President Barack Obama will wait until the sequester hits to have his first sequester-related face-to-face meeting with congressional leaders on Friday, according to a report by ABC News’s Jonathan Karl:

“A congressional source with direct knowledge of the plans tells me the top four congressional leaders – John Boehner, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell – will meet with President Obama at the White House Friday to attempt to negotiate a way to avoid the spending cuts that both sides have said should be avoided,” Karl reported Wednesday.

Karl reported that the White House arranged the meeting late Tuesday.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/27/report-obama-to-wait-until-sequester-hits-to-meet-with-congressional-leaders/#ixzz2M82Vcbz4

Woodward: Obama’s Decision Not To Deploy Carrier “A Kind Of Madness”

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Bob Woodward blasted President Obama on Wednesday morning for deciding to recall an aircraft carrier from the Persian Gulf because of impending budget cuts, calling the decision “a kind of madness.”

Woodward: Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying ‘Oh, by the way, I can’t do this because of some budget document?’ Or George W. Bush saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to invade Iraq because I can’t get the aircraft carriers I need’ or even Bill Clinton saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to attack Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters,’ as he did when Clinton was president because of some budget document? Under the Constitution, the president is commander-in-chief and employs the force. And so we now have the president going out because of this piece of paper and this agreement, I can’t do what I need to do to protect the country. That’s a kind of madness that I haven’t seen in a long time.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/02/27/woodward_obamas_decision_not_to_deploy_carrier_a_kind_of_madness.html

Conservative movie lovers didn’t suffer any serious Red State taunts during the just-wrapped Academy Awards telecast. Michael Moore wasn’t on hand to bash the GOP, and show host Seth MacFarlane trained his immature wit on George Clooney, breast-baring actresses and the show’s ridiculous length.

And then it came time to announce the Best Picture winner, and Jack Nicholson stepped on stage to do the honors. Only Nicholson, and the show’s organizers, had something else in mind.

Enter Michelle Obama.

The First Lady appeared via satellite to not only announce the night’s biggest prize but gave a speech extolling the virtues of the films in play. It was an unprecedented cultural power grab by the Obamas, almost daring conservative viewers to adore her as much as progressives already do.

“These nine movies took us back in time and all around the world. They made us laugh, they made us weep, and they made us grip our armrests just a little tighter. They taught us that love can endure against all odds and transform our lives in the most surprising ways. They reminded us that we can overcome any obstacle if we dig deep enough and fight hard enough and find the courage to believe in ourselves. These lessons apply to all of us no matter who we are, or what we look like, or where we come from, or who we love, but they are especially important for our young people…”

President Barack Obama is no longer running for office, yet the permanent campaign shows little sign of slowing. With this media appearance, the First Couple crossed the line into propaganda, their Cult of Personality act taking an ugly turn.

And there’s Nicholson, letting himself be upstaged for political purposes. Certainly the acting legend deserves better, but he probably was happy to go along for the ride. We mustn’t upset Dear Leader.

The Oscar telecast’s ratings have been slumping in recent years, and the death of the movie star is hardly an exaggeration. Yet the industry’s power brokers continue to stick their collective tongues out at roughly half the country, the half that prefers to see Hollywood’s biggest night devoted to the stars, not the White House’s latest media outreach effort.

To think the First Lady’s appearance lacked political motive is to deny the obvious, and even some liberal viewers, like film critic Richard Roeper, thought the appearance wasn’t appropriate.

I’m a big fan of Michelle Obama, but I think she should have turned down invite to present Best Picture. It just didn’t fit the moment.

Indeed.

The Oscar surprise shouldn’t shock us. Hollywood did all it could to re-elect President Obama last year, from vigorous fundraising to sending its minions into the media to sing the president’s praises. Remember that “First Time” video from current It Girl Lena Dunham?

Never mind those job reports or the ballooning deficit. Those are just distractions. Michelle Obama hijacked the Oscars tonight, and we’re all supposed to be giddy at the chance to see her shine anew.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/02/24/obamas-hijack-oscars

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/24/pink-stripe-proposal-for-nc-illegal-immigrant-licenses-sparks-debate/#ixzz2LomxadVI

The mainstream media have ignored the fact that at least one prominent supporter of Hamas has donated money to an organization associated with former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)–namely, the Atlantic Council, which receives support from the Hariri family of Lebanon, whose most prominent member, former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, publicly backs Hamas.

Instead, they have attacked a story by Ben Shapiro citing Senate sources who said they had been told Hagel had received funds from a group “purportedly” calling itself “Friends of Hamas.” Shapiro reported that he had attempted to obtain confirmation or comment from a White House spokesperson, who hung up on him.

Dan Friedman, the New York Daily News reporter who claimed today to be the original source for the accusation, has now admitted that the Feb. 7 story by Breitbart News’ Ben Shapiro, which merely reported the allegation, was accurate as written.

Friedman was speaking to Ahmed Shihab-Eldin of Huffington Post Live when the following exchange occurred:

Shihab-Eldin: You say that your source admitted he may have mentioned your question to others…But now, Ben Shapiro, who wrote the Breitbart.com article, is claiming his story is, as reported, correct. Do you agree?

Friedman: I spoke to Ben–and I’m trying to avoid getting into a sort of personal argument, I’m trying to tell what I thought was a funny and newsworthy story, without setting myself as some kind of media critic or something like that–I talked to him, and what he said is that if you read his lead as caveated, that he didn’t directly say this group exists. He said this person told him that they were asked if this group exists. So you can say that that, if you look at it, and read it that way, yes, it’s accurate.

Shihab-Eldin also attempted to pressure Friedman to reveal the name of his source, which Friedman declined to do.

Shapiro had earlier told Friedman that “my source tells me that you were not the source of the information.” The source indicated that “three separate sources,” none of whom was Friedman, had provided the information.

A story by Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Joel B. Pollak documenting Saad Hariri’s ties to Hamas ran on the same day that Shapiro’s story ran on Breitbart.com, further developing the story to its factual core.

The media, including the Huffington Post, ignored those facts and have shown little interest in exploring Hagel’s financial ties or in demanding the full disclosure that has been requested by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/02/20/Daily-News-Reporter-Admits-Breitbart-Friends-of-Hamas-Story-Accurate

But the first lady is about to take off a nation-wide tour to celebrate the anniversary of her Lets Move! initiative promoting healthy eating, arguing that the program has been a success.

Food in schools has “dramatically improved” and more “Americans now have access to healthy, affordable food closer to home,” the White House said Wednesday in a release about the tour.

Her tour will span from Mississippi to Missouri to Illinois on Feb. 27 and 28.

The Let’s Move! initiative was launched in February 2010 to “unite the country around our kids’ health and create real support for families to live healthier lives,” according to the White House.

As part of the third anniversary of the program, Michelle Obama also plans to go to New York City to appear on the television shows “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “Good Morning America” and “The Dr. Oz Show” to talk about the initiative.

While in Clinton, Miss. next Wednesday, the first lady is set to appear with TV host Rachael Ray.

“Mrs. Obama and Rachael Ray chose to highlight school lunches in Mississippi, which was rated the most obese state in the nation for several years, because the state’s childhood obesity rates have declined by 13 percent among elementary school students in recent years,” the White House said.

During an event in Chicago next Thursday, the first lady will focus on promoting exercise with people like Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Bo Jackson and Serena Williams are among the athletes expected to attend.

And in Springfield, Missouri, Michelle Obama will “see changes Walmart has made to reduce sodium and added sugars from packaged food items, to make healthier food more affordable, and to include a simple front-of-package seal for identifying healthier food choices.”

“The Walmart store Mrs. Obama will visit was built as part of the company’s commitment to Let’s Move! to open or expand up to 300 stores in communities with limited access to healthy, affordable food.”

http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/20/michelle-obama-going-on-national-tour-to-celebrate-her-healthy-eating-initiative/

House Speaker John Boehner had a simple message Wednesday for President Obama after he used the bully pulpit to blame Republicans for the “meat cleaver” of looming spending cuts: You created it, you fix it.

“Having first proposed and demanded the sequester, it would make sense that the president lead the effort to replace it,” Boehner wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

The “sequester” is the Washington word for the $85 billion in 2013 spending cuts set to hit starting March 1, with more than $1 trillion in cuts on tap over the next decade. Boehner and Obama both agree that the federal budget needs that level of deficit reduction and more, but sharply disagree over how to achieve it. In the absence of any compromise, the set of indiscriminate cuts which would hit the military hardest are set to take hold in less than two weeks.

The president on Tuesday, surrounded by first responders who are among those who would see cutbacks, called on House Republicans to drop their resistance to tax increases and steer the country away from the budget “meat cleaver.”

But Boehner reminded Obama that the automatic cut idea was originally proffered by the White House during the debt-ceiling talks of 2011. He said Congress “reluctantly accepted the president’s demand” and claimed it’s now up to Obama to find the escape hatch.

“So, as the president’s outrage about the sequester grows in coming days, Republicans have a simple response: Mr. President, we agree that your sequester is bad policy. What spending are you willing to cut to replace it?” Boehner asked.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer rejected what he described as “revisionist history.” The White House acknowledges the “sequester” came from their office, but argues that Congress was on board at the time. The original plan was to tee up cuts so Draconian that Congress would be compelled to strike a deal to replace them — Congress, though, failed to do so.

While Boehner blames Democratic resistance to spending and entitlement cuts, Obama blames GOP resistance to closing tax loopholes.

“(Obama) is willing to make tough choices. Now it’s time for the Speaker to do the same. The Speaker has yet to name one tax loophole he’s willing to close. Not one,” Pfeiffer said.

The back-and-forth was further evidence that the two sides are drifting further apart as the deadline nears, and that chances of a deal in the near-term are fading.

The president spoke Tuesday at the White House, urging Congress to come up with a short-term fix to cancel sweeping cuts to defense and other programs set to hit March 1.

“These cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls,” Obama said. “This is not an abstraction — people will lose their jobs.”

The president ticked off a host of expected repercussions should the $85 billion in cuts for this year take effect. He said Border Patrol, emergency responders, FBI agents, airport controllers and others would all face cutbacks. He said teachers would be laid off by the thousands and America’s military would be degraded.

But Congress is out for the week, effectively leaving one more work week to reach a deal, or a stopgap, before the deadline.

Shortly before he spoke, Obama was also dealt a blunt warning by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, who co-chaired the president’s deficit-reduction commission.

Simpson warned that Obama “will have a failed presidency” unless he deals “honestly” with entitlements, saying programs like Medicare and Social Security must be dealt with in order to get the country on a sustainable path.

“If he wants to leave it alone and not deal with those two biggies, forget the rest of the stuff — he’ll have a failed presidency,” Simpson told Fox News.

While Obama says opposition to tax hikes is holding up a deal, Republicans say Democrats’ resistance to major changes to entitlements are a big part of the problem.

Simpson and Erskine Bowles, the former co-chairmen of the president’s deficit-reduction commission who for years have been urging Washington to stop kicking the can, got in front of the president early Tuesday morning to push a plan of their own.

The two fiscal hawks pitched a plan to avert the looming spending cuts — heavy cuts to defense and other programs that they describe as “abrupt” and “mindless” — and instead enact a $2.4 trillion deficit reduction plan over 10 years.

A quarter would come from changes to health care spending, a quarter would come from closing tax loopholes and the rest would come from spending reductions including a stingier adjustment of Social Security’s cost of living increases.

On tax reform, the plan presents a middle ground — by using the savings from closing loopholes to both lower rates and bring down the deficit. By contrast, Obama has pushed to use that savings mostly to reduce the deficit, while Republicans have pushed to use it to bring down rates.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/20/boehner-to-obama-created-spending-cut-crisis-fix-it/#ixzz2LSAYMgzb

THE-TRUTH-IS-OUT-THERE (Obama Files)

Facebook to pay NO tax for 2012 and will even get tax refund of $429m despite $1BN profits

Facebook claim they have a $559 million federal tax liability. But a huge tax break means the world’s largest social media company will actually receive a refund.

Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279701/Facebook-pay-tax-2012-tax-refund-429MILLION-despite-1BILLION-profits.html

With the economy on its knees, many American families have had to forgo their annual holiday just to make ends meet. But barely a month after returning from a luxury Christmas break in Hawaii Michelle Obama is on holiday again – this time at the exclusive Colorado ski resort of Aspen.

The First Lady Michelle Obama is spending Presidents’ Day weekend in the upmarket resort with her daughters, Sasha and Malia, and was seen hitting the slopes – albeit apprehensively – on Saturday. The Secret Service have been in town for the past few days looking for safe places for the family to relax.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/michelle-obama/2012/02/19/michelle-obama-takes-daughters-luxury-aspen-ski-trip#ixzz2LN1HugJH

President finally shows his face after $1m golfing weekend with Tiger Woods that White House didn’t want world to see

• Obama played at exclusive Florida course on Sunday with Tiger Woods
• President refused to say if he had been beaten by the champion golfer
  
• Cost of Air Force One trips to and from Florida, along with hotel rooms, greens fees and exclusive golf lessons comes to $989,207
• Tried to mend fraught relationship with traveling press corps by ‘hanging out’ with them for 10 minutes on the flight back
  

By MEGHAN KENEALLY and LOUISE BOYLE

PUBLISHED: 21:17 EST, 18 February 2013 | UPDATED: 08:56 EST, 19 February 2013

• Comments (175)
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Pictures finally appeared of President Obama on Monday evening as he headed home to Washington after a relaxing golf weekend which was kept heavily under wraps.

The President was on the course on Monday for the third and final day of a Florida vacation with departing US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, the president’s Chicago pal Eric Whitaker and White House aide Marvin Nicholson.

The President had enjoyed a round of golf with Tiger Woods on Sunday – a fact that only emerged by chance after media were banned from attending the event. The traveling pool of journalists who follow the President’s every move were reportedly furious after being shut out of his round of golf and not being allowed on to the club grounds.

Back in the swing of things: President Obama waves in the doorway of Air Force One as he departs from Palm Beach International Airport on Monday

Back to business: Obama jogs up the stairs of Air Force One upon his departure from Florida heading for D.C. (left) as an aide carries on the golf back of Obama’s friend Eric Whitaker

Bags of fun: An aide heaves several golf bags up the stairs of Air Force One after weekend on the course with friends

It has long been a White House tradition that pool reporters cover the President’s rounds of golf and even have the opportunity for a few questions on the course.

The President waved as he jogged up the steps of Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on Monday evening while a White House aide heaved golf clubs and large bags on board.

When he landed back in Washington and walked across the White House lawn, several frustrated reporters collectively shouted to the President to ask if he had beaten Tiger Woods.

Despite appearing to have heard the question, the Daily Caller reported, Obama did not answer and just smiled.

Home again: President Barack Obama waves to members of the media as walks across the South Lawn of the White House following his arrival on Marine One helicopter on Monday night

The President was relaxing on a trip to the Floridian, an exclusive club along Florida’s Treasure Coast. Obama arrived in Florida late on Friday and returned to Washington on Monday night

The club’s owner is Jim Crane, a Houston businessman who also owns baseball’s Houston Astros. Crane also has given money to Obama’s political campaigns.

The White House had barred media coverage of the president’s golf holiday but released the names of his partners.

The Huffington Post reports that the President tried to make amends with the traveling press by spending a quick 10 to 15 minutes with them in the back of Air Force One as they headed back to D.C.

More…

• Michelle Obama and the girls spend Presidents Day weekend at an exclusive ski resort with a team of instructors after closing air space for their plane
• Obama wants to map the human brain: Administration plans huge $3BILLION ten-year research project
• So much for resting up! Hillary Clinton will rake in ‘six-figure fees’ as she heads out on the lecture circuit while weighing her possible 2016 presidential run
• ‘This is my mid-life crisis’: Michelle Obama reveals the REAL reason for her new bangs in interview with Rachael Ray

Proving that he was not dropping the secrecy act anytime soon, all of the reporters involved had to agree that the conversation was off the record, meaning that they could not officially report anything that he said and had to keep their reflections of the conversation in extremely vague terms.

‘He didn’t come back because he had to tell us something. He came back to hang out,’ reporter Scott Wilson from The Washington Post, who was serving as the pool reporter on Monday.

The weekend is the latest in a string of incidents that have prompted press backlash against the self-titled ‘transparent’ President, with Politico reporting today that withholding access is just one of the ways in which his administration works to avoid the tough questions and promote their brand.

The outrage over the lack of transparency comes as much of the bill for the pricey trip will be paid for by tax payers, yet President Obama did not feel it appropriate to even release one photo of his time out on the course.

The President played with the notorious philanderer on Sunday after getting a private lesson from Woods’ former coach the day before.

On the course: CNN was the only network to air footage of President Obama during one of his golf outings, but it does not appear to be the time that he played with Tiger Woods

Using his lessons: President Obama spent three days in Florida over the long weekend and was only seen on Monday

One last round: President Obama (seen in the white cap) played an estimated five or six rounds in three days

However the only inside reports about the rounds came from a golf journalist who happened to be in the clubhouse at the time.

‘Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend,’ Fox News reporter Ed Henry said.

‘There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency.’

The President’s deputy press secretary Josh Earnest responded to the pool’s concerns by simply saying that they were previously told about the level of access- or lack thereof- that they should expect from the weekend.

No photos: Though he has been pictured on other trips- like this one in Hawaii in 2009- the President denied any press access during his round of golf with Tiger Woods over the weekend

Meeting again: President Obama invited Tiger Woods to the White House in 2009 (pictured) and now the President is traveling to Woods’ neighborhood by going to Florida for the weekend

‘The press access granted by the White House today is entirely consistent with the press access offered for previous presidential golf outings,’ Mr Earnest said to Politico.

In spite of his claims, the President has been pictured during a number of his other rounds of golf, including during his trips to Hawaii over Christmas and Martha’s Vineyard in previous summers.

The trip was far from a little getaway, as he made his way to the golf course by way of Chicago on Friday and that is when the costs started piling up.

ABC News reported that in 2012, it cost $179,750 per flight hour to run Air Force One.

Going off that rate- even though it is likely higher now since gas prices have risen- the cost of the flights to Florida and back to Washington on Monday totaled $943,687.50.

Picturesque: President Obama never left the grounds of the Floridian golf course during his three-night stay

Luxurious: Obama’s entourage rented out all three of the four-bedroom cottages on the grounds of the club

HOW MUCH IT COSTS FOR A PRESIDENTIAL BOYS WEEKEND

$943,687.50: estimated cost of a trip for Air Force One from Chicago to West Palm Beach and then back to Washington, D.C.

$13,500: Cost to rent out three four-bedroom guest cottages at The Floridian for three nights

$24,000: Cost of an eight-hour private golf lesson with famed instructor Butch Harmon

$1,800: Greens fees for three guests for two rounds of golf

$1,600: Cost of four caddies for two rounds of golf

$4,620: Cost of 20 rooms at the Port St. Lucie Holiday Inn for traveling press and security detail based on the government per-diem rate

TOTAL: $989,207

He rented out all three of the four-bedroom guest cottages on the grounds of The Floridian for the whole of the long weekend, as well about 20 hotel rooms from the nearby Holiday Inn- which is about 20 minutes drive from the course- for his traveling entourage of press and security.

Expectantly, their price differentials are significant, as one night in a guest cottage costs $1,500 while the Holiday Inn told MailOnline that they charged the government per-diem rate of $77 per room.

On top of the logistical expenses, the whole point of the trip was to relax on the golf course, which involves a whole host of expenses in itself.

Guest greens fees at The Floridian are $300 per person, and each player hires a caddy who costs $200 per round.

For three guests to play two rounds of golf over the weekend, greens fees come to $1,800 and the caddies fees for the foursome total $1,600.

Relaxation: The President’s press team said that they did not need to allow journalists on to the grounds because it was a personal vacation and that Mr Obama was not conducting any formal political events during the trip

Options: Since he did not leave the grounds, Mr Obama undoubtedly ate in the course’s gourmet dining room

Expensive: All told, the trip is thought to have cost close to $1million

The Floridian also features a gourmet dining room, full service spa and a marina with 68 boat slips so members can arrange to go on fishing outings during their stay. Because the press were banned from getting past the maintenance shed outside of the gates of the club, it is not known whether the President indulged in any of those amenities.

The golf club’s rules stipulate that all expenses incurred by guests are paid for by their member counter part. In this case, that means that the club’s owner Jim Crane- who is also a Democratic donor- likely paid for all of the charges and is being reimbursed either in full or part.

Another personal expense that Mr Obama racked up came from the eight hour one-on-one lesson with golf pro Mr Harmon. Since those lessons typically cost $3,000, that means that Mr Obama’s bill came to a tidy $24,000 after his intensive session on Saturday.

During his stay, the President never left the grounds of the golf club, meaning that his transportation and security costs were kept to a minimum. A spokesman for the nearby police department said that they had not been asked by the Secret Service to provide any additional security.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280855/Obama-pictured-leaving-1m-golfing-weekend-Tiger-Woods-imposed-controversial-photo-black-out.html#ixzz2LMjGfcUJ

All downhill for Obama gals

First Lady Michelle Obama and her two daughters skied at a posh resort in Aspen, Colo., with the help of numerous instructors on private ski runs during Presidents Day weekend.

While President Obama was golfing with Tiger Woods in Florida, Michelle — who brought along a few friends and daughters Sasha and Malia — headed to the slopes.

They were given all-day private lessons with pro skiers from the Ski and Snowboard School of Aspen — a few instructors with the adults, and more with the kids, we’re told.

Other Aspen sources told us the Obamas, surrounded by security, skied at Buttermilk Mountain, one of the peaks in the Aspen Snowmass resort, which includes the fearsome superpipe featured on the Winter X Games. But Michelle and her daughters stuck to the beginner “Panda Pipe” area.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/all_downhill_for_obama_gals_9LrvaG628avMBcpShdZ80K

Obama admin winds down plan for ‘uninsurables’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing financial concerns, the Obama administration has begun quietly winding down one of the earliest programs created by the president’s health care overhaul, a plan that helps people with medical problems who can’t get private insurance.

In an afternoon teleconference with state counterparts, administration officials said Friday the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will stop taking new applications. People already in the plan will not lose coverage.

Designed as a stopgap solution until the law’s full consumer protections are in effect next year, PCIP has served more than 135,000 people, a lifeline for patients with serious medical problems such as cancer and heart failure. But Congress allocated a limited amount of money, and the administration’s technical experts want to make sure it doesn’t run out.

Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt said PCIP has “provided needed security to some of our nation’s sickest people.”

The plan covers people who have had problems getting private insurance because of a medical condition and have been uninsured for at least six months. Premiums are keyed to average rates charged in each state, which means they’re not necessarily cheap, often amounting to several hundred dollars a month for middle-aged individuals.

“We’re glad this program was here and able to help,” said Amie Goldman, who oversees the program in Wisconsin. “I’m certainly disappointed we won’t be able to serve everyone who has a need for this coverage.”

Starting next January 1, insurance companies will no longer be able to turn anyone away because of poor health. At the same time, the federal government will begin subsidizing coverage for millions of individuals who have no access to employer plans. That means many of the people currently in the PCIP program may end up with lower premiums once the government’s financial help is factored in.

The enrollment suspension will take effect immediately in 23 states where the federal government administers the program, Goldman said. Residents of states that run their own programs may have longer. Wisconsin residents, for example, have until March 2 to apply.

Enrollment around the country has been lower than expected, partly because some people could not afford the premiums. But individual cases have turned out to be costlier than originally projected.

In documents provided to the states, the administration said the program has spent about $2.4 billion in taxpayer money on medical claims and nearly $180 million on administrative costs, as of Dec. 31. Congress allocated $5 billion to the plan.

“From the beginning (the administration) has been committed to monitoring PCIP enrollment and spending closely and making necessary adjustments in the program to ensure responsible management of the $5 billion provided by Congress,” PCIP director Richard Popper wrote in a memo. “To this end, we are implementing a nationwide suspension of enrollment.”

The sole exception: program beneficiaries who move to another state will still be able to get coverage in their new home.

http://wtop.com/289/3226689/Obama-quietly-halts-insurance-enrollment-for-sick-people

___

Online:

Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan: http://www.pcip.gov

OBAMA’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: GUN CONTROL WON’T WORK WITHOUT ‘MANDATORY’ CONFISCATION

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NRA video highlighting a January 4, 2013 memo titled “Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies” in which the Obama Justice Department states that an assault weapons ban would not be effective without mandatory gun confiscation.

students

college’s

Sharon Sweet, an associate professor of mathematics at Brevard Community College in Florida, is guilty of electioneering, harassment, and incompetence, according to a three-month investigation into her classroom behavior leading up to the November election.

The Board of Trustees will hold a hearing on the matter, and then vote on whether to adopt President James Richey’s recommendation that Sweet be fired.

According to a report on the investigation:

“Professor Sweet strongly encouraged or mandated that students from several classes sign a pledge card that stated, ‘I pledge to vote for President Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket.’ She also misrepresented her intentions to multiple students, indicating at various times that she was conducting voter registration for the college, that the pledge cards were non-partisan voter registration forms, and that the pledge was a ‘statistical analysis.’”

In the eyes of the college, Sweet clearly created a hostile environment for students, since many feared their grades would be affected if they did not sign the pledge. She remains on paid leave until the board votes to fire her.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/18/college-fire-professor-who-forced-students-to-vote-for-obama/#ixzz2LJvG9W9l

http://soc.li/waxYskB

John McCain nails NBC’s David Gregory on Benghazi

Rumors of the death of the old media have not been exaggerated. Thomson Reuters announced today that they’d be cutting 2,500 jobs, a full 4 percent of its entire workforce. CEO Jim Smith explained, “These are not easy decisions, but our cost structure has to meet our customer’s requirements.”

The company profited heavily in the fourth quarter – they must be one of the companies President Obama ripped as corporate profiteers at the expense of employees – but they’re laying people off just the same. The company’s stock slid on the firing announcements.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/02/14/Thompson-Reuters-fires-2500

CNN: Was Rubio’s Water-Sipping a ‘Career-Ender’? Source: breitbart.com According to CNN, on Tuesday night, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) committed a cardinal sin: he took a sip of water from a bottle during his response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. They actually ran a chyron reading: “CAREER-ENDER?”

I’m sure it’s happened before, but I can’t recall any previous State of the Union speech where justices refused to attend based on disagreements with the president.

The conservative wing of the U.S. Supreme Court was absent from President Obama’s Tuesday State of the Union address.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia declined to join their six other colleagues at the prime time address to Congress.

During Obama’s 2010 address, Alito was seen whispering the words “not true” during Obama’s speech. Obama used his address to blast the court for their 2010 Citizens United case which altered the rules on corporate and union funding of elections.

In the aftermath of that speech, Alito complained that the justices were expected to sit in the House chamber “like the proverbial potted plant” and that it was now an awkward experience.

If I were a justice of the Supreme Court, I certainly would resent being used as a prop in a president’s theatrical presentation. But, at bottom, the justices are a part of one of three co-equal branches of government. In that sense, attending the State of the Union is both a question of tradition, and a symbol of the majesty of the Constitution.

They should have been there.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/02/three_conservative_justices_absent_themselves_from_sotu.html

DR. BEN CARSON SLAMS STATE OF THE UNION

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This morning on “Fox and Friends,” Dr. Ben Carson critiqued President Obama’s State of the Union address…

“You’ve got to realize that you’re the president of everybody.”http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/02/13/Dr-Ben-Carson-Slams-State-of-the-Union

While President Obama prepares to tell Americans that every dollar of spending by the federal government is vital – or, more realistically, while he prepares to lie about cutting spending while actually jacking it up to record rates – Breitbart News has been looking into possible places worth cutting. Today, we’ll be rolling out a series of such cuts. We suggest cutting these items, rather than raising your taxes.

Last year, the National Science Foundation handed out a grant of $325,000 for the very important scientific purpose of creating a robot squirrel. Seriously. The squirrel, appropriately named “RoboSquirrel,” was designed for a study on how rattlesnakes react to squirrels – a study that will undoubtedly solve America’s unemployment problem, and/or solve cancer. If we’re really lucky, RoboSquirrel may in fact combine forces with Mighty Mouse to save the day.

So while President Obama demagogues about how funding for cancer research must be cut, we suggest that cash be redirected from mechanical furry creatures to that purpose.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/12/Obama-spending-robosquirrel

U.S. gas prices have risen an average of 25 cents a gallon over the last two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey of fuel prices.

The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is now $3.59, midgrade is $3.75 a gallon, and premium is $3.89.
A gallon of diesel costs 12 cents more than it did two weeks ago, climbing to an average of $4.07 gallon.
The Lundberg Survey found that Los Angeles, CA has the highest gas prices, averaging $4.05 a gallon. Billings, MT had the lowest average gas price at $3.05 a gallon.
Gas prices have risen steadily under President Barack Obama. On the first day of Obama’s presidency, the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.84.

Three years after the White House arranged a hero’s welcome at the State of the Union address for the Fort Hood police sergeant and her partner who stopped the deadly shooting there, Kimberly Munley says President Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of.
“Betrayed is a good word,” former Sgt. Munley told ABC News in a tearful interview to be broadcast tonight on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”
“Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of,” she said. “In fact they’ve been neglected.”
There was no immediate comment from the White House about Munley’s allegations.
Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier, and 32 others shot in the November 2009 rampage by the accused shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, who now awaits a military trial on charges of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
Tonight’s broadcast report also includes dramatic new video, obtained by ABC News, taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, capturing the chaos and terror of the day.
WATCH Exclusive Video of Fort Hood’s Aftermath
Munley, since laid off from her job with the base’s civilian police force, was shot three times as she and her partner, Sgt. Mark Todd, confronted Hasan, who witnesses said had shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he opened fire on soldiers being processed for deployment to Afghanistan.
As Munley lay wounded, Todd fired the five bullets credited with bringing Hasan down.
Despite extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the military has denied the victims a Purple Heart and is treating the incident as “workplace violence” instead of “combat related” or terrorism.
READ a Federal Report on the FBI’s Probe of Hasan’s Ties to al-Awlaki
Al-Awlaki has since been killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen, in what was termed a major victory in the U.S. efforts against al Qaeda.
Munley and dozens of other victims have now filed a lawsuit against the military alleging the “workplace violence” designation means the Fort Hood victims are receiving lower priority access to medical care as veterans, and a loss of financial benefits available to those who injuries are classified as “combat related.”
READ the Fort Hood Victims’ Lawsuit
Some of the victims “had to find civilian doctors to get proper medical treatment” and the military has not assigned liaison officers to help them coordinate their recovery, said the group’s lawyer, Reed Rubinstein.
“There’s a substantial number of very serious, crippling cases of post-traumatic stress disorder exacerbated, frankly, by what the Army and the Defense Department did in this case,” said Rubinstein. “We have a couple of cases in which the soldiers’ command accused the soldiers of malingering, and would say things to them that Fort Hood really wasn’t so bad, it wasn’t combat.”
A spokesperson for the Army said its policy is not to comment on pending litigation, but that it is “not true” any of the military victims have been neglected and that it has no control over the guidelines of the Veterans Administration.
Secretary of the Army John McHugh told ABC News he was unaware of any specific complaints from the Fort Hood victims, even though he is a named defendant in the lawsuit filed last November which specifically details the plight of many of them.
“If a soldier feels ignored, then we need to know about it on a case by case basis,” McHugh told ABC News. “It is not our intent to have two levels of care for people who are wounded by whatever means in uniform.”
Some of the victims in the lawsuit believe the Army Secretary and others are purposely ignoring their cases out of political correctness.
“These guys play stupid every time they’re asked a question about it, they pretend like they have no clue,” said Shawn Manning, who was shot six times that day at Fort Hood. Two of the bullets remain in his leg and spine, he said.
“It was no different than an insurgent in Iraq or Afghanistan trying to kill us,” said Manning, who was twice deployed to Iraq and had to retire from the military because of his injuries.
An Army review board initially classified Manning’s injuries as “combat related,” but that finding was later overruled by higher-ups in the Army.
Manning says the “workplace violence” designation has cost him almost $70,000 in benefits that would have been available if his injuries were classified as “combat related.”
“Basically, they’re treating us like I was downtown and I got hit by a car,” he told ABC News.
For Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot seven times at Fort Hood and blinded in one eye, the military’s treatment is deeply hurtful.
“It’s a slap in the face, not only for me but for all of the 32 that wore the uniform that day,” he told ABC News.
Lunsford’s medical records show his injuries were determined to be “in the line of duty” but neither he nor any of the other soldiers shot or killed at Fort Hood is eligible for the Purple Heart under the Department of Defense’s current policy for decorations and awards.
Army Secretary McHugh says awarding Purple Hearts could adversely affect the trial of Major Hasan.
“To award a Purple Heart, it has to be done by a foreign terrorist element,” said McHugh. “So to declare that soldier a foreign terrorist, we are told, I’m not an attorney and I don’t run the Justice Department, but we’re told would have a profound effect on the ability to conduct the trial.”
Members of Congress, including the chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, say they will introduce legislation to force the military and the Obama administration to give the wounded and dead the recognition and honors they deserve.
“It was clearly an act of terrorism that occurred that day, there’s no question in my mind,” McCaul told ABC News. “I think the victims should be treated as such.”
Former Sgt. Munley says she now believes the White House used her for political advantage in arranging for her to sit next to Michelle Obama during the President’s State of the Union address in 2010.
Munley says she has no hesitation now speaking out against the President or taking part in the lawsuit, because she wants to help the others who were shot that day and continue to suffer.
“We got tired of being neglected. So this was our last resort and I’m not ashamed of it a bit,” said Munley. She is also raising money for a movie about Fort Hood, and says some of the proceeds will go to the victims.