Thursday, October 3, 2013

Obama the Obstructionist

It is certainly not the play you are getting from the corporate pre$$ even though they admit it:

"Democrats have remained united, opposed to any partial approach to funding the government. Obama has vowed to veto such measures."

Because -- as I have been documenting below -- the Democrats think a shutdown gives them political advantage, as Obama selectively decides which agencies and operations to close to elicit maximum anger from the people and make Republicans look bad. I'm not saying they are a great bunch of guys, but the level of attack in the mouthpiece media means they must be doing something right. 

Btw, at basketball last night I had some turnovers and lost my focus because at one point I heard the two guys on the bench say "government" and then two guys on the court chimed in about the Congre$$ still getting paid and I realized that the American people are with the Republicans even if the lying, agenda-pushing distorters of the ma$$ media claim otherwise.

Not only am I now the mainstream media, I am now the mainstream in thought.

"Obama exhorts leaders to halt shutdown" by Matt Viser |  Globe Staff, October 03, 2013

WASHINGTON — President Obama, illustrating just how polarized the nation’s leaders have become....

I do blame him and his, yeah.

Even as 800,000 federal employees remained furloughed and government agencies were shuttered or crippled, the White House began turning its attention to the next battle: raising the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned that the government will not be able to borrow more money unless the debt ceiling is raised by Oct. 17. Administration officials and economists have warned failing to raise the ceiling would trigger a default on government debt that could lead to meltdown in debt markets and push the economy into another recession.

So that is the excuse and reasons we will be getting for Federal Reserve mismanagement?

When asked whether Wall Street should shrug off the stalemate in Washington, Obama told CNBC: “I think this time is different. I think they should be concerned. I have bent over backwards to work with the Republican Party and have purposely kept my rhetoric down.”

Unreal! He isn't even talking to them, and his rhetoric?

See: Tired of Obomber 

Yeah, he has really kept the rhetoric down, him and his name-calling party. 

That is one thing I have noticed: Republicans are being called icky names by Democraps, while Republicans are only criticizing Democraps. Doesn't really mean much, it just shows you how much class that side has. The obvious bias of the Jewish AmeriKan media towards all things "left" is obviously showing, the exception being anything Israel, of course.

Obama hosted 14 chief executives from top financial firms at the White House on Wednesday, who afterward issued dire warnings about the debt ceiling and called on Republicans not to use it as a bargaining chip.

Oh, the BANKERS DON'T LIKE what the Republicans are doing? Then they MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT! 

And why was this information buried in the middle of this piece, 'eh?

“There’s a consensus that we shouldn’t do anything that hurts this recovery,” Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said as he left the White House. “You can relitigate these policy issues in a political forum, but we shouldn’t use threats of causing the US to fail on its obligations to repay its debt as a cudgel.”

Yeah, he is a real great guy who claims he is doing God's work. Good old Goldman Sachs, mortgage-backed securities fraud and all.

As for that recovery.... Obomber is Insane

But it is finally getting better now:

"Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, the top 1 percent have enjoyed the benefits of rising corporate profits and stock prices: 95 percent of the income gains reported since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent compared with a 1 percent increase for the remaining 99 percent."

"In a report issued early this month, Emmanuel Saez, an economist at UC Berkeley, said that since the recession ended, family incomes in the top 1 percent grew by 31 percent while everybody else’s incomes rose by just 0.4 percent."

Yeah, Blankfein says don't di$turb the "recovery."

The business community frequently sides with Republicans and has fought some of Obama’s health care and financial regulatory laws. But the White House has won support from business in the current fight, with groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce urging Republicans to drop their demands that the health care law be tied to funding the government. Corporate leaders have warned that a debt ceiling crisis could be a disaster.

Yes, and as we all know, AmeriKan corporate leaders only care about the good health and welfare of us all so we should do exactly what they say. I mean, the $y$tem is humming for all of us, ain't it?

“There’s precedent for a government shutdown,” Blankfein said. “There’s no precedent for a default . . . and I’m not anxious to be part of the process that witnesses it.” 

????? That's a lie because the U.S. has defaulted a number of times in the past. That is simply a historical fact!

The reason he does not want to be a "part of the process that witnesses it" is because HE WON'T GET PAID!  These bankers WON'T PAID the ODIOUS DEBT THEY ARE OWED!

********************************

“The entire government is shut down right now because Washington Democrats refuse to even talk about fairness for all Americans under Obamacare,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. “Offering to negotiate only after Democrats get everything they want is not much of an offer.”

That's not the way it is being portrayed in my mouthpiece media! 

The House is attempting to restore some government functions piecemeal. On Wednesday, leaders approved three smaller funding bills, which would provide money for national parks and museums, the District of Columbia government, and the National Institutes of Health.

The House is planning to vote on Thursday to fund the National Guard and the Veterans Administration.

But so far, Democrats have remained united, opposed to any partial approach to funding the government. Obama has vowed to veto such measures.

That is DEMOCRATIC OBSTRUCTION, but you will never see the term in my pos newspaper.

House Republicans and Senate Democrats have remained at loggerheads for weeks, barely talking to one another. That impasse on Tuesday led to the first government shutdown in nearly two decades.

Most House Republicans have insisted that any government funding bill include cuts or delays to President Obama’s signature health care law, a position Democrats have declared a nonstarter.

About a dozen House Republicans have spoken out in favor of abandoning that approach, but they have not built enough of a movement to upend the plans of Tea Party-backed Republicans who want to hold firm.

Increasingly, it appears that one potential solution is to tie the government funding to an increase of the debt limit. It is an approach that both Democrats and Republicans have said they could support.

“That’s what we think we need — a forcing action to bring two parties together,” Representative Paul Ryan, an influential Republican from Wisconsin, said on Tuesday. “We don’t want to close the government down. We want it open. But we want fairness. . . . We want a budget agreement that gets the debt under control.” 

Then end the expansion of the empire and retract it, cut off aid to Israel, and stop propping up Wall Street. What is so hard about that?

When Obama and Boehner tried to hammer out a so-called grand bargain in August 2011, they failed. They averted a economically dangerous debt default by creating automatic budget cuts known as the sequester, in exchange for Republican agreement to raise the debt ceiling. But with both sides at odds once again, it is highly uncertain how — and whether — combining the debt ceiling and government funding into one deal can work.

“My fear is that we’re on a course where the government stays shut down until we get the debt limit,” said Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank. “The Republicans, with a fair amount of bravado, think the president has to cave because he can’t allow a default . . . but the White House, in my view, is even firmer on the debt limit.”

“I think the odds are increasing that we go right up to the brink on default,” he added. “We could actually default.”

You know, I'm sick of Jewish "experts" dominating the content of my media.

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And does anyone really care what the Boston Fed has to say?

This next article will make you think so I suggest you grab yourself an iced tea before sitting down to read it:

"Boehner pulled from two directions" by Noah Bierman |  Globe Staff, October 03, 2013

WASHINGTON — A small band of rebellious arch-conservative Republicans has become the defining feature of Washington dysfunction, and the central thread in the first government shutdown in 17 years.

RelatedThe 800-Pound Gorilla in the Room

Another small band that has become the defining feature of Washington dysfunction.

Boehner’s options are essentially what they have been since he became speaker three years ago: either appease the most confrontational members of his party and retain his gavel, or buck them and risk losing his job in a conservative coup.

I've about had it with the agenda-pushing, mind-manipulating narrative and insults, folks.

With the shutdown, observers say, Boehner’s choice boiled down to this: restore government functions, but be prepared to sacrifice his job for doing so.

*****************

He emerged from a 90-minute meeting with Republicans in the Capitol basement and vowed — despite expressing his own distaste for the showdown strategy just months before — to continue waging a fight against President Obama’s health care law, even though it guaranteed a government shutdown.

“It’s pretty clear that what our members want is fairness for the American people,” he said, flanked by his leadership team, in a hallway crowded with reporters. His words were firm, even if his delivery was not exactly fiery.

With the shutdown unresolved, Washington is simultaneously lurching toward an even bigger threat, over the debt ceiling and a potential government default that economists say could trigger another recession and global debt-market meltdown. It remains uncertain whether Boehner views that deadline as an end point to the current standoff, or as yet another leverage point to advance conservative political goals.

Yeah, it is just politics for the Repugs when it same for Democraps. They are reveling in the shutdown as OBAMA SELECTIVELY DECIDES to STARVE CHILDREN and DENY HEALTH CARE to people!.

Lawmakers on both sides describe Boehner, one of the most charming people in Congress, as an unlikely candidate to engage in ideologically motivated brinksmanship. Critics do not so much despise him as pity him, a back-handed insult for a man who comes just after the vice president in the line of succession.

That's okay; you get used to them reading a Globe everyday.

But after Tuesday’s government shutdown, and the specter of months of cascading fiscal showdowns that are likely to follow, some have begun to ask more assertively why he did not seize the moment for the broader good.

“You need a speaker who thinks of himself or herself as the head of the legislative branch, not as a party leader,” said Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman who says other recent speakers were afflicted by the same problem.

“Speakers have a responsibility to the country at large,” said Matthew Green, a political scientist at Catholic University who wrote the book “The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership.” “We’re now reaching a point where the speaker is putting that responsibility second to the party, or even a small segment of the party.” 

Israel and the War Party, never heard any complaints.

Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, denied in an e-mail that Boehner was putting his political survival ahead of the country. He said it’s “about doing the right thing for the American people” and that Boehner draws “strong support from the House Republican Conference.”

Yeah, it is, because we are told via the polls this does not help Republicans politically. 

****************

Yet as the funding stalemate lingers, the questions grow ever larger over whether Boehner, a back-slapping former plastics salesman, has the skills to govern in the current climate. Defenders usually say he should be graded on a curve, given the difficulty in dealing with the 40 or 50 most conservative House members — out of 232 Republicans — who oppose most forms of authority. Others say he has ceded control to them.

Lie! If it were only that many he would ignore them. 

Boehner’s 23 years in Congress have been a study in survival. He came as a rebel against the excesses of Democratic leadership, rose up as a leader with Speaker Newt Gingrich’s band of rabble-rousers in the 1990s, fell from House Republican leadership when Gingrich lost power, then resurfaced as a committeeman, clawing his way back to the top from the inside.

Now, the 63-year-old is trying to build a governing legacy within a caucus that fundamentally distrusts government and its institutions, including the House traditions and rules that helped Boehner rise.

Because they have SO EARNED THAT DISTRUST with ALL the LIES and LOOTING!

Even when government "does good" it is not for the people it is allegedly caring for and helping, it is always at bottom an advantage for $ome other intere$t$ -- and I am sick of repeating myself day after day after day!!

One of his biggest accomplishments, before he became speaker, was the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, where he negotiated with Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts on the kind of sweeping overhaul that used to characterize Washington deal-making. It was, in some sense, as important to President George W. Bush’s domestic legacy as the health law is to Obama’s.

How different is the new House? In July, representatives voted to repeal No Child Left Behind, with Boehner’s support.

I have decided to leave posts about No Child Left Behind behind, sorry.

“Clearly, the ground underneath him shifted after the 2010 election,” said Steven LaTourette, a Boehner friend and former Republican congressman from Ohio who retired in 2012. “It was great news, because he got to be the speaker. But it was bad news, because he got to be the speaker.”

The newest members of Congress, the group of Republicans who gave Boehner his power, were “not really interested in governing, and I’m sure it’s got to be driving him crazy,” LaTourette said.

Their suspicion goes beyond government. Many also distrust the Republican Party and see Boehner as part of the establishment.

Boehner has often been thwarted in his attempts to use the three most important tools of a speaker’s power: reward, punishment, and persuasion.

When he took the job in 2010, he agreed to extend a ban on doling out special projects in House districts known as earmarks, which had long been used to horse-trade for votes. The process of spending government money to win political favor had also long been criticized, and removing them was a key component in the GOP campaign to regain power.

Boehner’s highest-profile effort to mete out discipline backfired. In early December, he stripped four dissidents who had voted against party leadership of their committee assignments. But rather than pull them back in line, the move emboldened them, as a host of conservative political action committees responded by heaping scorn on Boehner.

Shortly after that episode, as the nation was careering toward the “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax increases at the end of 2012, Boehner tried to persuade his unruly caucus of the merits of compromise.

Representative Peter King, a moderate New York Republican, said it was Boehner’s toughest moment. More than ever, Boehner needed a unified party as he faced off against Obama on a core issue separating the two parties — how much to tax the wealthy. Boehner had announced a plan to raise taxes only on those earning more than $1 million a year, a much smaller group than Obama wanted to target.

But many of Boehner’s fellow Republicans took a hard line against any tax hike.

He stood before his fellow Republicans in a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement, explaining the logic of his strategy. He recited the prayer of St. Francis, a humble request for peace and forgiveness.

Tea Party Republicans were in no mood for either. They revolted, refusing to back him.

“He was basically accused by people that that would be a sell-out,” King said.

It was a humiliating defeat, as Boehner was forced to cancel a vote on his own proposal, surrendering all of his leverage to Democrats. In the end, Boehner was forced to accept a tax increase on those making $400,000 or more a year. To get it passed, Boehner was forced to rely on a coalition of Democrats and Republicans.

Related:

"A smorgasbord of 43 business and energy tax breaks, collectively worth $67 billion this year, was packed into the emergency tax legislation that avoided the so-called “fiscal cliff.’’ In reality, any gain from taxing the rich was easily eclipsed by waves of tax cuts in the bill — including the $67 billion in the corporate tax breaks that had been resurrected at the last minute."

That is one hell of a "tax increase," huh?

Also see"The fight pits Democrats against Republicans on how to address the series of across-the-board cuts known as sequestration. Democrats want to alter many of the cuts and replace about half of them with tax increases on corporations and high-earning individuals. Republicans, who gave ground on taxing high earners during the budget showdown at the end of last year, generally oppose any tax increases and want to restore military funding while making deeper cuts to domestic programs."

He either doesn't read his own newspaper, or he's a liar.

The fiscal cliff deal was one of just three times Boehner violated the informal “Hastert Rule,” by letting the House vote on a measure without majority support among Republicans. He also broke the rule on a bill to provide funding in response to Hurricane Sandy, and to renew the Violence Against Women Act, which were also opposed by conservative factions of his party.

Representative Mike Simpson, a moderate Idaho Republican, said many Tea Party Republicans have trouble accepting basic political math: If Boehner can’t find 218 Republican votes, a majority, he will need to get support from Democrats, which makes a bill less conservative.

“They looked at me and said ‘I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t agree with it,’ ” Simpson said. “Well you don’t have to agree with it, it’s what happens!”

Two days after that vote, a coup attempt resulted in 12 Republican votes against him retaining his job.

That set the stage for the current shutdown fight.

***********************************

Soon after that, Boehner decided to quit putting up ideas that would be blocked by his party’s rebels.

Rebels, insurgents, hostage-takers, anarchists, coup supporters, I'm sick of the agenda-pu$hing insult by this piece of shit paper.

Instead, he became a warrior in the fight that the Tea Party had wanted all along, over gutting the health care law.

It really, really is a WAR MEDIA given the way they FRAME SO MANY ISSUES in the terminology of WAR! 

And WHO BENEFITS from DIVIDE and CONQUER?

It wasn’t pretty, but the anger from the Tea Party turned to cheers....

--more--"

Nothing to cheer about there.

And I must say I'm surprised when I see the worst of partisanship on the "other side":

"Citing shutdown, Senator Warren sends constituents to voicemail" by Mattias Gugel |  Globe Correspondent,  October 02, 2013

WASHINGTON — Despite the government shutdown, Bay Staters seeking to contact most members of the Massachusetts delegation in Washington can still reach a staffer by phone, with the exception of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office.

Warren, a Democrat, determined that having staff answer phone calls is not an essential part of her office’s job during a shutdown, leaving constituents to go to voice mail when they call to give their opinion or to seek services or assistance.

Oh really? The voices of the voters and citizens of the state is not essential. Wow!

“Unfortunately due to the government shutdown our front office is closed. We will be checking voice mail as frequently as possible,” is the automated reply at Warren’s Washington office.

She is acting like we are calling in to protest a planned attack on Syria!

Similar messages greet those who call her in-state offices. The voice mail from her Boston office adds that her office will “look forward to resuming normal operation.” And a message on her website says people seeking assistance will be out of luck during the shutdown.

I expected more from her, I really did. This slavish devotion to the Democratic party line and Lord Obama is bumming me out. Other than the banks and college loans, she hasn't taking on any important issues. Silent on spying, silent on the wars, silent in her offices.

“Individual staff may not have access to e-mail or voice mail, and letters and e-mails sent to my office will not receive a response until the end of the shutdown,’’ Warren says on her website. “Constituent caseworkers in my office will not be able to assist you at this time, but they will resume work on cases after the conclusion of the shutdown.’’

That is extortion and blackmail, the same things she accuses of the banks.

Every other member of the state delegation — including Warren’s Senate colleague, Edward Markey — has someone answering their Washington office phones, according to a Globe survey on Wednesday.

Oh, everyone else has someone answering, huh? I think I will make some calls today.

Markey furloughed some aides in his Washington and Boston offices and closed his Fall River and Springfield offices, a spokesman said. He also halted plans to hire new staff.

Members of Congress decide how their offices are affected by a shutdown. They decide which staffers are essential, and which ones will stay home.

Warren spokesman Matt Cournoyer said the senator was following the rules. 

Oh, yeah? 

Well, how is Harry Reid doing advancing your proposal these days? 

***************************

Representative Richard Neal’s offices are fully staffed and running “business as usual,” spokesman William Tranghese said.

Related:

"All of this whining and crying about a “government shutdown” is a total joke. You see, there really is very little reason why this “government shutdown” cannot continue indefinitely because almost everything is still running. 63 percent of all federal workers are still working, and 85 percent of all government activities are still being funded during this “shutdown”. Yes, the Obama administration has been making a big show of taking down government websites and blocking off the World War II Memorial, but overall business in Washington D.C. is being conducted pretty much as usual."

“I will continue to provide the people of Massachusetts with the constituent services that they expect and deserve,” the Springfield Democrat said.

Even so, delivering on constituent requests may not be easy. Agencies where they often channel requests are mostly shut, from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Internal Revenue Service.

Yeah, but the IRS is STILL COLLECTING TAXES!

Representative John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat, has furloughed some staffers, but his office remains open.

“We have contacted state and municipal elected representatives in all communities across the district to ensure any questions they had, or may have, could be fielded by me or an appropriate department or agency,” Tierney said.

Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III furloughed one employee. But the Brookline Democrat’s office will continue to work for constituents “from assisting seniors with Medicare-related issues, to helping veterans access health care and benefits,” spokesman Dan Black said.

While he would not confirm if any employees were furloughed, Representative William Keating, Democrat of Bourne, said his offices saw an increase in casework that reflects the shutdown’s effects on individuals and businesses. “My staff and I will continue to assist them in any way we can.”

Democratic Representatives James McGovern of Worcester and Michael Capuano of Somerville both said they have no plans to furlough staff.

McGovern said his office has been inundated with calls that require staff assistance.

“I’m not furloughing,” Capuano said. “I think it’s insulting.”

Representative Niki Tsongas of Lowell will also keep her entire staff working. Tsongas, who reduced her staff because of automatic budget cuts called sequestration, said she sees no room for further reductions.

“We’re operating with fewer people doing more work,” said Tsongas, who said she spent Tuesday meeting with various groups of constituents. “They’re still in need, too.”

--more--"

Others unable to be reached:

"Officials try to address problems in exchanges amid high demand" New York Times, October 03, 2013

On the second day of the exchanges’ operation, users were still encountering long waits, malfunctioning Web pages, and messages telling them to try again later, particularly in the 34 states where the marketplaces are being managed by the federal government....

How much did they pay for this pos?

The rollout laid bare the complexity of the endeavor, which requires state and federal systems, and the work of myriad private contractors, to communicate as a seamless whole.

Federal and state officials had promised for months that the exchanges would be ready for heavy use, and had run numerous tests to ensure that the systems would work properly from the start.

On Wednesday, federal officials declined to discuss whether they had found design flaws in their system, but their comments appeared to place most of the blame on the sheer volume of traffic.

They pronounced themselves pleased, saying that the intense interest showed a pent-up demand that showed the need for the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 law known as “Obamacare,” which created the exchanges.

You guys need that Obamacare to treat your delusion! Good Christ!

--more--"

RelatedHackers Hit Obamacare Exchanges

Now for the AmeriKan jewsmedia flackers:

"States’ Medicaid decisions leave millions uninsured" by Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff
 |  New York Times, October 03, 2013

NEW YORK — A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the 8 million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured, and ineligible for help. The federal government will pay for the expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent of costs in later years.

Here we go, sigh.

Those excluded will be stranded without insurance, stuck between people with slightly higher incomes who will qualify for federal subsidies on the new health exchanges that began operating this week, and those who are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid in its current form, which has income ceilings as low as $11 a day in some states.

People shopping for insurance on the health exchanges are already discovering this bitter twist.

“How can somebody in poverty not be eligible for subsidies?” an unemployed health care worker in Virginia asked through tears. 

Is that NOT POETIC IRONY? An UNEMPLOYED HEALTH CARE WORKER brought to TEARS!

The woman, who identified herself only as Robin L. because she does not want potential employers to know she is down on her luck, thought she had run into a computer problem when she went online Tuesday and learned that she would not qualify.

Why would she be down on her "luck" in this age of economic recovery?

At 55, she has high blood pressure, and she had been waiting for the law to take effect so she could get coverage. Before she lost her job and her house and had to move in with her brother in Virginia, she lived in Maryland, a state that is expanding Medicaid.

“Would I go back there?” she asked. “It might involve me living in my car. I don’t know. I might consider it.”

The 26 states that have rejected the Medicaid expansion are home to about half of the country’s population, but about two-thirds of poor, uninsured blacks and single mothers. About 60 percent of the country’s uninsured working poor are in those states.

“The irony is that these states that are rejecting Medicaid expansion — many of them Southern — are the very places where the concentration of poverty and lack of health insurance are the most acute,” said Dr. H. Jack Geiger, a founder of the community health center model. “It is their populations that have the highest burden of illness and costs to the entire health care system.”

The disproportionate impact on poor blacks introduces the prickly issue of race into the already politically charged atmosphere around the health care law. Every state in the Deep South, with the exception of Arkansas, has rejected the expansion.

Leave it to the AmeriKan jewsmedia to inject RACE onto the discussion! 

How F***ING $HAMELE$$!!!!!!! 

Now you know Obamacare is REALLY IN TROUBLE and DISLIKED when the RACE CARD is THROWN OUT THERE! 

Yup, if you are against the Obamacare abomination your are somehow a racist. 

You know, I wanted a GOOD, DECENT, SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM for ALL like ONE of the plans in "Sicko." The only problem is I DO NOT TRUST THIS GOVERNMENT to ADMINI$TER ANYTHING ANYMORE!!!

Opponents of the expansion say that they are against it on exclusively economic grounds, and that the demographics of the South make it easy to say that race is an issue when it is not.

******************************

The federal government provided the tally of how many states were not expanding Medicaid for the first time Tuesday. It included states like New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee....

Willie Charles Carter, an unemployed 53-year-old whose most recent job was as a maintenance worker at a Mississippi public school, has had problems with his leg since surgery last year. “I’m scared all the time,” he said. “I just walk around here with faith in God to take care of me.”

Sometimes I think better him than government when it comes to taking things on faith. 

God, whether he is there or not, hasn't told colossal lie after colossal lie in the service of corporate power. Maybe his self-proclaimed representatives on earth have, but he(?) has not. I suppose we will find out the truth when this is all over.

--more--"

Also see: Israel pressuring Obama with shutdown 

Then he must be okay after all and I am in the wrong on this. 

Related: Navy, Air Force and Army Football Allowed to Play

Oh, no need to worry now.