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Reply With Quotewhat is it like to have no life and be obsessed to the point of insanity?
While Obama ally ACORN attempts to gag whistleblowers who exposed its role in a recent scandal, the Obama administration is trying to gag critics of its health-care plan, which the Congressional Budget Office says could wipe out many Medicare Advantage programs relied on by the elderly. (”The Obama Administration wants to seriously curtail or end Medicare Advantage.”)
It has issued a gag order to Humana, a health insurer that provides Medicare Advantage services, ordering it not to tell customers about how Obamacare could reduce the availability of such services. The gag order clearly violates the First Amendment, according to law professor Eugene Volokh, the author of a leading treatise on First Amendment law, and a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The gag order has also been criticized by the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Examiner, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, yet the administration obstinately insists on enforcing it.
The Supreme Court has said the First Amendment protects the free speech rights of businesses like Humana even when they are government contractors, in cases like Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr, 518 U.S. 668 (1996).
Liberal Obama supporters hypocritically claim Humana should shut up because it’s receiving federal funds (an argument they would never make regarding artists funded by the National Endowment for the Arts), and because its claims are supposedly false (never mind that its truthful claims are echoed by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which is headed by Democrat Douglas Elmendorf).
But as Professor Volokh and the Washington Supreme Court have recently noted, “false statements of fact about the government are generally protected” by the First Amendment.
Humana’s statements are predictions about the future, and thus by definition not provably false. Moreover, they are chillingly accurate predictions, which is why Obama ally Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who is drafting Obama’s health-care plan, asked Obama to ban them:
“On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office director told Mr. Baucus’s committee that its plan to cut $123 billion from Medicare Advantage—the program that gives almost one-fourth of seniors private health-insurance options—will result in lower benefits and some 2.7 million people losing this coverage. Imagine that. Last week Mr. Baucus ordered Medicare regulators to investigate and likely punish Humana Inc. for trying to educate enrollees in its Advantage plans about precisely this fact.”
The fact that Humana is a government contractor doesn’t make this censorship any more acceptable, since the government simply has no business policing criticism of itself as “false”: federal courts have ruled that even false speech by government contractors and employees on matters of public concern can be protected, as cases like Johnson v. Multnomah County, 48 F.3d 420 (9th Cir. 1995) show.
Nor is there any evidence that Humana is using federal money to disseminate its message. And any subsidies Humana might be receiving would not justify the Obama administration’s blatant viewpoint discrimination against it, since Obama allies that receive lots of federal subsidies are being allowed to trumpet their support for Obamacare freely. Under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Rosenberger v. Rector of the University of Virginia, viewpoint discrimination is a forbidden, “egregious” form of discrimination even when the government is subsidizing a speaker; here, the federal government is plainly engaging in viewpoint discrimination, since it is letting AARP make blatantly false claims in favor of Obamacare that contradict CBO finds and basic budget math, while blocking Humana from criticizing Obamacare based on reasonable arguments echoed by the Congressional Budget Office).
The Obama administration’s position contradicts the position of the Clinton administration, which admitted that Medicare contractors have free speech rights. (But then, Obama is well to the left of Bill Clinton and past presidents).
Obama Slaps Unconstitutional Gag Order on Critic of His Health Care Plan|OpenMarket.org
Seems like Obama is getting desperate. He is trying to silence everyone who opposes him. No wonder he is trying to budy up with all these petty third world dictators...maybe he wants to learn their secrets.
MEDICARE ISSUES NEW GUIDANCE TO INSURANCE COMPANIES ON MEDICARE MAILINGS
GUIDANCE COMES AFTER HUMANA DISTRIBUTED POTENTIALLY MISLEADING MATERIALS
Medicare today called on Medicare-contracted health insurance and prescription drug plans to suspend potentially misleading mailings to beneficiaries about health care and insurance reform. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently asked Humana, Inc. to end similar mailings. Humana has agreed to do so.
"We are concerned that the materials Humana sent to our beneficiaries may violate Medicare rules by appearing to contain Medicare Advantage and prescription drug benefit information, which must be submitted to CMS for review" said Jonathan Blum, acting director of CMS’ Center for Drug and Health Plan Choices. "We also are asking that no other plan sponsors are mailing similar materials while we investigate whether a potential violation has occurred."
Humana is one of a number of private health plans that contracts with CMS to offer health care services and drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries as part of the Medicare Advantage and Part D programs. CMS learned that Humana had been contacting enrollees in one or more of its plans and, in mailings that CMS obtained, made claims that current health care reform legislation affecting Medicare could hurt Medicare beneficiaries. The message from Humana urges enrollees to contact their congressional representatives to protest the actions referenced in the letter.
"We are concerned that, among other things, the information in the letter is misleading and confusing to beneficiaries, who may believe that it represents official communication about the Medicare Advantage program," said Blum
Specifically, CMS is investigating whether Humana inappropriately used the lists of Medicare enrollees for unauthorized purposes.
Based on the findings of the investigation, CMS will pursue appropriate compliance and enforcement actions.
MEDICARE ISSUES NEW GUIDANCE TO INSURANCE COMPANIES ON MEDICARE MAILINGS
what is it like to have no life and be obsessed to the point of insanity?
Too long in Exile, too long not singing my song.
Too long like a rolling stone, Too long in exile
Too long in Exile, baby you just arent my friend.
Too long in Exile my friend, Baby you can never go home again.
just saw the big O on letterman, happy I downloaded it
"Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."
- Woody Allen
don't know why you guys don't like having golani posting here. we all have our interests in different threads on Ajarn Forum. some like to help newbies with their questions and tell them stories about what they've done in their years in thailand. others like the pub, others, like myself, like the classroom/staffroom on occasion, especially grammar and of course, the soap box.
the soap box would be pretty boring if we all agreed with each other. unlike panhunger who calls muslims "ragheads" and defends israel, though cannot debate worth shit,
and J.L. is a bit better, though, like panny, usually ends of having a mental breakdown when you challenge his opinions and starts flaming like a nasty katoey.
and although, nuckingfutz can be quite entertaining and although, Mannedrake (emjay) calls himself a liberal, though defends the neo-cons, usually without even giving an opinion, just criticizing others' posts,
IMO, golani is a pretty good debater and adversary in the soap box. hope he sticks around. like he says, bush took a lot of crap from Ajarn Forum posters, there is no reason that xtrafresh (golani) can't be giving some to obama, IMO. gives a chance for obama supporters to support him, like xtrafresh supported the neo-cons.
who are you referring to?Originally Posted by Golani
Last edited by Farangrakthai; 27th September 2009 at 18:04. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
He's better than pretty good. Hell, he's a masterbater.
He's better than pretty good. Hell, he's a masterbater.
He's good at arguing, but what really gets my goat is that he's a bullshitter. I define a bullshitter as somebody who cares more about being right in an argument than actually hearing the other person's point or seeing if something can be gained by listening to the other side. CEO'S giving each other bonuses in a time of recession and Golani will tell you that Obama was wrong because he was offending them by wearing a red tie while telling them off.
I see Nucking Futz actually listening to more of the other side than I do Golani which is why I respect him a bit more. Golani doesn't ever put himself in the other sides' shoes and will never give an inch even once proven wrong.
However, I will say that Golani is pretty good about coming up with news sources on the spot, slanted though they may be.
more time for wastin'
yep, that's my only criticism of xtrafresh as he can be intellectually dishonest on occasion rather than conceding a point and moving on to the next point.
That's for damn sure . . and only describing it as "slanted" is being generous
I view you in the same exact way FRT...never conceding a point even when I feel that you have been proven wrong a 100 times over. Everything that I post I truely believe in and have painstakingly researched. Being "dishonest" is an attempt to deceive someone and I try my best to stay factual. You may not agree with the facts that I present but that does not mean that I am trying to deceive.
What is there to defend about Obama? Many people on these forums can dish it out to people who they do not agree with but cry like pansies when they are on the receiving end. That is why many people do not want me to post because I bring light to their dark and gloomy life. But never fear, I shall remain and will not be discouraged.
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Last edited by Golani; 27th September 2009 at 19:13. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
am referring to our debate when you were posting as xtrafresh over a year ago. we were debating u.n. resolutions against israel and you at first said that were not chapter 5 resolution, then they are not chapter 7 resolutions, etc. not passed by the security council and therefore meant nothing.
when i posted info that they were security council resolutions, then you said that israel doesn't even recognize the u.n.security council resolutions as being legit because the u.n. is violating its own charter by not recognizing the league of nations treaty on palestine.
so, rather than acknowledging that even the security council has passed resolutions against the israeli occupation of the west bank, you then say the whole u.n. including the security council, the u.s. is wrong and they don't understand the international law of this issue. though, you do.
that is intellectually dishonest, xtrafresh and you can start a new thread about it, if you'd like to continue this debate.
Simple reason. He is a troll.
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I don't like having Golani here because he is evil, pure and simple. It's Ok to have opposing views, but when somebody advocates the ethnic cleansing and massacre of Palestinians (and anyone else who disagrees with Israels zionist ambitions), and also wishes to deny affordable health care and insurance to the poor of the US (effictively a death sentence) then that person should be locked up. He condones and encourages murder. Not a nice person.
If I could do it all over again, I'd do it all over you.
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You see Golani, what you are more or less stating here is "I am never wrong and I know that Obama is the devil." I'm sorry Golani, but nobody, not even you, can never be wrong. You live in this deluded world where you believe that we are crying at our computers because "you've proven us wrong"when in all reality, we are making rebuttals against points we feel are not substantiated by you and often times disgusted by your refusal to accept such points.
Really Golani, and I'm not saying this as an attack, but if you could try to see things from other peoples' perspectives and acknowledge that people on the other side might have a point or two at times, than you might reach people with the agenda you've been pushing.
Harry, this line of thinking doesn't really show much of an improvement from Golani's.
Last edited by Lotuslevi; 27th September 2009 at 22:15. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
more time for wastin'
He's got fucking messiah complex to top it all off.
I do not get this idea that somehow if someone criticised Bush that now they automatically love Obama. It's a complete fabrication that exists in the minds of people who cannot think beyond a tiny, narrow partisan lines, Golani for example.
Last edited by robitusson; 27th September 2009 at 22:22. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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