“Lawmakers are pressing to extend the deadline beyond March 31 after the troubled roll out of Obamacare raised concerns that people might not be able to sign up in time to avoid the $95 fine that jumps to $695 by 2016.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who faces re-election next year, wrote to President Obama, noting the glitch-plagued roll out that began Oct. 1 and asked him to extend the deadline beyond March 31.
“The difficulty that people in New Hampshire and in other states that are relying on the federally facilitated marketplaces are experiencing is incredibly frustrating and disappointing,” Shaheen wrote. “For over three years, we have been waiting for the creation of the health insurance exchanges, which now in their fourth week of existence, are riddled with problems.”
Backing Shaheen are Sens. Mark Begich, D-Ala., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., two more more vulnerabP.S. le Democrats from red states facing competitive re-election bids next year.
Pryor, considered the most vulnerable Democratic Senator, said in a statement that “it makes sense” to extend the deadline and that the Obama administration “should state clearly how the enforcement mechanism will work if people can’t sign up in time.” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who is not up for re-election but whose state is more purple than blue, said he and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., would introduce legislation to delay the health care law’s individual mandate by a year.”
Will The White House call them reckless and irresponsible? Terrorists and arsonists?
Yes, it’s true that these red-state Democrats are looking out for themselves. They are also hearing from constituents, specially after the ObamaCare web site fiasco! They are not hearing anything pretty from angry taxpayers who can’t understand why the Obama administration spent $600 million on a website that doesn’t work.
Let’s welcome and cheer the first class of “Ted Cruz Democrats”!
Has anybody seen Secretary Sebelius? She is apparently up in Massachusetts and avoiding any serious questions about this disaster known as the ObamaCare roll out.
Perphaps “the best and the brightest” wanted no part of this for two reasons:
1) This is not really about health care. This is about expanding the role of government into areas such as the doctor-patient relationship.
2) The “best and brightest” understood just how complex this enterprise was going to be, as Ezra Klein reported today:
“HealthCare.gov is monstrously complex. The Times reports that there’s more than 500 million lines of code — of which more than 5 million lines may need to be rewritten. And that code is interfacing with computer systems (and computer code) at the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, state Medicaid systems, insurers like Aetna, and more. Even the best programmers would have trouble figuring out what’s going on — much less what’s going wrong — quickly.
The truth is that the Obama administration is, to a much greater extent than it would like, dependent on the very people who built HealthCare.gov to fix it. They’re the only people who know what’s going on inside the system.”
It is a wonderful collection of stories about Cubans, like you & me, who settled in the US and made something out of ourselves:
“In this new book the reader will discover how in 1930 a Havana bandleader traveled to New York City, recorded a million-copy hit that kicked-started a Cuban music craze throughout the United States.
Science fiction lovers will learn that a Cuban-American was the writer, producer, and story editor of many Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. An author born in 1865 in Brooklyn, New York of Cuban origin began his career at age 12, becoming a prolific boys’ fiction writer earning the nickname the American Jules Verne.
History buffs will enjoy reading about three sisters who became Confederate spies during the Civil War, and thanks to their bravery, a Union warship was captured.
New Yorkers and those who visit the Big Apple will read of the work of a structural engineer, born in Havana of immigrant Lithuanian Jews, who was known as “Mr. New York” for his engineering of the city’s skyscrapers, including the 70-story Trump World Tower.
Read about a surgeon who in 2012 led a team of 150 doctors, nurses, and others in Maryland in the most extensive face transplant surgery ever performed in the world.
The book also profiles those who serve the less fortunate, including the co-founder of Florida’s largest free clinic serving migrant workers, the working poor, the sick, and families who fall between the cracks of America’s social system.
This is a book that transcends ethnic, national, racial, gender and religious barriers and bears witness to what Cubans, both political refugees and immigrants, have accomplished in a country where liberty and freedom abound.
This is the story of the Cuban-Americans, and the footprints they have left on their path across the United States.”
What’s the best part of the book? They are all real CUBANS! Everyone of these stories is about a CUBANO who beat the odds in the US.
This is a fun book. It is inspirational. Some stories will make you laugh, like “las cubanitas” in the US Civil War, and others will touch your heart.
Here is an idea: Give this book to your kids or grandchildren if you have any. Tell them that this is what Cuban heritage is all about.
Last, but not least, Fernando has quite a story too. He was one of the 14,000 Pedro Pan children who came to the US in the early 1960’s.
Step back for a minute and think of this scenario.
Imagine a private sector company releasing a new product or service based on so much faulty information?
Imagine story after story of potential customers not able to enroll because of computer errors?
What would happen to the executives of that company? At the very least, they’d be fired by the CEO after the owners or shareholders rioted at the company headquarters.
What about the customers? They’d be lining up for one gigantic class action lawsuit!
What about the media? They’d be running 24/7 stories of another company taking advantage of customers.
What about the Democrats? They’d be calling for new regulations or an investigation. They’d bring the executives of the company to a congressional hearing for explanations.
Obama Care is more than “computer glitches”. It is a massive scam based on promises that will never be kept.
Deception #5: you can keep your plan if you like it”
There is something very wrong in this picture.
We were promised that “everyone would be covered”, “no new taxes except for those on the evil rich”, affordable premiums, no impact in the deficit and that you could keep your current plan.
None of that is true. “Mentira”, “mentira” and more “mentiras”
And did I tell you that the computer system cost $634 million?
By the way, who got that contract? Did they happen to make a nice contribution to the Obama campaign?
“Late Tuesday, the State Department said it was expelling Venezuelan charge d’affaires Calixto Ortega Rios and Second Secretary Monica Alejandra Sanchez Morales at the Washington embassy and Consul Marisol Gutierrez de Almeida at the Houston consulate. It gave them 48 hours to leave the U.S., the same time frame set by Venezuela for the U.S. envoys.
“It is regrettable that the Venezuelan government has again decided to expel U.S. diplomatic officials based on groundless allegations, which require reciprocal action. It is counterproductive to the interests of both our countries,” the State Department said.
Maduro said earlier Tuesday that socialist-led Venezuela will not have cordial relations with the United States as long as U.S. diplomats continue what he alleges are attempts to destabilize his country.
Speaking from the government palace, Maduro said that “while the government of the United States does not understand that it has to respect our country’s sovereignty there will be simply be no cordial relations nor cordial communication.”
“The day that the government of President (Barack) Obama rectifies the situation we will establish new points of contact to discuss common issues,” said Maduro, the hand-picked successor to late President Hugo Chavez. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the allegations were related to the U.S. Embassy workers’ travel to Bolivar state, which is home to troubled state-owned foundries and Venezuela’s main hydroelectric plant. “They were there conducting normal diplomatic engagement, as we’ve said in the past and should come as no surprise,” Psaki said.”
Of course, this is all a big distraction. President Maduro is trying to stir a little nationalism to distract people from a collapsing economy, from mass shortages, and a devalued currency.
We did hear from friends in Venezuela that the diplomats were not happy with President Maduro creating this little “problem” at this time. They wanted to stay in the US. One of these diplomats apparently got into a huge shouting match with President Maduro.
It has to be the baseball playoffs. Maybe they had tickets to watch their countryman Miguel Cabrera swing the bat.
In the meantime, Venezuela keeps deteriorating on a second by second basis.
President Correa of Ecuador can not get away with saying this:
“Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa said that American exceptionalism is reminiscent of Nazism “before and during World War II.”
“Does not this remind you of the Nazis’ rhetoric before and during World War II? They considered themselves the chosen race, the superior race, etc. Such words and ideas pose extreme danger,” Correa told RT Spanish. Correa referred to President Barack Obama’s statement that “America is exceptional” because it stands up for the world’s interests not just its own.
However, Correa said that the U.S. has and will continue to violate international law.”
Outrageous. You can’t allow someone to get away with a statement like that without some consequences.
I guarantee you that the US will have no trouble buying these goods from other countries. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of Mr Correa’s Latin American neighbors would gladly replace Ecuador!
Some will say that the people of Ecuador should not be punished for their president’s stupid rhetoric.
You can say the same things about the businesses that move goods and services both ways in this trading relationship.
At the same time, you can’t allow a demagogue to comapre the US to Nazi Germany. You can’t!
We love reminiscing about our experiences of growing up Cuban in the US.
We were all inspired years ago when our friend Carlos Eire wrote his Pedro Pan memoirs. I think that Carlos’ work reminded all of us that there was a Cuban past to be discussed and stories to be shared.
Furthermore, we all have parents who made great sacrifices to come here and start anew. I can assure you that sharing these Cuban stories has made me appreciate my parents very much. I appreciate their sacrifices, or what they were willing to do so that their kids could grow up in freedom rather than the communist tyranny in Cuba.
Check out my chat with Jorge Ponce, a contributor to Babalu and good friend.
Jorge has posted often here about his Cuban American experience.
“I soon learned that there was a more diverse world out there. I met Bolivians, Ecuadorians, Puerto Ricans, Argentineans, etc. We all shared our Hispanic heritage and our Spanish language. I was exposed to different dances, variations of idiomatic expressions, and fantastic food. To my great surprise, some of my Hispanic friends did not share my same anti-communist views. In fact, some thought that Fidel, El Che, and Ho Chi Minh were visionaries who had improved the standards of living of the proletariats in their countries. Some even wore Che T-Shirts as a fashion statement or as a sign of protest against the “American Empire.” I realized that it was time to expand my network of friends.”
In contrast to Jorge, I grew up in Wisconsin and there were no Cubans or Latin Americans in my circles.
My “trials and tribulations” were simple: “Ingles o no comes”!
I spent most of my early years in the US hearing about Cuba from my parents. We had no friends from Latin America in school or neighborhood. In fact, it was a “thrill” when my father, now working at a bank, would bring home a colleague from Chile or Colombia. It was rare but enjoyable.
Let me say it again: Share your Cuban stories with your kids. Tell them about your Cuban past. It will make you very proud of being Cuban American.
President Maduro of Venezuela may want to shoot that little “Hugo bird” who speaks to him from time to time. Can you blame Maduro if he grabs the little bird by the neck and strangles him?
According to The NY Times, the people of Venezuela are not really into Maduro. On the contrary, they miss Hugo, or at least “the Hugo of their dreams”:
“Prices are soaring, the country is plagued by electrical blackouts, some neighborhoods go days without water, and protests tangle the already stifling traffic. To top it all off, the cheap beer that helps people let off steam at many a weekend party has suddenly become scarce, too.
Nearly seven months after the death of Hugo Chávez, the country’s longtime leftist president and father figure, there is a growing sense that things are falling apart.”
To be fair, Venezuela’s problems were “Made by Hugo” all the way. It was Chavez’ policies, from reckless spending to a horrible case of cronyism and corruption, that brought the country to this situation.
In other words, it did not start with Maduro but life is not fair specially when you hitch your wagon to a corrupt man like Hugo Chavez.
The problems in the country are rather severe and I am not talking about a shortage of toilet paper:
“Inflation in the first eight months of this year was more than triple the rate in the same period last year. When measured over the 12 months that ended in August, it exceeded 45 percent.
A government indicator that measures the scarcity of basic goods is close to its highest level in more than five years.”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending President Maduro, a man who was “questionably” elected earlier this year after Chavez was officially pronounced dead.
All of these difficulties in the nation raise a legitimate question: Will Maduro survive?
My opinion is that he won’t, no matter how many times he expels US diplomats or tells us that he had visions of Hugo.
Maduro probably wishes that they had kept Hugo connected to that life machine a bit longer.
Frankly, the end of Maduro is coming and it won’t be pretty. I just hope that someone at the Obama White House is on top of events in Latin America. Venezuela could come apart soon and Washington needs to be alert.
P.S. You can hear our chat about Colombia, Venezuela and other US-Latin America stories here.
Beny More would agree with me. He’d be joining me today singing “Obama que malo baila Usted”. What a pathetic performance by President Obama at the UN.
President Obama headed to the UN this week desperately hoping to make history. He was determined to make something happen by shaking the hand of the new Iranian “moderate”, or the new kid in town who recently posted an Op-Ed over at The Washington Post. He left town without a handshake and his speech was “all mush“, specially the line about the world being more stable than it was 5 years ago.
The humiliation was total and complete. It ended when “the Iranian moderate” refused to shake President Obama’s hand. Here is an account of the week’s events:
“For days before the U.N. conclave, White House aides had broadcast the President’s desire to shake Mr. Rouhani’s hand. By Monday, the press was overflowing with leaked accounts of where and how it would happen. Having thus turned down the lights and turned up the mood music, it made the snub that followed especially potent. What the Administration is trying to spin as a function of complex Iranian politics was, in blunt fact, an expression of lordly contempt for what Iranian leaders consider to be an overeager suitor from an unworthy nation.” (WSJ)
Another bad day for the “si se puede” gang who bought into the idea that Obama would change the world with a speech and a smile.
We learned again that Iran does not like us. They don’t our like our leaders, whether our president is a Texas Cowboy or “a self proclaimed enlightened liberal” who promised to meet unconditionally with our enemies when he was a candidate.
Again, they don’t like us and have no serious plan to change their nuclear plans. They are just buying time, as the leader of Israel warned us.
We repeat: They are not going to shake our hand because we want to shake theirs! My guess is that they are laughing in Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.
What’s next? When will Raul Castro proclaim himself “a moderate”, write an Op-Ed and get the story going about shaking hands with President Obama?
Twenty-five miles due south of Salt Lake City, a massive construction project is nearing completion. The heavily secured site belongs to the National Security Agency.
“The spy center” — that’s what some of the locals like Jasmine Widmer, who works at Bluffdale’s sandwich shop, told our Fox News team as part of an eight month investigation into data collection and privacy rights that will be broadcast Sunday at 9 p.m. ET called “Fox News Reporting: Your Secrets Out.”
The NSA says the Utah Data Center is a facility for the intelligence community that will have a major focus on cyber security. The agency will neither confirm nor deny specifics. Some published reports suggest it could hold 5 zettabytes of data. (Just one zettabyte is the equivalent of about 62 billion stacked iPhones 5’s– that stretches past the moon.
One man we hoped would answer our questions, the current director of the NSA General Keith Alexander, declined Fox News’s requests to sit down for an interview, so we stopped by the offices of a Washington think tank, where Alexander was speaking at a cyber security event last year.
Asked if the Utah Data Center would hold the data of American citizens, Alexander said, “No…we don’t hold data on U.S. citizens,” adding that the NSA staff “take protecting your civil liberties and privacy as the most important thing that they do, and securing this nation.”
I don’t for a minute believe that anyone in our government is overtly concerned about our “civil liberties and privacy”, and I believe that they can excuse gathering information on us based on a simple equation… if we’ve done nothing wrong then we have nothing to worry about.
Then again, there are enough laws written where we can all be found guilty of breaking one, or several laws, on any given day, so they can always excuse surveillance on anyone on any given day.
One last thing…
The FOX News article closes on a chilling note:
Because the Utah Data Center is a “secure facility” and you cannot go inside without the needed security clearances, Fox News rented a helicopter and took to the skies, where the depth and breadth of the Utah Center were stunning.
The aerial video footage is exclusive to the Fox News investigation and posted here. Two weeks after our filming, the helicopter pilot reported to our Fox News team that he had been visited by the FBI on a “national security matter.”
The pilot said, according to the FBI agents, that the NSA had taken photos of the helicopter once it made several flyovers. These photos allowed the NSA to identify the make and manufacturer of the helicopter in California who, in turn, told the NSA who operates it in the Salt Lake City area.
The FBI wanted to know if we had the proper air space clearances to flyover the site, which the Fox News team did. Satisfied that the pilot was not flying “terrorists” over the site, the questioning concluded. While the pilot passed along the Fox News contact information, there was no further inquiries.
Binney said the helicopter incident “showed the capability of the U.S. government to use information to trace people, their relationship to others and to raise suspicions about their activities and intentions.”
They will soon be able to record the fact that you read this.
Come to think of it, they probably know I’m writing it.
Luis sent me this essay on the Elian kidnapping and subsequent march on Calle Ocho. It was so perfect and heartfelt for the sad anniversary of that black day thirteen years ago that I asked for his permission to publish it. I think you will cry and feel a little pride in who and why we are. “Unlikely Patriots” was originally published right before the 2000 presidential election. –Pitbull
* * *
Remember Elian.
Remember the miracle that brought him alive to the shores of Liberty on the most revered of American holidays. Remember Freedom.
That was the thought on everyone’s mind that day, one week after the raid.
Seven days before, on Holy Saturday, the trust between a government and the people that it served was shattered in the streets of Little Havana. Brute force and assault weapons were used to violate not only the day, but the Constitution and the dreams of millions as well. I was violated that day, even if I wasn’t present at the humble neighborhood where Lazaro Gonzalez fought the massive assault on the right of a little boy to live Free, I felt every blow. And though my tears were caused by rage, the rage was brought about by the sight of the exploding canisters, and the terrified face of a child being ripped from the home and the family he’d come to love.
How do you feel when your world comes crashing down around you? How do you express the incredible pain of betrayal? How do you rage against a behemoth?
I knew there was something terribly wrong as soon as I heard the telephone, it was too early on a Saturday and everyone knew not to wake the children.
The message was short and the voice strained, I don’t remember exactly who called, it may have been my brother, it may have been my father, but I remember the message.
“They took him, they took Elian.” It was a matter of fact statement delivered in a passionless voice.
I ran downstairs and turned on the television, and the images there are ones I know I will never forget. It made me nauseous to watch the endless loop of tape, but I watched it through eyes swollen with tears. I screamed silent screams and with clenched fists threw punches at nothing, I wanted to hurt the morning like the morning had hurt me.
Then I heard the news reporter say the words that brought me to the streets of Little Havana on April 29. I heard him talk about the “defeat” of the Cuban exile community in Miami, there was a hint of a smile on his face and the pain and rage took on a new form. They became a fire.
What went on in the streets of Little Havana the Saturday after the raid went largely unreported. There was no live coverage.
The same media that a week before had stood on twenty-four hour alert reporting the most minute development on one of the most controversial news stories of the year, was conspicuous in its absence. It didn’t really matter, it was expected.
Two hundred thousand citizens walked Calle Ocho to make a statement. Young and old together like never before.
My family walked that street with me, and so did men, women and children from all walks of life, from every step in the social ladder and of every age. What had been thought to have destroyed our morale had served to make it stronger and to unite it, and it brought our young people back.
I came to America on a similar day thirty-two years before, a child of eleven. I was instantly at home here. Forget the struggle of language, eleven-year olds find ways to communicate and they are fast learners. I practiced hard at sounding like I belonged.
I was in love with the idea of America long before our arrival, a place where the fear didn’t exist. The fears that only those who have lived it can fully explain or understand. End even as a child I had felt it. I heard whispered things about people in trouble, and in jail. I knew not to speak out and I knew not to say the kinds of things that could bring unwanted attention.
I knew not to listen to the things taught at school. I knew of the shortages in everything a family needs to live, I knew of the risks my parents took to support us. I knew of the Committees, the neighborhood snitches who gained status by turning in people like us on trumped-up charges.
I knew they watched us with special interest, we could be a prize and a promotion, and we were “worms”.
I longed for America even then, my whole life revolved around going there and I was anxious to leave, ready to start a new life in the wonderful place my parents would detail to me each night. I was ready to stop being a “worm”. Even a boy of eleven can dream of Freedom.
Four generations of us stand firmly planted on this soil now, many are buried here and this is home to us, and it will remain that way even after the inevitable change in Cuba comes. That change will come from within, an explosion of Freedom that no one will be able to stop, because Freedom is a gift from our Creator which will not be denied forever. When that day arrives we will be ready to lend whatever assistance may be necessary, but this family stays here and it stands ready to defend this country and the ideals under which it was founded.
And so we came to find ourselves on a Little Havana street; two hundred thousand unlikely patriots in an unusual setting. An event organized in less than a week by a solitary radio station. They called it a “March for Dignity”, but it was a rally for Justice and an answer to the reports of our demise. It was an indictment of the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the Clinton administration, and a call to arms.
I was awfully proud of my people that day, as I was throughout the entire Elian Gonzalez saga. We brothers, we parents and grandparents. We sons and daughters of the people who gave it all up in the name of Freedom, honored them that day. We marched for the tens of thousands who chose to brave the treacherous straits, and died rather than living without Freedom. We marched for the millions still behind. We marched for the ones buried here and there who will never witness a Cuba free from oppression, the ones who didn’t witness the shame brought to America by the Clinton administration. We marched for the right of even the youngest among us to live free.
And a little child lead the way.
History may pay little attention to the rally on April 29th. As little attention as the dominant media but, if they failed to notice they both will have failed in their duty to report. They will fail to see one of the defining moment in the History of my people; the day we walked the path of Freedom on a road traveled by Americans before us.
We stood, two hundred thousand strong, under a clear blue American sky. On that day we drew a line in the sands of History. We stand behind that line today. We are poised and ready for our moment to seize the day, waiting for our opportunity to answer the unjust charges brought against us by the administration and the media.
Ready to show the world who we are.
Next Tuesday, in the first Presidential election of the Millennium my community will rally, and in numbers that will surprise even the best informed pollsters. We will make our voices heard in this, our new home, and like the Americans we are we will make our choice known. Our choice will be the answer to those forces who labeled us as zealots. In the name of America and Freedom we welcome that label.
On election day, as the sun sweeps across our nation, look for us on the front lines. We stand ready, and we will not falter. We welcome that opportunity.
And we will, overwhelmingly, vote for George W. Bush.
A boy of eleven once loved the dream of America in a land where everything America stood for was officially hated. Today, the man who once was that boy loves the realization of the dream.
On election day, my thoughts will be the same as they were the day I walked with unlikely patriots on a street in Little Havana.