Monday, June 9, 2014

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, June 9, 2014


And now... direct from the public library...
(*DRUM ROLL*)

 NEWSBITES...!!!

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4 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2653063/Republicans-claim-Obama-policy-enticed-tens-thousands-homeless-illegal-immigrant-children-cross-border-landing-secret-government-holding-pens.html

* HERE'S THE HEADLINE:

Obama's two-year 'amnesty' for illegal immigrant minors sparks TWELVE-FOLD spike in numbers pouring across border

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* DELIBERATELY SO, FOLKS... DELIBERATELY SO...

President Barack Obama is calling tens of thousands of illegal-immigrant children languishing in temporary U.S. holding pens an 'urgent humanitarian situation,' but Republicans are pointing the finger of blame squarely at the White House.

Obama instituted an immigration policy that the GOP says enticed tens of thousands of Central American children to cross America's southern border illegally without any parents to guide them.

More than 33,000 have been picked up in Texas alone since October. The U.S. border patrol says its forces are overwhelmed, and the courts are bracing for a flood of immigration cases from children held in temporary detention facilities designed to handle a fraction of the numbers. Sanitation problems are beginning to rear their ugly heads.

Compared to the year before Obama's policy took effect, twelve times as many kids are coming north illegally this year.

'The recent surge of children and teenagers from Central America showing up at our southern border is an administration-made disaster,' Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News last week. 'Word has gotten out around the world about President Obama's lax immigration enforcement policies and it has encouraged more individuals to come to the United States illegally,' Goodlatte said in a statement.

The Obama administration expects as many as 80,000 of these 'unaccompanied minors' to cross the border in 2014, according to the Christian Science Monitor. That number is twelve times what it was in 2011, the year before Obama announced his deferred-action plan. The administration now estimates the holding facilities where the youngsters are being held cost taxpayers $252 per child per day...

In a December ruling, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hansen ripped the Department of Homeland Security for releasing a Salvadoran girl to her mother – a woman who had hired a smuggler to transport her daughter into the U.S., and was herself in the country illegally. Hansen wrote that 'this court is quite concerned with the apparent policy of the Department of Homeland Security of completing the criminal mission of those who are violating the border security of the United States.' 'The DHS,' he added, 'should enforce the laws of the United States – not break them.'

* ONE WOULD THINK... BUT WITH THIS ADMINISTRATION... NO...

* FOLKS... THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM.

June 9, 2014 at 2:21 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/06/09/va-says-more-than-57000-patients-waiting-for-first-visit/

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that more than 57,000 former troops have waited at least 90 days for their first VA medical appointments...

* DISGRACEFUL...

Additionally, about 13%t of VA schedulers have said they were told to falsify appointment-request dates to give the impression that wait times were shorter than they really were, according to the department.

* FOLKS... THERE NEEDS TO BE A PURGE OF THE VA!

The report said that complicated scheduling practices created confusion among clerks and supervisors, contributing to the problems.

* EVERY DOCTOR AND DENTIST'S OFFICE IN THE COUNTRY MANAGES... AS DO HOSPITALS...

(*HEADACHE*)

It also said the VA’s goal of providing an initial appointment within 14 days of a request was unattainable because of the growing demand for care among veterans.

* THEN YOU FIRE CURRENT VA MANAGEMENT AND TEMPORARILY HIRE TOP ADMINISTRATORS FROM THE TOP 10 PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN THE NATION TO FIX WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS SCREWED UP!

The report came less than two weeks after the VA inspector general’s office confirmed recent allegations that VA hospitals have falsified appointment records to hide treatment delays. Former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned over the scandal on May 30.

* IS SHINSEKI BEING INVESTIGATED IN ORDER TO FIND OUT WHAT HE KNEW AND WHEN HE KNEW IT? WAS SHINSEKI PART OF THIS CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY TO FALSIFY RECORDS AND MISREPORT DATA?

Monday’s VA findings shed light on the depth of the scheduling issue and substantiate claims that rank-and-file employees were directed to manipulate records. Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said in a statement on Monday that the problems “demand immediate action.” He added that veterans deserve to have “full faith in their VA.”

* AND HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO WORK IF THE FOX CONTINUES TO SUPERVISE THE HEN HOUSE?

Last week, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reached agreement on the terms of a bill to help address some of the underlying problems that led to the treatment delays.

* THESE SAME TWO BUMS HAVE BEEN SENATORS "OVERSEEING" THE VA AND THE REST OF THE GOVERNMENT FOR HOW MANY DECADES NOW...?!?! FOLKS... PEOPLE LIKE MCCAIN AND SANDERS ARE THE PROBLEM - NOT THE SOLUTION!

The proposal would allow veterans who experience long wait times to seek care at non-VA medical centers, in addition to providing about $500 million to hire more doctors and nurses and authorizing the VA to lease 26 medical facilities in 18 states.

* SO WE BORROW ANOTHER $500 FROM CHINA...? FROM JAPAN...? FROM WHOM...?!?! YOU CAN BE DAMN CERTAIN THEY'LL BE NO MATCHING CUTS ELSEWHERE!

June 9, 2014 at 2:39 PM
William R. Barker said...


http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/06/07/dnr-warden-spots-icebergs-on-lake-superior/

* SUBTITLE: "SO MUCH FOR GLOBAL WARMING"

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It may be June, but a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources warden discovered some icebergs still afloat in Lake Superior near Madeline Island on Friday.

DNR Marine Warden Amie Egstad spotted the floating ice – which was covered in resting seagulls – while doing a routine check of commercial nets in the largest of the Great Lakes.

“There was this big iceberg along with other ice packs and bergs floating around backside of Madeline Island area east towards Saxon Harbor,” Egstad said.

According to a National Geographic report, the summer temperatures of the Great Lakes are expected to be colder this year because more than 90% of the lakes had been covered in ice during this past winter.

June 9, 2014 at 2:48 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.rollcall.com/news/the_hidden_failure_of_obamas_health_care_overhaul-233506-1.html?pos=hbtxt

At least 2.9 million Americans who signed up for Medicaid coverage as part of the health care overhaul have not had their applications processed, with some paperwork sitting in queues since last fall, according to a 50-state survey by CQ Roll Call.

(*SNORT*)

The problems are most acute in three states — California, Illinois and North Carolina — where almost 1.5 million Medicaid applicants remain in limbo. Though all three are experiencing high volumes of enrollment, problems vary from California’s balky electronic sign-up system to Illinois’ inability to predict a surge of applications.

(Forty-one states as of May 29 responded to requests from CQ Roll Call about the number of pending Medicaid applications, the number of individuals covered in the applications and processing times. The remainder, including Missouri and New Mexico, didn’t respond to CQ Roll Call’s emails and phone calls for enrollment data.)

The waits are linked in part to the troubled rollout of the federal insurance website healthcare.gov last fall. Alaska, Kansas, Maine and Michigan still are unable to receive applications their residents completed through the federal website. Others such as Georgia received applications submitted last fall in May.

* GEEZUS...

Beyond the individuals, the delays have left doctors, hospitals and other health providers unsure whether they will be reimbursed for care they provide to people who appear eligible for Medicaid but haven’t received benefit cards.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

The delays are caused by a mix of technical problems and a surge of applications, especially in states that cajoled their residents to sign up for newly expanded benefits. More than 900,000 Californians are waiting for their benefit cards or denial letters, say state officials. In Illinois, another 330,000 people are in limbo. In North Carolina, it’s 285,884, plus another 12,956 applications that may include more than one person.

* HOW'BOUT SHEER INCOMPETENCE...? HMM...?!

States are supposed to process Medicaid applications within 45 days.

* BUT YET WHEN GOVERNMENT "BREAKS THE LAW" THERE'S NO CONSEQUENCE. (WELL.. SOMETIMES... FOR REPUBLICANS LIKE SCOOTER LIBBY... FOR PRESIDENTS LIKE NIXON... BUT NOT FOR DEMOCRATS.)

Others expect federal exemptions for “unusual circumstances.” In Virginia, which first got a trickle of applications from healthcare.gov in late February, 45 percent of applications are past the 45-day limit.

* DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR. THEY'LL BE FINE.

Many states that relied on healthcare.gov to handle applications as well as states that built their own websites are wrestling with backlogs. In the 36 states whose residents signed up through healthcare.gov, at least 1.4 million people faced delays because the website was unable for months to transmit the information to states. Once it did, states complained they weren’t receiving all of the applications and that data was incomplete or riddled with errors.

* LIKE I SAID, FOLKS... TOTAL INCOMPETENCE...

The logjams were so bad that officials asked applicants to re-apply directly through the states, where workers often sorted the information by hand. That created duplicate applications for as many as half of prospective Medicaid enrollees in Idaho and Louisiana. Other states disagreed with federal eligibility decisions: Indiana approved only 5% of the healthcare.gov applications, Texas approved 17% and North Carolina approved 19%.

States that ran their own websites, including California and Illinois, also experienced troubles. The new California computer system has technical glitches, including difficulty sending information to counties that help process applications. Because California had a massive campaign urging people to enroll, workers were swamped.

* BOTH DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED STATES... (*SHRUG*)

June 9, 2014 at 3:57 PM

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