ObamaCare Website Deletes "Free Health Care" Reference

"Look peasants folks, nothing in life is free. At best we get to collect money from graft and political pay-off."

Not surprising. It's the bait and switch...

From The Weekly Standard: (via Drudge)

Even as President Obama and his administration are making a last minute push to encourage enrollment in Obamacare, a quiet change was made on the Healthcare.gov website regarding those who will still not be able to afford coverage after the program kicks in. From at least June 26, 2013 to as recently as September 15, under the topic, "Where can I get free or low-cost care in my community?" the following statement appeared: "If you can't afford any health plan, you can get free or low-cost health and dental care at a nearby community health center." Here is how the page in question appeared:

However, sometime between September 16 and September 23, the reference to "free" care was dropped. The title of the topic was changed as well, and now reads: "Where can I get low-cost care in my community?" Here is how the page currently appears:
 

[...]  

Since President Obama has been emphasizing of late how inexpensive Obamacare will be for many Americans, advertising the availability of "free" health care might have been viewed as a deterrent to purchasing even the least expensive option from the government-run exchanges. Since the "bronze" and "silver" level plans that the president has recently been touting as equaling "the cost of your cable bill" and "less than your cell phone bill" will still entail significant out-of-pocket costs for medical care, "free" might still look more attractive to many on the lower end of the income scale. It may be that community health centers will still offer free care to some, but visitors to Healthcare.gov will no longer be made aware of the option.

As reality forces a modicum of honesty from this idiotic law, other words stricken will be "affordable" and "care." Soon we will be left with government mandated health insurance. And the Democrats gave it to us-- or more accurately-- jammed it down our throats over our protests, in the dead of night, with a procedural legislative trick. Own it!

Government Wants to Reduce Cancer Rates by Redefining the Term "Cancer"

"There's nothing wrong with you... I swear it. Besides you're not technically really a human being unless you're a Democrat. The science is settled."

It's a typical Leftist ploy-- using language games to either make a concern look worse or better depending on the whim of those in charge.

From the Forbes article by Paul Hsieh (h/t Instapundit):

The federal government wants to reduce the number of Americans diagnosed each year with cancer. But not by better preventive care or healthier living. Instead, the government wants to redefinethe term “cancer” so that fewer conditions qualify as a true cancer. What does this mean for ordinary Americans — and should we be concerned? 

[...]  

But while there are legitimate scientific and medical questions about the proper definition and classification of any disease (including cancer), we must be careful that that any redefinition won’t be used for inappropriate political purposes. Given the increasing government control over US health care, how the government defines medical terms can have serious economic and policy implications. 

For example, the definition of a “live birth” has become important in discussions over health care policy. Many on the political Left cite the supposedly high infant mortality rate in the US relative to Europe as one of the failures of the US health system.
But Dr. Bernadine Healy (former director of the National Institutes of Health and of the American Red Cross) has noted:

The United States counts all births as live if they show any sign of life, regardless of prematurity or size. This includes what many other countries report as stillbirths. In Austria and Germany, fetal weight must be at least 500 grams (1 pound) to count as a live birth; in other parts of Europe, such as Switzerland, the fetus must be at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) long. In Belgium and France, births at less than 26 weeks of pregnancy are registered as lifeless. And some countries don’t reliably register babies who die within the first 24 hours of birth. 

Thus, the United States is sure to report higher infant mortality rates. For this very reason, the Organization for Cooperation and Development, which collects the European numbers, warns of head-to-head comparisons by country.

This "high infant mortality rate" was key argument recited endlessly by ObamaCare proponents a few years ago. It was rather telling to me, as the European models of health care are either directly run or heavily effected by the government. The redefinition of "live birth" was instituted to keep the countries' infant mortality rates artificially low. The U.S will inevitably follow through with similar sleight of hand tricks through language. It's in the playbook.

Similarly, the American Medical Association recently voted to declare obesity a “disease.” But as Cato Institute health care analyst Michael Tanner noted, “the AMA’s move is actually a way for its members to receive more federal dollars, by getting obesity treatments covered under government health plans.”  

[...]  

Dr. Milton Wolf, a practicing radiologist who cares for patients with DCIS warns against this Orwellian possibility:

Health care rationing takes many insidious forms but perhaps the most immoral is for the government to wage a public relations campaign designed specifically to dissuade patients and doctors from seeking available cures for cancer. They scheme to rename cancer, not to cure it, but to deny it exists. These government rationers have calculated that rather than actually treat patients with cancer, it’s cheaper to simply keep them as calm as Hindu cows right up to the very end.

“Cancer” is a powerful word. Hence, whoever controls the definition of that word wields tremendous power over patients. Ordinary Americans should stay vigilant to ensure this power isn’t wrongly used against them.

Dr. Wolf  is, of course, a racist who wants all of us to die... or something.

One of the great problems in allowing the government-- especially one proven to be untrustworthy by a number of recent high-profile scandals-- to run health care and judiciously dole treatments with an idea toward cost-saving, is that the truth becomes completely lost. Any sort of trust that is supposed to exist between patient and doctor is lost as doctors are required to redefine, to the point of untruth, diagnoses, treatment options, and future prognosis due to the federal legal requirements. It's Orwellian and wrong. And it's guaranteed by ObamaCare.

Poll: Majority Believe IRS Targeted Tea Party Groups, Few Think IRS will Be Punished

"They did my bidding and they shall be exonerated by the Light-bringer that I am!"

Yeah, that's pretty much what you would expect. In the Age of Obama political cronies doing the illegal bidding of their master are rarely punished-- unless pay outs to retire early or being put on paid vacations until the scandal blows over count as punishment.

From the Sunshine State News piece by Allison Nielsen (h/t Instapundit):

The Internal Revenue Service's decision to target tea party and other conservative groups created a lot of controversy earlier this year, but while most American voters believe the IRS broke the law, very few think government employees will be charged with any crime.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll found 53 percent of likely U.S. voters believe the IRS broke the law when it targeted tea party and other conservative groups, while only 24 percent disagree.

But only 17 percent believe it is even somewhat likely that criminal charges will be brought against any government employees for IRS's targeting of these groups. Seventy-four percent consider criminal charges unlikely. This number includes 27 percent who say charges are not at all likely.

Just this week, the senior IRS official whose office probed the conservative groups resigned and is allegedly seeking immunity before she testifies before the congressional committee investigating the issue.

The IRS originally said the decision was made by low-level officials in its Cincinnati office, but has since backed away from that claim.

Cynicism is the new normal under Obama. And why not? The revolutionary aspects of Leftist dogma is based around cynicism of the old regime and faith in the Leftist creeds. It's easy to create cynicism, but hard to create faith-- especially in a failed political theory that has frequently resulted in genocide.

Federal Stimulus Funds Go to "Free" Trees in Posh Denver Neighborhoods

"Trees for the wealthy! What about this wouldn't create jobs for thousands?"

It was shovel ready, right?

From Fox News:

About $600,000 in federal stimulus funds were used to plant trees in some of Denver's priciest neighborhoods at no cost to homeowners, according to a KCNC-TV report.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program had no income guidelines, so trees were planted in upscale areas of the city at about $150 apiece, the station reported.
City forester Rob Davis said the now-defunct program was developed to help boost the economy by creating tree-planting jobs and to provide homeowners with long-term savings in energy costs.  

“It’s open to anybody,” Davis told the station. “It’s basically if you live in Denver, you want to reduce your energy costs, you want to have a tree that can raise your property value, go to the web page to sign up.” 

John Backlund, who lives in a home worth more than $700,000, told the station he agreed to take a tree after he was approached by a government worker going door-to-door trying to give them away. 

“Too good of a deal to say no to. I was happy to get the free tree,” Backlund said.
While some trees were planted in middle- and lower-income neighborhoods, the federal government rejected a proposal by the city to keep the trees out of neighborhoods with high-end homes. 

“The program was turned down by the government as their interest was in funding programs that created jobs and helped citizens reduce overall energy costs,” city Parks and Recreation spokesman Jeff Green told KCNC-TV.com. 

Green said the department recognizes that many trees ended up in high-income neighborhoods and plans to attempt to remedy the imbalance.

Yup, more money shall be needed to remedy the income / tree imbalances.

I just don't understand why the stimulus failed so miserably. I mean how many hundeds of jobs were created by these trees?

Both Russia and China Hold Large Scale War Games; The Cold War Part 2?

Okay, this looks a little bad as China and Russia begin to subtly saber rattle-- but President James Bond Obama is busy defending us from racists, the GOP, and anyone who doesn't think the feds shouldn't ration health care to the masses. I mean, he can't look outside the U.S. for enemies when there's plenty that need his vengeance right here.

Nothing to worry about. Russia isn't a rival to the U.S. or anything. And besides Obama had Hillary give them a "overcharge" "reset button" so it's all okay.

From The Free Beacon" article by Bill Gertz:

Pentagon intelligence agencies are closely watching Russian and Chinese war games now taking place in Europe and Asia involving tens of thousands of troops. 

Meanwhile, NATO military forces are set to conduct large-scale maneuvers in November that will be designed to counter growing concerns of a westward Russian military encroachment, according to U.S. officials. 

“The Russians are moving forces closer to Europe, and that is troubling,” said a military official. 

Russia’s Zapad-13 military exercises in Belarus are scheduled to end Thursday. They included practice attacks on a western state, said one official familiar with reports of the maneuvers. 

Some 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops took part with over 60 aircraft and helicopters and up to 250 vehicles. 

The forces practiced “rapid reaction” drills. 

Russian officials recently denied Polish press reports that the Zapad-13 would include a notional nuclear attack on Warsaw. However, Russian officials have said the war games will involve practicing precision air and missile strikes.

The Russians have been practicing to invade Poland for about ten years that I can recall. It's one of the reasons why a strong U.S. ally is vital to Poland, and not the apologetic and schizophrenic frenemy that marks Obama's international policies and rhetoric.

In response to Polish press reports on the simulated nuclear strike on Poland’s capital, state-run Interfax news agency in April denied the reports. “Claims that West 2013 will allegedly practice a preventive nuclear strike on Warsaw are nothing but imagination of Polish journalists,” a high-ranking officer was quoted as saying.  

[...]  

U.S. military officials said the war games are part of a larger Russian effort to use military power to bolster its position in the former Soviet republics with a larger military presence. 

Russia also has a ballistic missile warning radar at Baranovichi, Belarus, and a Navy communications facility used to communicate with Russian submarines. Moscow also supplied Belarus with advanced S-300 missile defenses and Tor-M2 surface-to-air missiles.  

[...]  

Meanwhile in China, Chinese military forces are engaged in large-scale exercises involving some 40,000 troops. 

The People’s Liberation Army announced its “Mission Action 2013” began Tuesday.
Troops from the Nanjing and Guangzhou military regions and air forces were set to take part. 

The PLA troops will conduct maneuvers over large areas using military ground vehicles, trains, ships, and aircraft to test forces for “real war” conditions. 

The exercises will include coordination between military and civilian assets, including civilian jets and trains to transport forces, according to state-run Chinese press reports.
Chinese aircraft taking part in the war games include jet fighters, bombers, and other aircraft. 

 Yeah, nothing to worry about...

ObamaCare has Financial Incentives to Divorce

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Ah, the evils of the "wedding tax" has come to bloom.

What a load of crap this idiocy is!

It's frighteningly complicated, but Tom Blumer does a pretty good job of explaining it. Check out his full article at PJ Media here.

A small excerpt:

The couple’s [a hypothetical 40 yr. old couple w/ two children] annual unsubsidized premium while married is $11,547 (OFA’s vaunted “tax credits” disappear at $92,401 for married couples with two children). But if they divorce and shack up while giving custody of both children to the lower-earning spouse, their combined annual premiums, at $4,317, will be over $7,200 lower. That’s over $600 a month. As was the case in the previous example, the savings from divorce will gradually increase every year. Parents will be torn between doing what Western civilization has considered morally right for millennia and their children’s financial well-being as never before.  

There may be contrary examples, but in all of my research into the inner workings of Obamacare as embodied in Kaiser’s model, I was unable to find a single instance where staying married led to a lower net healthcare premium compared to divorcing and living together. Clearly, many couples who are considering marriage, especially after several years of seeing formerly married couples regress to cohabiting, will look at Obamacare’s “wedding tax” and say, “Never mind.” The effect on society will be incalculable, and certainly not for the good. 

As designed, Obamacare threatens to turn cohabiting while functionally living as if married into a national sport.

Well, ObamaCare's just looking better and better, isn't it?

Gallup: Americans' Belief That Gov't Is Too Powerful at Record Level

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No. Really?! Do you think?

From Gallup:

Six in 10 Americans (60%) believe the federal government has too much power, one percentage point above the previous high recorded in September 2010. At least half of Americans since 2005 have said the government has too much power. Thirty-two percent now say the government has the right amount of power. Few say it has too little power.  

[...]  

This new high encompasses Republicans (81%), who are now more likely than at any time since 2002 to say the government has too much power, and Democrats (38%), who now are more likely to say this than at any time since President Barack Obama took office in 2009. 

Republicans, Democrats, and independents have each grown more likely to say government is too powerful this year. However, Republicans' and Democrats' views have generally become more polarized since Obama took office. In 2002, the two parties were about equally likely to view the federal government as too powerful, at 36% and 35%, respectively, with independents, at 45%, most likely to say this.

Wait until the government starts forcing people to go to overworked and disinterested doctors through ObamaCare... I'm sure the number will change then-- probably going lower since ObamaCare is so popular.

IRS Continues Evading Congress-- Has Produced Only 10% of the Documents Demanded by Congress

"Why don't folks just leave this alone! I won, and now I you shall face me only on bended knee!"

Still not surprised. The IRS really doesn't want to show how deep the involvement was with the White House, nor how much it likely effected the election.

From the CNS News article by Terence Jeffrey:

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee--which is probing the Internal Revenue Service’s discriminatory treatment of Tea Party and conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status--says the IRS has thus far handed over to the committee only about 10 percent of the documents the IRS itself has said are responsive to the committee’s demands for documents.  

The committee subpoenaed the Treasury Department for relevant documents from the department and the IRS more than seven weeks ago at the beginning of August. 

“To date, the IRS has produced to the committee only about 10 percent of all responsive materials that it has identified,” the committee’s majority staff said in a memo to committee members last Tuesday.  

Committee staff confirmed to CNSNews.com today that the IRS has not produced a significant number of additional documents since that memo was circulated on Sept. 17, and that as of the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 23, the IRS’s total production of documents to the committee remained only about 10 percent of those the IRS has said are responsive 

“In his letter of August 2, 2013, Acting Commissioner Werfel represented to the committee that the IRS has identified 660,000 responsive documents,” said the Oversight Committee majority staff memo. “The committee has received only 63,000 pages.”  

[...]  

As reported by the Washington Times, Lois Lerner--who refused to answer questions on 5th Amendment grounds when she appeared in the Oversight Committee on May 22--retired from the IRS today.  

Chairman Issa later issued a statement saying the committee still wants to take her testimony. 

“Lois Lerner’s exit from the IRS does not alter the Oversight Committee’s interest in understanding why applicants for tax exempt status were targeted and inappropriately treated because of their political beliefs,” Chairman Issa said in a statement this afternoon. “We still don’t know why Lois Lerner, as a senior IRS official, had such a personal interest in directing scrutiny and why she denied improper conduct to Congress. Her departure does not answer these questions or diminish the Committee’s interest in hearing her testimony.” 

In June, the Oversight Committee approved a resolution stating that Lerner had waived her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination when she appeared before the committee because she voluntarily made an opening s statement to the committee before refusing to answer its questions.

This scandal is huge. And still the IRS and other federal agencies are dragging their feet. They're likely waiting for the 2014 elections hoping for a Democrat landslide. Good luck with that.

Egypt Bans Muslim Brotherhood

It's a blow to Obama's pro-Muslim Brotherhood policies.

From the AP:

An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the Muslim Brotherhood to be banned and its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.  

The ruling opens the door for a wider crackdown on the vast network of the Brotherhood, which includes social organizations that have been key for building the group's grassroots support and helping its election victories. The verdict banned the group itself - including the official association it registered earlier this year - as well as "any institution branching out of it or ... receiving financial support from it," according to the court ruling, made public on Egypt's state official news agency MENA.  

[...]  

The Brotherhood was outlawed for most of its 85 years in existence. After the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, it emerged to work openly, opening a formal headquarters and forming a political party for the first time, and rose to power in a string of post-Mubarak elections. Still, its legal status remained hazy. In March, it registered as a non-governmental organization, but its entire network was not brought under the association's aegis.  

[...]  

The military removed Morsi after mass protests by millions demanding he step down, accusing him of power abuse and allowing the Brotherhood and other Islamists to monopolize rule. 

Since Morsi's ouster, security forces have arrested some 2,000 of the group's members, including many of its senior figures and a large swath of its middle ranks. Morsi, held in secret military detention, faces trial on charges of inciting the killing of protesters during his year in office. The Brotherhood's top leader and his deputies are also on trial, and figures are expected to be referred to courts soon, and already assets of many senior figures' assets have been ordered frozen. Officials and sympathetic media accuse the group of fomenting a wave of violence in retaliation for the coup.

Obama's been skirting the Egypt situation. Not surprising since much of Egypt is currently identifying him as the devil.

Democrats Leave Before Testimony of Benghazi Victims' Parents

The Democrats' empty seats

Nice, huh? But this pretty much fulfills my expectation of Democrats in the Age of Obama.

 

From the Breitbart article by Tony Lee:

 

On Thursday, all but two Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee walked out before the parents of two of the victims killed in the Benghazi attacks testified.  

Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, and Charles Woods, the father of Ty Woods, spoke after the committee questioned the heads of the Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB) and the Independent Panel of Best Practices. 

But among Democrats, only Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the ranking member on the committee, and Jackie Speier (D-CA) stayed to hear Woods and Smith.  

[...] 

Democrats who reportedly left the hearing include: Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY); Danny Davis (D-IL); Gerald Connolly (D-VA); Jim Cooper (D-TN); John Tierney (D-MA); Mark Pocan (D-WI); Matt Cartwright (D-PA); Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM); Peter Welch (D-VT); Stephen Lynch (D-MA); Steven Horsford (D-NV); Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); Tony Cardenas (D-CA); William Lacy Clay (D-MO); and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).

And they show all of us how they truly hold the American people in the highest esteem.

IRS Has Not Destroyed Conservative Donor List, Despite Promise

"We must have the list of the unbelievers!"

Why am I not surprised?

From the National Review Online piece by Eliana Johnson (h/t Instapundit):

The House Ways and Means Committee says that, despite the IRS’s promises to destroy the donor lists it demanded from tea-party and other conservative groups, it has discovered those lists in the case files it has reviewed in the course of its investigation into the targeting scandal. A Ways and Means Committee source tells National Review Online that, of the 27 groups asked for a list of donors, the committee identified 24 as conservative. Former acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller told the committee in May that a majority of the groups from whom donor lists were requested were not tea-party groups; a commitee [sic] spokeswoman surmised that Miller was using a narrow definition of “tea party” that did not apply more broadly to conservative groups. 

Requests for donor lists, which applicants for 501(c)(4) status are not required to disclose, raised concern because if a group’s application for tax exemption is approved, the application, including the donor list, becomes public. Groups have raised concerns that making their donors public will deter potential donors. The IRS previously told the committee that it would destroy the lists, which Miller conceded were “not necessary.”  

“When we saw that it happened, we asked that, you know, if they hadn’t sent them in, we reached out and said, don’t send them in,” Miller told the committee in May. ”If they had sent them in we said, you know, we’re not gonna use these, and we didn’t. You will not find them used in any of these cases.” 

Acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel is scheduled to testify at a Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday afternoon, where lawmakers are expected to ask him about the issue.

Would you really expect them to? The Left wants to bring pressure against their political opponents as possible and found that harassing businesses, sometimes to the point of closing, is an effective pressure to use. What better way to be re-elected when incompetence is exposed at every turn? It's the Chicago way brought to national level politics in the Age of Obama.

The Media's Guide to Firearm Identification

I saw this on Twitchy (link here), and thought I would share.



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According to Census, Poverty Up More than 6.6 Million People Under Obama

"Please, don't thank me all at once for this economy. It's hard work to swell the ranks of the unemployed and impoverished. Now, back to the golf course! And don't forget to fly out my dog on a private jet."

The Left-- and its Marxist underpinnings-- makes people poor. That's been a historical truth. And thinking that the sort-of Black community organizer would do better than everybody else in the last 150 years or so, is remarkably silly.

From the CNS News article by Terrence B. Jeffrey:

During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.  

[...]  

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012.  

In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama's first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to 53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, it dropped to $51,017.  

At the same time the number of people living in poverty in the United States increased. In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, there were approximately 39,829,000 people living in poverty in this country. In 2012, there were 46,496,000. That is an increase of approximately 6,667,000—of 16.73 percent—from 2008 to 2012.  

[...]  

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, people in poverty represented 13.2 percent of the national population. In 2012, they represented 15.0 percent of the population. [emphasis mine]

But pointing this out is racist or something... or it's all the GOP and Bush's fault... or it's because of ATMs... or it's the European debt crisis. Whatever it is, it's not the fault of Obama, nor his Leftist policies. Nope. Not at all.

Theater Rules Obama's Pushing Likely to Cause Many Small Theaters to Close

"Thou shalt accommodate all potentials, or thou shalt close the doors to all-- so that they will be forced to watch HBO and that excellent documentary series "The Newsroom."

But hey, the theater owners didn't build that!

From Breitbart News:

The Obama administration is pushing a big change to movie theaters nationwide, one meant to help the disabled better enjoy the cinematic experience. The new rules could negatively impact theater owners, particularly at a time when they are struggling fiscally with the shift to digital projection. 

The draft rule, which is part of a decades-long effort by advocates for people with disabilities, would likely require thousands of movie theaters across the country to offer devices that display closed captioning and provide audio narration of what’s happening onscreen. 

Disability advocates are cheering the news, but theater owners--particularly those in rural areas with limited budgets--fear the costs associated with the technology.  

These theaters can barely stay in existence and often need community support to break even,” the [theatrical] trade group wrote in a comment to the Justice Department’s 2010 precursor to the upcoming proposal. “To require them to install expensive closed captioning technology at this time is an undue financial burden that may result in these theaters closing.

I'm hard pressed to think of an administration that dislikes small businesses more than Obama's. Maybe they hate all business but realize that the various large businesses, industries and their lobbies are too powerful to control through funding or regulate into oblivion.

IRS Targeted Tea Party Because of Anti-Obama Rhetoric

The haloed Obama does not allow for dissent. Woe and audits shall befall all who dare to question the Light-bringer's wisdom.

Which is pretty much a surprise to no one. But everyone watch your back if you dare question the Dear Leader's will.

From the USA Today article by Gregory Korte (h/t Instapundit):

Newly uncovered IRS documents show the agency flagged political groups based on the content of their literature, raising concerns specifically about "anti-Obama rhetoric," inflammatory language and "emotional" statements made by non-profits seeking tax-exempt status. 

The internal 2011 documents, obtained by USA TODAY, list 162 groups by name, with comments by Internal Revenue Service lawyers in Washington raising issues about their political, lobbying and advocacy activities. In 21 cases, those activities were characterized as "propaganda."

Propaganda? Well MSNBC better look out. Oh, that's right! Anti-Obama propaganda... my bad.

The list provides the most specific public accounting to date of which groups were targeted for extra scrutiny and why. The IRS has not publicly identified the groups, repeatedly citing a provision of the tax code prohibiting it from releasing tax return information.  

[...]  

On Nov. 16, 2011, IRS lawyers in Washington sent a list of cases to front-line agents in Cincinnati, along with comments and guidance on how to handle political organizations.
Tax law experts say those comments appear to show IRS employees trying to apply the murky rules governing political activities by social welfare groups. 

But the American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit legal institute that represents 23 of the groups appearing on the IRS list, said it appears to be "the most powerful evidence yet of a coordinated effort" by the IRS to target Tea Party groups. 

"The political motivations of this are so patently obvious, but then to have a document that spells it out like this is very damaging to the IRS," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ. "I hope the FBI has seen these documents."  

[...]  

Five groups were flagged as having "anti-Obama" materials in their applications or on their websites. 

For instance, the IRS said the website of the Patriots of Charleston contains "negative Obama commentary." Though the IRS didn't cite examples, a November 2011 article on the group's site says: "Obama's and the Democrats' track record of disaster is based upon a combination of their ignorance and their fundamental desire to convert America into a ruling class of wealthy all-powerful elitists and a single class of serfs." 

"The web site, as we explained to them on multiple occasions, is really a blog" that members can submit commentary to, said Joanne Jones, the group's vice chairwoman. "I'm not going to tell you we weren't political. We were to an extent, but we were within the limits of the law. For example, there's one clear-cut issue: We did not endorse candidates." 

"To focus in on somebody saying something anti-Obama," she said, "it's almost like the speech police there. It's disturbing. It's the kind of overreach that leads into Obamacare."

It seems like free speech becomes a bit of a relative thing when attached to government tax exemptions, doesn't it?

I really do not understand why people are not more upset about the Obama Administration harassing political opponents in the lead up and in the very midst of a tightly contested election. Are people really willing to accept all of this now? Are we so jaded and clever that we willingly allow the government to harass  political opponents?

UPDATE: And let us not forget, as The Washinton Times points out, how IRS officials were "acutely aware" that Obama wanted a crackdown on the Tea Party and other critics. The Light-bringer must but only ask, and he shall receive.

Only 12% of American Believe that ObamaCare Will Have a Positive Impact on Their Families

"All you folks don't know what's best for you! I do! And you really didn't want to keep your old health care insurance anyway! I know this for I am the Light-bringer!"

That's because, despite this White House's, the MSM's, and Hollywood's beliefs, the American public is not stupid.

From The Washington Examiner:

Americans continue to disapprove of President Obama’s signature legislation, Obamacare, with just 12 percent expecting the law to have a positive impact on their families, according to a new poll from NBC/Wall Street Journal. 

Thirty percent think the law will have a negative impact on their families, and 53 percent think it will have no impact at all. 

Forty-five percent think the law will have a negative impact on the health care system overall, and just 23 percent think it will have a positive impact. 

Forty-four percent think the law is a bad idea, compared to 31 percent who think it is a good idea.

That 53% who think that ObamaCare won't effect them is wrong. It will, and not in any way that they will describe as good. I can't wait for the polls that will be taken after ObamaCare really starts to get into full-swing.

Another Heavily Subsidized "Green" Company About to Fold

"Look, there are some folks who say it's not the government's job to pick winning and losing companies. I say we're better than that. I say it's the government's job to sink incredible amounts of capital into trendy concept companies that than fold. Look, we know better than you."

Weird. It's almost as if "green" energy companies are just plain not profitable-- even with copious amounts of federal money.

ECOtality (catchy name there) is a company that builds electric car charging stations. Believe it or not, they're in a bit of financial trouble.

From the KPHO.com (h/t Mara Zabrest at Gateway Pundit):

ECOtality, the electric car-charging company that operates more than 600 charging stations in Arizona, may be about to close its door. 

Last month, the company disclosed a myriad of problems with the SEC. In that filing, ECOtality released the following statement: 

"Although the Company is currently exploring options for a restructuring or sale of the entire business and/or assets of the Company, the Company may need to file a petition commencing a case under the United States Bankruptcy Code as part of any such process or otherwise in the very near future." 

ECOtality was heavily involved in the federal government's EV Project, sponsored by the Department of Energy. The goal of that program was to install charging stations and electric vehicle infrastructure throughout the United States.  

 

In all, ECOtality says it installed more than 13,000 home and commercial charging units. The EV Project reimbursed the company for many of those installations, paying out nearly $100 million. 

In the filing, the ECOtality says the DOE stopped making payments to the company. It also claims that its charging stations are not making a profit. 

Additionally, the report says ECOtality has had trouble finding additional funding. It has also had to pay $855,000 in back wages and damages to settle Labor Department claims that it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and Davis-Bacon Act.

So the company's services and products are unprofitable and they can't get anymore free money from some patron, usually the feds, and so they have to close down. Doesn't that pretty much sound like the "green" energy industry in a nutshell? Thank goodness Obama continues to pour tax dollars to these poor companies... a little industry welfare, I guess.

The Arizona Daily Star adds:

Ecotality, the former Arizona electric-car-charging company that moved to San Francisco after being awarded $115 million in federal stimulus help, is near collapse. 

The company disclosed an array of problems, including defects that cause some of its chargers to melt, in a regulatory filing last month. 

It said the Department of Energy stopped making payments to the company. The stimulus funds were part of a program called the EV Project. The program’s goal was to help Ecotality and a variety of industry partners deploy electric-car charging stations across the country and study the most cost-effective way to roll them out as electric vehicles gain popularity. 

The program has faced its own struggles, but Ecotality’s problems extend far beyond that line of business. The company also conducted testing for government agencies and has a line of electric forklifts and other service vehicles.  

[...]    

The company also said that some of the electric-car chargers it has installed are overheating and melting the connection to the vehicles. The regulatory filing said it is unclear how much the issue will cost, and it may be forced to replace 12,000 of the chargers installed.  

[...] 

ETEC developed and tested battery power for cars, service vehicles and even boats and was the division within Ecotality that worked on the $115 million EV Project. The latest government data indicate about $96 million in stimulus funds had been spent on the project. 

The stimulus funds were used to provide free home-charging stations for thousands of people who bought electric vehicles, who are required to share their user data with Ecotality and the government. The money also covered several thousand public charging stations for cars in Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles and other locations. 

In 2010, Read moved the Ecotality headquarters to San Francisco, but maintained the Phoenix operation formerly known as ETEC. 

In the regulatory filing, which preceded at least six law firms announcing they are suing or examining claims against the company, Ecotality officials said they are “exploring options for a restructuring or sale of the entire business and/or assets,” but may need to file bankruptcy “in the very near future.” [emphasis mine]

More expensive crap that you and I are paying for. And the result? A bankrupt company that made products that melted. Brilliant!

Add ECOtality to the list... oh, wait. They're already there.

Record Return of Arctic Ice Cap

Above graphic from Daily Mail article linked below. CLICK TO ENLARGE

So as we continue to waste billions of dollars on "green" energy, the Arctic ice cap increases in size by 60%. Great...

From the Daily Mail:

A chilly Arctic summer has left nearly a million more square miles of ocean covered with ice than at the same time last year – an increase of 60 per cent. 

The rebound from 2012’s record low comes six years after the BBC reported that global warming would leave the Arctic ice-free in summer by 2013. 

Instead, days before the annual autumn re-freeze is due to begin, an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia’s northern shores.  

[...]  

The disclosure comes 11 months after The Mail on Sunday triggered intense political and scientific debate by revealing that global warming has ‘paused’ since the beginning of 1997 – an event that the computer models used by climate experts failed to predict.  

In March, this newspaper further revealed that temperatures are about to drop below the level that the models forecast with ‘90 per cent certainty’.
The pause – which has now been accepted as real by every major climate research centre – is important, because the models’ predictions of ever-increasing global temperatures have made many of the world’s economies divert billions of pounds into ‘green’ measures to counter climate change. 

Those predictions now appear gravely flawed.
 

It's funny how these variations in temperature coincide with the warming and cooling of the sun, rather than the amount of CO2 in the air and all that stuff. Weird.

Hey, remember when scientists were saying the Arctic summer of 2013 would have no ice?

Oops.

So when do you think these guys will go into overload mode and start screaming about man-made global cooling like back in the 1970s? I give in three months. Or a month sooner if we have a cooler autumn.

Another $42 Million Lost by Obama Energy Department to Folding Green Energy Company

"Look, this is like money that the government invested in space exploration in the 1960s-- except that it's more expensive and there hes been no substantial result from any of the investments. But green energy for all and unicorns are just around the corner! Would I lie when I have a halo like this?"

Yeah, just keep pumping in the dollars. Who cares? What's another $42 million wasted on ZERO return?

From The Washington Times article by Douglas Ernst (via Drudge):

The Energy Department conceded Friday that the federal government will lose $42 million on a loan to a shuttered Michigan van manufacturer — part of the same program that provided a $529 million loan to an electric car maker that also has gone under. 

Vehicle Production Group (VPG), which made vans for the disabled, ceased operations in February and laid off 100 workers, two years after receiving a $50 million federal loan under the same clean-energy program that provided a $529 million loan to electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc., according to the Associated Press.  

VPG had paid back $5 million of the $50 million federal loan this spring, and the remainder of its debt was sold at auction this week to Humvee manufacturer AM General, which paid $3 million to buy the loan. 

In an email  to AP, an Energy Department spokesman said sale of the VPG loan was the “best possible recovery for the taxpayer.”  

Fisker had received $192 million before federal officials froze the loan in 2011. The company has since laid off 75 percent of its workers, though the government has recovered only about $28 million of the money. 

The losses come after federal government’s failed risked on solar panel maker Solyndra, which went under in 2011 despite receiving more than $500 million from the Energy Department. 

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of a House Oversight subcommittee on economic growth and regulation, called the loan program “one of the most disastrously mismanaged and corrupt programs in U.S. history,” AP reported.

Clearly Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is a racist.

I cannot really wrap my mind around how much money has been wasted on Obama's "green" energy pipe dreams. Solyndra was just small potatoes compared to some of these other companies. And there has been ZERO payback.

I mean here's a list from October of 2012:

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies:

1. Evergreen Solar ($24 million)*
2. SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
3. Solyndra ($535 million)*
4. Beacon Power ($69 million)*
5. AES’s subsidiary Eastern Energy ($17.1 million)
6. Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
7. SunPower ($1.5 billion)
8. First Solar ($1.46 billion)
9. Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
10. EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
11. Amonix ($5.9 million)
12. National Renewable Energy Lab ($200 million)
13. Fisker Automotive ($528 million)
14. Abound Solar ($374 million)*
15. A123 Systems ($279 million)*
16. Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($6 million)
17. Johnson Controls ($299 million)
18. Schneider Electric ($86 million)
19. Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
20. ECOtality ($126.2 million)
21. Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
22. Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
23. Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
24. Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
25. Range Fuels ($80 million)*
26. Thompson River Power ($6.4 million)*
27. Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
28. LSP Energy ($2.1 billion)*
29. UniSolar ($100 million)*
30. Azure Dynamics ($120 million)*
31. GreenVolts ($500,000)
32. Vestas ($50 million)
33. LG Chem’s subsidiary Chemical Power ($150 million)
34. Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
35. Navistar ($10 million)
36. Satcon ($3 million)*

*Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy.

It's all money shoveled down into the drain-- or actually into the pockets of Democrat supporters. Yay!

The Pension Crisis Could Be Even Worse than Thought

"Nothing to see here. Move on. Move on."

Shocker!

From Walter Russell Meade at The American Interest (h/t Instapundit):

America’s pension crisis may be much worse than we thought. A new report from State Budget Solutions looks at each state’s pension liabilities using a lower estimate of the rate of return than the states use themselves, and found that the country’s plans are underfunded by $4.1 trillion, and only 39 percent funded overall. The state-by-state breakdown looks even worse, with Illinois, Connecticut, Kentucky and Kansas holding plans that are less than 30 percent funded, and another 27 states below 40 percent. Other states have it bad as well: Reuters notes that in five states, pension liabilities more than 40 percent as large as the state’s economy as a whole, and in Ohio and New Mexico, they’re more than half as large. Considering that many people consider plans to be “safe” only when their funded level is over 80 percent, this is troubling news indeed. 

These numbers are significantly higher than those we’ve seen before, which is due to the extremely conservative estimates of the rate of return. Rather than assuming a rate of return in the 7-9 percent range, as most plans do, State Budget Solutions is using the “risk free” rate of 3.225 percent, which is tied to the yield on treasury bonds. The SBS explains its reasoning:

Current public sector practices involve discounting a liability according to the assumed investment returns of plan assets, typically around 8 percent. Yet with discount rates tied to expected investment performance, plan sponsors can easily take on greater risk in order to make liabilities appear smaller. This reduces the resources required today to pay for the promises of tomorrow. 

Accurately accounting for a pension system’s liability requires incorporating the nearly certain nature of benefits. That is, once promised, the chances that benefits will not have to be paid are extremely low. 

A fair-market valuation does away with optimistic investment return assumptions and instead uses a rate that reflects the risk of the liability itself. One common approach, taken here, is to discount liabilities according to the yield of a 15-year Treasury bond.

And this comes as a surprise to no one who has ever looked seriously at pensions or the unions that foisted this crap onto our backs.

Of course it's been in the best interests of public workers, their unions, and everyone in the political class to downplay the awful state of most state's, county's, and large city's budgets. And of course to demonize naysayers as neanderthals, uniformed, crazy, or stupid.

We're all in the best of hands. Question nothing... and you're probably a racist, doomsayer, or apocalypse nut if you do.

Uh, right?

Obama Reversed NSA Restrictions in 2011

"Now look, I didn't ask for the courts to once again expand the NSA surveillance. The world did! And the American people did. And Congress did! And it's all Bush's fault anyway! And besides you should be really upset about me directing the IRS to intimidate political opponents..."

Hope and change, baby!

From The Washington Post article by Ellen Nakashima:

The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases, according to interviews with government officials and recently declassified material. 

In addition, the court extended the length of time that the NSA is allowed to retain intercepted U.S. communications from five years to six years — and more under special circumstances, according to the documents, which include a recently released 2011 opinion by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, then chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.   

What had not been previously acknowledged is that the court in 2008 imposed an explicit ban — at the government’s request — on those kinds of searches, that officials in 2011 got the court to lift the bar and that the search authority has been used.
Together the permission to search and to keep data longer expanded the NSA’s authority in significant ways without public debate or any specific authority from Congress. The administration’s assurances rely on legalistic definitions of the term “target” that can be at odds with ordinary English usage. The enlarged authority is part of a fundamental shift in the government’s approach to surveillance: collecting first, and protecting Americans’ privacy later. 

“The government says, ‘We’re not targeting U.S. persons,’ ” said Gregory T. Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “But then they never say, ‘We turn around and deliberately search for Americans’ records in what we took from the wire.’ That, to me, is not so different from targeting Americans at the outset.”
The court decision allowed the NSA “to query the vast majority” of its e-mail and phone call databases using the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of Americans and legal residents without a warrant, according to Bates’s opinion.  

[...]  

The court in 2008 imposed a wholesale ban on such searches at the government’s request, said Alex Joel, civil liberties protection officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The government included this restriction “to remain consistent with NSA policies and procedures that NSA applied to other authorized collection activities,” he said. 

But in 2011, to more rapidly and effectively identify relevant foreign intelligence communications, “we did ask the court” to lift the ban, ODNI general counsel Robert S. Litt said in an interview. “We wanted to be able to do it,” he said, referring to the searching of Americans’ communications without a warrant.

Lies, half-truths, presidential legislating in the form of executive orders and selective law enforcement, bribes, graft, and blaming Emmanuel Goldstein Bush for it all. Welcome to the Obama Age of Hope and Change. 3+ more years of this crud. Own it!

Tokyo Chosen as Host for 2020 Olympics

What?! Not Chicago?!


From the AP via Breitbart:

Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics on Saturday, capitalizing on its reputation as a "safe pair of hands" and defying concerns about the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Tokyo defeated Istanbul 60-36 in the final round of secret voting by the International Olympic Committee. Madrid was eliminated earlier after an initial tie with Istanbul.

Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics, billed itself as the reliable choice at a time of global political and economic uncertainty _ a message that resonated with the IOC.

"Tokyo can be trusted to be the safe pair of hands and much more," bid leader and IOC member Tsunekazu Takeda said in the final presentation. "Our case today is simple. Vote for Tokyo and you vote for guaranteed delivery. ... Tokyo is the right partner at the right time."

Well, considering how the construction at the Athens' games venues barely made the deadline-- sort of-- maybe going for a first world country might be the safe choice. I mean both the IOC and whoever controls the selection process of the World Cup (FIFA?) are really rolling the dice with Brazil. Nothing against Brazil, mind you. I think these might be some of the funnest moments in all of sports... But there's still certain a unproven quality to the selection and the IOC is not going to gamble too often.

With Madrid's bid dogged by questions over Spain's economic crisis and Istanbul handicapped by political unrest and the civil war in neighboring Syria, Tokyo proved to be the least risky choice for the IOC.

"I think it was a choice between going to new shores and staying with a more traditional candidate," IOC vice president Thomas Bach said. "And this time they decided with the more traditional candidate."

IOC members have also been concerned about construction delays and other challenges plaguing preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Opting for certainty in 2020 was a key priority.

"I think very much that could have been a factor," Bach said.

 Well congrats to Tokyo.

And please, please, please do not have a swarm of Mary Poppinses fighting that Harry Potter villain in your opening ceremonies. Aim higher.

"Australia is Under New Management"

Australia conservatives won big in the national elections down under.

From Reuters:

Australia's conservative leader Tony Abbott swept into office in national elections on Saturday as voters punished the outgoing Labor government for six years of turbulent rule and for failing to maximize the benefits of a now fading mining boom. 

Abbott, a former boxer, Rhodes scholar and trainee priest, promised to restore political stability, cut taxes and crack down on asylum seekers arriving by boat. 

"From today I declare that Australia is under new management and Australia is once more open for business," Abbott told jubilant supporters in Sydney. 

It was frustration with Labor's leadership turmoil that cost the government dearly at the polls.

Hmm. I think there was also a lot of frustration at the unpopular carbon tax the Labor government imposed as well, as the article later notes.

The election was been pitched as a choice on who is best to lead the A$1.5 trillion ($1.4 trillion) economy as it adjusts to an end to a prolonged mining investment boom, fuelled by China's demand for its abundant natural resources. 

Abbott, 55, built up a strong opinion poll lead on the back of promises to rein in government spending, scrap an unpopular tax on carbon emissions, and stop the flow of refugee boats arriving in Australia's northwest. [emphasis mine]

Interesting that the Reuters article barely mentions the carbon tax and instead spends a fair amount of time blaming Labor's political disorder for the loss. You see, the loss wasn't because of the government spending and carbon tax-- it was just a failure of people.

*sigh* Does the media ever get tired of making excuses for bad Leftist policies?

Record Numbers Not in Labor Force-- Up 10,000,000 Under Obama

"Okay folks, let's not all thank me at once for the sterling economy I've created by spending trillions of dollars. Oh, and working, affordable electric cars, super windmills, and pretty pink unicorns for every American are all just around the corner."

Gee, it's almost like Leftist economic policies and wishful thinking don't work. Weird.

From the CNS News article by Terence B. Jeffrey:

The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has pushed past 90,000,000 for the first time, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks. A person is not participating in the labor force if they are 16 or older and have not sought a job in the last four weeks.  

In July, according to BLS, 89,957,000 Americans did not participate in the labor force. In August, that climbed to 90,473,000--a one month increase of 516,000.  

In January 2009, when President Barack Obama took office, there were 80,507,000 Americans not in the labor force. Thus, the number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 9,966,000 during Obama's presidency. [emphasis mine]

Well, I'm sure it's all just old folks retiring and people becoming too wealthy to bother to work anymore. And let's just wait until ObamCare kicks in. If you want to talk about underemployment, well...

Iran Plans Attack on American Interests and Embassies if US Attacks Syria

"They best not interfere with the Light-bringer. Woe shall befall all who do not tremble in his presence."

Is this  a surprise to anyone?

What would be a surprise is if the Obama Administration had taken steps to prevent this sort of thing before announcing their goal to attack Syria.

From The Wall Street Journal (via Drudge):

The U.S. has intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in Baghdad in the event of a strike on Syria, officials said, amid an expanding array of reprisal threats across the region.  

Military officials have been trying to predict the range of possible responses from Syria, Iran and their allies. U.S. officials said they are on alert for Iran's fleet of small, fast boats in the Persian Gulf, where American warships are positioned. U.S. officials also fear Hezbollah could attack the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. 

While the U.S. has moved military resources in the region for a possible strike, it has other assets in the area that would be ready to respond to any reprisals by Syria, Iran or its allies.  

[...]  

The Iranian message, intercepted in recent days, came from Qasem Soleimani, the head of Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force, and went to Iranian-supported Shiite militia groups in Iraq, according to U.S. officials. 

In it, Mr. Soleimani said Shiite groups must be prepared to respond with force after a U.S. strike on Syria. Iranian officials didn't respond to requests for comment.   

Iraqi Shiites have been sympathetic to the Alawite-dominated government of Syria and oppose U.S. strikes against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. 

U.S. officials said the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was one likely target. The officials didn't describe the range of potential targets indicated by the intelligence. 

Attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad have fallen since American forces left Iraq. In the past, Iranian-trained Shiite groups have fired rockets and mortars at the embassy, at the urging of the Qods Force, a paramilitary arm of the IRGC. 

Militants also have used suicide bombers and IEDs to attack Americans leaving the embassy compound, one of the largest American diplomatic facilities in the world, located in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

You know, this sort of situation could get really out of control fast if a thin-skinned, arrogant and power obsessed fellow with a chip on his shoulder and with something to prove was president.

Uh oh.

MSNBC Churning Out Pro-Obama Memes

"Who said red line? Not me. The world did. It's all of their faults."

Apparently MSNBC is going for the coveted "Ministry of Truth Award" given out by the Obama Administration. They're throwing out pro-Obama and pro-Syrian attack memes across Facebook. Go get 'em independent press!

From Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters:

MSNBC hosts are skeptical if not downright opposed in principle to President Obama's push to bomb Syria, but the MSNBC.com Facebook page is doing its level best to present President Obama in a favorable light, complete with photo memes of the president adorned with quotes related to his Syria policy

[...]  

Three days later, the network's social media folks were at it again, taking a laughable line from the president about how it was not he who drew the now-infamous "red line" but the world:

"I didn't set a red line, the world set a red line." President Obama on Syria 9/4/2013

Ah, the wonderful world of Obama-approved propaganda-- or as NBC would have you believe, the news.