Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[10ac]

[img2]http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000 ... p.zoom.gif[/img2]

[10ac]

Squirrels go nuts for First Lady's garden in shutdown...

...tomatoes are rotting

UNHARVESTED...

My God! When will this madness stop?

[Toemeesleather]

CALGARY • Enbridge Inc. is working to open a major new pathway to the U.S. Gulf Coast for Alberta bitumen, solidifying a commercial link between the world’s No. 3 crude deposit and the Texas refining corridor that has so far eluded industry planners.
U.S. corporate heavyweights urge Obama to approve Keystone XL

Canada’s largest pipeline company is spending $2.8-billion to “twin” its Spearhead pipeline from Flanagan, Ill., to Cushing, Okla., and another $1.1-billion to nearly triple capacity on its Seaway system between the Midwest storage hub and the Houston area.

By mid-2014, the two pipelines will be able to transport 775,000 barrels of Alberta’s extra-thick oil for processing at coastal refineries, Steve Wuori, president of Enbridge’s liquids pipeline unit, said in an interview this week.

“There’s a bottleneck, and that’s some of what this pipeline system is designed to clear,” he said. The Chicago-to-Houston path will “provide better pricing for Canadian producers but also better access to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners to that barrel.”

The Enbridge route is taking shape as TransCanada Corp.’s rival Keystone XL project lurches into its sixth year of review by the U.S. government.


Just like the Maginot Line.....you go around it. Woo-hoo!! Thank God the Canadians don't fall for the idiocy we do here in the states.

[Toemeesleather]

Aetna's CEO gave a harshly critical review Monday of the federal government's Obamacare marketplace, saying, "There's so much wrong, you just don't know what's broken until you get a lot more of it fixed."

Asked on CNBC's "Squawk Box" if he knew that the rollout of Healthcare.gov would be problematic, the insurer's CEO, Mark Bertolini, said his giant company's role as an alpha tester for the system gave it a sense of how many problems the health insurance marketplace faced on the eve of its launch.

"We were pretty nervous as we got further along," Bertolini said. "As they started missing deadlines, we were pretty convinced it was going to be a difficult launch."

His fears have been realized, he said, and the technological debacle seen at Healthcare.gov is one similar to just the handful he's witnessed in his career.

"It's nothing you ever like to repeat," Bertolini said. "Because it's very difficult. I've been there. It's career-ending in a lot of cases."

"It's all been on the fly," Bertolini said of the construction of the marketplace and the integration of insurers such as Aetna, whose plans are being offered to up 40 million customers.

"We didn't get code drops until the last month before the system went live," he said.

Healthcare.gov was besieged by visitors went it went live Oct. 1 and has struggled to deal with a raft of software problems, including transmitting data to insurers and even allowing people to shop for plans.

It is not clear how many—or how few—people have even enrolled in plans sold on the site.

Asked how long the marketplace, also known as an exchange, will take to fix, Bertolini said, "That's the big question."



Yet we're told the American people love it, want more, and Obammer's job approval is soaring....

[10ac]

Well, Tick's in the insurance business and I tend to believe him when he says everything is hunky dory.

[Jungle Rat]

He's talking about his beer can collection.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Deal announced and Ted Cruz begins a press conference at the exact same time Mitch McConnell announces the deal on the Senate floor. He's spitting in your face, Mitch

[Professor Tiger]

From September 20:

Any discussion on the looming votes on the debt ceiling to defund Obamacare?

The House Republicans have convinced themselves this is a great idea. I'm sure Custer thought it was a great idea when he took the 7th Cavalry into the Little Big Horn.

[sardis]

Would you like to make a bet on whether the Rs win the House again?

[hedge]

Fuck the House...

[bluetick]

Would you like to make a bet on whether the Rs win the House again?

So who wins the R party? reaganites or the bloodied rwnjs?

[BigRedMan]

Hey I can't wait to do it all again in January!!!

[bluetick]

Conceding the race before a crowd of a few hundred supporters at a banquet hall in Bridgewater, N.J., Mr. Lonegan called the race a victory, even in defeat, and thanked the prominent conservatives who had come to the state to campaign for him, including Rand Paul and Sarah Palin.

Just like some on the right who are claiming the shutdown gambit was a victory, even in defeat. Does everybody use the same efing playbook?

[Toemeesleather]

Yep, definition of success varies greatly out there.....


http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 1568384292

[bluetick]

Since there's all these glitches to iron out somebody should have come up with an idea for a delay. Like, say, a year.

oh well...too late now

[10ac]

Wait, was that a criticism?!

[Toemeesleather]

This info is fairly easy to find on the internet......BUT, you absolutely won't see it at NBCABCCBSNYT, who continue to do everything possible to protect their guy....the most anticipated Gov't event in generations, yes bigger than Katrina, and the silence among the gnobgobblers is deafening.




President Barack Obama will “directly address the technical problems with HealthCare.gov” and announce steps he’s ordered to address them at a Monday event, a White House official said Sunday. He also plans to underscore the benefits his health law will provide Americans and will be joined at the Rose Garden event by people whom the White House described as already benefiting from the law, or as helping with the outreach for people to understand and sign up for the new health coverage options.

In a separate statement Sunday evening, HHS announced some modifications to the homepage to allow consumers to get more information upfront without having to wrestle with the rest of the balky site. That includes information about health plans, subsidies and costs, as well as a directions for signing up by phone, on paper, or with in-person assistance.

Sen. John McCain on CNN Sunday said the whole Obamacare rollout has been “a fiasco.”

“Send Air Force One out to Silicon Valley, load it up with some smart people, bring them back to Washington and fix this problem. It’s ridiculous. And everybody knows that,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

HHS didn’t mention Silicon Valley — or Air Force One — but implied it was doing something along those lines.

“Our team is bringing in some of the best and brightest from both inside and outside government to scrub in with the team and help improve HealthCare.gov,” HHS said.

[Toemeesleather]

USA Today quotes Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, as saying Wednesday: "I will be the first to tell you that the website launch was rockier than we wanted it to be." Note the similarity to the shifty language of Obama's Tuesday quote: "I will be the first to acknowledge . . ." Both claim to be "the first" to say things everyone knew two weeks earlier and are grossly understating what everyone now knows.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans a hearing next Thursday on the exchanges' failures, but Politico reports Sebelius has declined to testify and HHS "has not committed to sending any other officials." Jon Stewart, by contrast, didn't need a subpoena to get her on his show.

Meanwhile, government and industry insiders with knowledge of the fiasco are intimidated from talking to the press, according to multiple reports. The Journal reports that HHS officials "have pressured insurers to refrain from commenting publicly about the problems, according to executives at four health plans, who asked not to be named. The HHS declined to comment."

USA Today reports that John Engates, a technology executive, "said HHS has been opaque about the problems, and the tech industry doesn't know the extent of the issues. 'There's no secrets leaking out,' he said. 'I'm sure everyone's looking for something to change the direction of the conversation, but it's just not there.' " And Levin reports that in addition to his acquaintances, "I approached several additional people at CMS who politely declined to discuss the exchanges."

[Toemeesleather]

Another gov't definition of success......2.8% success rate.



Noting that only 271,000 of the 9.47 million people who tried signing up in the first week managed to create an account, Consumer Reports then provided a few tips to those attempting to slog through the application process. From attempting successive logins because “error messages … may not always match reality” to checking your inbox frequently because if you miss an e-mail you’ll be timed out of the site and forced to start from square one, none of the suggestions guaranteed success.

The magazine has also released a string of scathing reviews.



WINNING!!!!1111

[bluetick]

[quote="Toemeesleather"]
Noting that only 271,000 of the 9.47 million people who tried signing up

Day-um. First week 9 1/2 mil...