This and That...

[Ross]

(Forgot Bengahzi Already)

State Dept. Spokesperson's Inability to Name
Hillary Accomplishment
Cracks up CNN Panel

by Noah Rothman | 8:46 am, April 23rd, 2014

When pressed by a reporter on Tuesday to name an accomplishment from the State Department's 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) instituted by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spokesperson Jennifer Psaki said she was unable to do that.

Her inability to name a "tangible" accomplishment derived from that review of the State Department's practices resulted in uproarious laughter from the panel of analysts convened on CNN to say what that event says about Clinton's political prospects.

RELATED: Reporter Challenges State Dept. Spox to Name Accomplishment from Hillary's Tenure

After CNN anchor John King played the clip in question, POLITICO's Juana Summers and The Washington Post's Nia-Malika Henderson were moved to laughter. "That should not be a surprise question," King observed.

Henderson observed that Psaki was a campaign spokesperson for President Barack Obama before she was a State Department communications staffer. "You don't think there are some old Obama/Hillary tensions in that answer, do you?" King asked.

"That's the idea I'm floating," Henderson replied.

Watch the clip  via CNN: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/state-dept-spokespersons-inability-to-name-hillary-accomplishment-cracks-up-cnn-panel-2/

[Ross]

(Not anything I have ever read on this forum has ever upset me or made me angry or made me hurtlike this article! I am genuinely hurt and angry about the treatment of our veterans. Especially while all of D.C is a festering lie. I will pray for better care for the remaining veterans. Ross)

A Fatal Wait:
Veterans DIE on a
VA Hospital's
Secret List

By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, CNN Investigations
updated 8:40 PM EDT, Wed April 23, 2014

Thomas Breen was so proud of his military service
that he would go nowhere but the VA for treatment

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

    CNN has been reporting on delays in appointments and veterans' deaths.

    New revelations of 40 deaths involving Phoenix VA are perhaps the most disturbing yet.

    Retired VA doctor says there's an official wait list that he calls a sham.

    He says the real list is kept secret and has wait times that stretch into the months.

(CNN) -- At least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list.

The secret list was part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans Affairs managers in Phoenix who were trying to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor, according to a recently retired top VA doctor and several high-level sources.

For six months, CNN has been reporting on extended delays in health care appointments suffered by veterans across the country and who died while waiting for appointments and care. But the new revelations about the Phoenix VA are perhaps the most disturbing and striking to come to light thus far.

Internal e-mails obtained by CNN show that top management at the VA hospital in Arizona knew about the practice and even defended it.

Dr. Sam Foote just retired after spending 24 years with the VA system in Phoenix. The veteran doctor told CNN in an exclusive interview that the Phoenix VA works off two lists for patient appointments:

There's an "official" list that's shared with officials in Washington and shows the VA has been providing timely appointments, which Foote calls a sham list. And then there's the real list that's hidden from outsiders, where wait times can last more than a year.

"The scheme was deliberately put in place to avoid the VA's own internal rules," said Foote in Phoenix. "They developed the secret waiting list," said Foote, a respected local physician.

The VA requires its hospitals to provide care to patients in a timely manner, typically within 14 to 30 days, Foote said.

According to Foote, the elaborate scheme in Phoenix involved shredding evidence to hide the long list of veterans waiting for appointments and care. Officials at the VA, Foote says, instructed their staff to not actually make doctor's appointments for veterans within the computer system.

Instead, Foote says, when a veteran comes in seeking an appointment, "they enter information into the computer and do a screen capture hard copy printout. They then do not save what was put into the computer so there's no record that you were ever here," he said.

According to Foote, the information was gathered on the secret electronic list and then the information that would show when veterans first began waiting for an appointment was actually destroyed.

"That hard copy, if you will, that has the patient demographic information is then taken and placed onto a secret electronic waiting list, and then the data that is on that paper is shredded," Foote said.

"So the only record that you have ever been there requesting care was on that secret list," he said. "And they wouldn't take you off that secret list until you had an appointment time that was less than 14 days so it would give the appearance that they were improving greatly the waiting times, when in fact they were not."

Foote estimates right now the number of veterans waiting on the "secret list" to see a primary care physician is somewhere between 1,400 and 1,600.

Doctor: It's a 'frustrated' staff

"I feel very sorry for the people who work at the Phoenix VA," said Foote. "They're all frustrated. They're all upset. They all wish they could leave 'cause they know what they're doing is wrong.

"But they have families, they have mortgages and if they speak out or say anything to anybody about it, they will be fired and they know that."

Several other high-level VA staff confirmed Foote's description to CNN and confirmed this is exactly how the secret list works in Phoenix.

Foote says the Phoenix wait times reported back to Washington were entirely fictitious. "So then when they did that, they would report to Washington, 'Oh yeah. We're makin' our appointments within -- within 10 days, within the 14-day frame,' when in reality it had been six, nine, in some cases 21 months," he said.

In the case of 71-year-old Navy veteran Thomas Breen, the wait on the secret list ended much sooner.

"We had noticed that he started to have bleeding in his urine," said Teddy Barnes-Breen, his son. "So I was like, 'Listen, we gotta get you to the doctor.' "

Teddy says his Brooklyn-raised father was so proud of his military service that he would go nowhere but the VA for treatment. On September 28, 2013, with blood in his urine and a history of cancer, Teddy and his wife, Sally, rushed his father to the Phoenix VA emergency room, where he was examined and sent home to wait.

"They wrote on his chart that it was urgent," said Sally, her father-in-law's main caretaker. The family has obtained the chart from the VA that clearly states the "urgency" as "one week" for Breen to see a primary care doctor or at least a urologist, for the concerns about the blood in the urine.

"And they sent him home," says Teddy, incredulously.

Sally and Teddy say Thomas Breen was given an appointment with a rheumatologist to look at his prosthetic leg but was given no appointment for the main reason he went in.

The Breens wait ... and wait ... and wait ...

No one called from the VA with a primary care appointment. Sally says she and her father-in-law called "numerous times" in an effort to try to get an urgent appointment for him. She says the response they got was less than helpful.

"Well, you know, we have other patients that are critical as well," Sally says she was told. "It's a seven-month waiting list. And you're gonna have to have patience."

Sally says she kept calling, day after day, from late September to October. She kept up the calls through November. But then she no longer had reason to call.

Thomas Breen died on November 30. The death certificate shows that he died from Stage 4 bladder cancer. Months after the initial visit, Sally says she finally did get a call.

"They called me December 6. He's dead already."

Sally says the VA official told her, "We finally have that appointment. We have a primary for him.' I said, 'Really, you're a little too late, sweetheart.' "

Sally says her father-in-law realized toward the end he was not getting the care he needed.

"At the end is when he suffered. He screamed. He cried. And that's somethin' I'd never seen him do before, was cry. Never. Never. He cried in the kitchen right here. 'Don't let me die.' "

Teddy added his father said: "Why is this happening to me? Why won't anybody help me?"

Teddy added: "They didn't do the right thing." Sally said: "No. They neglected Pop."

First hidden -- and then removed

Foote says Breen is a perfect example of a veteran who needed an urgent appointment with a primary doctor and who was instead put on the secret waiting list -- where he remained hidden.

Foote adds that when veterans waiting on the secret list die, they are simply removed.

"They could just remove you from that list, and there's no record that you ever came to the VA and presented for care. ... It's pretty sad."

Foote said that the number of dead veterans who died waiting for care is at least 40.

"That's correct. The number's actually higher. ... I would say that 40, there's more than that that I know of, but 40's probably a good number."

CNN has obtained e-mails from July 2013 showing that top management, including Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman, was well-aware about the actual wait times, knew about the electronic off-the-books list and even defended its use to her staff.

In one internal Phoenix VA e-mail dated July 3, 2013, one staffer raised concerns about the secret electronic list and raised alarms that Phoenix VA officials were praising its use.

"I have to say, I think it's unfair to call any of this a success when Veterans are waiting 6 weeks on an electronic waiting list before they're called to schedule their first PCP (primary care physician) appointment," the e-mail states. "Sure, when their appointment is created, it can be 14 days out, but we're making them wait 6-20 weeks to create that appointment."

The e-mail adds pointedly: "That is unethical and a disservice to our Veterans."

Last year and earlier this year, Foote also sent letters to officials at the VA Office of the Inspector General with details about the secret electronic waiting list and about the large number of veterans who died waiting for care, many hidden on the secret list. Foote and several other sources inside the Phoenix VA confirmed to CNN that IG inspectors have interviewed them about the allegations.

VA: 'It is disheartening to hear allegations'

CNN has made numerous requests to Helman and her staff for an interview about the secret list, the e-mails showing she was aware of it and the allegations of the 40 veterans who died waiting on the list, to no avail.

But CNN was sent a statement from VA officials in Texas, quoting Helman.

"It is disheartening to hear allegations about Veterans care being compromised," the statement from Helman reads, "and we are open to any collaborative discussion that assists in our goal to continually improve patient care."

Just before deadline Wednesday, the VA sent an additional comment to CNN.

It stated, in part: "We have conducted robust internal reviews since these allegations surfaced and welcome the results from the Office of Inspector General's review. We take these allegations seriously."

Read the full statement here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays-response/index.html

The VA statement to CNN added:
"To ensure new Veterans waiting for appointments are managed appropriately, we maintain an Electronic Wait List (EWL) in accordance with the national VHA Scheduling Directive. The ability of new and established patients to get more timely care has showed significant improvement in the last two years which is attributable to increased budget, staffing, efficiency and infrastructure."

Foote says Helman's response in the first statement is stunning, explaining the entire secret list and the reason for its existence was planned and created by top management at the Phoenix VA, specifically to avoid detection of the long wait times by veterans there.

"This was a plan that involved the Pentad, which includes the director, the associate director, the assistant director, the chief of nursing, along with the medical chief of staff -- in collaboration with the chief of H.A.S."

Washington is paying attention

The Phoenix VA's "off the books" waiting list has now gotten the attention of the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee in Washington, whose chairman has been investigating delays in care at veterans hospitals across the country.

According to Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, what was happening in Phoenix is even worse than veterans dying while waiting for care.

Even as CNN was working to report this story, the Florida Republican demanded the VA preserve all records in anticipation of a congressional investigation.

In a hearing on April 9, Miller learned even the undersecretary of health for the VA wasn't being told the truth about the secret list:

"It appears as though there could be as many as 40 veterans whose deaths could be related to delays in care. Were you made aware of these unofficial lists in any part of your look back?" asked Miller.

"Mr. Chairman, I was not," replied Dr. Thomas Lynch, assistant deputy undersecretary, Veterans Health Administration.

Congress has now ordered all records in Phoenix, secret or not, be preserved.

That would include the record of a 71-year-old Navy veteran named Thomas Breen.

Tears, angry accusations mark hearing on delayed VA care

January: Congress demands answers

Curt Devine and Jessica Jimenez contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/index.html

[Ross]

Would that be the United Nations Agenda 21 BLM?
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS !

Texas AG to Feds:
'Come And Take'
Disputed Land

Wednesday, 23 Apr 2014 10:51 AM
By Jason Devaney

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has a message for the Bureau of Land Management about disputed land along the Oklahoma-Texas border: "Come and take it."

Abbott was referring to a potential land grab of 90,000 acres that belong to Texas residents. According to Breitbart Texas, the federal government is considering taking the land, which stretches 116 miles along the Red River.

"I am about ready to go to the Red River and raise a 'Come and Take It' flag to tell the feds to stay out of Texas," Abbott said.

Abbott wrote a letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze about the matter, expressing his concerns about the government's interest in taking the land from Texans, who have owned it for decades.

"I am deeply concerned about the notion that the Bureau of Land Management believes the federal government has the authority to swoop in and take land that has been owned and cultivated by Texas landowners for generations," Abbott wrote in the letter.

"The BLM's newly asserted claims to land along the Red River threaten to upset long-settled private property rights and undermine fundamental principles — including the rule of law — that form the foundation of our democracy. Yet, the BLM has failed to disclose either its full intentions or the legal justification for its proposed actions. Decisions of this magnitude must not be made inside a bureaucratic black box."

Abbott expanded on the subject in an interview with Breitbart.

"What Barack Obama's BLM is doing is so out of bounds and so offensive that we should have quick and successful legal action if they dare attempt to tread on Texas land and take it from private property owners in this state," Abbott said.

The issue with the land dates to the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. The physical boundary between Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River can fluctuate, depending on the river itself. This has led to countless legal battles over the years between the two states and the federal government.

According to Breitbart, the Texas Farm Bureau thinks the border moves south when the river shifts in that direction. But when the flow of water shifts to the north, the organization maintains that the border stays where it is supposed to be.

The BLM has stepped in and wants to take over the land to settle the matter once and for all.

"This is the latest line of attack by the Obama administration, where it seems like they have a complete disregard for the rule of law in this country," Abbott told Breitbart. "And now they've crossed the line quite literally by coming into the state of Texas and trying to claim Texas land as federal land. And, as the attorney general of Texas, I am not going to allow this."

The situation comes on the heels of the case between the BLM and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

The BLM says Bundy had been illegally grazing his cattle on 600,000 acres of federal land for 20 years. Bundy disagrees, saying the land belongs to the state. The BLM had started to confiscate Bundy's cattle, but returned the animals 10 days ago.

http://www.newsmax.com/US/Greg-Abbott-BLM-Oklahoma-land/2014/04/22/id/567136/?ns_mail_uid=7144240&ns_mail_job=1565815_04232014&promo_code=ag14nh1t

[Warph]

Democrats: "Republicans Will Crush Us In November"

(Notice, they also manage to sneak in a Koch brothers reference)

Karl Rove just knocked the wind out of us:

His group, American Crossroads, brought in $5.2 million last month — more than they raised all last year!

And that's not the only Republican fundraising group shifting into high gear. The Koch Brothers and other outside groups are intensifying their activity against us, too.

We aren't going to lie, these groups have the capability to drown us with that kind of cash. If we don't respond immediately, you can kiss any hope of a Democratic House in November goodbye.

If we back down now, Republicans will crush us in November and they will keep their stranglehold on the House.

Don't let that happen!

http://dccc.org/Rapid-Response

Thanks,

Poor, Sick, Dilapidated Democratic Headquarters

[Warph]

College Offers Course On "The Theology of Harry Potter"

(Meeting the demand for employment in comic book stores)

Via College Insurrection

Samantha Watkins of The College Fix reported.

College Offers Religion Course – on Harry Potter

"The Theology of Harry Potter" is a religion course recently offered at Centre College that allowed students to explore if the boy wizard is really a Christianity-inspired hero.

"Is the series pure entertainment or does it draw upon existing archetypes of the hero, or existing Christian archetypes?" the course's description asks. "Is God in Harry Potter? Is the concept of sin? Or salvation?"

The course, Religion 458, is part of the private, liberal arts university's CentreTerm, a three-week semester in January that offers classes with narrow topics based on professors' special interests, and often include field trips and projects.

"This course will allow students to develop an understanding of technological concepts such a God, sin, and theodicy or the problem of evil and also to study the literary epic genre through the lens of the Harry Potter series," its description states.

CentreTerm sessions, hosted between traditional semesters, largely give students and faculty the opportunity to focus all their effort into one obscure subject, and J. K. Rowling's famous book series of witchcraft and wizardry was the basis for the religion course that debuted this year at the Danville, Ky., campus.

It was taught by professor of religion Lee Jefferson, who did not respond to interview requests by The College Fix. In the past, Jefferson has taught a course on comic book heroes and religion, and the Harry Potter class is an extension of that notion, he has said.

Based on his public writings, Jefferson appears to have progressive interpretations of the Bible, and once opined in the Huffington Post that the Bible does not condemn same-sex marriage.

[Warph]

When pressed by a reporter on Tuesday to name an accomplishment from the State Department's 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) instituted by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spokesperson Jennifer Psaki said she was unable to do that.

Her inability to name a "tangible" accomplishment derived from that review of the State Department's practices resulted in uproarious laughter from the panel of analysts convened on CNN to say what that event says about Clinton's political prospects

[Warph]

Group Finds Duplicate Voters Around Virginia

(Documented cases of voter fraud keep pouring in)

Via Watch Dog
A crosscheck of voter rolls in Virginia and Maryland turned up 44,000 people registered in both states, a vote-integrity group reported Wednesday.

And that's just the beginning.

"The Virginia Voters Alliance is investigating how to identify voters who are registered and vote in Virginia but live in the states that surround us," Alliance President Reagan George told the State Board of Elections.

George acknowledged that the number of voters who actually cast multiple ballots is relatively small. In the case of Maryland and Virginia, he revealed that 164 people voted in both states during the 2012 election.

But George said his group will expand their search for duplicate voters in the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Georgia.

"We are also determining the best way to identify non-citizens who have registered to vote and may have voted in past elections," George said.

Working with the Privileges and Elections committees of the state House and Senate, VVA identified 31,000 dead voters via the Social Security Administration's Death Master File. Subsequent processing by SBE found 40,000 to 60,000 dead voter registrations.

"Dead voter registrations are prime targets for voter fraud which generate few complaints," George noted.

Appearing with Clara Belle Wheeler of the Albemarle County,Va., Election Board and Jay DeLancy of the North Carolina Voter Integrity Project, George challenged the SBE to:

Tighten Virginia's voter ID law that allows absentee voters to use mailed ballots without affirming their identity.
Check the 50,000-plus patient beds in Virginia nursing homes and rehab centers amid reports of voting irregularities there.
Require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Kansas and Arizona require this.
Annually audit felons who are not allowed to vote.

"Certain nonviolent felons, especially those who commit voter fraud, should never be given back their right to vote," George said.

More broadly, George said, "Virginia must control the registration process, as well as the form used to register voters. The current system is the perfect vehicle for identity theft and 'lost' registrations."

[Warph]

Georgia Gov. Signs Bill Allowing Guns In Churches, Bars, And School Zones

(Decreasing the number of gun free zones)

Via CNS News

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law Wednesday a bill that expands gun rights in the state to allow weapons in government buildings, bars, places of worship, and school zones under certain circumstances.

Under House Bill 60, also known as the Safe Carry Protection Act of 2014, school districts will get to decide whether to allow authorized personnel to carry weapons within school safety zones under certain circumstances.

In addition, church leaders will be able to decide whether to allow licensed gun owners to bring weapons into their place of worship. The law also removes fingerprinting requirements for renewal licenses.

The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action called the bill the "most comprehensive pro-gun bill in state history."

Deal, who characterized himself as a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, said the measure "will protect the constitutional rights of Georgians who have gone through a background check to legally obtain a Georgia Weapons Carry License."

"Roughly 500,000 Georgia citizens have a permit of this kind, which is approximately 5 percent of our population," Deal said in a press release. "License holders have passed background checks and are in good standing with the law. This law gives added protections to those who have played by the rules – and who can protect themselves and others from those who don't play by the rules."

"Our nation's founders put the right to bear arms on par with freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Georgians cherish their Second Amendment rights, and this law embodies those values," he added.

Executive Director Pia Carusone of Americans for Responsible Solutions, which lobbied against the bill, called it "extremism in action."

"It moves Georgia out of the mainstream," Carusone said. "Since the Georgia House first passed this expansive legislation, thousands of Georgians and tens of thousands of Americans have said loud and clear that they are tired of the gun lobby advancing its extreme agenda at the expense of their families' safety.

[Warph]

Hillary Clinton Says Benghazi Is Her "Biggest Regret" As Secretary of State

(What difference does she make... now?)

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/04/23/hillary-clinton-again-calls-benghazi-biggest-regret-as-secretary-of-state/
BOSTON – Hillary Clinton reiterated Wednesday that her darkest time as secretary of state was the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Mrs. Clinton, in a speech to more than 3,000 people at a women's leadership conference here, called the attack and loss of lives "very, very painful" and "certainly the biggest regret that I have as secretary of state."

She noted that she had taken responsibility for security at the diplomatic outpost, where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died, and had pledged to do everything she could to ensure a similar tragedy won't happen again.

The comments, which echo past remarks, came in reply to a question at a leadership conference hosted by Simmons College. They are a reminder that Mrs. Clinton knows she has still has to answer for Benghazi and continue to speak about it — although most of the talk Wednesday was focused on women's rights, including her call for equal pay for equal work.

[Warph]

ObuttHead Visits Washington Town Ravaged By Mudslide... Repeatedly Mispronounces Its Name

(He's lucky his name isn't Joe Biden)

Via MYNorthwest:
http://mynorthwest.com/?sid=2504391&nid=651#

President Obama had plenty of heartfelt words as he spoke at the Oso firehouse after touring the mudslide debris field. But his remarks are being overshadowed because he mispronounced Oso several times.

He got it right the first time he referenced the town devastated by last month's slide as he recognized family members of the victims, first responders and officials, saying he came to let the community know the entire country is thinking of them.

But moments later came his big gaffe.

"Because while very few Americans have ever heard of Osso [sic] before the disaster struck, we've all been inspired by the incredible way that the community has come together."

No one said a word, but you can only imagine what people were thinking as he continued, again mispronouncing the name as he referenced letters he received from Darrington, Arlington and "Osso."