Who is 'barely-half-generation', canadian-born, son-of-a-cuban-born-on-cuban-soil Raphael Ted Cruz to declare who is a real American and who ain't. To think that he and his cuban born immigrant-via-Canada father have the audacity to open their mouths, and speak to who is American and who isn't, and question President Obama's status as an American, is the height of hypocrisy and really takes a lot of Chutzpa, simply because he is trying to provide health care insurance to those Americans who need it.

If I were President Obama, I would tell Raphael Cruz Sr. and Raphael Cruz Jr. (borrowing a quote from Col Jessep of "A Few Good Men" "...I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. ..."

And by the way, Raphael Cruz, Jr., the less-than-a-quarter term Senator from Texas hails from the State with the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation, a fact that he seems to want to overlook when Sen Raphael Cruz Jr. spoke at the Health Care Forum in Austin, last week.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/107812854

http://www.coderedtexas.org/#findings

FINDINGS OF THE TASK FORCE
Overall health condition of Texans is poor
• Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured in the U.S.
• Texas cannot sustain the continued rise in Medicaid and state/county health care expenditures
• Current trends in delivery of health care in Texas will inevitably exacerbate current problems
– overdependence on emergency rooms for accessing primary care for the uninsured is the most
expensive means of delivering care
• Expansion of ambulatory (outpatient) services is an essential, more cost-effective means of
health care delivery
• Strategies that both control the cost of health insurance and ensure the most cost-effective
delivery of health care access for all Texans are needed
Texas has not taken full advantage of available federal matching funds to reduce the burden of
providing health care for the uninsured
The current county-based approach to delivery of health care in Texas is inadequate, and
inequitable
There is a significant shortage of health care professionals in Texas – professionals that
could reduce the cost of delivery of care to all Texans
Care for people with mental illnesses remains a major problem for Texas

It should be required viewing for all members of Congress. So now we know that it wasn't just blacks brought over from Africa who were enslaved, but free black men and women were kidnapped from northern states and placed on ships and sold into slavery in the south. It also reminded me of the fact that the racists southerns like to talk about how they want their country back and that their ancestors built this country, when the truth is that this nation was built on the backs of blacks and whites, and chinese, etc etc alike. One thing remains however, and that is, mans inhumanity to man continues today. In order for one man to be able to inflict such demeaning and brutalistic punishment on another, you have to first convince yourself that those other people are not your equal. They are less human than you are. They are beneath you.

So I think this movie should be required viewing for all elected members of any office in any state. You can't fix what's wrong with America if you don't acknowledge your past transgressions and the impact that they have had and continue to have on people's lives. And before people start telling me that they never owned any slaves, or enslaved anyone, keep in mind that even though Lincoln freed the slaves, this nation didn't pass the Civil Rights Act until 1964, a hundred years later. In our modern age we have had unequal enforcement of laws which have rendered 1/3 of black men, felons. Even today, we have unequal financing of our public school systems which ensures that separate will never be equal. And Republican governors are scurrying to pass laws making it more difficult to exercise the right to vote.

So before congress adjourns for the year (in light of the fact that they have no agenda, this could happen much sooner that we expect) I'd like to recommend dinner and a movie.

Top House GOP Leader Told Obama 'I Cannot Even Stand To Look At You'

but I'm almost certain that I recall reading an article within the past month that a Congressman while visiting at the White House made a statement that he couldn't stand to be 10 feet from President Obama. I recall it because my first thought was that, "than you should have stayed home". Maybe Durbin got the facts in his statement wrong.

Does anyone here recall reading such an article? It would have been within the past month give or take a couple of weeks.

I think that someone has deliberately sabotaged the ACA signup systems. After all we know about secret meetings within the GOP with the Koch brothers, Freedomworks, and Heritage, why is not so farfetched to think that as a last resort they may have plotted to keep the system from getting off the ground by making sure that people were not able to sign up and therefore making it out to be a disaster before it can get off the ground.

With all we know about Snowden and how much plotting went on with him and that guy from the Guardian, and how far back the deceit went, I would not be surprise to learn down the road that this was another plot to destroy the ACA. I work in contracting. Private contractors would have bid on and been responsible for designing this system. Today we hear about the system using 10 year old technology. This is bullsh!t. How hard would it have been for some Obama haters to plant some bad codes creating hidden time bombs into the system.

I'm curious as to what others think particularly from those of you with experience in this area.

Megan Stroud left a message from AFP Virginia. I'm here on a job assignment and living in Northern Virginia temporarily.

"She wanted to invite me to the Legislative Supercommittee Public Testimony hearing in Richmond on Medicaid expansion in Virginia as part of Obamacare. We are expecting a large crowd so come out and have your voices heard. This may be your last chance. Buses are leaving from Sterling, Fairfax and Woodbridge. We're expecting a HUGE turnout so Please call AFP at 866-730-0150 to reserve your seat. " Anyone who still believes that this is a grassroots organization has been smoking too much grass.

I think people should give Megan a call at AFP and tell her what you think of AFP and their grassroots effort to defeat Obamacare.

On Hardball this evening, we've got Chris Matthews asking two members of the House GOP (Rep King R-New York, and Rep Dent R-Pennsyvania) what can President Obama offer the GOP to allow them a face saving way out of the hole that they have dug for themselves.

The answer Chris is NOTHING. The President does not owe the GOP a face saving way out of the hole they have dug for themselves. Never before has a president of these United States been treated with such blatant disrespect and contempt as President Obama has under these a$$holes. And he's supposed to offer them a way to save face. Let them eat sh!t for all I care.

Then in a later segment, Fmr. Gov Ed Rendell makes the argument that the GOP picked the wrong fight by shutting down the government. They should have made the Debt Ceiling the Hallmark of their "take no prisoners showdown". Ed stated that the GOP would have been better off using the Debt Ceiling to garner concessions from the Obama Administration in order to raise the debt ceiling because polls show that the American people don't want the debt ceiling raised, anyway.

Guess what Gov Rendell, half the American public is too stupid to even know what the Debt Ceiling is. Probably the same half of America who thinks that the Affordable Care Act is better than Obamacare. We don't need you, Gov Rendell providing the GOPs talking points for them.

FTR, the deficit is falling at the fastest rate ever which is why the GOP has stopped talking about it and shifted the conversation to other topic of the month club such as, Egypt, Syria, Benghazi, the IRS, back to Syria, back to Egypt, etc.

Obama's contribution to the deficit has come in the form of the 2008 Stimulus and Wall St. bailout, the Payroll Tax Holiday, continuation of unemployment benefits and an increase in foodstamps. As bad as the GOP wants to make these things seem, economists said that these types of spending were each one time hits to the federal budgets since they didn't create a permanent entitlement for subsequent years, unlike the growth of the Defense Dept from 2000 to 2008 under President Bush, and a new Medicare drug benefit program under Pres. Bush, and two tax cuts passed by the GOP and the Bush Admin which are permanent contributors to the federal deficit and ultimately the federal debt.

The reason the GOP has been so successful for so long is that they know how to control the message, even when its bullsh!t. They stay on message and the stupid lame stream media gives them a pass with their both party false equivalents BS. The Dems can always count on their 'party leadership' to sell the party down the river, to make themselves look good. That's what Ed Rendell does everytime he appears on Morning Joe or any other segment on MSNBC. I can no longer stand to watch him.