The President of the United States, the most powerful person in the country, yearns for Americans to believe that he learned from the media about the sleazy scandal over health care for veterans. He didn't hear it from a cabinet member. Nor from his chief-of-staff. Or from one of his countless flunkies.
Bad news always reaches the president's ears via news reports. It is an admission that strains the bounds of credulity. However, if we accept the president's confession as truth, then Obama is the most out-of-touch chief executive in modern history.
Over days, media reports sprouted in various cities about Veterans Administration officials falsifying documents, covering up their own incompetence and conspiring to delay treatments for military men and women which allegedly led to deaths and suicides.
Once the media ruckus erupted, apparently no administration official bothered to call the White House to brief the president. To the disbelief of reporters, presidential mouthpiece Jay Carney continued to insist that Obama was so isolated that he heard about the scandal from a television news report.
Yet information on the problem-riddled veterans hospitals was available at his fingertips. The congressional watchdog Government Accountability Office (GAO) has exposed mismanagement, incompetence and flawed leadership for at least two decades, including as recently as April of this year.
Last month's GAO report cited the "inconsistent implementation of the Veterans Hospital Administration (VHA) scheduling policy (that) may have resulted in increased wait times or delays in scheduling timely medical appointments."
In its investigation, the GAO uncovered evidence that clinics "did not use the electronic wait list to track new patients in need of medical appointments as required by VHA policy, putting these patients at risk for not receiving timely care."
Two years earlier, the GAO issued a scathing indictment of the "lack of leadership" at the highest levels as one of the key issues in resolving problems with veterans care. The agency recommended "sustained leadership attention" to ensure continuity of healthcare for the nation's wounded warriors.
Perhaps, the president was on vacation or playing golf when these and other reports were circulated. But it is unconscionable to suggest that no one pointed out the deficiencies to a president who has pledged to make goverrnment-run health care for veterans a hallmark of his administration.
Only this occupant of the White House would expect to be absolved of any blame because he knew nothing.
Whatever his explanation, the scandal is a scorching indictment of Obama and his administration. Although the president has managed to duck one scandal after another thanks to a submissive media, this one smacks of corruption that rises to the level of criminal behavior.
What began as an isolated incident at a Phoenix VA hospital, has spread like a contagion to at least 19 states. Whistle blowers, including current and former VA officials, are emerging from the shadows to expose shabby health care practices.
Unlike the Benghazi and IRS scandals, this one has local legs. Television, radio stations, newspapers and online media in cities across the nation are dogging local Veterans Administration officials for answers. The result is a tsunami of coverage that threatens to sink the president's already low standing.
Even as the scandal swirled around him for days, Obama dawdled until he was shamed into publicly addressing the allegations. He promised an investigation, but dodged any responsibility and embraced Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2009, Obama choose the retired U.S. Army general for the post, the second largest among the 15 cabinet level departments. His appointment followed a string of campaign promises to improve veterans health care by reducing wait times and streamlining bureaucratic red tape.
In his December 16 report to Congress, Shinseki wrote that his department had succeeded in "improving the timeliness, accessibility and quality of health care and benefits delivery to our Veterans" during 2013.
It is obvious the assessment has no factual basis. Either Shinseki lied or he is so removed from the day-to-day workings of his sprawling department that he was clueless about what was happening in VA hospitals throughout the U.S. In either case, the secretary deserves to be fired immediately.
More heads also need to roll within the veterans department. But under Obama, no one ever gets a pink slip or is held accountable. He always is more concerned with the political spin than he is serious about action to fix any problems. His first priority is to make sure he is not seen as culpable
America's military veterans deserve better. Their service and sacrifices on behalf of our nation are dishonored when they are denied timely medical treatment and ignored by a bureaucracy that tries to hide the truth with deception.
These brave men and women should not be made to wait while Obama's lackeys launch a long overdue investigation that will take months or years. The GAO has already documented a litany of malfeasance. Action is needed now. Today. Every second wasted another veteran will die unnecessarily.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Climate Change: Propaganda and Fear Mongering
President Obama's recent announcement of an initiative on the environment was newsworthy not for his eloquence, but for what he didn't say. Not once during his magisterial discourse did he utter the words "global warming." In fact, he avoided the term as if it was a Fox News reporter.
Instead, Obama preached about the looming calamity of climate change. His chose his words carefully because the earth is no longer warming as many scientists had forecast just a decade ago. In response, the voices of doom have a new hypothesis: man is causing dramatic changes in the climate.
They will get no argument that the climate is changing. It is well-documented that the earth has undergone dramatic periods of cooling and heating over billions of years. However, these pseudo scientists now proclaim the Earth is in a static state so any shift in weather patterns is cause for alarm.
Every snow melt, tornado, flood or drought is attributed to greenhouse gases, fossil emissions or other man-made pollution. Never mind that the the planet has suffered the ravages of violent and erratic weather since its galactic birth.
These same climate scaremongers were apoplectic over climate models that only recently showed the earth was overheating at a rate that would spark an environmental meltdown like the world has never witnessed. Too bad nature intervened and the warming subsided.
Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) satellite data confirms that average temperatures worldwide have not risen since 1997. Yet in 2001 and again in 2007, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated world temperatures would rise 0.2 degrees centigrade per decade because of greenhouse gases.
Independent analyses of climate data shows that most of the warming occurred between 1980 and 1997. During that time the planet warmed up by about 0.4 degrees centigrade. That has not deterred global warming zealots armed with discredited mathematical models to dispute the evidence.
The Chicken Little Crowd is now blaming the cooling on a combination of ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases. However, these same climate extremists also singled out those two forces to explain the warming of the planet.
Ironically, those who employ such disreputable science are the same environmental anarchists who mock their detractors with derogatory terms such as climate denier or junk science practitioner.
More scientists are stepping out of the academic shadows to rebut the radical climate activists despite the threat of vicious personal attacks. That includes Dr. David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. After reviewing the latest scientific data, here is Dr. Whitehouse's conclusion:
"It is a demonstration that science is not settled and there are great uncertainties in our understanding of the greenhouse (effect)," he said. "We are at the point where the temperature standstill is becoming the dominant feature of the post 1980's warming."
Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore, who resigned from the environmental organization in 1986, went even further. "There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the earth's atmosphere over the past 100 years."
However, the climate fanatics continue to insist that science is on their side of the argument. The liberal Slate magazine declared there is "no scientific controversy" over climate change. Its editors wrote, "Climate change denial is purely 100 percent made-up political and corporate sponsored crap."
The magazine's opinion is illustrative of the frenzied media campaign to brainwash the public. Their goal is to program Americans to believe destruction of the Earth is imminent without intrusive government regulations. It helps their crusade that most people have no science education.
Obama and his global warming torchbearers understand the political and social dynamics. Doing something good for the environment, even if the costs outweigh the benefits, appeals to many uniformed altruists. Obama and his ilk prey on people's desire to be seen as good stewards of the planet.
Dr. Leslie Woodcock, a senior research consultant at NASA's Wright-Patterson Air Force Laboratory, has studied the climate change phenomenon for decades. He eviscerates the so-called green lobby for creating misinformation based on unsubstantiated assertions about global warming.
"If you talk to real scientists who have no political interests, they will tell you there is nothing in global warming. It's an industry which creates vast amounts of money for some people," he insisted.
Many scientists have a vested financial interest in fomenting climate change panic. They receive millions in grant money from business and political sources with agendas to influence scientists to substantiate their premise of global warming. Unfortunately, many professors and climatologists are willing to practice scientific voodoo for their own gain.
Polls show that many Americans have not been swayed by the eco-elitist climate hysteria. Those findings offer hope that common sense and sound scholarship will triumph over the ideological nonsense that masquerades today as environmental science.
Instead, Obama preached about the looming calamity of climate change. His chose his words carefully because the earth is no longer warming as many scientists had forecast just a decade ago. In response, the voices of doom have a new hypothesis: man is causing dramatic changes in the climate.
They will get no argument that the climate is changing. It is well-documented that the earth has undergone dramatic periods of cooling and heating over billions of years. However, these pseudo scientists now proclaim the Earth is in a static state so any shift in weather patterns is cause for alarm.
Every snow melt, tornado, flood or drought is attributed to greenhouse gases, fossil emissions or other man-made pollution. Never mind that the the planet has suffered the ravages of violent and erratic weather since its galactic birth.
These same climate scaremongers were apoplectic over climate models that only recently showed the earth was overheating at a rate that would spark an environmental meltdown like the world has never witnessed. Too bad nature intervened and the warming subsided.
Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) satellite data confirms that average temperatures worldwide have not risen since 1997. Yet in 2001 and again in 2007, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated world temperatures would rise 0.2 degrees centigrade per decade because of greenhouse gases.
Independent analyses of climate data shows that most of the warming occurred between 1980 and 1997. During that time the planet warmed up by about 0.4 degrees centigrade. That has not deterred global warming zealots armed with discredited mathematical models to dispute the evidence.
The Chicken Little Crowd is now blaming the cooling on a combination of ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases. However, these same climate extremists also singled out those two forces to explain the warming of the planet.
Ironically, those who employ such disreputable science are the same environmental anarchists who mock their detractors with derogatory terms such as climate denier or junk science practitioner.
More scientists are stepping out of the academic shadows to rebut the radical climate activists despite the threat of vicious personal attacks. That includes Dr. David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. After reviewing the latest scientific data, here is Dr. Whitehouse's conclusion:
"It is a demonstration that science is not settled and there are great uncertainties in our understanding of the greenhouse (effect)," he said. "We are at the point where the temperature standstill is becoming the dominant feature of the post 1980's warming."
Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore, who resigned from the environmental organization in 1986, went even further. "There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the earth's atmosphere over the past 100 years."
However, the climate fanatics continue to insist that science is on their side of the argument. The liberal Slate magazine declared there is "no scientific controversy" over climate change. Its editors wrote, "Climate change denial is purely 100 percent made-up political and corporate sponsored crap."
The magazine's opinion is illustrative of the frenzied media campaign to brainwash the public. Their goal is to program Americans to believe destruction of the Earth is imminent without intrusive government regulations. It helps their crusade that most people have no science education.
Obama and his global warming torchbearers understand the political and social dynamics. Doing something good for the environment, even if the costs outweigh the benefits, appeals to many uniformed altruists. Obama and his ilk prey on people's desire to be seen as good stewards of the planet.
Dr. Leslie Woodcock, a senior research consultant at NASA's Wright-Patterson Air Force Laboratory, has studied the climate change phenomenon for decades. He eviscerates the so-called green lobby for creating misinformation based on unsubstantiated assertions about global warming.
"If you talk to real scientists who have no political interests, they will tell you there is nothing in global warming. It's an industry which creates vast amounts of money for some people," he insisted.
Many scientists have a vested financial interest in fomenting climate change panic. They receive millions in grant money from business and political sources with agendas to influence scientists to substantiate their premise of global warming. Unfortunately, many professors and climatologists are willing to practice scientific voodoo for their own gain.
Polls show that many Americans have not been swayed by the eco-elitist climate hysteria. Those findings offer hope that common sense and sound scholarship will triumph over the ideological nonsense that masquerades today as environmental science.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Obama's War on Seniors
For all the Democrat rancor about the War on Women, President Obama and his administration have carried out their own hostile campaign against seniors without so much as a peep from Republicans. Their silence makes them complicit in the undermining of the future health and welfare of seniors.
With the backing of his party, Obama and his policy wonks have deliberately punished seniors by shaving their health care benefits, savaging their savings and slicing their retirement benefits. Ironically, Democrats and their titular leader claim it is Republicans who want to throw granny off the cliff.
But the facts belie their rhetoric. Since Obama was elevated to the White House, his party and his administration have waged a cruel war on those 65-years and older. Consider how the president's policies, implemented by his minions, have harmed seniors:
The Federal Reserve Board has kept interest rates near zero for most of the Obama presidency. Risk-adverse seniors have traditionally invested their retirement funds in savings accounts, certificates of deposit and U.S. Treasury securities. However, the earnings from these investments have failed to even keep up with low inflation rates. Seniors' nest eggs have been hammered by the Fed's policy, advocated by Obama. There had have been other consequences as well. Low interest rates have increased the cost of long-term care insurance and reduced guaranteed payments on even the safest annuities.
The Obama economic recovery has forced more seniors to keep working. The number of Americans 65 and older in the workforce has risen every year under Obama. For first time since the Labor Department began keeping statistics in 1981, one in nine men and one in 20 women over the age of 75 are toiling in the workforce. Many seniors have no choice but to continue to work. A study by the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute blamed the increase in senior workers on the loss of retirement savings, significant increases in Medicare premiums and adverse changes in Social Security benefits.
Obamacare will cut billions of dollars from Medicare over the next decade. President Obama famously claimed that his signature health care reform "won't touch guaranteed Medicare benefits. Not by a single dime." This is a colossal lie. Obamacare will gut $716 billion from Medicare over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Obama has turned Medicare into a cash cow to fund the entitlements guaranteed under the new health care law. Medicare trustees have estimated that the lower Medicare payment rates will force cutbacks in benefits to seniors as hospitals, nursing facilities and home health care agencies are obligated to accept less money for services.
Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) have been practically non-existent under Obama. After years of rising COLA increases, the Social Security administration has put the brakes on hikes. In both 2009 and 2010, seniors received not one penny of increase even as inflation ticked up. Since 2011, the increases have totaled a meager 6.8 percent. By comparison, spending on federal means-tested welfare programs has soared 32 percent since Obama took office, reports the Senate Budget Committee. Funding for food stamp programs has skyrocketed 65 percent under Obama.
In some ways seniors have no one to blame but themselves for the shabby treatment. For decades, Democrats have hoodwinked seniors into believing Republicans wanted to take away their benefits. In response, too many older Americans sheepishly voted for Democrats.
Seniors have the power to shift the political winds. The Census Bureau estimates that the number of people aged 65 and older will double by 2050. There were 43 million people 65+ in 2012. By 2050, the number will eclipse 84 million. One in five Americans will be seniors.
Those statistics should compel Washington to take notice. But only if seniors flex their political muscle and let themselves be heard in the halls of Congress, at the ballot box and in the media. The future belongs to seniors, but only if they arise from their political slumber.
With the backing of his party, Obama and his policy wonks have deliberately punished seniors by shaving their health care benefits, savaging their savings and slicing their retirement benefits. Ironically, Democrats and their titular leader claim it is Republicans who want to throw granny off the cliff.
But the facts belie their rhetoric. Since Obama was elevated to the White House, his party and his administration have waged a cruel war on those 65-years and older. Consider how the president's policies, implemented by his minions, have harmed seniors:
The Federal Reserve Board has kept interest rates near zero for most of the Obama presidency. Risk-adverse seniors have traditionally invested their retirement funds in savings accounts, certificates of deposit and U.S. Treasury securities. However, the earnings from these investments have failed to even keep up with low inflation rates. Seniors' nest eggs have been hammered by the Fed's policy, advocated by Obama. There had have been other consequences as well. Low interest rates have increased the cost of long-term care insurance and reduced guaranteed payments on even the safest annuities.
The Obama economic recovery has forced more seniors to keep working. The number of Americans 65 and older in the workforce has risen every year under Obama. For first time since the Labor Department began keeping statistics in 1981, one in nine men and one in 20 women over the age of 75 are toiling in the workforce. Many seniors have no choice but to continue to work. A study by the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute blamed the increase in senior workers on the loss of retirement savings, significant increases in Medicare premiums and adverse changes in Social Security benefits.
Obamacare will cut billions of dollars from Medicare over the next decade. President Obama famously claimed that his signature health care reform "won't touch guaranteed Medicare benefits. Not by a single dime." This is a colossal lie. Obamacare will gut $716 billion from Medicare over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Obama has turned Medicare into a cash cow to fund the entitlements guaranteed under the new health care law. Medicare trustees have estimated that the lower Medicare payment rates will force cutbacks in benefits to seniors as hospitals, nursing facilities and home health care agencies are obligated to accept less money for services.
Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) have been practically non-existent under Obama. After years of rising COLA increases, the Social Security administration has put the brakes on hikes. In both 2009 and 2010, seniors received not one penny of increase even as inflation ticked up. Since 2011, the increases have totaled a meager 6.8 percent. By comparison, spending on federal means-tested welfare programs has soared 32 percent since Obama took office, reports the Senate Budget Committee. Funding for food stamp programs has skyrocketed 65 percent under Obama.
In some ways seniors have no one to blame but themselves for the shabby treatment. For decades, Democrats have hoodwinked seniors into believing Republicans wanted to take away their benefits. In response, too many older Americans sheepishly voted for Democrats.
Seniors have the power to shift the political winds. The Census Bureau estimates that the number of people aged 65 and older will double by 2050. There were 43 million people 65+ in 2012. By 2050, the number will eclipse 84 million. One in five Americans will be seniors.
Those statistics should compel Washington to take notice. But only if seniors flex their political muscle and let themselves be heard in the halls of Congress, at the ballot box and in the media. The future belongs to seniors, but only if they arise from their political slumber.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Commencement Address: Nothing But The Truth
Graduates, parents, faculty and overpaid administrators. Let me begin by saying this commencement address will be like none other you have ever heard or read about. That means doing something no other speaker would dare to do. I will tell you the truth.
I won't be trying to impress you with soaring rhetoric. I refuse to paint a sumptuous picture of the future that awaits you. I don't plan to insult your intelligence by challenging you to change the world. My goal is to explain what awaits you beyond the ivy-covered walls of this institution.
First, your chances of landing a job in your chosen profession are slim. You are facing the most challenging job market in many decades, according to research by the New York Federal Reserve. Most likely you will be forced to take a lower paying job or wind up unemployed.
Don't take my word for it. The New York Fed's research found that 44 percent of recent graduates have been pressured to accept jobs they thought were beneath their education level. A big percentage of grads end up in careers that don't require a degree, such as bartenders and retail clerks.
I know that isn't good news because most of you have accumulated too much debt paying for a high-priced education. About 70 percent of students who graduated in 2012 had borrowed an average of $29,400, a record. It's hard to pay off your loans when you a toiling for minimum wage.
By the way, that's not hyperbole. There are twice as many college graduates working in minimum wage jobs today as there were just five years ago says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is 71 percent higher than a decade ago.
The reason the future is so bleak is that the United States has experienced a jobless recovery from the economic meltdown in 2008. I know government statistics claim unemployment has declined. But the number of people in the workforce has fallen and we have the largest number of long-term unemployed in the country since the Great Depression.
Why has this happened in the greatest country on God's green earth?
That answer is that your nation has been led by a president who has done nothing to create jobs. Unless you are so misinformed that you believe raising taxes creates more employment. I point this out because apparently many of you are convinced President Obama has been good for the economy.
I base that on the knowledge that the people in this audience voted overwhelming to grant Mr. Obama a second term. I have the statistics right here. The president won the youth vote (18-to-29-year-olds) by 67% to 30% in the most recent election.
What where you thinking? Apparently, many of you don't pay attention to what's happening beyond this campus. Most of you have never held a real job. By the way, I don't consider being president of your fraternity a highly sought skill.
Some of you didn't belong in college in the first place. You were bullied and shoved into college by your high school counselors and parents. Did you know that many of today's leaders of high tech companies never finished college?
Now that you are saddled with debt and worried about a job, perhaps you will take stock of your future. Don't believe what your college professors preached to you. A degree doesn't guarantee you anything. You certainly are not insured a job.
But let me provide one glimmer of hope. You happen to live in a country that offers you freedom to dream. A nation that provides opportunities for a minimum wage earner to become a CEO. You cannot find that in any other country but the United States.
Cherish the values that made this country great. Hard work. Fierce determination. Sacrifice. Perseverance. Then hitch up your pants and be willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even if it means starting at the bottom.
This world owes you nothing. It is you who is in debt to the nation for creating opportunities. If you don't take advantage of them, blame no one but yourself.
I won't be trying to impress you with soaring rhetoric. I refuse to paint a sumptuous picture of the future that awaits you. I don't plan to insult your intelligence by challenging you to change the world. My goal is to explain what awaits you beyond the ivy-covered walls of this institution.
First, your chances of landing a job in your chosen profession are slim. You are facing the most challenging job market in many decades, according to research by the New York Federal Reserve. Most likely you will be forced to take a lower paying job or wind up unemployed.
Don't take my word for it. The New York Fed's research found that 44 percent of recent graduates have been pressured to accept jobs they thought were beneath their education level. A big percentage of grads end up in careers that don't require a degree, such as bartenders and retail clerks.
I know that isn't good news because most of you have accumulated too much debt paying for a high-priced education. About 70 percent of students who graduated in 2012 had borrowed an average of $29,400, a record. It's hard to pay off your loans when you a toiling for minimum wage.
By the way, that's not hyperbole. There are twice as many college graduates working in minimum wage jobs today as there were just five years ago says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is 71 percent higher than a decade ago.
The reason the future is so bleak is that the United States has experienced a jobless recovery from the economic meltdown in 2008. I know government statistics claim unemployment has declined. But the number of people in the workforce has fallen and we have the largest number of long-term unemployed in the country since the Great Depression.
Why has this happened in the greatest country on God's green earth?
That answer is that your nation has been led by a president who has done nothing to create jobs. Unless you are so misinformed that you believe raising taxes creates more employment. I point this out because apparently many of you are convinced President Obama has been good for the economy.
I base that on the knowledge that the people in this audience voted overwhelming to grant Mr. Obama a second term. I have the statistics right here. The president won the youth vote (18-to-29-year-olds) by 67% to 30% in the most recent election.
What where you thinking? Apparently, many of you don't pay attention to what's happening beyond this campus. Most of you have never held a real job. By the way, I don't consider being president of your fraternity a highly sought skill.
Some of you didn't belong in college in the first place. You were bullied and shoved into college by your high school counselors and parents. Did you know that many of today's leaders of high tech companies never finished college?
Now that you are saddled with debt and worried about a job, perhaps you will take stock of your future. Don't believe what your college professors preached to you. A degree doesn't guarantee you anything. You certainly are not insured a job.
But let me provide one glimmer of hope. You happen to live in a country that offers you freedom to dream. A nation that provides opportunities for a minimum wage earner to become a CEO. You cannot find that in any other country but the United States.
Cherish the values that made this country great. Hard work. Fierce determination. Sacrifice. Perseverance. Then hitch up your pants and be willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even if it means starting at the bottom.
This world owes you nothing. It is you who is in debt to the nation for creating opportunities. If you don't take advantage of them, blame no one but yourself.
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