December 26, 2013

Obamacare Hits Snag in States as U.S. Site Finds Footing

From Maryland to Hawaii, Obamacare’s state-run enrollment operations are running into technical difficulties, creating new headaches for the White House even as the federal insurance website finds its footing.

While the U.S. site has seen volumes surge this month, online exchanges run by those two states, along with systems in Massachusetts, Oregon, Minnesota and Vermont, have struggled with technology delays and low sign-up levels. Massachusetts and Vermont have criticized the work of their lead contractor, Montreal-based CGI Group Inc. (GIB) Exchanges in the other four states have each replaced their top executives in the past month.

The stumbles threaten to undercut one of the few arguments favoring President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul so far: its relatively smooth rollout in states that set up their own enrollment systems. While states such as California and New York remain bright spots, the administration can’t afford many more setbacks in the fight over the law.

“Some of these states have been committed, but it’s just been hurdle after hurdle after hurdle,” said Heather Howard, program director at the State Health Reform Assistance Network, a Princeton, New Jersey-based group advising state exchanges. “I do think those states will get there, but this is an ambitious undertaking in the best of cases.”

More than 2 million people visited the federal healthcare.gov site on Dec. 23, ahead of a deadline to sign up for insurance coverage that starts Jan. 1. Thirty-six states are using the federal portal. The remaining 14 and the District of Columbia have built their own marketplaces.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-26/obamacare-hits-snag-in-states-as-u-s-site-finds-footing.html

December 26, 2013

Americans’ Confidence at Four-Month High on Job Gains: Economy

Source: Bloomberg

Consumer confidence climbed last week to a four-month high as an improving job market and holiday discounts put Americans in the mood to shop.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index (COMFCOMF) rose to minus 27.4 in the period ended Dec. 22, the fifth straight gain, from minus 29.4. Other figures showed applications for unemployment benefits declined more than forecast last week to 338,000.

The report on sentiment also showed a gauge of whether it’s a good time to make purchases advanced to the second-highest level since 2007, signaling a pickup in the spending that accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy. Americans stayed upbeat about economic prospects amid more job opportunities, higher home values and record stock prices.

“Consumers are feeling a bit more buoyant heading into the new year,” said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, who projected 340,000 claims. “This isn’t surprising, given better labor-market data and low inflation. Consumer spending is going to be pretty robust in the fourth quarter.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-26/consumer-comfort-in-u-s-rises-to-highest-level-in-four-months.html

December 26, 2013

U.S. Stocks Advance to Record as Jobless Claims Declin

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. stocks climbed, extending an all-time high for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX), as a drop in jobless claims fueled optimism in the economy.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent to 1,842 at 4 p.m. in New York. U.S. markets were closed yesterday for the Christmas holiday.

“The stock market is energized by the stronger macro trends that we’re seeing,” Jim Russell, who helps oversee $112 billion as a senior equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said by phone. “The fundamentals are filling in for a market that has been primarily Fed-driven. We think that is a healthy and sustainable development that has some momentum into 2014.”

U.S. benchmark indexes reached all-time highs in a shortened session on Dec. 24 as data on durable goods and new-home sales beat forecasts. The S&P 500 has gained 29 percent in 2013, poised for its biggest annual jump since 1997.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-26/u-s-index-futures-little-changed-before-jobless-claims.html

December 26, 2013

'Wave Of Palestinian Terror'? Not Exactly

It’s pretty difficult to pinpoint anything resembling a starting point for the latest violence; prior to last week, Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians since July, compared to four Israelis who were killed. The violence is neither unilateral nor arbitrary.

By Dahlia Scheindlin |Published December 26, 2013

The latest escalation between Israel and the Palestinians has taken lives on both sides over the last week. The Israeli media is now describing the violence as a new “wave of Palestinian terror.” Commentators have said that it’s not clear yet whether this is a third Intifada, indicating an organized uprising, since the attacks appear to have been perpetrated by individuals. But they are unquestionably acts of terror.

Israeli media tells a very simple story: the attacks are happening to us unilaterally and unpredictably, their arbitrary nature makes life in Israel terrifying and fragile. The only possible explanation for the uptick in Palestinian violence, observed Israeli officials such as Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, is that Palestinian extremists hate the peace negotiations currently underway.

Consider the main violent events over the last week. The IDF ambushed and killed two Palestinians on Thursday, December 19, in separate incidents that took place in Jenin and Qalqilya. The army told news agencies that the men were wanted for shooting at soldiers, which Palestinians dispute in at least one case.

The next day, Friday, December 20, IDF shot and killed a Gazan civilian and wounded his brother, both in their 20s. Ynet quoted the IDF spokesman saying the two had approached the fence in an attempt at sabotage, and did not respond to warnings. Haaretz later reported that the wounded brother said the two were collecting plastic and metal scraps. The report added that they were known in the neighborhood as having made their living collecting plastic and metal shards from the dumps. Garbage scrounging is a familiar source of income for some Palestinians, in the West Bank as well, so this is not an unreasonable prospect.

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http://972mag.com/wave-of-palestinian-terror-not-exactly/84412/

December 24, 2013

Netanyahu Calls For Probe Of NSA Spying In Israel

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he has ordered a probe into reports that the United States and Britain had monitored communications of the previous prime minister and defense minister, calling the actions unacceptable.

Netanyahu also reiterated Israel’s call for the release of Jonathan Jay Pollard, an American Navy intelligence analyst sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for spying for Israel.

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, which detailed surveillance by the agency and Britain’s eavesdropping agency, the Government Communications Headquarters, showed that in 2009 they had monitored email traffic of several Israeli officials, including Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister at the time, and the defense minister, Ehud Barak.

Contents of the leaked documents were published Friday by The New York Times, Britain’s The Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel. The references to U.S. spying on Israel drew sharp criticism from some Israeli Cabinet ministers, who said the time was now ripe for Pollard’s release.

Netanyahu, who on Sunday appeared to respond mildly to the reports, was more forceful on Monday, in an apparent nod to the critics.

“Regarding the recent publications, I’ve asked that an inquiry be conducted into the matter,” Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio. “In the close relationship between Israel and the United States, there are things that are forbidden to do, and which are unacceptable to us.”

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/12/23/3244099/netanyahu-calls-for-probe-of-nsa.html#storylink=cpy

December 23, 2013

'DUCK DYNASTY' Robertson Breaks Silence, Defends Gay Comments...

EXCLUSIVE – Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson breaks his silence: Reality show star says he’s 'a lover not a hater' but REFUSES to back down from anti-gay comments

Phil Robertson has spoken out for the first time since his homophobic comments in a magazine interview went public and refused to go back on his controversial remarks, saying: ‘I will not give or back off from my path.’

The Duck Dynasty patriarch led a small Bible study group in his home town church in West Monroe, Louisiana on Sunday, granting MailOnline exclusive access.

And the deeply religious outdoorsman stood by his incendiary statements – which saw him call homosexuality a sin and led to his suspension from the hit reality show by network bosses at A&E.

During Sunday’s speech, he defended himself, saying he was simply quoting from the Bible and even went so far as to say Jesus could save gay people.
‘I love all men and women. I am a lover of humanity, not a hater,’ he added.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528043/Duck-Dynasty-family-seen-today.html#ixzz2oH06MKQK

December 23, 2013

Buying Overseas Clothing, U.S. Flouts Its Own Advice

WASHINGTON — One of the world’s biggest clothing buyers, the United States government spends more than $1.5 billion a year at factories overseas, acquiring everything from the royal blue shirts worn by airport security workers to the olive button-downs required for forest rangers and the camouflage pants sold to troops on military bases.

But even though the Obama administration has called on Western buyers to use their purchasing power to push for improved industry working conditions after several workplace disasters over the last 14 months, the American government has done little to adjust its own shopping habits.

Labor Department officials say that federal agencies have a “zero tolerance” policy on using overseas plants that break local laws, but American government suppliers in countries including Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Pakistan and Vietnam show a pattern of legal violations and harsh working conditions, according to audits and interviews at factories. Among them: padlocked fire exits, buildings at risk of collapse, falsified wage records and repeated hand punctures from sewing needles when workers were pushed to hurry up.

In Bangladesh, shirts with Marine Corps logos sold in military stores were made at DK Knitwear, where child laborers made up a third of the work force, according to a 2010 audit that led some vendors to cut ties with the plant. Managers punched workers for missed production quotas, and the plant had no functioning alarm system despite previous fires, auditors said. Many of the problems remain, according to another audit this year and recent interviews with workers.

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, employees at the Georgie & Lou factory, which makes clothing sold by the Smithsonian Institution, said they were illegally docked over 5 percent of their roughly $10-per-day wage for any clothing item with a mistake. They also described physical harassment by factory managers and cameras monitoring workers even in bathrooms.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/world/americas/buying-overseas-clothing-us-flouts-its-own-advice.html?google_editors_picks=true&_r=0

December 22, 2013

‘Americans Waking Up To Real Nature Of US-Israel Relationship’

US Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior US officials have warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against announcing new illegal settlement construction on occupied Palestinian territories.

In a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday, Maidhc Ó Cathail, an editor at the Passionate Attachment, said he believes America’s changed attitude towards Israel “is nothing theatrical” because “America or at least certain people in America are finally waking up to the real nature of” Washington’s so-called “special relationship with Israel.”

“A lot of people may have the feeling that America’s change of attitude toward Israel is purely theatrics, but I think that’s a mistake,” he opined.

Americans are beginning to realize “that Israel is not and has never been a strategic asset of America [and] that it has always been a liability,” Cathail added.

“There is nothing theatrical about Israel’s anger toward Obama and Kerry,” he stated. “You only have to look at the Israeli press to see how they feel about Obama and Kerry, there was an article the other day by a leading Zionist Seth Lipsky in Haaretz in which he accused Obama and Kerry of ‘betrayal of never again.’”

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/21/341099/us-is-realizing-true-nature-of-israel/

December 22, 2013

Proponents of Iran Sanctions Bill Are Playing With Fire

Philosopher and essayist George Santayana famously said that those who cannot learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

How true this is right now for the United States, which after years of tragic and costly combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, now finds itself at a crossroads in its efforts to reach a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the crisis created by Iran's nuclear program.

Last month, the Obama administration, backed by five other major world powers, reached a preliminary agreement with Iran to freeze its nuclear program and roll back some of its most dangerous components for six months. During this time, the parties will try to reach a permanent solution that would place the Iranian program under strict and enforceable limitations and constant international supervision. Such an outcome would make Israel, the Middle East and the entire world infinitely safer.

This is not good enough for some in the US Senate, who have been backed by AIPAC, the American Jewish Committee and several other organizations. Far from trusting President Obama and allowing the administration to pursue negotiations, they are actively trying to sabotage the process. The result may well put the United States, Israel and the international community back on a course with only two outcomes, both catastrophic. Either Iran will move forward to develop a nuclear weapon -- or military action will be taken, not to destroy but only to delay, the Iranian program.

Of course, nobody wants to see Iran develop a nuclear weapon. But it's been clear for years that the goal of sanctions is to bring the Iranians to the negotiating table. Now that we've succeeded in this, why would we be trying to drive them away?

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-elsner/proponents-of-iran-sancti_b_4481499.html

December 22, 2013

Peter Beinart’s Colonial Logic: Opponents Of Israel Boycott Make Anti-Democratic Arguments

An academic boycott of Israel is really protesting a segregationist mentality that should have ended long, long ago

STEVEN SALAITA

Last week, members of the American Studies Association [ASA] voted overwhelmingly to affirm a resolution boycotting Israeli academic institutions. The membership vote followed unanimous approval of the resolution by the ASA National Council. Intense debate has followed the affirmation.

Much of the reaction from the boycott’s opponents has been infantile: threats of lawsuits, screams of anti-Semitism, vulgar trolling, ear-piercing hysteria, and various strategies of derailment borrowed from the Glenn Beck playbook. These tactics are fit to ignore.

More thoughtful responses have emerged, however, and provide opportunity for serious engagement. One such response arrived from Peter Beinart, who supports a boycott focused on West Bank settlements but not on anything to do with 1948 Israel (i.e., anything inside the so-called green line).

While Beinart’s piece is thoughtful, it has serious problems, especially in its unexamined assumptions. Rejecting the “singling out” of Israel and academic freedom as viable arguments against boycott, Beinart opposes the ASA resolution because “it’s denying the legitimacy of a democratic Jewish state, even alongside a Palestinian one.”

Here is Beinart’s argument:

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http://www.salon.com/2013/12/20/peter_beinarts_colonial_logic_opponents_of_israel_boycott_make_anti_democratic_arguments/