This and That...

[Warph]

IRS Chief Counsel Testifies Before House Oversight Committee
On Tea Party Targeting Scandal,
Answers "I Don't Recall" A Staggering 80 Times

(William Wilkins is one of only two political appointees at the IRS, and he's obviously hiding something.  Issa is offering him a do-over on his testimony)

Via National Review:
Behind the scenes and nearly six months after the scandal first made headlines, the House Oversight Committee is quietly continuing its investigation of the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of tea-party groups. Since May, congressional investigators have interviewed over 30 witnesses and examined thousands of pages of documents.

The latest official called to testify before committee investigators is an important one: IRS chief counsel William Wilkins. Wilkins is one of just two political appointees at the IRS, a generous donor to Democratic candidates and causes, and once represented Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ. Evidence of his involvement in the targeting would spell trouble for the White House and bring renewed focus to a scandal that has largely receded from public consciousness.

The Oversight Committee has furnished none, to date, but it is expressing gross dissatisfaction with Wilkins's testimony and, in a letter sent to him on Wednesday, offering him the opportunity to amend it. "In your testimony, you stated 'I don't recall' a staggering 80 times in full or partial response to the Committee's questions," committee chairman Darrell Issa and Ohio representative Jim Jordan wrote. "Your failure to recollect important aspects of the Committee's investigation suggests either a deliberate attempt to obfuscate your involvement in this matter or gross incompetence on your part."

[Warph]

OFA's Latest Insane Reason To Sign Up For ObUmaCrappyCare:
"Food Related Injuries" On Thanksgiving

(C'mon OFA... are you trolling us?  Your tax money at work, people)

[Warph]

Cancer Patient Who Spoke Out After Losing His Insurance
Because of ObumaCrappyCare Now Being Audited By The IRS

(And we already know there are more than a few overzealous Obumabots at the IRS)

Via FPM:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/cancer-patient-who-spoke-out-against-obamacare-now-being-audited/

Bill Elliot was a cancer patient who lost his insurance due to ObamaCare and couldn't pay the expensive new premiums. He was talking about paying the ObamaCare fine, going without health insurance and "letting nature take its course."

He went on FOX News where his story was picked up by C. Steven Tucker, a health insurance broker who helped him keep his insurance.

Now suddenly Bill Elliot is being audited for 2009 with an interview only scheduled in April 2014. Assuming he lives that long. That might be a coincidence, but Tucker is being audited back to 2003.

That's a rather strange coincidence

[...]

Is health care the end of the Obama presidency?

[Warph]

Clint Eastwood With A Word Or Two About Numb-Nutz

...and while you're at it, if you can't get enough news about our grand leader, President Numb-Nutz, check this list out:

Nachumlist
A Conservative News and Opinion Resource
http://nachumlist.com/page37.htm

[Warph]

More on "Obuma out to destroy America"...

Report: Obama Admin In Secret Talks With Hezbollah,
Willing To "Warm Up To A Direct Relationship In The Future"

(Are you freaking kidding me?  What's next, talks with al-Qaeda?)

Via JPost:
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-London-is-mediating-indirect-secret-talks-between-US-and-Hezbollah-333245

The US and Hezbollah are in secret indirect talks managed by London dealing with the fight against Al-Qaida, regional stability and other Lebanese political issues.

Senior British diplomatic sources, quoted in a report in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai on Wednesday, said British diplomats are holding discussions with leaders of the Lebanese organization and transferring the information to the Americans.

The discussions "are aimed at keeping tabs on the changes in the region and the world, and prepare for the upcoming return of Iran to the international community," according to diplomatic sources in Washington.

Because the US, unlike the UK, recognizes both the political and military wings of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and refuses to distinguish between them, US officials cannot legally meet with any member of the party. But according to the sources, the US is willing to hear the views of the party and "warm up to a direct relationship in the future."

Al-Rai noted that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke to British Prime Minister David Cameron last week, and placed the talks with Iranian-backed Hezbollah in the context of the ongoing negotiations between the West and Tehran, which show Washington's willingness for diplomacy with the Islamic Republic.

[Warph]

Hope y'all had a great Turkey Day, Forum

[Ross]

Government loans are causing a debt crisis in higher education

The Washington Times
Saturday, November 30, 2013 - Funding Democracy: The Economics of Freedom by Michael Busler

WASHINGTON, November 30, 2013 — If some government loan programs have been successful, most have caused more problems than they have solved. Recent history shows the problem is worsening.

Consider the financial crisis. Popular belief is that Wall Street's greed was at the root of the 2008 financial crisis, but government intervention in the housing market coupled with a government-backed mortgage loan policy were at the heart of the crisis that lead to the deep recession and the anemic recovery.

In the 1990's, sociologists convinced both Democrats and Republicans that many social problems like teenage pregnancies, high crime rates, high rates of high school dropouts and drug abuse are minimized in areas where people own homes rather than rent. Data showed that 62 percent to 64 percent of households owned homes while the remaining up to 38 percent rented. In response, the federal government set a target to increase home ownership to 70 percent of households.

This meant that 8 percent of households — about 10 million — should be converted from renters to owners. Why weren't they owners already? They had no money for the down payments and they had insufficient income to make monthly mortgage payments. So the federal government instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own more than half of new mortgages, to purchase mortgages from originating banks that required no down payment and had adjustable rates. This allowed buyers to afford the monthly payments, at least in the beginning.

Problems came when the rates adjusted upward, the default rate increased dramatically, and the economy was dragged into recession. At the same time, the huge increase in housing demand from these 10 million households drove housing prices sky high.

Wall Street packaged and re-sold these Fannie and Freddie purchased loans to investors as mortgage-backed securities, even though they believed the risk was high. They did this not only because of their desire to earn fees, but also because they were encouraged to do so by the federal government.

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SEE RELATED: College debts delaying marriage for graduates

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By 2007, the home ownership rate had just about reached the goal of 70 percent. But when most of these new "sub-prime" loans defaulted, investors were left with about $2 trillion of worthless securities. The financial crisis resulted, but it started with the federal government's loan program. The entire financial crisis and the resulting recession might have been avoided had government policies not promoted the creation of sub-prime mortgages.

Today the home ownership rate is falling and is now below 65 percent.

A similar situation is occurring in higher education. The annual cost of college for tuition, room, board and fees is rapidly rising. There are several reasons for this, but the main culprit is the government student loan program. In an effort to make sure that no student is denied college because of the inability to pay, the federal government has created loan programs that will cover the entire cost of college, no matter how high that cost is. Colleges are thus encouraged to raise tuition and fees at a rate that greatly exceeds inflation.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, total student debt now exceeds $1 trillion. The average student graduates with about $27,000 in debt, with 10 percent of graduates having debt that exceeds $40,000. This means that students will pay an average of $320 per month for the first ten years after graduation. This places yet another burden on new graduates who are having a hard time finding a good job because of the continuing poor performance of the economy.

Student debt could be the next big financial crisis. When the mortgage crisis hit, the result was that housing prices were adjusted downward significantly with some markets seeing as much as a 50 percent decrease in price. If the student debt issue does cause a crisis, it is nearly impossible for colleges to adjust their prices downward, so what happens is really anybodies guess. What isn't a guess is that taxpayers will eventually have to foot the bill.

The intentions of government are always good. Expand home ownership and access to college education — what could be better intended and more American than that? The roat to hell is paved with good intentions, and no good deed goes unpunished. Well-intended programs are marred by negative outcomes like the creation of junk sub-prime mortgages and the crushing burden of debt placed on millions of new college graduates every year.Government sponsored student loans for higher education will likely cause another crisis.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/funding-democracy-economics-freedom/2013/nov/30/government-loans-are-causing-debt-crisis-higher-ed/

[Ross]

3rd grade lesson plan presents messianic view of Obama – literally

MUSKEGON, Mich. – On the heels of a controversial children's book about Barack Obama – which stated "white voters would never vote for a black president" and that "Barack's former pastor" said "God would damn the United States for mistreating its black citizens" – comes a new lesson that casts America's 44th president in a messianic light. Literally.

And – surprise – it's Common Core-aligned.

The lesson plan and accompanying visual presentation were authored by Sherece Bennett, and is for sale on TeachersPayTeachers.com. It's all based on a book titled, "Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope," by Nikki Grimes.

The book is read aloud in the video below.



In one passage, a young Obama sees beggars and wonders, "Will I ever be able to help people like these?"

"Hope hung deep inside of him," the book adds.

Another excerpt from the book reads: "Before dawn each morning, Barry rose – his mother's voice driving him from dream land. 'Time for learning English grammar and the Golden Rule. Be honest, be kind, be fair,' she taught him."

The story continues: "One morning, he slipped on the name he'd been born with. The name of his father, Barack. For the first time in his life, he wore it proudly – like a coat of many colors."

Uh oh – another Obama-inspired Biblical reference in a government school! But there's no controversy here. Leftists will use God and the Bible, in instances such as these, when it appropriately fits their propaganda purposes.

No story about Barack Obama would be complete without mentioning his work as a community organizer. The book describes those days in dramatic fashion:

"The work was grueling, with stretches of failure, and puny patches of success. Door-to-door Barack went, early mornings, late nights, pleading and preaching, coaxing strangers to march together, to make life better for everyone.

"He worked as hard as a farmer, planting the words 'Yes, we can!' like seeds in spring.

"Impatient, Barack kept wondering if those seeds would ever sprout. He worried that the hope in him would fade away."

This mythical interpretation of Obama was the #1 New York Times bestselling picture-book biography of Obama, according to Amazon.com.

Bennett's lesson calls for students as young as third grade to read Grimes' book and do a number of activities, including making a collage of Obama:

"Have students bring in magazines and photos of President Obama. Have students create a collage about Barack Obama based on the information from the text. The collage should represent pictures and words about Barack Obama."

Grimes' book and Bennett's lesson plan are more fitting for an authoritarian regime in which children are taught to deify and praise their dear leader. One can almost envision teachers in Cuba, Venezuela and Iran using similar books and lessons.

Thankfully, that's not the American way, which makes these learning materials completely unsuitable for our classrooms.

Still, given the large number of activist teachers in the U.S., there's a very real possibility this is the version of Barack Obama's history many of our young students are learning in a school near you.

(There is a video at the following link)

http://eagnews.org/teachers-3rd-grade-lesson-presents-messianic-view-of-obama-literally/

[Warph]

Hard Sell: Going Door To Door For ObumaCrappyCare

(Jehovah's Witnesses stand a better chance of a
friendly reception than ObumaCrappyCare sellers)

Via Weekly Standard:[/b]

Standing here on the streets of Hollywood with two comely Obamacare cheerleaders by my side, I'm feeling fired up and ready to go. I'm feeling like the change I've been waiting for. I'm feeling like whatever Obama cliché you can think of. And all I want to say, like the late Todd Beamer before me, is, "Let's roll." Or more like, "Let's enroll." Because much as Beamer, God rest his soul, took on the terrorists who tried to take down America, we are now in a similar cataclysmic fight: the fight to guarantee that every American has the right to buy overpriced health insurance on a glitchy website, under threat of punitive tax penalties.

I've come to Florida to go door-to-door with the foot soldiers of Get Covered America, the boots-on-the-ground division of Enroll America, which bills itself as a "nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to maximize the number of uninsured Americans who enroll in health coverage made available by the Affordable Care Act." These Obamacare evangelists are very serious about the "nonpartisan" nature of their business. Nearly every Enroll America staffer I speak to emphasizes it, often repeatedly. And while it might strain credulity that an organization is nonpartisan which seeks to make sure people are Obamacared for by setting $100 million fundraising goals for itself, and conducting $5 million ad campaigns, and targeting 10 different states, 9 of which are coincidentally run by Republican governors, I choose to take them at their word.

[Warph]

Obuma: We're Investigating My Own Obliviousness On ObumaCrappyCare Website

(Uh huh... sure you are, sweetie)

(CNN) - The hits to President Obama's popularity, prompted by the botched HealthCare.gov rollout, are simply a natural fluctuation every commander-in-chief faces, Obama told interviewer Barbara Walters in an interview aired Friday. [...]

Obama has taken responsibility for the website's flaws, saying he should have been told earlier about the serious issues with HealthCare.gov's digital infrastructure. He's also apologized for his vow that people who liked their plans could keep them.

In Friday's interview, Obama said he was looking for answers soon on why the rollout failed so spectacularly.

"Obviously my most recent concern has been that my website's not working," Obama said. "We're evaluating why it is exactly that I didn't know soon enough that it wasn't going to work the way it needed to. But my priority now has been to just make sure that it works."