President Barack Obama - Term 1 and 2 Thread

[Monker]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/26/sponsors-of-pentagons-alarm-raising-climate-study-/

Just re-affirms for me that when humans are involved there is always the possibility of corruption tainting the picture being painted.

Which is why you need to look at facts rather then journalistic entertainment. Like I said, things like the Washington Times are not Scientific Journals. So, it's really irrelevant to the topic...just sensationalized journalism.

[Monker]

Who is B.O. trying to fool here? We'll never completely pull out of Afghanistan. Sure it all sounds good in a speech but something will come along and the plan will change. I think we should pull out now. If their own military\police forces have not figured out how to create a safe environment for their citizens, they most likely never will.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/ob ... an-n115421

Don't feel like listening to an Obama speech...however if Afghanistan is left without any central government, then the Taliban, Al Qeada, and other religious fundamentalist and terrorist groups will take over once again. Then, what did we really accomplish? We should have been focusing on that goal from 9/12...and ignored Iraq. Things could have been a LOT different.

What a monstrous waste of time, money, and lives W and the Republicans pulled us into...and the Democrats allowed it.

[Boomchild]

Prices will be up 13 percent on Ohio's federal healthcare marketplace when the online exchange reopens for 2015 enrollment, state officials said Thursday.

Sixteen companies filed to sell plans, up from 14 this year.

The Ohio Department of Insurance unveiled the first details for the insurance plans expected to be sold on the new online marketplaces, a cornerstone of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The department says the filings show a 13 percent increase in the average monthly premium for individual plans sold in the first wave of open enrollment, which started Oct. 1 and ended March 31. The next open enrollment period begins Nov. 15 and runs through Feb. 15.

The current news about the VA healthcare system is just another glaring example why not to have the Federal Government involved with running the nations healthcare system. In this case, no death panels were needed. All they had to do is make the people needing treatment and care wait long enough that they died before being able to be seen or treated.

[Memorex]

Prices will be up 13 percent on Ohio's federal healthcare marketplace when the online exchange reopens for 2015 enrollment, state officials said Thursday.

Sixteen companies filed to sell plans, up from 14 this year.

The Ohio Department of Insurance unveiled the first details for the insurance plans expected to be sold on the new online marketplaces, a cornerstone of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The department says the filings show a 13 percent increase in the average monthly premium for individual plans sold in the first wave of open enrollment, which started Oct. 1 and ended March 31. The next open enrollment period begins Nov. 15 and runs through Feb. 15.

The current news about the VA healthcare system is just another glaring example why not to have the Federal Government involved with running the nations healthcare system. In this case, no death panels were needed. All they had to do is make the people needing treatment and care wait long enough that they died before being able to be seen or treated.

My dad is one that suffered at the hands of the VA. They made him wait to no end. Finally he had to go elsewhere. Same with my wife's grandfather. It's a disgrace.

And something like this is a government issue. You are right, government should not run anything except our military. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It's a federal government issue and they all should be ashamed. And they need to stop talking like it's one area. It's all over.

[slucero]

interesting read...

The 8 Biggest Myths Of Obamacare
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ib144

Four years after its passage, Obamacare has now been largely implemented, and millions have had their coverage disrupted. For years, the administration has propagated a number of myths about Obamacare. Some have already crumbled, and others will fall as Obamacare continues to change the American health system.

Myth No. 1: If you like your health plan, you can keep it.
Despite President Obama’s promise that “If you like your plan, you can keep it,” about 6 million people have already been notified by insurance companies that their policies are being canceled. That number will grow. Currently, about 19 million people have health coverage that they purchased in the individual market. Most of those plans do not comply with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. One expert estimates that the law will cause more than 15 million people to lose their individual insurance by the end of 2014. Most of these people have to get coverage from the deeply troubled Obamacare exchanges.

Businesses were supposed to be allowed to keep their employee coverage.The term the government uses for this is “grandfathered.” The truth is that few small business health plans will be “grandfathered.” For example, even small changes in deductibles and copayments or switching to another plan offered by the same carrier means losing this protection. Small firms keep premiums down primarily by changing insurers, but doing so will likely cause them to lose grandfathered status. The employer will have to find insurance that complies with dozens of costly new mandates, such as paying for so-called “preventive care” with no out-of-pocket cost to the employees.

Under a mid-range estimate, two-thirds of small business employees will not be able to keep the plan they now have.

Under the worst-case scenario, as many as 80 percent will lose their plans.

By contrast, a self-insured, large company plan or union plan is free to change its third-party administrator (the firm hired to administer the benefits on behalf of the employer) as often as it likes and still keep its grandfathered status.

However, a government memorandum predicts that more than half of all employees — and up to as many as two-thirds — with employer-provided health insurance will have to switch to more expensive, more regulated plans. A survey of employers by a leading benefits consultant found that 90 percent of employers expect to lose their grandfathered status. A majority expect to do so before the employer mandate takes effect. The memorandum suggests that eventually all plans will lose grandfathered status.


Myth No. 2: If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
Many health plans sold in the exchanges offer very narrow networks with a limited choice of doctors. For example, 70 percent of California physicians are not in CoveredCalifornia exchange plan networks If government estimates are correct, about 26 million uninsured people will eventually acquire health insurance. If economic studies are correct, the newly insured will try to double their consumption of health care. Yet, with no increase in the number of physicians, there is no realistic way to meet this demand.

The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortfall of 21,000 primary care physicians by 2015. Before health care reform passed, the Health Resources and Services Administration estimated a shortage of 55,000 to 150,000 physicians by 2020. That number is undoubtedly higher today.12 Texas alone is predicting a shortage of 18,000 nurses by 2015.13


Myth No. 3: There is an “employer mandate” to offer affordable coverage.
If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time workers, she is not required to offer health benefits. There is a mandate for larger employers to offer health benefits. However, they do not have to cover spouses or pay for dependents. Most importantly, they have an incentive to offer benefits that will be unaffordable to many workers.

One option is to refuse to provide health insurance and pay a $2,000 fine per employee. Because this is much less than what most companies spend on employee health benefits, many employers will stop offering health insurance and send their employees to the exchanges.

Furthermore, half of all employees work for an employer who is self-insured (meaning the company pays the medical bills and hires a third-party administrator to administer the plan). A self-insured company can avoid the fine with a health plan that only covers the cost of preventive care, with no annual or lifetime limit. However, because this insurance will not satisfy the full requirements of the law, employees may go to the exchange and get subsidized insurance. If they do, the employer will be liable for a $3,000 fine per employee. An employer could avoid the fine by offering to “top up” the limited benefits and requiring employees to pay up to 9.5 percent of their annual wages in premiums and the full cost for their spouses and children.

The table shows an example of a $50,000-a-year employee who is asked to pay 9.5 percent of his or her annual gross wage for individual coverage ($4,720) and the full cost of family coverage ($10,000). Under the law, this is deemed “affordable” and satisfies the employer mandate, even though few workers would willingly spend nearly one-third of their take-home pay on health insurance — unless they expect some whopping medical bills. If an employee turns down this offer, he will not be entitled to subsidies if he buys coverage in an Obamacare exchange.


Myth No. 4: Health reform will lower the cost of health insurance by $2,500 a year for the average family.
Because of Obamacare’s mandates and regulations, coverage will be more expensive for everyone outside a small portion of older, low-income adults who can obtain highly subsidized coverage in the exchanges.

• A new tax on health insurance is likely to cost the families of employees of small businesses more than $500 a year in higher premiums.
  
• A 40 percent tax on the extra coverage provided by expensive “Cadillac” plans will apply to about one-third of all private health insurance plans by 2019, but, because the tax threshold is not indexed to medical inflation, it will eventually reach every health plan.
  
• Scores of other items will be taxed, ranging from tanning salons to the sale of appreciated capital assets (including homes), in extreme cases.

Some benefits have hidden costs:

• Health insurers are raising premiums for everyone in order to charge people with pre-existing conditions less than the expected cost of their care. Some young people, for example, have seen a doubling or tripling of their premiums.
  
• Insurers are also trying to cover the higher costs of sicker enrollees with higher deductibles and narrow networks that cover only some of the doctors and hospitals in areas where people live.
  
• In order for employers to provide health insurance (or more generous insurance) to their employees, they will have to reduce what they pay in wages and in other benefits.
  
• The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 2 million fewer workers will be employed in 2017 and 2.5 million fewer in 2024 than would have been employed in the absence of Obamacare. Also, total compensation will be 1 percent lower.

Myth No. 5: There is an “individual mandate” that ensures everyone has health coverage.
As originally written, the Affordable Care Act required most legal residents of the United States to have qualifying coverage or pay a fine. There were narrowly defined exemptions for some religious groups,prisoners, those whose incomes were so low that they did not have to file a tax return and those who would have to pay over 8 percent of household income to buy health insurance. For 2014, the fine was only supposed to be $95 per adult or $285 per family, or 1 percent of household income, whichever is greater. By 2016, the fine is scheduled to go up to $695 per adult or $2,085 per family, or 2.5 percent of income.

However, the individual mandate was effectively deferred until at least 2016 when the Obama administration’s Department of Health & Human Servicesallowed people to decide for themselves if they qualify for a “hardship exemption.” An individual can claim a hardship exemption if she attests that “you received a notice that your current health plan is being cancelled, and you consider the other options available unaffordable.”

Because this exemption was created to reduce the political liability of fining people before the November 2016 election, the individual mandate is highly unlikely ever to be imposed. After all, there is an election every two years. Thus, fewer healthy people and more sick people will continue to sign up for coverage, and premiums will continue to rise.


Myth No. 6: Individuals cannot be denied individual coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
This was only true if they applied for Obamacare coverage before March 31, 2014. If they missed that deadline, they cannot get coverage at all until November 15, 2014, unless they experience a life-qualifying event, such as getting married or having a child. In the individual market, prior to Obamacare, people could apply whenever they wanted to.



Myth No. 7: Health insurers no longer can cancel a policy after an insured individual gets sick.
This has been illegal for decades. If an insurer canceled a policy, it had to offer coverage under another policy without underwriting. Before Obamacare, a health insurer could only rescind a policy if the insured had misrepresented her health status on her application. If the insurer did so illegally, it was called “post-claims underwriting,” and insurers that did it were punished severely under state law. In 2008, for example, HealthNet announced an agreement with the California Insurance Commissioner to reinstate 926 policies, pay $3.6 million in penalties and reimburse $14 million in outstanding medical claims.

On the contrary, Obamacare has caused many cancellations. For example, as a contractual condition of selling health plans in the CoveredCalifornia exchange, insurers were required to cancel existing policies and force those already covered into the exchange.

On November 14, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to state insurance commissioners giving them the discretion to allow individuals to keep their prior coverage for one more year. Nearly three-fourths of states agreed to allow insurers to reinstate canceled health plans. However, it appears that most insurers were not able to do so. Indeed, the practice has been specifically barred in a handful of states, including Washington, Indiana and the District of Columbia.


Myth No. 8: Medicare has been strengthened.
Reduced Medicare spending, amounting to $715 billion over the next 10 years, will pay for more than half the cost of health reform:

• Cuts to hospital services total $260 billion.
  
• Cuts to Medicare Advantage Plans total $156 billion.
  
• Cuts to skilled nursing, hospice, home health and other services add up to $155 billion.
  
• Hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of indigent patients will lose $56 billion.
  
• The elderly and disabled will incur significantly higher costs:
  
• In general, the Medicare spending cuts exceed the new benefits by a factor of more than 10 to 1.

As a result, one of every two people expected to participate in Medicare Advantage over the next 10 years (7.5 million of 14 million) will lose their coverage entirely. According to Medicare’s chief actuary, they will be tossed back into Medicare, with the option to buy another Advantage plan or a supplement. Those who retain their Advantage coverage will face steep benefit cuts or hefty premium increases, or both.

Additionally, indirect costs, including new taxes on drugs and medical devices, will apply to items that are disproportionately used by seniors and the disabled.

To make matters worse, Medicare’s chief actuary believes the planned cuts in fees may cause some doctors to retire and force some hospitals out of business.


Conclusion.
Favorable media coverage of the 8 million people who have enrolled in health insurance via exchanges has allowed the administration and its allies to revive discredited claims about Obamacare’s benefits. The numbers touted by the administration disguise the fact that many of these people lost previous coverage in the period prior to open enrollment, and people are no longer free to acquire the health insurance they want. The real costs of Obamacare will continue to burden Americans, despite the apparent success of the first open enrollment. We need an alternative.

[Boomchild]

My dad is one that suffered at the hands of the VA. They made him wait to no end. Finally he had to go elsewhere. Same with my wife's grandfather. It's a disgrace.

And something like this is a government issue. You are right, government should not run anything except our military. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It's a federal government issue and they all should be ashamed. And they need to stop talking like it's one area. It's all over.

I am very sorry to hear people you know have been part of the ones that have gotten "the short end of the stick". Your right that this is disgraceful. These are people that have made a personal sacrifice to defend and protect our country. There is no excuse for it. These people should be given the "the red carpet" treatment when it comes to healthcare. Instead it seems their getting the "bargain basement" treatment.

[Boomchild]

Researchers with the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) recently admitted to experienced zoologist and polar bear specialist Susan Crockford that the estimate given for the total number of polar bars in the Arctic was “simply a qualified guess given to satisfy public demand.”

Ah yes, "research" at it's best. But remember your not suppose to question anything that is related to global warming. It's all fact and can't be denied.

[The_Noble_Cause]

[
The current news about the VA healthcare system is just another glaring example why not to have the Federal Government involved with running the nations healthcare system. In this case, no death panels were needed. All they had to do is make the people needing treatment and care wait long enough that they died before being able to be seen or treated.

Is that ur take? I think its an example as to why the govt shouldn't start wars that never end and overwhelm and crash the VA system. If the GOP truly believed that the US has the best healthcare in the world, they would argue to shutter the VA system and give our troops vouchers to go to any hospital in the country.

[Boomchild]

Is that ur take? I think its an example as to why the govt shouldn't start wars that never end and overwhelm and crash the VA system. If the GOP truly believed that the US has the best healthcare in the world, they would argue to shutter the VA system and give our troops vouchers to go to any hospital in the country.

The issue is our veterans regardless of when they made a personal sacrifice to serve their country are not getting the care and treatment they deserve. Both parties have let them down. Period. It just another glaring example of poorly managed government run healthcare just like Medicare.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Is that ur take? I think its an example as to why the govt shouldn't start wars that never end and overwhelm and crash the VA system. If the GOP truly believed that the US has the best healthcare in the world, they would argue to shutter the VA system and give our troops vouchers to go to any hospital in the country.

The issue is our veterans regardless of when they made a personal sacrifice to serve their country are not getting the care and treatment they deserve. Both parties have let them down. Period. It just another glaring example of poorly managed government run healthcare just like Medicare.

Your just throwing cliches around. The Government is not infallible and when you have wars that go on longer than WW2, what do u expect? Medicare is totally separate from the VA. If the Govt cannot provide for our veterans, why haven't market forces stepped in and created an alternative?

[Boomchild]

Your just throwing cliches around. The Government is not infallible and when you have wars that go on longer than WW2, what do u expect? Medicare is totally separate from the VA. If the Govt cannot provide for our veterans, why haven't market forces stepped in and created an alternative?

Glad you can see that the Government is not infallible. Again, the issue is our veterans are not getting the healthcare that they were promised to get by the Government. It's wasn't promised by the market forces. If you have been around long enough then you should know that these current issues with the poor or lack of availability of care has been going on even before the wars you speak of. It's not like the VA has been a shining example prior to the recent wars. Bottom line the Government committed to provide healthcare to that serve in our military. Your right that Medicare is separate from the VA healthcare system. The point is that both are managed by the Federal Government and BOTH are operated poorly. If Government is the right answer for managing healthcare, I am waiting for positive proof it works. So far, they have not shown that they can handle it.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117855/veterans-affairs-scandal-was-decades-making

"But demand alone doesn’t explain the VA's problems. Antiquated, sclerotic bureacracies are also part of the story. Veterans who wish to use VA health services must first apply. They also must get determinations about what kinds of disabilities they have—and how they got them. Those determinations are important: Veterans who lost limbs in battle, for example, get priority for services over those who served stateside without injury. The application files are still on paper, creating a huge backlog. The process also inflates wait times for actual medical services, since the disability determinations frequently require tests and checkups at VA medical facilities."

[donnaplease]

[
The current news about the VA healthcare system is just another glaring example why not to have the Federal Government involved with running the nations healthcare system. In this case, no death panels were needed. All they had to do is make the people needing treatment and care wait long enough that they died before being able to be seen or treated.

Is that ur take? I think its an example as to why the govt shouldn't start wars that never end and overwhelm and crash the VA system. If the GOP truly believed that the US has the best healthcare in the world, they would argue to shutter the VA system and give our troops vouchers to go to any hospital in the country.

With all due respect, this is an example of personal greed, fraud, and the poor oversight that allowed it. It really has nothing to do with the wars (except that the patients are related to their military service). It's not partisan, IMO. As a health care provider myself, I see it as a glaring example of the erosion of ethics in our society. And it's beyond disgusting.

[donnaplease]

With regard to Bergdahl, I can't help but see a parallel to Nicholas Berg. There appeared to be some kind of connection between him and the terrorists. I guess Bergdahl should be happy to get outta there with his head still attached...

The whole thing stinks. Bowe's behaviors and his father's... I think they should both be heavily investigated.

[The_Noble_Cause]

It really has nothing to do with the wars (except that the patients are related to their military service). It's not partisan, IMO. As a health care provider myself, I see it as a glaring example of the erosion of ethics in our society. And it's beyond disgusting.

Good for you, sweetums. My ex is an MD, my sibling is an MD, my best high school friend is an RN and one of my other exs is an RN. Is anyone impressed yet? Your credentials don't mean anything to me. Even an idiot can tell you that when a country goes to war continuously for over a decade, you are going to crash the system.

[The_Noble_Cause]

If Government is the right answer for managing healthcare, I am waiting for positive proof it works. So far, they have not shown that they can handle it.

Ok. Then offer wounded soldiers vouchers to access private care. Pretty simple. Either you believe America has the best system or you don't.

[donnaplease]

It really has nothing to do with the wars (except that the patients are related to their military service). It's not partisan, IMO. As a health care provider myself, I see it as a glaring example of the erosion of ethics in our society. And it's beyond disgusting.

Good for you, sweetums. My ex is an MD, my sibling is an MD, my best high school friend is an RN and one of my other exs is an RN. Is anyone impressed yet? Your credentials don't mean anything to me. Even an idiot can tell you that when a country goes to war continuously for over a decade, you are going to crash the system.

Wow, once again you take a respectful post and attempt to demean an opposing view. I wasn't trying to impress anyone with my credentials, just sharing my POV as it relates to my everyday life. Maybe you should talk to all your exes about ethics in healthcare... maybe you'd get a little insight into why it's not OK to do what was done. Regardless of how many people are crashing the system, you don't fix anything by fraudulently covering up your needs. That's the absolute certain way to crash it.

On a related note, what do you think is gonna happen once Obamacare and the massive influx of Medicaid recipients hits the public sector? If the wars crashed the VA, what's gonna happen to everyone else's healthcare options? If anything, you may have made the point for so many who were concerned about what the overload of the ACA was gonna do to bog down the system, since there's gonna be an increase in patients without an increase in providers. Just a thought.

Ok, go ahead, tell me how retarded I am in whatever artful way you have to say it. Most of it would be really funny, if it wasn't so mean and unnecessary. You really do have a gift with words. Enough for me for now though, gotta go unimpress some more people with my credentials at that place I call work. Have a happy Tuesday!

[slucero]

He walked away from his post... that's desertion.. cut & dry.

Turns out the families of the 6 soldiers who were killed looking for him were told their sons died "hunting a Taliban commander" . They only found out AFTER Bergdahl was released, when 2 of the solders in one of the deceased soldiers platoon emailed one of the parents and said they were forced to sign and adhere to a gag order....

The parents are rightfully pissed.

Bergdahl is a deserter AT BEST.

He caused the deaths of 6 solders. Six soldiers who followed their orders, and while searching for a fellow solder who did not, lost their lives. Six soldiers who will never see their loved ones, ever again.

That's on this piece of shit Bergdahl.

He needs to be held accountable and serve the remainder of his sorry life in a military prison.

[slucero]

..just saw that on the news..


all the more reason Bergdahl needs to stand trial...

[Monker]

Col. Hunt says 14 were killed looking for the ballet dancer turned deserter..

I saw Ron Reagan on an ad for "Freedom From Religion". He ends it saying, "...not afraid to burn in Hell." Kinda funny, actually...but I didn't know anybody was looking for him.

[Boomchild]

If Government is the right answer for managing healthcare, I am waiting for positive proof it works. So far, they have not shown that they can handle it.

Ok. Then offer wounded soldiers vouchers to access private care. Pretty simple. Either you believe America has the best system or you don't.

That may be a good idea. It beats covering things up to make it look not as bad as it really is. It may reduce all the hoops those needing treatment and care have to go through just to be seen. It could also give them the freedom to see a doctor of their choosing. At any rate, the Government needs to do what it needs to do so veterans get the care they were promised. I am sure if this was in regards to the healthcare of our elected officials it would be fixed. Just like they were taken care of when Obamacare went into effect.

[donnaplease]

This is a letter written by Jordan Vaughn, who attended school with my 2 sons, to our local paper. It's beyond surreal to me that this is the same young man who played in the band (KILLER trumpet player!) and ran on the track team with my kids in this small town in Nowhereville, Virginia.

I was inspired to write this letter by the return of "SGT" Bowe Bergdahl.

I served with Bergdahl in Afghanistan in 2009, and was directly involved with the immediate efforts to recover him. I also lost my squad leader SSG Kurt Curtiss to small arms fire in efforts related to the Bergdahl recovery mission, as well as being wounded myself by a hand grenade. These events were deeply carved into my 19-year-old psyche, and I remember most of them like they were yesterday.

When I first learned of Bergdahl's disappearance, my platoon was overwatching a resupply convoy, and we had just lost Lt. Bradshaw of C Co. 1-501st to an IED less than a half mile away. The traffic came over the radio, and we were told there was a change of plans, a soldier had "walked off the base". This was unfathomable to most of us. Everything stopped right then and there. My entire battalion, the 1-501st, was spun up to conduct endless missions to look for the soldier that disappeared.

In the coming weeks, I learned everything you could want to know about a soldier I only knew from seeing him walk around the base. One of my squad mates was his bunk mate in basic training, and Bergdahl and I reported to our unit around the same time.

From everyone I talked to, I heard he was a weird kid who just didn't fit in. He seemed a little out of touch with reality, and thought he could disappear into the surrounding hills like " Jason Bourne".

I also went on leave from Afghanistan with one of his platoon mates, Cody Fuller, who was recently interviewed on Fox News for his part. The story was consistent across the board. Bergdahl deserted his post for reasons unknown, it seemed to seek out the Taliban. He left all of his gear at OP Mest, and shipped his personal belongings home. He did not fall behind on a patrol, which is a laughable notion.

This previously unknown soldier became universally despised by my unit and everyone involved in the search. The name Bergdahl became tantamount to Judas or Benedict Arnold, and when the casualties began mounting for my unit, the hate grew even more.

We never found Bergdahl, but we toiled 24/7 for months on air assault missions to far flung regions, searching every house, haystack, every hole looking for him. Before we left Afghanistan, my entire unit was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement stating we would not speak of any of the events related to Bergdahl, his capture, or the search for him. It was implied to many of us that we didn't have a choice whether to sign it or not, and when we saw the official story in the news stating he was captured while lagging behind on a patrol, all we could do was bitterly shake our heads.

We came home without him, and tried to put the issue behind us, most of us just trying to forget about him, there was no cry of "POW never forgotten".

Many of the men directly involved in those events are now out of the army, myself included. We really never expected to see him again. Reading about the hero returned home has become more than I can bear. Rolling Stone magazine called him " so intense he alienated his fellow soldiers " and a "world traveller", painting him as some sort of renegade hero, not a traitor. This isn't how we see the man who abandoned his post, and who we had reports was colluding with the Taliban to attack us, the man who was " ashamed to be an American ".

Most of us don't care about the consequences of our nondisclosure agreement anymore, the honor of the men we lost searching for this traitor was more important. Good men like Kurt Curtiss, who was on his third deployment into a war zone and was a married father of two, or Lt. Andrews, a patriotic and good man who was a father and husband. To the men who carried out the bodies of these real soldiers, five years with the Taliban isn't " enough punishment ".

To see PFC Bergdahl paraded in the news as SGT Bergdahl and have the notion of him becoming SSG Bergdahl is enough to make me livid. How did he earn that rank? He deserted his post in a time of war, which is an offense punishable by death.

Obviously all of this coming out would look terrible to the administration that oversaw the Afghan war surge, and his release in exchange for several mass murderers. The public needs to know the truth about his story, and the real heroes who were involved.

There was no lack of morale in the unit before Bergdahl left. We were airborne infantry, and damned proud of it.

Geronimo!

Former Army SGT
Jordan Vaughn

There is also an article in the paper that states Jordan was the one who pulled SSG Kurtiss out of the ambush that took his life after he himself had been hit by shrapnel from a hand grenade during the fight. I cannot begin to fathom how these events have affected this young man, someone I distinctly remember so respectfully playing TAPS at Veteran's Day assemblies held at our high school. May God bless him and those who experienced this hell with him. Thank you, Jordan, for your faithful service.

[slucero]

Bergdahl will be found eventually... likely dead... by some unknown hand....

These guys do not forget.

[Monker]

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
—Carl Sagan

(Image of Earth taken from Voyager 1 in 1990, 10yrs after it passed Saturn...roughly 4 billion miles from Earth:

[trekman]

We matter Only to us. Is there too much space to Not be something/someone else, out there? Somewhere? We are so insignificant and barbaric (still) to anyone advanced enough to travel to other worlds, Im betting we get ignored totally. I think we will destroy ourselves first before we reach a point of human kind traveling from galaxy to galaxy.

[Boomchild]

Wilmington VA center flagged for further review

"The report says 41 patients are still awaiting initial medical appointments at Wilmington 90 days or more after requesting them. Another 175 who requested appointments after enrolling in the system over the past decade have never gotten one."

"The VA says an audit of 731 facilities found that the agency's complicated appointment process created confusion among scheduling staff."

http://www.wdel.com/story.php

[Monker]

LOL...you have no point here. This article is conceding the point that Antarctic ice is melting due to climate change. They are questioning how vulcanism speeds the process up...and doing research to help the models be more accurate.

That's the way science works!

it is good to know that you admit climate change is happening and melting antarctic ice...geez, about time!

http://news.yahoo.com/hidden-volcanoes-melt-antarctic-glaciers-below-190506544.html

Hidden Volcanoes Melt Antarctic Glaciers from Below

By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor
1 hour ago

Antarctica is a land of ice. But dive below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and you'll find fire as well, in the form of subglacial volcanoes.

Now, a new study finds that these subglacial volcanoes and other geothermal "hotspots" are contributing to the melting of Thwaites Glacier, a major river of ice that flows into Antarctica's Pine Island Bay. Areas of the glacier that sit near geologic features thought to be volcanic are melting faster than regions farther away from hotspots, said Dustin Schroeder, the study's lead author and a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin.

This melting could significantly affect ice loss in the West Antarctic, an area that is losing ice quickly.

"It's not just the fact that there is melting water, and that water is coming out," Schroeder told Live Science. "It's how that affects the flow and stability of the ice." [Images: See an Antarctic Glacier Calve an Iceberg]

Antarctic heat

Researchers have long known that volcanoes lurk under the ice of West Antarctica. This is a seismically active region, where East and West Antarctica are rifting apart. In 2013, a team of scientists even found a new volcano beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

West Antarctica is also hemorrhaging ice due to climate change, and recent studies have suggested there is no way to reverse the retreat of West Antarctic glaciers. However, the timing of this retreat is still in question, Schroeder said — it could take hundreds of years, or thousands. It's important to understand which, given that meltwater from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet contributes directly to sea level rise.

Scientists use computer models to try to predict the future of the ice sheet, but their lack of understanding of subglacial geothermal energy has been a glaring gap in these models. Measuring geothermal activity under the ice sheet is so difficult that researchers usually just enter one, uniform estimate for the contributions of geothermal heat to melting, Schroeder said.

Of course, volcanism isn't uniform. Geothermal hotspots no doubt influence melting more in some areas than in others.

"It's the most complex thermal environment you might imagine," study co-author Don Blankenship, a geophysicist at UT Austin, said in a statement. "And then, you plop the most critical dynamically unstable ice sheet on planet Earth in the middle of this thing, and then you try to model it. It's virtually impossible."

[Monker]

if you think a Volcano under the Earth is caused by Man...

You didn't even read or comprehend the very article you posted.

in the areas you did NOT make bold, it says:

"Now, a new study finds that these subglacial volcanoes and other geothermal "hotspots" are contributing to the melting of Thwaites Glacier'"

"West Antarctica is also hemorrhaging ice due to climate change, and recent studies have suggested there is no way to reverse the retreat of West Antarctic glaciers."

In other words, for those who can not comprehend what they read, they are admitting Climate Change is melting Antarctic ice. They theorize that vulcanism CONTRIBUTES to the melting (ie: is an addition factor). So, they are researching how much the current vulcanism CONTRIBUTES to the melting...so the climate change models will be more accurate...and can better predict when the West Antarctic will completely lose its glaciers.

[Boomchild]

Well Iraq is now a mess. Any suggestions?

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is preparing contingency plans to evacuate its employees if necessary now that one of the deadliest Islamic militant groups in the region has taken control of large swaths of Iraq, a U.S. official told TheBlaze.

Whens B.O. sending in the troops??? What a minute, I thought he said that the terrorist were "beaten back".

[slucero]

Talk about ironic...

The US is now gonna target the very same extremists Obama was arming across the border in Syria....

[slucero]

Talk about ironic...

The US is now gonna target the very same extremists Obama was arming across the border in Syria....

Yeppers, our own weapons will be used against us..

Maybe the Dems will FINALLY learn the difference between winning a war and ending a war.

I'd prefer the Dems and Reps re-read G. Washington's advice to the country regarding foreign policy... maybe try that for awhile.. might save some American soldiers lives..

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests."

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities"


~G. Washington, in his farewell the the nation...