Replies to post #219964 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

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CPAC 2014 Schedule [March 7, 2014 covered this post]

March 6th, 2014
[...]
View the major speakers schedule below ...:
THURSDAY [March 6, 2014, covered in the post to which this is a reply]
9:00 a.m. – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
9:16 a.m. – Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
9:24 a.m. – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
9:40 a.m. – Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
10:19 a.m. – Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
11:45 a.m. – Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
12:00 p.m. – Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA)
12:16 p.m. – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
12:31 p.m. – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
2:45 p.m. – Donald Trump
FRIDAY [March 7, 2014, covered in this post]
9:00 a.m. – Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)
9:16 a.m. – Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
10:23 a.m. – Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
11:15 a.m. – Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition
2:26 p.m. – Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
2:40 p.m. – Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union
2:51 p.m. – Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
SATURDAY [March 8, 2014, (to be) covered in a reply to this post]
12:45 p.m. – Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker
1:12 p.m. – Jim DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation
5:23 p.m. – Straw poll
5:45 pm. – Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)
[...]
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/view-the-full-cpac-2014-schedule/ [with comments]

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CPAC 2014 Schedule of Events [the complete schedule]
http://www.cpac.org/schedule-events
http://www.cpac.org/sites/default/files/CPAC%202014%20Schedule%20v3.5.pdf


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CPAC 2014 - Governor Rick Perry (R-TX)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU [ http://www.youtube.com/user/ACUConservativeUSA ; http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmqnjF1D2hhbFKIqBIVzhCK54eef2DZol ]

The Honorable Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acoTrhWtQBM [with comments]


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Bill Maher on Rick Perry: Yeehaw! Jesus, take the wheel!

Uploaded on Jul 3, 2011 by itcanbecheezcaketime [ http://www.youtube.com/user/itcanbecheezcaketime ]

Rick Perry is a corporatist, neoconservative, hillbilly, Jesus freak with bad economic policy. Voting for him would be like a 4th Bush administration.

Look into Ron Paul if you want to restore the country to the letter of the law. If you want more crony capitalism, then by-all-means, vote for Perry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlVUvZXLuW8 [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable John Cornyn, United States Senator for Texas, speaking at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v0mplIqfT8 [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - The Death of American Privacy

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Death of American Privacy: Does it Matter if the Government Records Every Phone Call E-mail and Text You Send?

Speakers:
- John Solomon, Editor, The Washington Times (moderator)
- The Honorable Bruce Fein, Principal, Bruce Fein & Associates, Inc.
- Charles Kirk, Executive Director, TurningPoint USA
- The Honorable Jim Gilmore, Jr. President & Chief Executive Officer, Free Congress Foundation/ American Opportunity

Does the war against terror require us to surrender any semblance of private communications?

Recorded on March 7, 2014 at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAGL_Ew-dYs [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - LtCol Oliver North, USMC (Ret.)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, USMC (Ret.) and founder of the Freedom Alliance, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLWCC19oA_Y [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lNbmp4nq4 [with comments]


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American Atheists Booted From CPAC

Published on Feb 25, 2014 by CRUClEFICTION [ http://www.youtube.com/user/CRUClEFICTION ]

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC, 2-25-2014.

American Atheists, Inc.
http://atheists.org/
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanAtheists

Story:
http://news.atheists.org/2014/02/25/press-release-cpac-boots-atheist-booth/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJPlkF1GcQA [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Criminal Justice Reform

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

What is the conservative solution to an overreaching legal system? Pat Nolan (Director, Center for Criminal Justice Reform, ACU Foundation) moderates the discussion with Grover Norquist (President, Americans for Tax Reform), The Honorable Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, and Bernard Kerik (former Commissioner, New York City Police), on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQDrFm8TBM8 [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Ralph Reed, Faith and Freedom Coalition

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Ralph Reed, Founder and Chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsneGj9hn8Y [with comments]


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How Religious-Freedom Laws Could Come Back to Hurt the Faithful


Demonstrators in Phoenix celebrate Governor Jan Brewer's veto of SB 1026.
(Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

If conservative Christians really believe they are becoming a marginalized movement, why would they want to disempower marginalized people in the marketplace?

Jonathan Merritt
Mar 3 2014, 11:30 AM ET

“I’d like to purchase a wedding cake,” the glowing young woman says as she clutches the arm of her soon-to-be husband. “We’re getting married at the Baptist church downtown this coming spring.”

“I’m sorry, madam, but I’m not going to be able to help you,” the clerk replies without expression.

“Why not?” the bewildered bride asks.

“Because you are Christians. I am Unitarian and disapprove of your belief that everyone except those within your religion are damned to eternal hell. Your church’s teachings conflict with my religious beliefs. I’m sorry.”

Would conservative Christians support this storeowner’s actions? Because if not, they better think long and hard about advocating for laws that allow public businesses to refuse goods and services to individuals anytime they believe the person’s behavior conflicts with their sincerely held convictions.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, vetoed legislation [ http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/2r/bills/sb1062p.pdf ] Wednesday that would have allowed the state’s businesses to refuse goods or services if providing them conflicts with their religious beliefs. Though same-sex weddings are the impetus for the bill, it did not specifically mention gays and lesbians. The Arizona Republic editorial board warned [ http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20140221gov-brewer-veto-those-religious-freedom-bills.html ] Brewer, “The proposed law is so poorly crafted it could allow a Muslim taxi driver to refuse service to a woman traveling alone.”

So with a stroke of the pen, Brewer killed a bill conservative Christian activists—part of her political base—had been championing. Similar legislation also died [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/18/kansas-gay-marriage-bill/5593675/ ] in Kansas and is being blocked [ http://nation.time.com/2014/02/27/georgia-mississippi-arizona-veto-sb1062/ ] in Mississippi and Georgia. But conservative Christian activists are vowing to keep pressing such bills [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-veto-in-arizona-conservatives-vow-to-fight-for-religious-liberties/2014/02/27/4e0f877a-9fcb-11e3-b8d8-94577ff66b28_story.html ], claiming that these roadblocks are a temporary setback in their push to gain protection for religious believers who discriminate against customers.

Interestingly, the conservative Christians who support these bills also believe that America is becoming increasingly antagonistic toward members of their own faith. They have long decried the secularizing and pluralizing of America’s public square. They’ve argued that America is, in Robert Bork’s phrase, “slouching toward Gomorrah” and becoming post-Christian or even anti-Christian.

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who supports these bills, also once wrote [ http://www.albertmohler.com/2004/07/15/transforming-culture-christian-truth-confronts-post-christian-america/ ], “The most basic contours of American culture have been radically altered. The so-called Judeo-Christian consensus of the last millennium has given way to a post-modern, post-Christian, post-Western cultural crisis which threatens the very heart of our culture.”

If Christians really believe they are becoming a marginalized movement, why would they want to disempower marginalized people in the marketplace? It’s easy to codify your own biases when you’re part of the majority and get to be the one refusing services to others. But what if you’re the minority? What if others are turning you away because they think you are the abominable one?

Many Christians believe that the Book of Revelation predicts a coming time of persecution and evil. In the apocalyptic book’s 13th chapter [ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+13 ], it is predicted that a time will come when Christians won’t be able to buy or sell in the marketplace. If Christians believe this time is coming, they must also ask, “How might such a reality be realized?” Could it be that they are unwittingly becoming the authors of their own demise?

Conservative Christian activists often argue that these bills put us on a ride down a slippery slope that could lead to the government forcing conservative Christian pastors to perform same-sex weddings against their wills. (Never mind that legal exemptions for houses of worship and pastors are woven deeply into American law or that there is no historical precedent for such predictions.)

But these prophets of doom only acknowledge one side of the slope. They fail to consider how these laws could be used against members of their own communities. If you are able to discriminate against others on the basis of religious conviction, others must be allowed to do the same when you are on the other side of the counter. You can’t have your wedding cake and eat it too.

The ancient King Solomon, a man Christians believe to be the wisest person ever to live, once wrote, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.”

If this is the pit that Christians intend to dig, they better line the bottom with pillows.

Related Story

Why Jan Brewer Vetoed Arizona's 'Anti-Gay' Bill
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/why-jan-brewer-vetoed-arizonas-anti-gay-bill/284135/

Copyright © 2014 by The Atlantic Monthly Group

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/how-religious-freedom-laws-could-come-back-to-hurt-the-faithful/284164/ [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Brock Lawley, Tim Neely, and Ethan Olney, Recording Artists

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Sponsored by Big Dawg Music Radio, Brock Lawley, Tim Neely, and Ethan Olney perform before an audience at CPAC 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MjqZ5WRj58 [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Not All Quiet on the Western Front: Conservatives Are Alive in Hollywood!

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Two Hollywood films guaranteed to infuriate the Hollywood left. John Sullivan (Director, "America") moderates the discussion with The Honorable Fred Thompson, former United States Senator for Tennessee, actor, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, and radio host, Daniel Lusko (Director, "Persecuted"), and Gerald Molen (Producer, "2016: Obama's America"), and Dinesh D'Souza (Director, "2016: Obama's America") speaks, on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD-tlNSaV30 [with comments]


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'Noah' Movie Banned By Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates


This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Jennifer Connelly, left, and Russell Crowe in a scene from "Noah."
(AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Niko Tavernise)

* Film on prophet banned in Qatar, Kuwait, Emirates

* Highest Sunni body says holy figures in art "forbidden"

* Official disclaimer says movie takes "artistic license"

By Noah Browning
Posted: 03/09/2014 9:09 am EDT Updated: 03/09/2014 9:59 am EDT

CAIRO, March 8 (Reuters) - Three Arab countries have banned the Hollywood film "Noah" on religious grounds even before its worldwide premiere and several others are expected to follow suit, a representative of Paramount Pictures told Reuters on Saturday.

Islam frowns upon representing holy figures in art and depictions of the Prophet Mohammad in European and North American media have repeatedly sparked deadly protests in Islamic countries over the last decade, fanning cultural tensions with the West.

"Censors for Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) officially confirmed this week that the film will not release in their countries," a representative of Paramount Pictures, which produced the $125 million film starring Oscar-winners Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins, told Reuters.

"The official statement they offered in confirming this news is because 'it contradicts the teachings of Islam'," the representative said, adding the studio expected a similar ban in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait.

The film will premiere in the United States on March 28.

Noah, who in the Bible's Book of Genesis built the ark that saved his family and many pairs of animals from a great flood, is revered by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. An entire chapter in the Koran is devoted to him.

Cairo's Al-Azhar, the highest authority of Sunni Islam and a main centre of Islamic teaching for over a millennium, issued a fatwa, or religious injunction, against the film on Thursday.

"Al-Azhar ... renews its objection to any act depicting the messengers and prophets of God and the companions of the Prophet (Mohammad), peace be upon him," it announced in a statement.

They "provoke the feelings of believers ... and are forbidden in Islam and a clear violation of Islamic law," the fatwa added.

Mel Gibson's 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ" on Jesus's crucifixion was widely screened in the Arab World, despite a flurry of objections by Muslim clerics.

A 2012 Arab miniseries "Omar" on the exploits of a seventh century Muslim ruler and companion of the Prophet Mohammad also managed to defy clerics' objections and air on a Gulf-based satellite television channel.

PROTESTS

The publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper in 2006 touched off riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in which at least 50 people died.

A 2012 amateur Youtube video deriding Mohammad produced in California stoked protests throughout the region, and may have contributed to a deadly militant raid in Libya which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other American staff.

"Noah," whose official video trailer depicts a burly Crowe wielding an axe and computer-animated geysers swamping an army of sinners hoping to board his ark, has also stoked religious controversy at home.

Jerry A. Johnson, president of a conservative National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) group, said last month he wanted to "make sure everyone who sees this impactful film knows this is an imaginative interpretation of Scripture, and not literal."

Paramount responded by agreeing to issue a disclaimer on advertising for the film.

"While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide," the advisory reads.

(Edited by Tom Heneghan)

Copyright 2014 Thomson Reuters

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/09/noah-movie-banned_n_4924538.html [with comments]


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The Great Flood

Uploaded on Dec 30, 2009 by DarkMatter2525 [ http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkMatter2525 ; http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkMatter2525/videos?view=0&flow=grid ]

The logistics of Noah's Ark. People actually believe this story. It's time for a dose of reality. The YouTubers known as KaseyAkira, Bluetrilobite, and Vashcat encouraged me to debunk the story of Noah's Ark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I225Vcs3X0g [with (over 10,000) comments] [at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=98128173 and preceding and following]


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CPAC 2014 - Ben Nanke, Recording Artist

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Sponsored by Big Dawg Music Radio, Ben Nanke performs before an audience at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16RSXlo_A44 [with comment]


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CPAC 2014 - MN State Representative Tara Mack (MN-57A)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Tara Mack, State Representative for Minnesota's 57A district, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B8cOt_Am-8 [no comments yet]


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CPAC 2014 - SD State Representative Jenna Haggar (SD-10)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Jenna Haggar, State Representative for South Dakota's 10th district, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBrn1dx5REw [with comment]


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CPAC 2014 - Eric Metaxas, Author

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Eric Metaxas, author of two biographies (Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy about Dietrich Bonhoeffer), writer of children's books and scripts for VeggieTales, humorist, co-presenter of the radio program the Breakpoint Commentary, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iisLW6KJ1UM [with comments]


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Eric Metaxas testimony how he became a Christian

Uploaded on Feb 14, 2012 by AlphaOmegaWorship [ http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphaOmegaWorship ]

Directed by Nathan Troester for Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7juRRJhhIHE [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Obama's IRS: Political Arm of the Left?

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

What happens when your government decides which speech is acceptable?

Hans von Spakovsky (Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative, and Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation) moderates the discussion with Eliana Johnson (Investigative Reporter, National Review), Cleta Mitchell (Partner, Foley & Lardner, LLP), and Christine O'Donnell (Conservative activist and former candidate for the Delaware United States Senate seat vacated by Vice President Joe Biden), on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHLWgPENEsk [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Can Libertarians and Social Conservatives Get Along?

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Is there common ground between the two most energetic wings of the movement?

Tom Minnery (President & CEO, CitizenLink) moderates the discussion with Dr. Matt Spalding (Associate Vice President and Dean of Educational Programs for Hillsdale College, The Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies & Citizenship), Matt Welch (Editor in Chief, Reason Magazine), Michael Medved (Host, "The Michael Medved Show"), and Alexander McCobin (Co-Founder & President, Students for Liberty), at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSi1tjrAswI [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Rick Santorum, former United States Senator for Pennsylvania, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xcTFMa6pjA [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - The Hon. Al Cardenas, American Conservative Union

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Al Cardenas (Chairman, American Conservative Union), speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiVV7VYpWXg [with comment]


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CPAC 2014 - U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Rand Paul, United States Senator for Kentucky, speaks at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnMy0KTxQIk [with comments]


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Rand Paul wins 2014 CPAC straw poll, Ted Cruz finishes a distant second


Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md., Friday, March 7, 2014. Friday marks the second day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which brings together prospective presidential candidates, conservative opinion leaders and tea party activists from coast to coast.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Rubio and Ryan, GOP leaders in Congress all see big drops in support

By Seth McLaughlin and Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Saturday, March 8, 2014

Sen. Rand Paul demolished his competition in the 2014 Washington Times/CPAC presidential preference straw poll on Saturday, winning 31 percent of the vote — nearly three times the total of second-place Sen. Ted Cruz.

The poll also found a strong plurality of attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference believe marijuana should be fully legalized, with 41 percent saying it’s time to change the law and tax it. Another 21 percent said it should be legalized only for medicinal purposes, while just 31 percent said it should remain illegal in all cases.

In the presidential poll, Mr. Cruz’s 11 percent was a big improvement for the freshman senator, who won just 4 percent in last year’s straw poll. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson was third with 9 percent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was fourth with 8 percent in results that signal growing discontent with the GOP establishment in Washington.

Indeed, CPAC voters now have an unfavorable view of Republicans in Congress, with 51 percent saying they disapprove of the job the GOP is doing on Capitol Hill. Just last year the GOP had a 54 percent approval rating, and in 2012 they held a 70 percent approval rating.

But a series of tough votes over the last few months that saw Republican leaders work with President Obama to boost spending and raised the government’s debt limit have deepened a rift between the GOP’s leadership on Capitol Hill and conservative activists around the country.

That could be one reason why Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who wrote December’s budget deal that boosted spending in 2014 and 2015, saw his standing with CPAC voters cut in half — from 6 percent support in last year’s presidential straw poll to just 3 percent this year.

Sen. Marco Rubio suffered an even bigger drop, falling from 23 percent and second place in 2013 to seventh place, with 6 percent, this year.

“I like Ted Cruz, I like Rand Paul, I like Mike Lee. I like Rubio, but less now than I did a year ago because of immigration,” said David Fitzwilliam, 83.

For Mr. Paul, the victory is his second in a row, and he saw his support climb from 25 percent last year to 31 percent this year.

“He is the only true liberty candidate who focuses on civil liberties more than anybody else,” said Al Seltzinger, 36, from Baltimore. “I think the way the nation is going today with the government and the president going against the Constitution that we need someone who holds strict to the Constitution and whose voting record is pretty solid when it comes to the Constitution.”

Mr. Cruz also jumped from just 4 percent last year — when he was a newly sworn-in senator — to his 11 percent this year.

Mr. Carson, who gained prominence with a 27-minute speech challenging Mr. Obama when the two appeared at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, is also on the rise. In last year’s straw poll, taken just after that speech, he garnered 4 percent of the vote, but jumped to 9 percent this year.

“I love Ted Cruz, I love Rand Paul, but Ben Carson is all of the above,” said Jean Carlton, a 71-year-old CPAC attendee who said the doctor’s lack of Washington experience was a big plus.

For his part Mr. Christie, who has faced political troubles back home in New Jersey after his staffers caused a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge to punish a town mayor, seems to be holding steady among activists. He rose from 7 percent last year to 8 percent support this year.

In his speech to the conference on Thursday, Mr. Christie argued that the GOP needs to not only pick a conservative champion, but pick a candidate who can get elected.

“We can’t govern if we can’t win,” he said.

That resonated with some CPAC straw poll voters.

“I think he has the best chance in the general election. I am less optimistic about his chances in the primary, but he seems to be more palatable to Independents and Democrats. I think electability is the main concern,” said Matthew Smith, a 19-year-old student at Yale University.

This year’s straw poll listed 25 potential candidates, which is far more than usual. The high number signals just how wide open the GOP’s presidential contest is with two years to go before the first caucuses and primaries.

On the Democratic side, meanwhile, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton easily leads the rest of her party’s field in national and state polling.

Previous versions of The Washington Times/CPAC poll showed that the audience that gathers in Washington leans younger and more libertarian than the conservative movement throughout the country, which likely gives Mr. Paul a boost with this crowd here.

Indeed, his father, then-Rep. Ron Paul, won the straw poll twice on a similar libertarian-minded message, though he struggled to translate that support into votes when it came to primaries and caucuses.

The straw poll was conducted between Thursday and Saturday afternoon, and 2,459 votes were cast.

Related Stories

CPAC 2014 straw poll results
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/8/cpac-2014-straw-poll-results/

CPAC 2014: Rand Paul urges conservatives to fight for liberty
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/7/rand-paul-urges-conservatives-fight-liberty/

© Copyright 2014 The Washington Times, LLC

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/8/rand-paul-wins-2014-cpac-straw-poll-ted-cruz-finis/ [ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/8/rand-paul-wins-2014-cpac-straw-poll-ted-cruz-finis/?page=all ] [with embedded video report, and comments]


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Rand Paul Says U.S. Should Drill In 'Every Possible, Conceivable Place' To Address Ukraine Situation

By Kate Sheppard
Posted: 03/09/2014 1:06 pm EDT Updated: 03/10/2014 1:59 am EDT

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that the situation in Ukraine should be an impetus to ramp up oil and gas drilling in the United States and clear the path for exports.

"I would immediately get every obstacle out of the way for our export of oil and gas," said Paul in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." "And I would begin drilling in every possible, conceivable place within our territories in order to have production that we can supply Europe with if it's interrupted from Ukraine."

Russia's state-owned energy company, Gazprom, has been threatening to cut off gas supplies [ http://time.com/16915/russia-turns-the-screws-on-ukraine-with-gas-supply-threat/ ] to Ukraine, citing unpaid bills from February. But the ongoing political standoff between the two countries has Europe bracing for the possibility [ http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/07/eu-leaders-gas-russia-ukraine ] that this could lead to gas shortages.

It has also led to increased calls within the U.S. to start exporting natural gas to Europe [ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/world/europe/us-seeks-to-reduce-ukraines-reliance-on-russia-for-natural-gas.html ].

Even before the situation in Ukraine was grabbing international headlines, Senate Republicans were advocating for changes to the current ban [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/oil-exports-us_n_4557033.html ] on exporting crude oil.

Paul also criticized President Barack Obama's approach to the situation Sunday, arguing that he "hasn't projected enough strength and hasn't shown a priority to the national defense. That is something that, were I in charge, I would."

Two weeks ago, Paul said that the U.S. should maintain a "respectful" relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/25/rand-paul-gop-shouldnt-tweak-russia-over-ukraine/ ], a remark that drew criticism [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/02/26/rand-paul-defends-putin-earns-scorn-from-the-right/ ] from many within his own party.

Copyright © 2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/09/rand-paul-drilling-gas_n_4930508.html [the YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u9hjlYCz5c (with comments), as embedded; with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Can America Survive Obama's War on Fossil Fuel?

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

America's energy future: North American fossil fuel fortress? Is there a role for the federal government? Can we recover from Obama's alternative energy frauds?

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop (Vice President, External Affairs, The Heritage Foundation) moderates the discussion with Tom Pyle (President, American Energy Alliance), Alex Epstein (President & Founder, Center for Industrial Progress), Charles Gerow (CEO, Quantum Communications), and William Perry Pendley (Author, "Sagebrush Rebel"), at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4DZ2Jrc6pM [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Social Media 3.0: The Next Revolution Will Start on Your Phone

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Why do conservatives hire tech guys based on ideology and NOT competence?

Ned Ryun (CEO, Voter Gravity) moderates the discussion with Peter Greenberger (Director, Global Political Advertising, Twitter), Don Seymour (U.S. Politics & Government Outreach Manager, Facebook), Brian Lyle (Vice President of Digital Strategy, Generation Opportunity), Erik Telford (Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Outreach, Franklin Center), and Floyd Brown (President, Western Center for Journalism), at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szoN2X3Ffx4 [no comments yet]


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CPAC 2014 - Solutions 2014: Ideas to Unite America

Published on Mar 7, 2014 by The ACU

Sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, Genevieve Wood (Senior Contributor to The Foundry, The Heritage Foundation) moderates the discussion with Derrick Morgan (Vice
President, Domestic & Economic Policy, The Heritage Foundation), Jennifer Marshall (Director, Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation), The Honorable Terry Miller (Director, Center for International Trade & Economics, The Heritage Foundation), and Steven Bucci (Director, Douglas & Sarah Allison Center for Foreign & National Security Policy, The Heritage Foundation), at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duyuG4fyB7I [with comment]


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Bill Maher is so funny on this one you have to take your hat

Uploaded on Oct 23, 2006 by Zenseeker [ http://www.youtube.com/user/Zenseeker ]

Bill Maher is so funny in this one about think tanks that you have to take your hat off to him. Thanks Bill, for making us laugh when we need it most. and putting a play on Rove with Dan Quayle, was just a riot. Thanks to crooksandliars.com for making this available, keep up the great work. Until next time, keep up the good fight and visit zenwire.com to read about why Understanding fear is the secret in taking back America. Be ready and arm yourself with truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJohfS4vTQ [with (over 4,000) comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Ronald Reagan Dinner, Opening Comments

Published on Mar 8, 2014 by The ACU

Opening comments from the Ronald Reagan Dinner, sponsored by TownHall/Regnery Publishing, at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDqMiGyvrr4 [no comments yet]


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CPAC 2014 - Ronald Reagan Dinner

Published on Mar 8, 2014 by The ACU

Comments from the Ronald Reagan Dinner, sponsored by TownHall/Regnery Publishing, at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECLQdUb-24s [no comments yet]


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Real Time - Bill Maher Educates The Tea Party On The Founding Fathers

Published on Apr 3, 2012 by Pariah2001 [ http://www.youtube.com/user/Pariah2001 ]

"Real Time's" Bill Maher doesn't leave Tea Partiers an intellectual leg to stand on after he rips into their co-opting The Founding Father's "platform."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY0Y7vQF13U [with comments]


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CPAC 2014 - Presentation of ACU's Ronald Reagan Award

Published on Mar 8, 2014 by The ACU

The Honorable Al Cardenas (Chairman, American Conservative Union) presents the Ronald Reagan Award for 2014 at the Ronald Reagan Dinner, sponsored by TownHall/Regnery Publishing, at CPAC 2014 on March 7, 2014.

The Ronald Reagan Award is the highest award given at CPAC. It is awarded to dedicated activists, regardless of how high their profile may be on a national scale.

Recorded at the American Conservative Union (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV5Cn8Aaywo [no comments yet]


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in addition to (linked in) the post to which this is a reply and preceding and (any other future) following, see also (linked in):

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http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54119408 and preceding and following

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[fuagf]

Jon Stewart on Ted Cruz marathon speech

.. ooi, there is a penalty for young people not signing up by a certain date .. is
there any incentive such as a lower premium for signing up before a certain age?

under an inch down in yours .. lolol .. Stewart bastes, turns skewers Cruz .. 'Obamacare' will cost jobs! .. Sequestration, yeah, we got some there, costs more jobs, but hey we saved the runaway debt! .. hmm, guess who else cut jobs to save runaway debt .. lolol ..

====

Health Care's Resistors and Adapters

Michael Tomasky Politics 03.11.14

You’ll recall that Washington state Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, in delivering one of the 17 GOP State of the Union responses, spoke of “Bette,” the Spokane woman whose premiums were going up under Obamacare by $700 a month. The state’s jackboot, according to McMorris-Rodgers, was planted right on Bette’s throat, and there was nothing she could do about it. Bette would “have no choice” but to pay the extra, socialistic freight. Awful, awful, awful.

But the Spokane newspaper tracked Bette down and got the whole story, which was that her insurer did indeed cancel Bette’s then-current plan, which didn’t meet all the new ACA coverage requirements. When she called, the insurer tried to steer her to a plan that cost around $500 a month more. However, Bette never went to the Washington state web site to check out all the options available to her. If she had, the LA Times reported, she’d have found that in fact many options were available to her, “and with a deductible far lower than the $10,000 she was paying under the old plan and broader coverage, though lacking a provision for four free doctor visits a year provided by her old plan.” But Bette just didn’t want to go on “that Obama web site at all.”

Now, the Detroit News has found another Bette. Julie Boonstra has cancer, and last month she starred in a Koch Brothers-funded ad for one of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate. The ad claimed that Obamacare would make her medication so unaffordable that she might die. The News looked into the details of her new plan and found that she is going to save $1,200 a year. Here’s how the News summarizes the details:

Boonstra’s old plan cost $1,100 a month in premiums or $13,200 a year, she previously told The News. It didn’t include money she spent on co-pays, prescription drugs and other out-of-pocket expenses.

By contrast, the Blues’ plan premium costs $571 a month or $6,852 for the year. Since out-of-pocket costs are capped at $5,100, including deductibles, the maximum Boonstra would pay this year for all of her cancer treatment is $11,952.

Like Bette, Boonstra just isn’t buying it. It “can’t be true” and “I personally don’t believe that.” She’s the ex-wife of a former GOP county chairman who was named by the Republican governor to a seat on the state Court of Appeals, though she told the News she’s never been political.

Maybe not. And she does have cancer, so the point here is not to lay into her. The point is the way people’s views have been set in concrete because of all this hatred and all these lies coming from Republicans and groups like the Koch’s Americans for Prosperity.

Most people love the feeling of having their anger and suspicions confirmed. The chance to say “I knew it!” is rare enough in this world, and most people relish it. They relish it on some level even more than being wrong but ending up pleasantly surprised, at least in cases where for whatever reason they’ve developed some kind of emotional commitment to the outcome that confirms their worst fears.

So people were told: Obamacare is going to screw you over. Most people—conservatives, of course, but just general people with a default distrust of government—accepted this as logical. So they looked only for evidence that would support their being screwed over. Evidence to the contrary, even when it benefits them, is dismissed. Bette and Boonstra both do this. Bette wouldn’t even go look at the web site, where she’d have seen she had numerous options. Boonstra, told by newspaper reporters the objective facts of her situation, said she simply doesn’t believe it.

I wrote a piece a couple of months ago for which I went on the recently fixed up ACA web site, pretended to be a married, modest-income guy from Kansas, and found that I was offered a staggering 42 different plans, from very cheap (and really high deductible) ones to quite pricey ones, with lots of stops in between. Most people who bother to look will find the same thing.

But they have to look. The baseline question, as it so often is in politics these days, is about emotional resistance. How long will it take before people who get letters about changes to their insurance just go on the ACA web site and calmly shop around? Some smallish number does that now, but I daresay there are more Bettes and Boonstras. One big determinant of how Obamacare ends up playing in the elections this November will be how many resistors have become adapters.

Meanwhile, it's comical, but also kind of sick, that the law's opponents keep producing these lies and can't find any real victims. I'm sure some are out there, but far, far more people will benefit from the fine print of this law, which is why these stories fall apart.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/11/health-care-s-resistors-and-adapters.html

====

UPDATE 1-Obamacare enrollment in private coverage rises to 4.2 mln people

Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:38pm EDT

(Recasts first paragraph, adds details, quotes and background))

By David Morgan

(Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Tuesday that 4.2 million people have signed up for private health insurance .. http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=139&lc=int_mb_1001 .. under Obamacare, and indicated that total enrollment could surpass a 6 million-enrollee forecast by the end of March.

New enrollment data for a five-month period from Oct. 1 though March 1 came out as the administration threw its public relations campaign into overdrive, with President Barack Obama .. http://www.reuters.com/people/barack-obama?lc=int_mb_1001 .. appearing for an interview on the comedy website, "Funny or Die," in a direct appeal to the site's audience of young adults.

Healthy enrollees aged 18 to 34 are vital to the success of new online health insurance .. http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=139&lc=int_mb_1001 .. marketplaces set up in all 50 states under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The administration is targeting younger Americans because they are cheaper to insure and can compensate for older, sicker policyholders who have been able to obtain affordable insurance due to the law.

Tuesday's data showed the level of young adult participation stuck at 25 percent of total enrollment for the second month in a row.

However, officials predicted that enrollment would skyrocket over the next 20 days, pushing totals significantly higher with a rush of younger enrollees.

"We do believe millions more Americans will come in and enroll in coverage before the March 31 deadline," said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government's lead Obamacare agency.

Bataille declined to issue a specific forecast. But her prediction suggests administration officials are confident that Obamacare enrollment will meet or exceed the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) revised estimate of 6 million private insurance enrollees.

CBO initially forecast 7 million marketplace enrollees but scaled back that estimate after last year's botched rollout, in which the federal website HealthCare.gov was paralyzed by technical problems. Those problems continue to hobble enrollment efforts for state-run marketplaces in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland and Oregon.

Enrollment advanced by 940,000 people in February, amid independent signs of a sustained decline in the United States' huge uninsured population of nearly 50 million people. A recent Gallup survey showed the percentage of Americans without health coverage at 15.9 percent in early 2014, down from an all-time high of 18 percent last summer, with declines in every major demographic group below age 65.

Eighty-three percent of Obamacare enrollees qualify for federal subsidies that help low-income people pay for health coverage, the data showed.

"What we're finding is that as more Americans learn just how affordable marketplace insurance can be, more are signing up to get covered," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters in a teleconference.

But there were key gaps in the government data regarding who was signing up.

Officials did not have enough data to say how many enrollees were previously uninsured, versus those moving into Obamacare coverage from other plans, including policies canceled last year. A recent survey by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co found that 27 percent of February enrollees were previously uninsured.

The administration was also unable to say how many people who have signed up for coverage have actually enrolled by paying their first month's premium. The McKinsey study showed that more than three-quarters of February enrollees had made a premium payment.

Republicans zeroed in on the lack of detail to call on Obama to delay the law's tax penalty for those who fail to enroll in coverage by March 31.

"The administration won't tell us how many people have actually paid for a plan or how many were previously uninsured," said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. "But what we do know is that young adults - those who the White House repeatedly said are critical - are deciding the healthcare law is a bad deal."

Anticipating an enrollment surge, Officials said HealthCare.gov continues to operate smoothly with low error rates and fast page-loading speeds following last year's emergency effort to salvage the website.

But the problems faced by state-run exchanges that continue to be troubled were obvious in the latest enrollment data.

Connecticut, a leading Obamacare success story, has enrolled more than 57,000 people in private insurance since Oct. 1.

But two larger states, Massachusetts and Maryland, have signed up only about 13,000 and 38,000 respectively because of marketplace problems. Oregon has also enrolled only 38,000, while Hawaii, Obama's home state, has signed up just 4,661.

The watchdog Government Accountability Office is probing states with problem launches to determine how hundreds of millions of dollars on Obamacare grants were spent. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/usa-healthcare-enrollment-idUSL2N0M821L20140311

.. not a bad effort in light of the Dem oops 'technical difficulties',
and the darkness of the GOPire anti-Obamacare campaign, across so many states ..

bit from an old one ..

Obamacare Exchange Enrollment: What Recent Numbers Don't Tell You

4. Community Rating: Beginning in 2014, all insurers selling individual plans must use "adjusted community rating" which allows for insurers to modify what they charge based on:

· Your family size
· Where you live
· If you use tobacco
· Your age

Insurers are limited in how much more they charge for these factors; for example they can't charge the oldest patients more than 3 times [ ouch, 3x feels heavy ] what they charge the youngest.

These provisions did not get much attention in the past but given recent enrollment news as well as the President's announcement several months ago that insurers could continue to offer policies that would not have met 2014 standards, people are starting to really scrutinize what a risk corridor or a reinsurance program is and how that could help with unanticipated costs. There has also been direct criticism of these programs as handouts to the insurance industry or a bailout.

In sum, do not interpret enrollment trends as fateful sticker shock. Having said that, the fact that these temporary programs expire in 2016 tells us that there is a hypothesis that enrollment trends will be smoothed out by 2016, and given the rocky implementation start as well as the inevitable confounding noise of the 2014 and 2016 elections, there is a long way to go before success or failure can be declared.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=96091580

.. for young healthy people? .. is there any incentive, except to avoid the penalty if you don't sign up .. is there
any incentive such as a slightly lower premium for signing up before a certain date, or age? .. just wondered ..

[fuagf]

GOP Leader Steve Scalise Admits to Addressing White Supremacists

Pandering to White Pride 12.29.14


AFP/Getty

Tim Mak

A week before the new Congress convenes, the third most powerful man in the GOP is being forced to confront his 2002 address to a David Duke-backed white supremacist group.

Rep. Steve Scalise, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives and a Tea Party favorite, is facing a political firestorm over the revelation that he spoke before a white supremacist organization as a Louisiana state legislator in 2002.

Just a week before the start of a new Congress, the new House majority whip is fighting for his political life. His address to the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a group founded by former KKK leader David Duke, was first revealed by a Louisiana blogger .. http://cenlamar.com/2014/12/28/house-majority-whip-steve-scalise-was-reportedly-an-honored-guest-at-2002-international-white-supremacist-convention/ .. on Sunday.

Confronted with the report, Scalise told the Times-Picayune .. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/steve_scalise_i_dont_support_a.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter .. that he did not remember speaking to the white supremacist organization but did not deny that he had done so.

“I detest any kind of hate group,” Scalise said. “I don’t support any of the things I have read about this group, but I spoke to a lot of groups during that period. I went all throughout South Louisiana. I spoke to the League of Women Voters, a pretty liberal group...I still went and spoke to them. I spoke to any group that called, and there were a lot of groups calling.”

Scalise’s press secretary reinforced that line of logic in a statement, saying: “Throughout his career in public service, Mr. Scalise has spoken to hundreds of different groups with a broad range of viewpoints. In every case, he was building support for his policies, not the other way around…He has never been affiliated with the abhorrent group in question. The hate-fueled ignorance and intolerance that group projects is in stark contradiction to what Mr. Scalise believes and practices as a father, a husband, and a devoted Catholic.”

But the idea that Scalise might have been entirely ignorant about the nature of the white supremacist organization strains belief, said Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“The fact that Scalise was pandering for votes and support at a white supremacy event is horrifying. This is David Duke’s organization, not someone no one has ever heard of,” she told The Daily Beast. In 1991, Duke, a convicted felon and former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, had been the Republican Party gubernatorial nominee in Louisiana, drawing national derision. “You’re a Louisiana politician. You cannot plead ignorance about David Duke.”

Far from pleading ignorance about Duke, Scalise was described .. http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/scalise-vitter-talked-to-roll-call-about-david-duke-in-1999/ .. by Roll Call in 1999 as saying he “embraces many of the same ‘conservative’ views as Duke, but is far more viable” as a candidate for an open congressional seat.

“The novelty of David Duke has worn off,” said Scalise. “The voters in this district are smart enough to realize that they need to get behind someone who not only believes in the issues they care about, but also can get elected. Duke has proven that he can’t get elected, and that’s the first and most important thing.” Electability, rather than the odiousness of Duke’s views, seemed to be pre-eminent in Scalise’s mind at the time.

The 2002 EURO event in question also received local coverage, further undercutting any suggestion that Scalise was unaware of the group’s background. An alternative weekly newspaper in New Orleans, The Gambit, wrote in 2002 that a baseball team from Iowa refused to stay at the Best Western where EURO was holding its event, citing the organization’s “controversial views.”

The events EURO held in later years were flagrantly in support of white supremacy, attested Beirich, who attended several gatherings in 2004 and 2005. During those instances, two to three years after Scalise is said to have spoken before the group, the rooms were filled with Confederate flags, white pride slogans, and racist merchandise.

As the controversy unfurled late Monday, it created some odd bedfellows.

Scalise received unexpected support from African American Democrat Rep. Cedric Richmond, who told Times-Picayune reporter Julia O’Donoghue ..

"I don't think Steve has a racist bone in his body." - @RepRichmond (Cedric Richmond) on @SteveScalise.

— Julie O'Donoghue (@JSODonoghue) December 30, 2014

.. that he doesn’t “think Steve has a racist bone in his body” and that the Republican is being used as a “scapegoat to score political points.”

---
“The fact that Scalise was pandering for votes and support at a white supremacy event is horrifying. This is David Duke’s organization.”
---

The House Republican whip also received statements of support Monday evening from the Louisiana Republican Party and Gov. Bobby Jindal, who released a statement calling Scalise “fair-minded and kindhearted.”

But conservative Erick Erickson went after Scalise in a scathing blog post .. http://www.redstate.com/2014/12/29/how-do-you-show-up-at-a-david-duke-event-and-not-know-what-it-is/ , joining the Louisiana Democratic Party in a show of incredulity.

“How the hell does somebody show up at a David Duke organized event in 2002 and claim ignorance?” Erickson wrote. “How do you not investigate?…[Sen.] Trent Lott was driven from the field in 2001 for something less than this.”

Scalise’s visit to a white supremacist convention has spurred deeper scrutiny of his past as a state legislator, uncovering further unsavory details. In 2004, for example, Scalise voted “no” .. http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=533842 .. on a resolution to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday, 21 years after President Reagan made it a federal holiday.

Some longtime local acquaintances are struggling to square the man they know with the ugly associations.

“We grew up in the same part of Jefferson Parish. I’m of Jewish ancestry, the congressman is of Sicilian and Italian…it’s completely out of character,” said Mark Zelden, a political consultant and lobbyist in New Orleans who has known Scalise for more than 15 years. Growing up in the area, “you wouldn’t harbor views of the kind remotely of the sort of this organization he is purported to have spoken to 12 years ago,” Zelden continued, and as a Sicilian and Italian, Scalise probably “would not have been welcome even if he had wanted to participate.”

It is, Zelden said, “unthinkable” that Scalise would harbor these views.

But whether Scalise is prejudiced or shares the views of EURO is beside the point, said Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Scalise was willing to go there to get supporters,” she said.

Now the question is whether Republican leadership—which has struggled to reach out to minority voters—will continue to support Scalise and bear the burden of his David Duke-laden baggage in the new Congress.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/29/gop-leader-steve-scalise-admits-to-addressing-white-supremacists.html

Posted specifically to this one

CPAC 2014 - The American Dream vs. The Obama Nightmare: Income Inequality

Published on Mar 6, 2014 by The ACU

Why has President Obama given up on the American Dream in favor of income redistribution? The Honorable Al Cardenas (Chairman, American Conservative Union) moderates the discussion with Evan Sayet (Author, Kinder Garden of Eden), Rich Lowry (Editor, National Review), and The Honorable Steve Scalise, United States Representative for Louisiana and Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, on March 6, 2014.

Recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2014, March 6-8, 2014, Washington, D.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi5KId9iViA [no comments yet]

roughly three-quarters down in yours.

Yes. The Honorable Steve Scalise was part of the "self-proclaimed TeaBuggered class of 2011" ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=83040600 .. and voted "no"
on Sandy aid .. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=88119136

[F6]

Indiana Senate candidate paid relative $170K for past campaign work


Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman (R-Ind.), who is running for U.S. Senate, paid his brother-in-law nearly $170,000 to manage the finances of his congressional campaign.
(Michael Conroy/AP)

By Brian Slodysko
April 30, 2016

INDI ANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana Senate candidate who has railed against out-of-control government spending paid his brother-in-law nearly $170,000 to manage the finances of his congressional campaign. The relative worked as a car salesman and actor but had no experience rounding up political donations.

Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman, a tea party-backed Republican facing fellow U.S. Rep. Todd C. Young in Tuesday’s primary, gave his relative, Gabe Rivera, an average of $5,000 a month from the campaign account for the nearly three years he served as finance director. That was about $800 a month more than the salary paid to Rivera’s successor, who raised about $400,000 more for the campaign in six fewer months.

“I trust him more. I know him,” Stutzman said of Rivera, the husband of his wife’s sister, during an interview Thursday. “I’m trying to protect every dollar that comes in from donors. I had no concerns whatsoever about him being my brother-in-law.”

The congressman and his brother-in-law also are business partners. In 2012, while Rivera was still working for the campaign, he and his wife joined the Stutzmans in opening a bridal shop in Fredericksburg, Va. Financial disclosure reports list Stutzman as the shop’s chairman.

Stutzman said Rivera also did some fundraising for a nonprofit group but declined to elaborate.

Rivera joined the campaign before Stutzman first won the 3rd District congressional seat in 2010 and left in 2013, eventually returning to his work as an actor in a traveling production billed as “a New Testament Stage Epic.”

Stutzman’s defense of the hire came after the Associated Press recently reported that he spent more than $3,000 in donor money on airfare and travel expenses for a California trip his wife described on Facebook as “a family vacation.” The trip represents just a small part of the more than $300,000 in flights, vehicle charges, meals and hotel stays Stutzman’s campaign fund has spent since he went to Washington on a pledge to oppose special interests. His campaign has yet to answer questions about a large number of mileage reimbursements he collected or his broader spending habits.

An AP analysis found the money Rivera earned in less than three years has accounted for 57 percent of the congressional campaign’s total staff payroll since the fund was established in 2010. That doesn’t include money the campaign gave to consulting firms.

Many of Stutzman’s campaign workers were also employed in his congressional office, which Rivera was barred from doing under congressional rules that generally forbid hiring family. Although it’s not illegal for relatives to work on a campaign staff, often those are lower-level positions, said Paul Herrnson, a campaign finance expert and political science professor at the University of Connecticut.

“There may be an occasion where a relative is hired, but generally speaking that’s not the case for a position like finance director,” Herrnson said.

Congressional ethics rules also recommend getting an advisory opinion before making such a hire. Stutzman said he couldn’t recall seeking one for Rivera.

During the time Rivera oversaw fundraising, all of the Republicans in Indiana’s congressional delegation out-raised Stutzman, with all but one receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars more. When Rivera’s more-experienced successor took over, the numbers improved.

Rivera didn’t respond to messages from the AP seeking comment. Stutzman said he did “a great job,” adding that he could trust his brother-in-law, unlike other fundraisers who he would have to “double-check and re-check to make sure they’re not doing something inappropriate.”

Campaign manager Josh Kelley said the fundraising numbers alone aren’t a good measure of a finance director’s value.

“You assume that everybody is going to close the deal every time they walk into a fundraising meeting, and it’s just not really an accurate portrayal of how political fundraising takes place,” Kelley said.

© 2016 Associated Press

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/indiana-senate-candidate-paid-relative-170k-for-past-campaign-work/2016/04/30/abd8af96-0ef3-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html [with comments]

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(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=121463619 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=121536021 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=122273495 and preceding and (future) following