Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 2:02 PM
...
Subject: The President’s Announcement
Importance: High

These are fun times, don’t you think?

The statement the President made to the press today has put a few thing on hold. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303789604579197733759439274

As of right now I would advise we do nothing in terms of advice or enrolling in either a Qualified Health Insurance (metallic) plan or a non-grandfathered plan. That would include AffordaBlue PLUS. Frankly we don’t know the full implications of what the president has said. We are certain the ND Department of Insurance will also have something to add to the conversation. So simply put, I don’t know what to advise anyone seeking health insurance as of this minute.

I will send out an update tomorrow to bring everyone up to speed on BCBSND’s position.

STAY TUNED, more to come tomorrow.

Thanks,

JD (Jim) Nichol
Consumer Sales Manager
BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF NORTH DAKOTA

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:47:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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John McCain Thinks John Kerry Is a ‘Human Wrecking Ball’

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 18:24:51 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Erik offers a suggestion to congress:

Every [IRS scandal] hearing should start out with statements and questions along the following lines:

Now, Mrs. Lerner/Mr. Lew (or whoever is being questioned), you — obviously — realize that the whole background to this scandal is the improper politicization of the Internal Revenue Service, do you not?  Good.  And you realize that what occurred was a blatant display of double standards, do you not?  Very well.  And you recognize that the process was unfair and inappropriate, don’t you, and that there was no reason to keep Such-and-Such-a Tea Party waiting for months, indeed for years?  Good.

So: there do not seem to be any disagreements about that…

And so I have the following question for you:

Why is it that Such-and-Such-a Tea Party has not yet indeed received approval of its tax-exempt status?

Why is it that — six months later after the scandal broke — its members are still waiting to receive approval of their status?

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:58:23 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 18:55:56 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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First snow of the season...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 19:06:05 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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I don’t want an apology from Obama.  I want an apology from every shit-for-brains reporter who blindly bought his fantasies.

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 17:16:36 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Francis Fukuyama finds our federal bureaucracy wanting:

I find it amazing how far much of the US federal bureaucracy has fallen from the standard of a professional, impersonal, merit-based Weberian organization since the first efforts to do this were made under the 1883 Pendleton Act.  For example, in recent years fully half of all new entrants into the federal civil service have been veterans, and of these, a large number are disabled veterans.  There is nothing wrong with hiring disabled veterans, but this Congressionally-mandated veterans preference was not designed with the aim of producing the highest possible quality government.  It is akin to the mandates imposed on federal procurement for small-, women-owned, or minority business contracting...

Recruitment and promotion tend to value experience over capacity, and therefore reinforce a status-quo bias among federal employees.  What we end up with is a screwed-up set of incentives for federal workers that does not reward innovation, risk-taking, or high levels of qualification.

What the contemporary civil service fails to do is to attract smart, highly qualified young people out of elite universities in the manner of the classic French, German, or British services.  In fact, the government is very good at putting a large number of obstacles in front of any ambitious young person who might want to sign up, like voluminous disclosure rules in the current employment regulations.

...The fact [is] that the civil service has been colonized by a single political party, and that career officials who are supposed to be nonpartisan have been acting as partisan political operatives...  I don’t think that Fukuyama’s proposed reforms would do anything about this problem.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 18:04:52 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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...What does it say about the liberal wonks that they either never said so when the legislation was being debated or said so very quietly under their breaths?

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 21:51:39 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Instapundit spots a headline:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:07:28 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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On Friday... the man the president brought in to rescue his health insurance program acknowledged the painfully obvious: that the problems have been far worse than we were told.  Jeffrey Zeints said they’ll take weeks — if not longer — to fix.  Plus, he’s shaking up the team overseeing the repair.
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‘‘And by the end of November, healthcare.gov will work smoothly for the vast majority of users.’’

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:11:19 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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