Where Are My Keys?

"They Knew"..

Indeed.  Incredible that there are still those that are defending this activity.  The IRS knew what it was doing, Treasury knew it was going on, and I can't believe the White House didn't.  I was able to catch some of the hearings this morning before heading out to meetings, and was sick to my stomach that there are some on the Hill that don't care that the Administration allowed this to happen.

When did politics in this Country turn into winning by any means necessary?

A Government agency deliberately kept the information about the scandal quiet to affect the outcome of an election:

The IRS commissioner "has known for at least a year that this was going on," said Myers, "and that this had happened. And did he share any of that information with the White House? But even more importantly, Congress is going to ask him, why did you mislead us for an entire year? Members of Congress were saying conservatives are being targeted. What's going on here? The IRS denied it. Then when -- after these officials are briefed by the IG that this is going on, they don't disclose it. In fact, the commissioner sent a letter to Congress in September on this subject and did not reveal this. Imagine if we -- if you can -- what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012, in the middle of a presidential election? The terrain would have looked very different."

People need to go to jail.

The fact that this wouldn't have even come out, had it not been for an IRS "plant" in the crowd, is even more disturbing.

I hope that at least one of the Tea Party groups files a lawsuit against the IRS, which would lead to a fun discovery period, and hopefully criminal and civil charges.

Pompeo to Baucus: Obamacare complexity is on your shoulders..

A few days ago, Max Baucus (D-MT) was complaining that Obamacare is too complex for folks to understand, and will become a "huge train wreck".  Mike Pompeo (R-KS) reminds Baucus that Obamacare is in effect, because of his actions:

If it's a train wreck, Pompeo said, Baucus has no one to blame but himself.

"No one in the country bears more responsibility for the complexity of this law than you," Pompeo wrote in a letter to Baucus on Thursday.

Baucus, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was a key architect of the Affordable Care Act. Most of its major provisions were crafted in his committee, and the Finance draft was consistently treated as the primary bill even as other Senate and House committees worked on their own proposals.

"You drafted it, you twisted arms to get it passed, and, until now, you have lauded it as a model for all the world," Pompeo wrote to Baucus. "Your attempts to pass the buck to President Obama’s team will not work, nor will they absolve you of responsibility for the harm that you have brought via this law."

I'm sure Baucus' "clarity" on the legislation he voted for have nothing to do with his upcoming re-election race.

Maybe it's time to get a bigger mattress..

You may be needing a better place to stash your retirement nest egg:

That's the message in President Obama's budget for fiscal 2014, which for the first time proposes to cap the amount Americans can save in these tax-sheltered investment vehicles. The White House explanation is that some people have accumulated "substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving." So Mr. Obama proposes to "limit an individual's total balance across tax-preferred accounts to an amount sufficient to finance an annuity of not more than $205,000 per year in retirement, or about $3 million for someone retiring in 2013."

Thus do our political betters now feel free to define for everyone what is "needed" for a "reasonable" retirement. Not to be impertinent, but does this White House definition include being able to afford summers at age 70 at Martha's Vineyard near the Obamas?

The feds may think $3 million is all you need after a lifetime of work, but that's roughly the value of a California police sergeant's pension if she works for 30 years, retires at age 50 and lives to normal life expectancy.

Out in the private economy, people generally have to work longer than that before they retire, and some of them do manage to save significant amounts. We're talking about people who work for decades and abstain from buying the bigger house or the new car so they can contribute the maximum to their 401(k)s or IRAs. The people who defer gratification and build a nest egg to avoid becoming a burden on their kids or their fellow taxpayers. The people whose savings finance productive enterprise. You know, the bad guys.

Best-selling books used to celebrate these "millionaires next door" who worked and saved their way to financial independence. But now Mr. Obama wants to treat them as if they all got rich by sheltering investments in the Cayman Islands or extracting bonuses from bailed-out banks or scooping up sweetheart mortgage deals from allegedly nonprofit universities. Someone should tell the President that most Americans can't swing the bonuses that his Treasury Secretary Jack Lew arranged at NYU and Citigroup C -0.20%.

The budget offers few details on how the government would enforce this cap across a worker's various accounts, but you can bet it would be complicated. Right now the government doesn't track all tax-deferred account balances. Financial firms don't have to send IRS 1099 forms to investors unless there's a distribution, nor do the firms know how much customers hold at other institutions.

So the IRS would get new power to impose new burdens on millions of taxpayers. And all so the government could raise what the White House claims would be $9 billion more in revenue over 10 years, as if people wouldn't change their savings habits. After this proposal, only a fool would pay taxes now to transfer to a "tax-free" Roth IRA that the feds may decide to tax someday.

More Obamacare hidden costs to the Middle Class coming out..

Too bad you rubes didn't listen to the warnings that something like this would happen, before the Democrats rammed Obamacare through Congress:

More importantly, due to the creeping effects of inflation, 20 million Medicare beneficiaries would end up paying higher "income related" premiums for their outpatient and prescription coverage over time.

Administration officials say Obama's proposal will help improve the financial stability of Medicare by reducing taxpayer subsidies for retirees who can afford to pay a bigger share of costs. Congressional Republicans agree with the president on this one, making it highly likely the idea will become law if there's a budget deal this year.

But the way Pugach sees it, she's being penalized for prudence, dinged for saving diligently.

It was the government, she says, that pushed her into a higher income bracket where she'd have to pay additional Medicare premiums.

IRS rules require people age 70-and-a-half and older to make regular minimum withdrawals from tax-deferred retirement nest eggs like 401(k)s. That was enough to nudge her over Medicare's line.

"We were good soldiers when we were young," said Pugach, who worked as a computer systems analyst. "I was afraid of not having money for retirement and I put in as much as I could. The consequence is now I have to pay about $500 a year more in Medicare premiums."

Just like the mortgage fiasco, those that played by the rules and planned ahead get screwed by this Administration.

If the proposal were already law, Pugach would be paying about $168 a month for outpatient coverage under Medicare's Part B, instead of $146.90.

Then, the plan would create five new income brackets to squeeze more revenue from the top tiers of retirees.

But its biggest impact would come through inflation.

The administration is proposing to extend a freeze on the income brackets at which seniors are liable for the higher premiums until 1 in 4 retirees has to pay. It wouldn't be the top 5 percent anymore, but the top 25 percent.

"Over time, the higher premiums will affect people who by today's standards are considered middle-income," explained Tricia Neuman, vice president for Medicare policy at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "At some point, it raises questions about whether (Medicare) premiums will continue to be affordable."

Finally, some bipartisan activity!

Strange that Democrsats and Republicans can't seem to work together when it is in the bestr interests of Taxpayers, yet are able to come to agreements when it helps them:

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they were plotting to rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes.

The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said.

FBI agents arrested them both at their Queens homes shortly after 6 a.m.

“I have no idea,” Halloran, in handcuffs, told a Post reporter when asked if he knew why he was being arrested.

“I’m sure the truth will come out once I have an opportunity to find out what’s going on.”

Smith would not say anything as he was hauled off.

During a meeting on Nov 16, Smith allegedly met with the agent and the cooperator — who are not named in the documents — at a Manhattan hotel. The senator allegedly was harping on his need to switch the allegiance of one particular borough GOP chief. After the cooperator said he thought he could influence the party leader, Smith was recorded as saying "If you can change him, call me. Seriously...If you can change him that would be huge."

That same day, the feds recorded Smith pledged to the undercover agent at Grand Central he would be indebted to him if he could win the support of a borough GOP boss: "You pull this off," Smith said, according to documents, "you can have the house ... I'll be the tenant."

The agent asked Smith "is this worth going to the bank for?"

In response, Smith was emphatic: "I want him done. I want him done. I want him to say, 'You know what, Malcolm, we did make a commitment to you early on...We're going back to that.' That's what I want him to do." Smith allegedly closed the discussion, saying "This is a big thing."

Less than two months ago, on Feb . 8 Halloran met up with the informant and the undercover agent at a Manhattan hotel where the councilman told the pair that Savino "wanted $25,000 'in an envelope,' and Tabone wanted $50,000 with half of the money before he signed the (ballot-support) certificate and the other half after."

FBI officials confirmed the arrests to The Post.

I hope both these guys pay dearly with their freedom and their wallets.

 

Can't say I'm surprised by this..

Democrats now starting to walk away from Ashley Judd:

Hollywood actress-turned-Senate-hopeful Ashley Judd may have a harder time winning the hearts and minds of Democrats to support her campaign against Sen. Mitch McConnell after all.

Democratic Party leaders are stepping back and taking a clear look at the candidate, and some say she may not be best to run against the five-term Kentucky senator in 2014, Newsmax reports.

“She’s going to have a tough road to hoe,” said Jim Cauley, campaign manager for Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear in 2007, in a ThisWeek.com report. “She doesn’t fit the damn state,” which is a conservative stronghold. Fully 60 percent of Kentuckians voted for Mitt Romney in 2012.

Democrats have begun expressing concern about some of Ms. Judd’s statements and views. ThisWeek.com reports, “Democrats worry that Judd, a political neophyte, could cost the party a winnable race.”

Thanks to Jery Brown, there are 15% more fugitive sex offenders out there..

Way to go, Governor!

The number of paroled sex offenders who are fugitives in California is 15 percent higher today than before Gov. Jerry Brown’s sweeping law enforcement realignment law took effect 17 months ago, according to figures released Wednesday by the state corrections department.

The increase amounts to 360 more sex offenders whose whereabouts were unknown and who were not reporting to their parole officers last year.

An Associated Press analysis of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation data shows that 2,706 paroled sex offenders dropped out of sight in the 15 months since the new law took effect in October 2011, compared to 2,346 in the 15 months before realignment. The numbers were obtained by the AP before their public release.

That’s an average of 180 sex offender fugitives each month, up from 156 before realignment.

Attention has focused on parolees who cut off or disable their GPS-linked ankle bracelets, meaning that parole agents are unable to track their movements by satellite. Sex offender parolees are required to wear the tracking devices under Jessica’s Law, approved by state voters in 2006.

Maybe Brown could follow the lead of the Democrat in Berkley, and increase the tax on a box of condoms to fund a special task force to find the fugitive sex offenders.

Heck of a State you have there, California.

Not to worry, no gun grabs going on here..

Here's the reality in Colorado:

Brophy says if Democrats succeed in passing a bill limiting large capacity magazines in Colorado, they’ll outlaw the most popular selling firearm for hunting.

“Hundreds of thousands of pheasant hunters are probably going to be carrying around a gun they won’t be able to replace after July 1 this year,” he said.

Brophy points to a section of the bill that defines a high-capacity magazine as one capable of accepting or — that can be readily converted — to accept more than 15 rounds or eight shotgun shells.

“This is where shotgun shells go inside this tube here,” Brophy showed Boyd, “You can screw this part off the top and screw on an extender to this tube to allow it to hold more than eight rounds. It is readily convertible, which by definition in the bill, makes the whole thing a high-capacity magazine.”

Under the 1994 federal ban manufacturers redesigned the gun so the barrel couldn’t be extended. Brophy says it’s unlikely they’d do the same just for Colorado.

“I don’t know if anybody is going to make guns specifically for the five million people living in Colorado,” he said. “We just might not be able to legally purchase a pump shotgun or a semi-automatic shotgun.”

Or sell, transfer or even lend one.

“The law is specific as of July 1. You can keep it, but only if you maintain continuous possession of it,” Brophy said. “If it breaks, you can’t give to a gunsmith even to fix it. You can’t hand it to your son to use. It’s all now outlawed because of this 1224, the bill that Gov. Hickenlooper says he’s going to sign … this is most extreme thing anybody’s ever done related to firearms.”

Boyd asked Senate Democrats about Brophy’s concerns. They sent her a statement saying an amendment dealing with thats issue is currently being drafted and will be presented in a committee hearing Monday. What that amendment looks like and whether it passes remains to be seen.

Reminds me of Obamacare, and the gun bill passed in New York.  These Democrats are in such a rush to get anything passed, they don't take the time to consider there should be some exceptions.

Slow down, and do your job correctly.

Don't get sick in Florida..

If you do, good luck finding a doctor!

Brace yourself for longer lines at the doctor's office.

Whether you're employed and insured, elderly and on Medicare, or poor and covered by Medicaid, the Florida Medical Association says there's a growing shortage of doctors — especially specialists — available to provide you with medical care.

And if the Florida Legislature goes along with Gov. Rick Scott's recommendation to offer Medicaid coverage to an additional 1 million Floridians — part of the Affordable Care Act that takes effect next January — the FMA says that shortage will only get worse.

"Florida needs more doctors and it needs more nurses, and it needs them working together in teams," said Rebecca O'Hara, a lobbyist for the FMA.

About 15 million Floridians have health insurance today, and Obamacare, which requires most adults to have coverage by January, could add as many as 2.5 million more. One million would come through a potential expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program that Scott announced this week he was backing. The others would be the result of new mandates requiring employers and individuals to have insurance or be fined.

Currently, the state has 44,804 doctors, but about 5,600 of them are expected to retire in the next five years. And even though Florida has opened three new medical schools in the past dozen years, the state isn't producing as many doctors as it needs. Scott's budget this year has $80 million to fund programs to train 700 new residents a year, in hopes they'll remain in the state.

Of all patients, people covered by Medicaid may have the hardest time finding a doctor; only 59 percent of the state's physicians are taking new Medicaid patients, according to a Kaiser Health News study.

Could have sworn there was a group of people who were saying this would happen prior to Obamacare being signed into law.  Look for this to repeat itself in other States soon.

Florida caught an attempt to vote fraudulently, did it happen in other States?

Florida noticed irregularities, and did something about it.

The first phantom absentee ballot request hit the Miami-Dade elections website at 9:11 p.m. Saturday, July 7.

The next one came at 9:14. Then 9:17. 9:22. 9:24. 9:25.

Within 2½ weeks, 2,552 online requests arrived from voters who had not applied for absentee ballots. They streamed in much too quickly for real people to be filling them out. They originated from only a handful of Internet Protocol addresses. And they were not random.

It had all the appearances of a political dirty trick, a high-tech effort by an unknown hacker to sway three key Aug. 14 primary elections, a Miami Herald investigation has found.

The plot failed. The elections department’s software flagged the requests as suspicious. The ballots weren’t sent out.

But who was behind it? And next time, would a more skilled hacker be able to rig an election?

Six months and a grand-jury probe later, there still are few answers about the phantom requests, which targeted Democratic voters in a congressional district and Republican voters in two Florida House districts.

The foreman of that grand jury, whose report made public the existence of the phantom requests, said jurors were eager to learn if a candidate or political consultant had succeeded in manipulating the voting system. But they didn’t get any answers.

“We were like, ‘Why didn’t anyone do something about it?’ ” foreman Jeffrey Pankey said.

The Miami-Dade state attorney’s office could not find the hacker because most of his or her actions were masked by foreign IP addresses. But at least some of the ballot requests originated in Miami and could have been further traced, The Herald found.

Prosecutors did not obtain that information as part of their initial inquiry, due to a miscommunication with the elections department.

On Friday, a day after The Miami Herald brought the domestic IP addresses to its attention, the office of State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said it is reviewing them.

Under state election laws, only voters, their immediate family members or their legal guardians can submit absentee-ballot requests. Violations may be considered felony fraud.

The thwarted attempt targeted voters in three districts: Democrats in Congressional District 26, where four candidates — including a suspected ringer criminally charged Friday with federal elections violations — were vying to take on vulnerable Republican Rep. David Rivera; and Republicans in Florida House districts 103 and 112, two competitive seats.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/23/v-print/3250726/the-case-of-the-phantom-ballots.html#storylink=cpy

I'm curious if other swing States were as aware of potential issues.

Good thing the Left continues to assure us there is no such thing as voter fraud.