Response Action Network Newsletter
Here is your weekly update on the politics and policies affecting our liberties.
OBAMACARE SWIRLING THE DRAIN
Just how bad is HealthCare.gov, the $500 million web site
that is supposed to allow people to sign
up for Obamacare? Even Consumer Reports is urging people to stay away
from it "for at least another month." That may be the best spin put
on the debacle so far. Even at his Rose Garden infomercial for the new
health insurance exchanges, President Obama had to admit
"Nobody is madder than me about the fact that the
website isn't working as well as it should." Obama suggested people
call a 1-800 number if they were having problems logging on to the site.
Funny thing about that . . . calling the 800 number and following the
prompts gets you referred back to the web site. WILL SEBELIUS BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE?
Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to testify before a House committee on the disastrous Obamacare rollout next week. Maybe while the congressmen have her undivided
attention, they can ask her about those death panels we were
all told were just a figment of Sarah Palin's imagination. AND SPEAKING OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Jonathan Jarvis, the head of
the National Park Service was grilled before a House
committee last week about why his agency so aggressively worked to keep Americans out of public parks, shut down private businesses operating on park land and even evicted people
from their homes during the partial government
shutdown. Jarvis said all those news stories were "hearsay" and that
"turning away visitors is not our culture or our DNA." Given
all the news stories, and photos, to the contrary, it would appear
Jarvis is living in denial. But remember, too, that Jarvis did not
testify
voluntarily. He appeared only after being subpoenaed by the committee.
COST OF THE PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
How can closing the federal
government's doors and sending tens of thousands of non-essential personnel home actually end up costing us money? Estimates are rolling in,
and that appears to be true. The kicker?
"At least 400,000 government employees will be paid for all 16 days they
didn't work and roughly the same number will get paid for not working
during part of the shutdown. The government has not disclosed that
cost." There was also the cost to those of us in the private economy,
but it
comes in a different form:
"The problem is that citizens who need their papers stamped, permissions
granted, and so forth are forced to sit on their hands in the
meantime." Which included brew pubs:
"the
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is responsible for
approving new breweries, recipes, and labels. Because of the government
shutdown,
these duties aren't being performed, which is putting strain on small
breweries across the country that are looking to open or looking to
release new
beers (like seasonal Fall beers)." PUBLIC SCHOOLS MAKING THE CASE FOR SCHOOL CHOICE
Nothing makes the case for
breaking the public school monopoly on education better than the schools
themselves. Consider the latest fad among public ed bureaucrats: banning Halloween: "In the latest example of
small-mindedness plaguing our educational system, schools
around the country are attempting to ban costumes and candy on what is
surely one of most kids' favorite days of the year. The excuses range
from
vague concerns about 'safety' to specific worries about food allergies
to - get this - fears of breaching the wall of separation between church
and
state." As absurd as this is, it pales in comparison to the story of 15 year-old Christian Adamek, who hanged himself and died two days later after he was ". . . arrested by cops after running naked across the field during a high school gridiron game on September 27. Under Alabama law, Christian faced being placed on the sex offenders register if found guilty of indecent exposure."
Adamek had been suspended, while his sister said he had been expelled. The result, however, was the same: a senseless death provoked by a thuggish bureaucracy.
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