"Some cybersecurity efforts raised the possibility that the system had been hit by a “denial of service” attack, in which people use linked networks of computers to cause a system to crash by flooding it with traffic."
I know just where to look for the perpetrators.
"A rocky debut for key health care law provision; Online markets for insurance are overwhelmed" by Richard Pérez-Peña, Robert Pear and Abby Goodnough | New York Times, October 02, 2013
NEW YORK — Heavy volume contributed to technical problems and delays that plagued the rollout Tuesday of the online insurance markets at the heart of President Obama’s health care law, according to state and federal officials, who were watching closely for clues to how well the system will work and how many people will take advantage of it.
Many people who tried to compare plans and shop for coverage at healthcare.gov, the federally run exchange that serves as the marketplace for residents of most states, met with messages citing high traffic and advising, “Please wait here until we send you to the login page,” or “The system is down at the moment.” A state-run exchange in Maryland also posted a message saying it was “experiencing connectivity issues” and asking visitors to try again later.
Speaking at the White House, Obama said that more than 1 million people had visited the federal site by 7 a.m., more than five times as much traffic as experienced by Medicare’s website. He said his administration would fix technical problems and adjust to “this demand that exceeds anything that we had expected.”
Why was the damn thing rolled out in the first place when you knew it had all these glitches, and why can't AmeriKan companies make a decent product anymore?
Related: Obamacare Exchanges Are Now Open
Also see:
"Throughout the United States, websites, servers, chats, and telephone service were unavailable and precluded people from signing up for ObamaCare exchanges. Earlier, the Arctic Conservative at Free Patriot reported that the crashing websites showed the program was not ready for prime time. Even ObamaCare supporters over at the Wonkblog were disappointed in the exchanges and found themselves unable to apply. The crashing servers are showing that even ardent supporters of the program are beginning to think that the program was not ready for prime time."
And yet this administration is calling it a success.
States that operate their own enrollment sites reported widely varying levels of traffic, but most said the systems were working, though with some problems caused by having more people than expected go to the exchanges.
Related:
"Among the glitches consumers faced were Web pages that contain answers to frequently asked questions, known as FAQ pages, that did not load properly and were down much of the day. Also, the website moved very slowly"
I thought I was a patient not a con$umer, but the profit-making providers (they give, we take, message received) are making progress on costs!
I give up, folks. Fuck the corporate pre$$ and the Boston Globe.
In the first few hours that their exchanges were operating, New York state’s reported 2 million visits, Kentucky’s 24,000, Illinois’ more than 62,000, and Connecticut’s 14,000. Most of those people were browsing and comparing options; the numbers attempting to enroll in an insurance plan were far smaller, and there were more problems reported with that process.
The administration has stressed that consumers could also phone call centers or go in person to social service agencies, which can be found at localhelp.healthcare.gov, that have been designated as “navigators” to help people through the process. But those systems also stumbled out of the gate, dependent on the same computer systems used by people who went online.
Meaning the "navigators" were LOST!
It was unclear to what degree problems with the federal websites were due to the kind of technical hurdles that supporters of the program had warned about and that opponents had predicted would demonstrate its unwieldiness. Federal officials conceded Tuesday that even if volume were low, computer problems would be making it hard for people to shop, compare prices, and enroll.
Some cybersecurity efforts raised the possibility that the system had been hit by a “denial of service” attack, in which people use linked networks of computers to cause a system to crash by flooding it with traffic.
Then the article turned its attention to the government shutdown.
******************************
The shutdown did idle some federal employees who had been promoting the expansion of coverage. A White House spokeswoman, contacted about snags in the rollout, said, “Due to the lapse in appropriations, I am not in the office and am not available to answer your message.”
******************************
The stakes are immense for Obama, whose signature achievement is the 2010 law that is supposed to push the United States closer to universal health care. Defending the law in the 2012 campaign, he defeated a Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, who vowed to repeal it.
Yeah, because his name and ego are on the thing; to hell with what is good for the country.
A trouble-plagued launching, accompanied by the complaints of frustrated consumers, could undermine political support for the law, while tepid participation by the uninsured could weaken its financial underpinnings, which depend on the largest possible number of people paying into the system.
That means the youth: Six Million To Pay ObamaCare Penalty, 69% of The youth (18-29) Polled Were Unaware They Had To Get Insurance
And they are supposed to be the ones underwriting the whole system. Damn that dumb 'em down ejewkhazional $y$tem of indoctrination and inculcation.
And how do you UNDERMINE SUPPORT for something that HAS NONE?
--more--"
Also see: The ACA’s crucial prevention component
On to the shutdown:
"No one budges in divided Congress; Lawmakers stick to stances as shutdown idles 800,000" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, October 02, 2013
WASHINGTON — Congress remained at a standstill on Tuesday, unable to break its impasse and put a quick end to a government shutdown that kept 800,000 federal workers home, shuttered monuments and museums, and put on stark display the dysfunctional state of America’s political system.
This is all a $hit-show fooley and diversion, folks. It's like WWE wrestling.
I notice the $y$tem isn't dysfunctional when it comes to domestic tyranny, the wars of conquest for empire, aid to Israel, corporate welfare, and all the rest.
Throughout the day, politicians delivered angry speeches, appeared on television, and engaged in plenty of political theater.
I no longer watch that kind of televison.
But there was very little actual negotiating going on inside a US Capitol that was at times eerily quiet.
Good.
As night fell, political leaders were planning to keep the government shut down not only a second day but, with no solution in sight, indefinitely.
Most Republicans continue to insist that any government funding bill include cuts to President Obama’s health care law. But Democrats have declared that a nonstarter, saying the law has already been approved by Congress, upheld by the Supreme Court, and is now being implemented.
Besides, Democrats are already on record as viewing a shutdown as politically advantageous and thus, despite their protestations, are in favor of a shutdown as well. It bring back the sequester fooley.
The other thing is CONGRESS MAKES the LAWS! Obamacare is not SET IN STONE! Congress made it? Then they can UNMAKE IT!
In a moment that seemed to encapsulate the absurd situation the country finds itself in, elderly World War II veterans were forced to remove barricades to roll their wheelchairs to a closed World War II Memorial on the National Mall.
I'm not opposed to veterans or for mistreating them in any way (that's government's job), but I'm also sick of the endless war promotion, be it past or present, in my war paper.
So when are the WARS going to be DEFUNDED anyway? That might save us some vets in wheelchairs.
During a brief standoff, they were reportedly assisted by several congressional members who hours earlier helped trigger the shutdown by failing to pass a budget.
House Speaker John Boehner rallied his side to continue pushing for changes in the health care law, telling them in a closed-door meeting they were doing the right thing. The idea of a straight vote on keeping government funded without tying it to health care wasn’t even discussed, attendees said.
That is why I am here. Maybe I will give them a call later with some support and encouragement.
“We are a unified team, I can tell you that,” Representative Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Republican, said as he emerged from the meeting. “This is a Braveheart moment.”
Tours halted and congressional offices stopped much of their normal constituent work. The Defense Department announced that all sports at service academies — including this weekend’s Navy-Air Force football game — will be suspended.
Oh, no, no Navy-Air Force football game? How will the country survive?
Related: AmeriKan Military Bans Sex Magazines
Boys will be boys.
There were “closed” signs around landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial. Federal twitter accounts stopped sending messages, and government websites were no longer updated.
Related:
"The government shutdown of 2013 got underway in a million small and large ways as the federal government began powering down, shuttering anything from offices to official Twitter accounts, all because Congress could not come together. There are really no days when Congress comes together anymore, but on Tuesday you could take a picture of it."
Click.
Also see:
"This is pure propaganda aimed at getting Americans to go along with those parts of the government they do not like (NSA, DHS, TSA) in order to be allowed to access those parts of the government they DO like. Because as anyone who does websites knows, the fact that you are getting that message means the government website servers are still running! Indeed, someone actually SPENT money to change the main pages on those servers to announce the shutdown! So absolutely no money is being saved here. It's just "scare the taxpayers" theater."
Yeah, the shutdowns are all geared to anger the people and are SELECTIVE in their APPLICATION for MAXIMUM PRESSURE!
The latest House Republican plan to fund only certain portions of the government — national parks, veterans services, and the District of Columbia — was pilloried before it was even voted on.
That means DEMOCRATS were OBSTRUCTIONISTS, right?
Of course, "Tea Party" to be blamed!
Obama threatened to veto it and Senate majority leader Harry Reid called it “just another wacky idea from the Tea Party-driven Republicans.”
Yeah, the NAME-CALLING is not helping, either!
House Republicans, in an attempt to put Democrats on the spot and essentially dare them to vote against measures that included popular programs, called for a vote requiring a two-thirds majority. But the measures all failed on Tuesday night, with Democrats remaining mostly united.
Mostly?
“People shouldn’t have to choose between help for our veterans and cancer research,” Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said several hours before the House votes. “And we shouldn’t have to choose between visiting our national parks or enrolling kids in Head Start.”
“We’re happy to discuss how to fund the government, but not with a gun to our heads,” he added. “Open up all of the government, and then we can have a fruitful discussion.”
That looks like LEGISLATIVE EXTORTION, the same thing he and his are accusing of Republicans. What a piece of slime.
**********************
Several polls have shown that Americans are pinning blame for the shutdown on Republicans, which could create long-lasting damage to the party and its ability to win back control of the Senate in 2014.
So says my agenda-pu$hing ma$$ media that I no longer believe.
And if the political analysis is right, Republicans are certainly not doing this for their health!
Seventy-two percent of those surveyed oppose Congress shutting down the government to block implementation of Obama’s health care law, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday. The survey also found that 74 percent disapprove of the job Republicans in Congress are doing, the lowest score they’ve ever had.
I'm one of the few, the proud, the 26%.
Also see:
"In the same poll, 69 percent said congressional Republicans were behaving “like a spoiled child,’’ compared with 58 percent who said congressional Democrats were conducting themselves that way."
Yeah, turns out we DON'T LIKE EITHER ONE of them because the TWO FACTIONS of the CORPORATE WAR PARTY are what PUT US in this ME$$!
Btw, the truth is the truth even if you are a minority of one.
“Americans are certainly not in love with Obamacare, but they reject decisively the claim by congressional Republicans that it is so bad that it’s worth closing down the government to stop it,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
We are not only not in love, we despise the thing. The polls have also shown that in no uncertain terms.
The government shutdown began on a day that the health care law opened for enrollment.
Why wasn't that shut down then?
As part of that rollout, Obama went to the White House Rose Garden to tout the law, and chide Congress for failing to avert the shutdown.
He is not helping matters at all.
“My basic message to Congress is this: pass a budget, end the government shutdown,” Obama said in the Rose Garden. “We’re better than this. Certainly the American people are better than this.”
We are. You are not.
“Congress generally has to stop governing by crisis,” he added. “It is a drag on the economy. It is not worthy of this country.”
Somewhat lost amid the more imminent problems was that the funding bill at issue is set to last only until Nov. 15. There is also an impending debt limit crisis that could have a more far-reaching impact on the economy. If Congress does not raise the debt limit by Oct. 17, according to Treasury officials, the government will default on its loans.
Is that when Obama will become a dictator out in the open?
Republicans have been hoping to also extract concessions by raising the debt limit, while Democrats say they won’t negotiate. Congress has already authorized the spending, they say, and it now needs to authorize a way to pay the bills.
But with each side dug in, there was little progress on any front. Several moderate Republicans were becoming more publicly critical of their Tea Party-backed colleagues, even though they hadn’t gained enough support within the House Republican caucus.
RINOs.
“They’re lemmings. They’re followers,” said Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican from California. “They’re just waiting for the next guy in front of the mic, the next guy up on TV — and they’re going to run out and follow him.”
The basis for the formation of political parties and those that staff them.
“We have a responsibility to govern in this country, and we have a responsibility to make sure the government runs and functions properly,” he added. “And if you’re going to take these extreme measures, you’d better have a plan to win. And I don’t know that there’s a plan to win.”
I thought we were all in this together, at least, that is what I was told by my government and its mouthpiece media.
--more--"
Whose to blame:
"Tea Party lawmakers seek to deflect the blame; As they take hits in polls, they point to Democrats" by Tracy Jan and Mattias Gugel | Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent, October 02, 2013
WASHINGTON — Some of their own GOP colleagues called them “crazy.” Others accused them of being “lemmings” who are leading the Republican Party off a cliff.
Related: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
But on Tuesday, the first day of a government shutdown, members of the Tea Party wing of Congress were by turns combative, defiant, defensive, and resolute.
In other words, business as usual.
One after another, in front of the bank of television cameras lining a hallway of the Capitol basement on their way into a closed-door meeting of House Republicans, the lawmakers continued their single-minded quest to dismantle President Obama’s health care law – even though their 40-plus previous attempts have failed, led to the current impasse, and contributed to a shutdown that furloughed 800,000 federal workers.
“This is what my constituents send me here for,” Representative John Fleming, a Louisiana Republican, said in an interview. “This does underscore just how serious we are and how serious our constituents are about putting an end to Obamacare.”
How dare you represent people the people who elected you in a Republic!?
Representative Tim Huelskamp, a Kansas Republican, and many of his colleagues cast the blame for the shutdown on the Senate, accusing senators of wanting to hold onto “their own gold-crusted health care plan” rather than negotiate with House Republicans over fixing what they view as flaws in the 2010 health overhaul.
Related: A Healthy Insult For the American People
“I want it to be over now,” Huelskamp said of the shutdown. “All we’re waiting on is for the Senate to actually appoint some negotiators.”
A lighthearted mood pervaded some corners of the Capitol. Some Republican senators waiting for a press conference to start joked about whether a staffer was considered an “essential government employee,” and therefore not subject to the furloughs.
Then this whole thing is really not as dire and serious as the agenda-pushing mouthpiece media is making?
Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who proposed an earlier amendment barring members of Congress and their staffs from receiving federal subsidies for health insurance, teased Senator Marco Rubio of Florida about the Miami Dolphins’ Monday night loss to the New Orleans Saints — a football game that took place in the hours leading up to Monday’s midnight deadline to fund the government.
Do I really need to type anything?
Jokes aside, both Tea Party and mainstream Republicans attempted Tuesday to deflect blame for the shutdown in a bid to avoid lasting political damage to the party.
The elections are over a year away.
Tea Party websites and blogs also sought to pin the blame for the shutdown on Democrats — attempting to turn around the usual accusations of intransigence pinned on the Tea Party.
What, no anarchists or insurgents today?
The reason for the effort is clear: there is real risk to the GOP. National opinion polls show that the majority of Americans blame congressional Republicans for the shutdown. An ABC/Washington Post poll released Monday said 63 percent disapproved of the way Republicans were handling the budget impasse.
Is there anyone out their who believes a lamestream media poll anymore?
House Republicans on Tuesday scrambled to undo some of the harm by floating piecemeal bills to restore funding to national parks and museums, the District of Columbia, and veterans.
Which the Democrats ignored because they want the shutdown for political advantage.
***************************
Back to the health exchanges that for some reason were not shutdown:
Tuesday marked the first day uninsured Americans were allowed to sign up for coverage as the health insurance marketplaces made their debut – yet another occasion Tea Party members seized upon to further deride the law, which they declared to be a disaster.
“I’ve been waiting 12 hours to sign up for Obamacare,” said Huelskamp, who said the website for the federal heath insurance marketplace crashed and he could not get on.
(Blog editor chuckles)
Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, accused Tea Party Republicans of stirring up “political psychodrama” by refusing to accept reality: that the Affordable Care Act is the law that was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court and Obama’s reelection.
Blah, blah, blah.
Meanwhile, Tea Party groups across the country are echoing the same talking points as the congressmen, calling the impasse the “Democrat shutdown.”
It is if you have been keeping up with Globe reporting.
See: I'm Glad the Government is Shut Down
Also see:
All the more reason for them to stay resolute.
Tea Party Patriots accused the media of “fearmongering” in their coverage of the shutdown, to scare Americans into “abandoning their stance of fiscal responsibility.”
That is what they do best!
The Tea Party could hardly be extremist, they said, when polls show that a majority of Americans oppose the health law.
Yeah, but DON'T LET THAT FACT get in the way of the propaganda narrative put forth by the pre$$.
Senate Tea Party Republicans who lead the fight to hold government funding hostage to the defunding of the health law also spun the shutdown as the fault of Democrats who would not budge....
Oh, now they are HOSTAGE TAKERS in the eyes of the agenda-pushing pre$$!!
--more--"
Related:
Amid shutdown, local business leaders still confident
Stock investors remain bullish despite shutdown
Then why worry, and why is the mouthpiece media spending so much print on it?
I'm sorry, folks, but I could only read five pages of the Globe today before I threw it down in angry disgust. Nuttinyahoo at the U.N. began the boiling, and these two items basically sent me over:
"Said Army General James D. Thurman, who is retiring and will leave his post this week as the commander of 28,500 US troops in South Korea. “We’ve got to keep a close watch on him, every day, and that’s what we try to do.”
Don't worry, I'm sure the NSA and AmeriKa's global surveillance grid is doing just that.
Thurman made his comments on the same day that South Korea celebrated the founding of its armed forces with the country’s biggest military parade in a decade. About 11,000 South Korean troops marched through downtown Seoul and showed off tanks, advanced artillery, and a new cruise missile that is capable of striking anywhere in North Korea. The parade was attended by a brass-packed roster of US national security officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Admiral Samuel Locklear, the chief of the US Pacific Command; and Thurman.
Unbelievable! South Korea had a military provocation in a servile ceremony to acknowledge the AmeriKan Empire.
“One of the things that we were able to do is remain calm and confident, and not get excited,” he told reporters. “It is very important, from an alliance perspective, to assure the Korean people here that they’re going to be OK and that things are going to work out fine.”
OMG! Talk about AmeriKan arrogance! Treating the KOREANS like CHILDREN!
Yes, don't worry, Koreans, the BENEVOLENT ARM of the AmeriKan military is protecting you and everything will be all right!
What a COMPASSIONATE and PROTECTIVE GLOBAL KILLING MACHINE, huh?
Tensions have subsided in the region since....
the U.S. war games concluded.
--more--"
Yeah, it's the Kim fella that is the problem!
Now on to Afghanistan:
"The country’s international financial and military backers have said a smooth transition during the presidential election is necessary to ensure the country’s stability. US and international donors have pledged more than $8 billion yearly in aid to keep Afghanistan’s military and economy running, including funds for development and infrastructure projects.
This as we have a SHUTDOWN and have seen NEGLECT for YEARS in OUR OWN, Americans!
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Afghan Classroom
At least you just learned something!
Never mind the FACT that we SMASHED the country to SMITHEREENS!
Many of those funds are tied to the Afghan government holding transparent and credible elections, something that is not certain in a country rife with patronage and corruption and a resilient Taliban insurgency that shows no signs of abating. The Taliban do not recognize the election process....
That last bit is another lie or distortion, but what's the big deal in a paper full of them?
As for patronage and corruption, the Afghans learned well from their AmeriKan masters.
You want our young men to die for what, Senator?
Ethnically fractious, Afghan politics are marked by patronage and alliances among the elite — a group that includes warlords and tribal elders who can marshal votes among the country’s ethnic groups....
Alliances among those groups are expected to generate coalitions that will vie for the powerful job of president....
In other words, Afghan politics are just like AmeriKa's!
A nation of 31 million, Afghanistan also has all the hallmarks of a narco-state and is the largest producer of raw opium in the world.
After a dozen years of occupation?
Related: U.S. Gardening in Afghanistan
WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR IN AFGHANISTAN
The elections will help determine if the billions spent by the United States and its allies since the American invasion on Oct. 7, 2001, to fight the Taliban, and later engage in a nation-building campaign, will have paid off, creating a country that will no longer harbor or export terrorism.
Are YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME?!?!
The measurement for judging this massive war crime is going to be whether western forces will announce a credible election in six months?
Not the MILLIONS of DEAD, the DESTRUCTION of the COUNTRY, the LITTERING of the ENVIRONMENT with DEPLETED URANIUM and CHEMICAL WEAPONS, the LEGACY of TORTURE?!!
SIGH!
The Afghan war has been one of the costliest in US history and along with development aid spent here has cost taxpayers more than the Marshall plan to rebuild Europe after World War II....
$AY WHAT?!!!!!?!!!!!!?!!!!!
--more--"
I'm sorry, folks, but I don't know how much longer I can read and blog about this atrocious shit called Amerikan journalism via the regional flagshit Boston Globe. What a piece of absolute slop.
