has been on a witch hunt to shut down hydraulic fracturing, and yet again the evidence doesn’t back up their excessive claims,” said Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter. “All too often we see the Agency using flawed science for political purposes, but this report – partially funded by environmental activists no less – shows EPA’s emissions estimates from hydraulic fracturing are way off.”

Gun Control Advocate Democrat State Senator Caught Trying To Sell Rocket Launcher To Muslim Terrorists On US Soil

A California state senator known for his outspoken views in support of gun control was arrested on Wednesday and charged with illegally trafficking in firearms including rocket launchers alongside multiple counts of public corruption.

In a federal corruption investigation that nabbed 26 people on charges ranging from drug smuggling to murder-for-hire, Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee was indicted on conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and to illegally import firearm, and six counts of corruption, which included handing out favors in exchange for substantial campaign contributions.

If convicted, Yee could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each corruption charge, while the gun trafficking count could result in five years in prison and a similar fine.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the FBI affidavit claims Yee offered to negotiate illegal firearms sales on multiple occasions in exchange for financial donations towards his campaign. He allegedly told an undercover FBI agent of his connections to firearms dealers in Asia and Russia, with CBS San Francisco reporting he knew an arms dealer who’d been shipping “cargo containers” of weapons to Muslim rebels in the Philippines.

The meeting between Yee and the undercover agent was brokered by Keith Jackson, a political consultant with ties to Raymond Chow, whom the FBI identified as the ringleader of a Chinatown gang. Chow introduced an FBI agent who’d made his way into the group to Jackson, who was the first to tell of Yee’s connections to arms dealers.

"During a meeting with the undercover agent, Yee and Jackson allegedly discussed details of the specific types of weapons the undercover agent was interested in buying and importing," the U.S. Attorney's office said to Reuters.

Although the arms deal was never concluded, several meetings were conducted to discuss the arrangement and the FBI asserts it did give Yee cash as part of the process.

As noted by CBS, Yee was an outspoken advocate for gun control, sponsoring legislation that would have closed a loophole in California’s ban on assault weapons – ultimately vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. In an interview with the station, Yee said that despite vocal opposition by gun rights supporters, he felt strongly about limiting access to guns by criminals.

“This is not an easy issue,” Yee told CBS in 2012. “But I am a father, and I want our communities to be safe, and god forbid if one of these weapons fell into the wrong hands.”

In addition to the gun trafficking allegation, the LA Times reports that Yee allegedly accepted a cash donation far beyond the limits of the law – and paid for by the FBI – in return for setting up a meeting between a campaign donor and state lawmakers capable of influencing medical marijuana legislation.

In another instance, Yee pursued a Senate proclamation praising the Ghee Kung Tong Freemason lodge in San Francisco, also in exchange for thousands of dollars towards his campaign, and also paid for by the FBI.

Yee was released on a $500,000 bond on Wednesday after giving up his passport. He is currently running to be the next Secretary of State, but news of his arrest has triggered calls for his resignation from the Senate by his colleagues. The Democrats have already been hit with corruption charges against two other lawmakers.

"Senator Yee should leave the Senate and leave it now," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) told the Mercury News.

Elected Officials Refuse To Stand During The Pledge Of Allegiance

Last week, two council members in Maine were caught refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance before the meeting.

A citizen who attended the Hampden, Me., council meeting filmed the affront to patriotism and posted it online. Over the past few days, fury has grown throughout the Bangor-area town and officials have been inundated with complaints about the council members’ behavior

Naked Juice Settles for $9 Million For Misleading Ads. Formaldehyde is one of 11 chemical ingredients added

Do You Drink The Naked Smoothie Juice? It's owned by Pepsi and you may want to think twice before you drink it again.

Naked has just agreed to settle a 9 million dollar class action lawsuit for false labeling.

It seems that the contents of these drinks aren't as all-natural or non-gmo after all. As it turns out, the drinks include 11 chemical additives, including one derived from Formaldehyde!

Here's a little info about Formaldehyde; " Formaldehyde is highly toxic to all animals, regardless of method of intake. Ingestion of as little as 30 mL (1 oz.) of a solution containing 37% formaldehyde has been reported to cause death in an adult human. Water solution of formaldehyde is very corrosive and its ingestion can cause severe injury to the upper gastrointestinal tract.

U.S. Congressman Mike Rogers To Retire Become Radio Host

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, plans to retire from Congress after his current term to host a national radio show syndicated by Cumulus Media, he announced Friday.

Rogers, 50, made the announcement in a statement and during interviews on Michigan radio stations Friday morning.

"I have always believed in our founders' idea of a citizen legislature," he said in his statement. "I had a career before politics and always planned to have one after. The genius of our institutions is they are not dependent on the individual temporary occupants privileged to serve."

Lew Dickey, the CEO of Cumulus, said, "We are thrilled to have Chairman Rogers join our team. He has been instrumental helping to shape many of the most important issues and events of our time and will play a significant role in our expanding content platform."

Mike Rogers turned down a request to run for U.S. Senate last year stating that he position as 

Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was to important to give up.

Although still early names being mentioned to replace Mike Rogers include former Michigan Senate Majority leader Mike Bishop, former appointed National Committeeman Saul Anuzis and current State Representative Tom McMillin who is termed out and running for State Senate.

Cumulus own 460 radio stations nationwide and syndicates its programming to thousands more.

In joining Cumulus, Rogers will work for a radio network that already syndicates programs from some of the medium's biggest draws, including Don Imus, Mark Levin, Carson Daly, Michael Savage and Mike Huckabee.

Planned Parenthood Organizing Huge Supreme Court Rally to Deny Hobby Lobby’s Religious Freedom

The Planned Parenthood abortion business is planning a massive rally on Tuesday in front of the Supreme Court as it hears debate on the major religious liberties cases from Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood seeking relief from the pro-abortion HHS mandate.

“I’ve just learned that Planned Parenthood is planning their own big rally at the Supreme Court in support of the HHS Mandate on March 25,” says Eri Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League. “Word is that Planned Parenthood has a huge rally of their own planned, with a massive banner, signs, the whole nine.”

But Scheidler’s group and pro-life advcoates are pushing their own pro-life rally to support Hobby Lobby. 

“On March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius — the first two cases on the HHS Mandate to reach the high court,” he said. “The HHS Mandate is one of the most controversial parts of Obamacare. It forces employers to provide free abortion inducing drugs in their health plans — without any regard to religious or moral objections. The Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby, and the Hahn family, owners of Conestoga, are standing for all of us who cherish religious freedom by challenging the HHS Mandate in court.

DOJ Eric Holder NO CHARGES FOR WOMAN WHO VOTED ON CAMERA FOR OBAMA 6 TIMES

Last week Al Sharpton embraced convicted vote fraudster Melowese Richardson at a “voting rights” rally in Cincinnati.  The United States Department of Justice under Eric Holder has done nothing to Melowese Richardson 410 days after she admitted on camera that she committed multiple federal felonies by voting six times for President Obama’s reelection.

Federal law makes it a felony to vote more than once for President.  In fact, 42 U.S.C. Section 1973i(e) subjects Richardson to twenty-five years in federal prison for her six votes for Obama.

The lack of DOJ action against an unrepentant federal vote fraudster combined with Richardson’s lionization by Sharpton and the organization that sponsored the rally demonstrates how the Justice Department is facilitating a culture of brazen criminality on the eve of the 2014 midterm elections.  The failure to indict Richardson is the latest example of Holder’s department excusing lawlessness in federal elections and abandoning law abiding Americans.

Melowese Richardson was charged with state voter fraud crimes in Ohio.  She was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison on July 7, 2013. Unfortunately, instead of serving five years, Richardson was set free after only eight months.

Malaysia MH370 In South Indian Ocean Or Being Held By Islamic Terrorists in Pakistan?

In a press conference that has just ended, the Malaysian prime minister says new data shows "Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.  However others are not so sure.

Another floating theory is:

 Malaysian flight 370 was taken by team aligned with Islamist ideology.
 The plane was taken for use in a future event.
 The Malaysian authorities are: a.) embarrassed by their own security ineptitude, b.) desperate to avoid the appearance of that ineptitude, and c.) unwilling to admit their nation is not compromised entirely of the secular melting pot they espouse to the outside world.   Indeed Malaysia has been yet another nation with internal Islamist conflict despite their diligent efforts to obfuscate in that regard.
 To that end modern Western nations, and their more sophisticated intelligence apparatus, are growing increasingly frustrated with the refusals of the Malaysian authorities to admit the obvious.   The flight was taken, perhaps by Malaysian nationals, with an intent yet undetermined.
 A serious amount of planning and logistics would have been needed to pull this off.    Also, a great deal of skill and simultaneous luck would have to align to “disappear” a Boeing 777. The radar capabilities in the Western China region, the ‘stans’ and the mountainous areas of the Northern Middle East are generally archaic, not staffed, and only activated when there is a reason to be looking for something.   A surprise flight with no advanced notification could easily slip through undetected almost to anywhere.

 Why would a terror group not claim the event?   Quite simply because they have no desire to outline their intents or draw attention toward themselves.   If they plan to do something with this plane why would they announce they have it.
 As a consequence it’s reasonable to assume all the passengers were viewed as immaterial to the event itself.   The goal was not hostage taking and any passenger surfacing would be viewed as a risk to the mission itself being discovered.   So they were most likely killed during the event.   Perhaps while still seated, during a planned decompression and strategic oxygen loss event.

 Retired Lt. General Thomas McInerney, while on the Sean Hannity show, said that according to unverified reports, the plane could have been flying in the shadow of Singapore Airlines Flight 68 over India. He said a LIGNET report says that Boeing sources believe the plane is in Pakistan.

McInerney said that most of the world’s sensors are in that region, and that between Rolls-Royce, Boeing and the U.S. government, officials know a lot more than has come out.

“When the U.S. Navy quits their search, their ship search, they must know something in the Indian Ocean. When the Israeli defense forces, when they increase their defense alert, they must know something,” McInerney said.

If McInerney’s theory is right, the airplane would have landed at 5 a.m. Pakistan time, and it would have still been dark out.

The only way to know if MH370 has crashed into the Indian Ocean is to find debris and the actual black box.  The fact that Israel has raised it's defense alert  is troubling to say the least.

Nancy Pelosi's daughter took to Twitter :'Don't Tread on My ObamaCare'

 Nancy Pelosi's daughter took to Twitter to showcase Team Obama's newest propaganda sticker, “Don't Tread on My ObamaCare,” courtesy of Obama's perpetual campaign arm, Organizing for Action. The ironic tweet was picked up by Twitchy, who's obviously crude and sexist for the ensuing backlash … or something. “I refuse to be silenced by #twitchy folk who come with crudeness or sexism and appreciate your backup my friends. Love is stronger than h8,” she responded.

 Twitter user @redsteeze put it best: “Yes this is clearly what Gadsden had in mind when...Defending an overbearing mandated government program against the people.”

Non-Christian Teachers Preferred Over Christians In Public School Contract In Ferndale, MI

Apparently, no one at the Ferndale Public School District in Michigan took a civics course or bothered to read their own state constitution — and neither did the union representing teachers in the district. MichiganCapitol Confidential found an interesting, and totally unconstitutional, clause in the contract between the district and the Michigan EducationAssociation local that requires the district to provide “special consideration” to “those of the non-Christian faith” in hiring decisions:

The contract ran from 2011 to 2012 but was extended to 2017. The teachers belong to the Ferndale Education Association, a division of the Michigan Education Association.

Regarding promotion to a vacant position, it states on page 22:

Should there be two (2) or more of these applicants with equal qualifications for the position and one (1) or more of these applicants with equal qualifications is a current employee, the current employee with the greatest seniority shall be assigned. Special consideration shall be given to women and/or minority defined as: Native American, Asian American, Latino, African American and those of the non-Christian faith. However, in all appointments to vacant positions, the Board’s decision shall be final.

Earlier in the contract is a “no discrimination clause” that states no employee can be discriminated against based on their religion.

Just to make sure readers see the offending clause, MCC screen-capped it.

The intent of the clause seems to be to reinforce equal-opportunity employment practices, but it goes further than just a declaration of non-discrimination. This clause actually requires the district to discriminate in its hiring by using ethnicity, gender, and/or religion as an explicit deciding factor in its hiring choices.  Ethnicity and gender might pass constitutional muster in this clause, although that’s probably debatable, but forcing the district to decide on the basis of religion violates both the state and US constitutions.

Gabriel Malor at AoSHQ looked at this clause, and he agrees that this is very problematic. Not only does this conflict with an earlier clause in the contract forbidding this kind of discrimination, its insistence on blocking review is also troubling:

First, the 10.3 special consideration provision, which also prescribes preferential treatment for women and certain racial minority groups, directly contradicts the instruction at 9.9 that the provisions of the agreement be applied “without regard to race, creed, religion, color, national origin, sex.” Obviously, if the agreement must be applied without regard to religion, then special consideration could not be given to those of non-Christian faiths.

Second, the contradiction is made more troubling by the very next sentence of 10.3, which provides “in all appointments to vacant positions, the Board’s decision shall be final.” It is the only provision in the Agreement which explicitly provides that decisions are final, with no further review possible.

Third, if a promotion decision were made that gave preferential treatment to a candidate of the “non-Christian faith,” the school district would possibly be in violation of the establishment clauses of both the Michigan and the United States constitutions. No inference of discriminatory intent is required here; the school district provided evidence of it right there in the text of the Agreement. Generally, to survive an establishment clause challenge, the district would have to demonstrate that the discriminatory treatment was narrowly tailored to a compelling state interest. The district would be unlikely to do so in this context.

No doubt the district intended its bias in favor of applicants from non-Christian faiths to increase diversity in schools, and if challenged on this basis would defend it as such. But that’s the trouble with state preferences in favor of diversity. It generally requires discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or–as in this case–religion, which the Supreme Court is increasingly skeptical of.

As a former hiring manager for 15 years, though, this offers yet another point of confusion. It’s impermissible to ask about religious affiliation in an interview process, either for new hires or promotions, thanks to existing prohibitions on discrimination and potential civil liabilities. That’s true even if an employer wants a religiously-diverse workforce. Like marriage and family status, religious affiliation cannot even be queried during the hiring process lest one provide evidence of latent or explicit religious discrimination in that workplace.

Where would the district then find the data to fulfill this requirement? Are they or the union cataloguing this data somehow? The ACLU seems curiously incurious about the implications of this clause:

Rana Elmir, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said she couldn’t speak to the specifics highlighted in the contract “because it comes down to how it is implemented.”

“There’s nothing wrong with encouraging people from diverse faiths to apply for a position. In fact, doing so recognizes that our classrooms and

True, except that’s not what this clause does. It presumes that the employer is collecting information on religious beliefs and making employment decisions on that basis. Doesn’t that pique their interest at all?

This isn’t necessarily an earth-shaking issue, but it would be interesting to see how many other MEA affiliates have this or a similar clause in their contracts, too. 

Another case of a cancer patient losing his coverage because of Obamacare

First it was cancer patient Julie Boonstra of Michigan who's insurance coverage was cancelled because of Obamacare and now there is yet another report of the negative effects of President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, stage-four cancer patient Bruce Johnston of New York recently learned that the hospital where he was receiving treatment wouldn’t accept his insurance under Obamacare because of confusion stemming from the healthcare rollout.

Part of the reason the Stony Brook University Hospital said that it couldn’t treat patients like Johnston is because it isn’t currently accepting patients on any of New York’s eight Obamacare plans.

“It leaves me high and dry,” Johnston told News 12 Long Island. “I mean, this is nothing to fool around with. This is my life.”

Hospital representatives said that they are working to help patients like Johnston, but have to negotiate with insurance companies on a case by case basis to figure out how to deal with low reimbursement fees that “wouldn’t come close” to the cost of providing treatment.

Here’s the report from News 12:

MH370 Plane had already turned BEFORE the co-pilot signed off, “Alright, Good Night"

The hijacked plane made that sharp turn west before the co-pilot signed off. The plane had made that critical turn back to Malaysia 12 minutes before the co-pilot signed off for the night. He did so without ever saying a word, according to FOX news.

ACARS reports every 30 minutes. The plane took off at 12:41 am. 30 minutes later, at 1:07 am, the next ACARS status report had a different flight plan. The plane was already heading West when the co-pilot signed off, “Alright, good night”.

Sources: one or both pilots clearly planned change of course (FOX News)

According to aviation experts it would be hard for one pilot to reprogram the plane without the other pilot knowing.

It was first reported last night that the first critical turn (the U turn) was programmed into the computer system. The change into the computer system could only have been made if someone on the plane intentionally reprogrammed that turn into the computer system on the plane. or prior to take off.

Adding to the mystery:

Thailand’s military said Tuesday that its radar detected a plane that may have been Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 just minutes after the jetliner’s communications went down, and that it didn’t share the information with Malaysia earlier because it wasn’t specifically asked for it.

A twisting flight path described Tuesday by Thai air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn took the plane to the Strait of Malacca, which is where Malaysian radar tracked Flight 370 early March 8.

The media is reporting Hamid as “religious”.  Well known conservative blogger Robert Spencer wrote:

Mainstream media stories are all reporting that Fariq Abdul Hamid was “religious” as if that were an indication that he couldn’t have been involved in the plane’s disappearance. The fact that Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki and Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and Feisal Shahzad and Abdulhakim Mujaid Muhammad and John Walker Lindh and Adam Gadahn and a host of other Islamic jihadists living and dead were or are “religious” never seems to occur to these “journalists” — or maybe they just don’t want it to occur to you.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: 3 pieces of evidence point to jet's takeover

(AP)

There are three pieces of evidence that aviation safety experts say make it clear the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was taken over by someone who was knowledgeable about how the plane worked.

TRANSPONDER

One clue is that the plane's transponder — a signal system that identifies the plane to radar — was shut off about an hour into the flight.

In order to do that, someone in the cockpit would have to turn a knob with multiple selections to the off position while pressing down at the same time, said John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board. That's something a pilot would know how to do, but it could also be learned by someone who researched the plane on the Internet, he said.

ACARS

Another clue is that part of the Boeing 777's Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was shut off.

The system, which has two parts, is used to send short messages via a satellite or VHF radio to the airline's home base. The information part of the system was shut down, but not the transmission part. In most planes, the information part of the system can be shut down by hitting cockpit switches in sequence in order to get to a computer screen where an option must be selected using a keypad, said Goglia, an expert on aircraft maintenance.

That's also something a pilot would know how to do, but that could also be discovered through research, he said.

But to turn off the other part of the ACARS, it would be necessary to go to an electronics bay beneath the cockpit. That's something a pilot wouldn't normally know how to do, Goglia said, and it wasn't done in the case of the Malaysia plane. Thus, the ACARS transmitter continued to send out blips that were recorded by the Inmarsat satellite once an hour for four to five hours after the transponder was turned off. The blips don't contain any messages or data, but the satellite can tell in a very broad way what region the blips are coming from and adjusts the angle of its antenna to be ready to receive message in case the ACARS sends them. Investigators are now trying to use data from the satellite to identify the region where the plane was when its last blip was sent.

GUIDED FLIGHT

The third indication is that that after the transponder was turned off and civilian radar lost track of the plane, Malaysian military radar was able to continue to track the plane as it turned west.

The plane was then tracked along a known flight route across the peninsula until it was several hundred miles (kilometers) offshore and beyond the range of military radar. Airliners normally fly from waypoint to waypoint where they can be seen by air traffic controllers who space them out so they don't collide. These lanes in the sky aren't straight lines. In order to follow that course, someone had to be guiding the plane, Goglia said.

Goglia said he is very skeptical of reports the plane was flying erratically while it was being tracked by military radar, including steep ascents to very high altitudes and then sudden, rapid descents. Without a transponder signal, the ability to track planes isn't reliable at very high altitudes or with sudden shifts in altitude, he said.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Chelsea Handler Tells Piers Morgan to Shove It on Live TV

Whatever you think about Chelsea Handler, the woman's got giant steel balls. During an appearance on Morgan's lame duck show last night, the comedian told the king of the Twitter tantrum what we all wish we could: that he sucks. It's pretty brilliant.

 After Piersing up the joint by acting like an ass for much of the interview, Handler finally called him on his "nonsense." Morgan responded by calling her book "tawdry." And then...

PIERS: You tweet. Very amusingly.

CHELSEA: I wish you did.

PIERS: [pained laughter]

CHELSEA: I mean in the middle of the commercial break — I want your viewers to know; they must know, because they're probably following you on Twitter. I mean you can't even pay attention for 60 seconds. You're a terrible interviewer.

PIERS: Well you just weren't keeping my attention.

CHELSEA: That's not my problem.

PIERS: That is your problem!

CHELSEA: This is your show. You have to pay attention to the guests that you invited on your show.

PIERS: If they're interesting enough!

CHELSEA: Yeah, listen. It doesn't matter how interesting I am. You signed up for this job.

PIERS: Of course it does!

CHELSEA: Well, maybe that's why your job is coming to an end.

PIERS: Woooow.

CHELSEA: Wow.

Democrat Congresswoman: Constitution is 400 years old

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas) declared the U.S. Constitution to be 400 years old Wednesday on the House floor, which would mean it was signed in 1614.

“Maybe I should offer a good thanks to the distinguished members of the majority, the Republicans, my chairman and others, for giving us an opportunity to have a deliberative constitutional discussion that reinforces the sanctity of this nation and how well it is that we have lasted some 400 years, operating under a constitution that clearly defines what is constitutional and what is not,” she said.

Planned Parenthood to Host over 500 Events in 18 Cities to Push ObamaCare

(Breitbart) – Last year, President Obama said, “God bless Planned Parenthood,” a statement the abortion industry giant may be hoping to hear again as it ratchets up support for Obama’s signature legislation, ObamaCare, by hosting more than 500 events in 18 cities around the country, assisting the administration in meeting its goal of six million HealthCare.gov sign-ups by March 31.

According to a Monday press release, Planned Parenthood officials will stake out in grocery stores and indoor soccer fields to enroll people in ObamaCare. In addition, 500 canvassers will go door-to-door to sign up Americans in their homes.

The organization is hosting what it is calling “community events” in “key states,” including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio

In fact, Planned Parenthood received over $655,000 in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services to serve as ObamaCare “navigators” to assist Americans in signing up at HealthCare.gov.

“The Affordable Care Act [ObamaCare] is one of the greatest advancements for women’s health in a generation,” said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in the press release, adding:

As the leading women’s health care provider and advocate, Planned Parenthood fought hard for the law’s passage, and in the last few weeks of this enrollment period, we’re working double time to make sure our patients and the communities we serve know about their new health care options.

“For millions of women, their trusted provider is Planned Parenthood,” Richards continued. “And for millions more, Planned Parenthood has been the trusted voice that helps guide them to get covered and get access to the full range of health care services they and their families deserve.”

In addition, the press statement reads:

Through this expanded outreach effort, Planned Parenthood also announced that it has already reached out to over one million people, to educate them about the new health care options available under the law. More than half of this work is being done in Spanish, helping to reach the nation’s nearly 1-in-3 non-elderly Latinos that are uninsured.

As Breitbart News reported in December, the relationship between Planned Parenthood and the Obama administration is a co-dependent one.

The abortion provider is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and its recently releasedannual report shows an organization that desperately needs ObamaCare’s promise of “free birth control” for survival, especially when individual states and even the U.S. Congress are either passing or considering legislation to restrict the practice of abortion.

“Millions more people begin getting free access to birth control, breast exams, and other preventive care as the Affordable Care Act goes into effect, with the women’s preventive benefit that Planned Parenthood led the fight to include,” Planned Parenthood’s report states.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Obama administration said Tuesday that 4.2 million people have enrolled in ObamaCare health plans, leaving millions more who must sign up to meet the 6 million mark projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a criterion that was previously downgraded from 7 million due to a multitude of “glitches” and rollout concerns, many of which remain unaddressed.

To date, the Obama administration cannot say how many Americans who have obtained coverage through the health law’s exchanges had health insurance coverage previously, as opposed to those signing up for insurance for the first time. The number of people who have paid their first month’s insurance premium is also unknown.

“Until the administration provides details about who was previously uninsured and who has paid, these reports tell us nothing about the success or failure of the president’s health-care law,” said Noelle Clemente, a spokeswoman for GOP lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “The president’s recent media appearances suggest that the administration is panicked.”

Obama appeared on Funny or Die’s left-wing comedy, Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, to pitch ObamaCare to young people.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency responsible for running ObamaCare, gave an optimistic view of the status of sign-ups in late February: “Our outreach efforts are in full force with community partners and local officials participating in hundreds of events each week, and enrollment assisters are helping more and more people enroll in coverage,” CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner wrote. “Consumers are shopping and enrolling in plans on HealthCare.gov every day; system error rates are low, and response times are consistently less than half a second.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/03/12/Planned-Parenthood-To-Host-Over-500-Events-To-Pump-Up-ObamaCare

Julie Boonstra responds to her attackers that say she is lying about her healthcare

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia. The first thing I did was find a health plan that fit my needs — a “Cadillac” plan because that covered 100 percent of my expensive treatments. While the plan was expensive, it allowed me to focus on my health and to see the specialists and doctors that I needed. Most of all, it gave me peace of mind.

Obamacare canceled my plan. Last October, I received a cancellation letter. I was being denied my insurance choice because my plan didn’t comply with Obamacare. I was shocked. Like the rest of the country, I’d heard the president promise, “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”

He lied to me — a cancer patient. After I received my cancellation letter, I tried repeatedly to get onto the marketplace; it never worked. I tried to call the marketplace representatives; I never got through.

I was in a state of panic. Without insurance, I can’t afford the medication that keeps my cancer from growing. I simply could not have a gap in insurance coverage. I paced the floor most nights, I couldn’t eat, sleep or focus on anything other than trying to get insurance. I even pulled out my will and updated it.

In December, I finally got through to a representative from the marketplace. I was told I could only do a paper application — but it would take two weeks before I knew anything. I didn’t have two weeks. I had to have coverage now, so that I could get my medication paperwork started.

That’s when I gave up. Instead, I called an insurance broker and enrolled in a plan that came closest to my discontinued plan. I focused on my specialist and my medications. The premiums were cut in half, but much of those savings were offset by an increased out-of-pocket limit.

Now, I am not sure if I’ll be able to afford the month-to-month cost spikes that could accompany plans like this. I now have to plan and think about what every test costs and if I have the money. I need those tests in order to survive. Now I have to worry about that cost as well as the cancer test results.

I recently told my story in Michigan with the help of a group called Americans for Prosperity. Now people are attacking me and calling me a liar. Some believe that I can afford the insurance because the annual premiums will be lower.

Those people choose to ignore the problems inherent with high out-of-pocket limits and prescriptions that aren’t covered for a person like me.

My new plan could mean wildly fluctuating and front-loaded costs in the first few months of the year. I chose my old plan — the one that Obamacare canceled — specifically so I could budget for the same monthly costs with certainty.

I have reached out to Congressman Gary Peters for help since he is running for a Senate seat for Michigan.

He refuses to speak to me.

Instead of trying to help me, Congressman Peters tried to silence me. His Washington attorneys have attempted to intimidate television stations airing my story.

I actually went to his house when I learned of this to ask him to help me navigate the Obamacare law, a law he helped pass. He didn’t answer, so I left him a note asking him to contact me.

Then Sen. Harry Reid said — on the U.S. Senate floor, no less — that my story is a lie.

I never asked for this. Obamacare has turned my life into a nightmare.

That’s why I’m speaking out for the 225,000 Michiganians who also lost their insurance plans thanks to Obamacare. Like them, I want a plan that works for me.

Instead, Obamacare has denied me my choice of coverage, President Barack Obama has betrayed my trust, Harry Reid called me a liar, and Gary Peters has tried to silence me.

— Julie Boonstra, Dexter

New Jersey teen suing her parents returns home

The New Jersey teen who sued her parents for tuition and living expenses last week is now back home.

Eighteen-year-old Rachel Canning's parents welcomed her back Tuesday night.

An attorney made the announcement during a press conference Wednesday.

In court, the teen claimed she was forced out of the family home and she needed money to support herself.

Her parents contend she left because she didn't want to obey the rules.

Last week, a judge denied the teen's request for immediate financial assistance.

There is no word on what prompted the reconciliation

National GOP Chair Reince Prieus: "Marriage is between a man and woman"

In a small impromptu presser at CPAC this past weekend, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus reiterated the Republican Party's official commitment to the value of marriage.

Via LifeSiteNews.com:

Priebus also said that the GOP is “a party that believes marriage ought to be between one man and one woman. That's our party platform, and it's a position I've never backed away from. What I have said, though, is that we need to treat each other with grace, dignity, and respect. And that's not code language. It comes out of the New Testament. And so there should be no confusion about where we stand, and so that's where we are.”

This isn't the first time Chairman Priebus has unabashedly reaffirmed this commitment. 

Principal regrets supporting and introducing common core into her school

Here’s a powerful piece about how an award-winning principal went from being a Common Core supporter to an opponent. This was written by Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School 

Administrators Association of New York State. She is one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by student test scores, which has been signed by 1,535 New York principals.

By Carol Burris
When I first read about the Common Core State Standards, I cheered.  I believe that our schools should teach all students (except for those who have severe learning disabilities), the skills, habits and knowledge that they need to be successful in post secondary education. That doesn’t mean that every teenager must be prepared to enter Harvard, but it does mean that every young adult, with few exceptions, should at least be prepared to enter their local community college. That is how we give students a real choice.

I even co-authored a book, “Opening the Common Core,” on how to help schools meet that goal.  It is a book about rich curriculum and equitable teaching practices, not about testing and sanctions. We wrote it because we thought that the Common Core would be a student-centered reform based on principles of equity.

I confess that I was naïve. I should have known in an age in which standardized tests direct teaching and learning, that the standards themselves would quickly become operationalized by tests. Testing, coupled with the evaluation of teachers by scores, is driving its implementation. The promise of the Common Core is dying and teaching and learning are being distorted.  The well that should sustain the Core has been poisoned.
I hear about those distortions every day.  Many of the teachers in my high school are also the parents of young children.  They come into my office with horror stories regarding the incessant pre-testing, testing and test prep that is taking place in their own children’s classrooms.  Last month, a colleague gave me a multiple-choice quiz taken by his seven-year old son during music.  Here is a question:
 Kings and queens COMMISSIONED Mozart to write symphonies for celebrations and ceremonies. What does COMMISSION mean?
 to force someone to do work against his or her will
to divide a piece of music into different movements
to perform a long song accompanied by an orchestra
to pay someone to create artwork or a piece of music

Whether or not learning the word ‘commission’ is appropriate for second graders could be debated—I personally think it is a bit over the top.  What is of deeper concern, however, is that during a time when 7 year olds should be listening to and making music, they are instead taking a vocabulary quiz.

I think that the reason for the quiz is evident to anyone who has been following the reform debate.  The Common Core places an extraordinary emphasis on vocabulary development. Probably, the music teacher believes she must do her part in test prep. More than likely she is being evaluated in part by the English Language Arts test scores of the building. Teachers are engaged in practices like these because they are pressured and afraid, not because they think the assessments are educationally sound. Their principals are pressured and nervous about their own scores and the school’s scores. Guaranteed, every child in the class feels that pressure and trepidation as well.

An English teacher in my building came to me with a ‘reading test’ that her third grader took. Her daughter did poorly on the test.  As both a mother and an English teacher she knew that the difficulty of the passage and the questions were way over grade level.  Her daughter, who is an excellent reader, was crushed.  She and I looked on the side of the copy of the quiz and found the word “Pearson.” The school, responding to pressure from New York State, had purchased test prep materials from the company that makes the exam for the state.

I am troubled that a company that has a multi-million dollar contract to create tests for the state should also be able to profit from producing test prep materials. I am even more deeply troubled that this wonderful little girl, whom I have known since she was born, is being subject to this distortion of what her primary education should be.

There are so many stories that I could tell–the story of my guidance counselor’s sixth-grade, learning disabled child who feels like a failure due to constant testing, a principal of an elementary school who is furious with having to use to use a book he deems inappropriate for third graders because his district bought the State Education Department approved common core curriculum, and the frustration of math teachers due to the ever-changing rules regarding the use of calculators on the tests.  And all of this is mixed with the toxic fear that comes from knowing you will be evaluated by test results and that “your score” will be known to any of your parents who ask.

When state education officials chide, “Don’t drill for the test, it does not work”, teachers laugh. Of course test prep works. Every parent who has ever paid hundreds of dollars for SAT prep knows it works —but no parent is foolish enough to think that the average 56 point ‘coaching’ jump in an SAT score means that their child is more “college ready.”
Test scores are a rough proxy for learning. Tests imperfectly examine selected domains of skills, so that we can infer what students know. Real learning occurs in the mind of the learner when she makes connections with prior learning, makes meaning, and retains that knowledge in order to create additional meaning from new information.  In short, with tests we see traces of learning, not learning itself.

What occurs in a “data driven”, high-stakes learning environment is that the full domain of what should be learned narrows to those items tested.  The Common Core, for example, wants students to grow in five skill areas in English Language Arts — reading, writing, speaking, listening and collaboration. But the Common Core tests will only measure reading and writing.  Parents can expect that the other three will be neglected as teachers frantically try to prepare students for the difficult and high-stakes tests.  What gets measured gets done, and make no mistake: “reformers” understand that full well.  In fact, they count on it. They see data, not children.  For the corporate reformers, test data constitute the bottom-line profits that they watch.

There is no one more knowledgeable about school change and systemic reforms than Michael Fullan.  He is a renowned international authority on school reform, having been actively engaged in both its implementation as well in the analysis of reform results.  I had the pleasure of listening to him this week at the Long Island ASCD spring conference.
Fullan told us that the present reforms are led by the wrong drivers of change — individual accountability of teachers, linked to test scores and punishment, cannot be successful in transforming schools.  He told us that the Common Core standards will fall of their own weight because standards and assessments, rather than curriculum and instruction are driving the Common Core.  He explained that the right driver of school change is capacity building.  Data should be used as a strategy for improvement, not for accountability purposes.  The Common Core is a powerful tool, but it is being implemented using the wrong drivers.

Fullan helped to successfully lead the transformation of schools in Ontario, Canada, and he has tried to influence our national conversation, but his advice has been shunned.  I will close with a final quote from Fullan and let readers draw their own conclusions:
A fool with a tool is still a fool.  A fool with a powerful tool is a dangerous fool.