Category Archives: North Carolina

Obamacare forces 93000 hospital job cuts in 2013, NC hospitals costs up $7.5 billion the next 10 years, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, Mass layoffs

Posted on November 25, 2012 | 49 comments

Obamacare forces 93000 hospital job cuts in 2013, NC hospitals costs up $7.5 billion the next 10 years, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, Mass layoffs

“Nobody who makes under $200,000 a year will see their taxes go up as long as I’m president.”…Barack Obama

“I absolutely reject that notion [mandate is a tax].”…Barack Obama

“Glenn Beck has presented the frightening spectre of Christmas past created by Obama. But as in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”  it is the Ghost of Christmas Future that frightens me. The impact of Obamacare on our health care system and the combined impact of Obamacare and record deficit spending on our economy. The taxes of Christmas future to pay for Obama’s actions.”…Citizen Wells June 30, 2012

By March 26, 2010 I referred to Obamacare as a tax and control bill.

From the Greensboro News Record November 25, 2012.

“Hospitals feeling the pinch”

“Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center launched a distress signal in a gathering storm when it said on Nov. 14 that it will cut 950 jobs.

That storm has at its center national health care reform, possible lower reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid services, and an increasing number of older patients who need more care.

The hospital industry is in for a direct hit — that’s not in doubt.

But mass layoffs may be only one of many solutions for the health care industry’s problems.

The problem for hospitals is choosing the right one: mass layoffs, refined management techniques or some middle ground.

Wake Forest declined an interview request for this article. But it has said in other accounts that the roughly 6 percent staff cut is a pre-emptive measure for expected budget cuts and rising costs. And it expects remaining workers will become more productive as a result.

That’s a delicate balance, said Mark Graban, a national expert and consultant on health care management who lives in San Antonio, Texas.

“It’s easy to add up the cost savings of reduced payroll,” he said. “But it’s hard to add up the side effect of those layoffs.”

He said layoffs are sweeping the industry. Graban referred to a report from the American Hospital Association that says hospitals will cut 93,000 jobs during 2013.

Wake Forest and other major hospitals across the nation pledge that nurse-to-patient ratios won’t change despite the job cuts. Graban said that simple pledge may only mask lingering problems that hurt the quality of patient care.

Nurses and other professional staff, for example, see the headlines, see friends who may be laid off and work in fear, he said.

“A lot of times, quality and good patient outcomes are a result of nurses and other staff going above and beyond,” Graban said. “My concern would be not that the professionals are going to get lazy, but are they going to continue to be motivated to go above and beyond?”

Across the nation, he said, many medical centers are choosing “no layoff” policies and using management techniques pioneered in industry.

“Lean management” is a term many industries use for a variety of techniques that train workers to improve performance, make fewer mistakes and work with higher morale, he said.

Lean does not mean, as many joke, “Less Employees Are Needed.”

Graban worked with one hospital, ThedaCare in Appleton, Wis., which typifies the technique. The medium-size hospital manages conservatively, he said, doesn’t over-hire workers and saves cash for slow times.

Don Dalton, the spokesman for the N.C. Hospital Association, said hospitals throughout the state are using lean-management techniques — especially the smallest hospitals.

The coming changes could cost North Carolina’s hospitals up to $7.5 billion over the next 10 years , Dalton said.

With limited resources, the state’s small and medium-size hospitals feel financial pressure first, he said. So they are looking for any way they can to operate without compromising service.

Hospitals are combining resources to save money. In some cases, that means nothing more than “group buying” of supplies and services — lower prices for bulk buyers.

On a larger scale, Greensboro’s Cone Health signed a managing partnership earlier this year with Carolinas Health Systems in Charlotte.

Doug Allred, the spokesman for Cone, which employs more than 8,000 people , said: “We do not have plans for any layoffs right now.”

When asked to discuss issues facing the hospital industry in general, Allred said: “We are going to decline” an interview.

Jeffrey Miller, the president of High Point Regional Health System , freely discusses what led to the hospital’s planned merger with UNC Health Care.

He said that many unemployed people in the Triad don’t have health insurance, and those who do find that rising deductibles are too expensive.

“So we have a bad-debt problem,” Miller said.

Federal Medicare reimbursements have declined or remained flat, and the program is asking hospitals to fill out more documents to justify expenses.

And finally, the state, which administers Medicaid programs, is cutting its own stretched budget and program reimbursements.

As a result, High Point Regional has operated at a loss for two years. With its 2,212 workers, the hospital lost $40.8 million on unreimbursed care last year.

“It’s coming at us from all directions,” Miller said.

Through careful expense control, Miller said, High Point has not laid off workers, but it has had to cut hours from time to time to save money — and jobs.

Saving money, changing the way a hospital works, changing the way hospitals work together — all are key issues for UNC Health Care and its subsidiaries, said Karen McCall, vice president of public affairs and marketing for the system.

“We need to reduce costs, and all of us are aware of that and we’re trying to take steps to be able to do that through re-engineering,” she said.

Lean management is a big part of how UNC has managed its hospitals.

“It’s really been a core value at UNC for quite some time.”

UNC is planning for a difficult future, especially the unknown effects of more insured people and a growing population of older people who will need more care.

UNC plans to create a system in which each patient has a “medical home,” or a central doctor and staff that can manage the patient’s total care. That doctor would coordinate care from specialists and a variety of other services.

But getting there, McCall said, means spending more money to upgrade technology.

Finally, UNC is constantly keeping an eye on its employees to make sure their morale is good.

“Having worked very, very hard with patient satisfaction, the key to patient satisfaction is employee satisfaction,” she said. “Employee satisfaction is just very important and it’s something we measure and take into consideration all the time.

“We’re looking for best practices outside the industry,” McCall said. “But I really feel that we’re not the only ones doing that. Everyone in health care looking to the future feels that’s very necessary.””

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/11/24/article/hospitals_feeling_the_pinch

 

49 Comments

Posted in 2013, Barack Obama, Christmas, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Employment, Health Insurance, Healthcare bill, Hospitals, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, ObamaCare, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

NC voting machine errors update November 6, 2012, 2010 federal judge ruling, SBOE memo, Precincts following rules?, Explicit warning signs and procedures

Posted on November 6, 2012 | 142 comments

NC voting machine errors update November 6, 2012, 2010 federal judge ruling, SBOE memo, Precincts following rules?, Explicit warning signs and procedures

“if you see something at the polls that just doesn’t seem right…Record it” “Call the True the Vote National Election Integrity Hotline 855-444-6100.”…True the vote

“That Gary Bartlett, Chairman Leake, and John Wallace colluded in an attempt to derail, distract, and obstruct the investigation by SBOE into the financial irregularities and illegalities of the Perdue for Gov. Campaign”….NC GOP June 25, 2010 report on SBOE

I spoke with a NC GOP official a short while ago. I asked if the federal judge ruling in NC from 2010 is still applicable. He stated that it was. He had the understanding that the local elections board was aware of the ruling. I told him of my experience that the precinct workers were unaware of the federal judge ruling. I do not recall seeing the proper sign & no poll worker brought the issue to my attention, even after I asked.

My concern elevated when I discovered that the problems are still occurring in 2012 after happening in 2008 and 2010.

Here is one of the better reports on the ruling.

From the Brad Blog October 30, 2010.
“Federal Judge Rules in Favor of NC GOP in Touch-Screen Vote Flipping Complaint
Orders ‘voter alert’ posted at polls, programming materials, records retained…”

“North Carolina counties which use touch-screen voting systems will now have to post a “Voter Alert” at precincts warning voters about potential problems with the machines following a complaint [PDF] filed in federal court by the state’s Republican Party on Friday. The lawsuit, heard today on an expedited basis, was filed after voters in several counties hadreported to party officials that their attempts to vote for straight-ticket Republican ballots were flipping on the screen to straight-ticket Democratic ballots.

Those reports of vote-flipping led to the NC GOP issuing a threat late this week to sue the State Board of Elections (BoE) if their demands were not met to order certain precautions be taken at polling places which used the 100% unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems. After the Executive Director for the BoE sent a letter in response to the GOP’s demands, downplaying the reported incidents as “isolated” and “no different than ones that must be addressed in every election,” the Republican complaint was filed in federal court on Friday afternoon. (The sharp letters back and forth between the state GOP and BoE can be read in our previous report on the NC situation.)

Judge Malcolm Howard tonight also ordered that pollworkers must tell voters to read the printed alert, and that memory cards and other programming materials, records and audit logs from the oft-failed ES&S iVotronic touch-screen DREs must be preserved for examination after the election. Late today, the BoE Executive Director Gary O. Bartlett sent a notice [PDF] to the County Boards of Elections detailing the changes ordered by the federal judge.

The “Voter Alert” to be posted in all precincts using the touch-screen voting systems must read as follows…

See News 14’s coverage here and coverage from local NBC affiliate WITN here for more details.

The remedies sought, and gained, by the Republicans, however, fail to address the fact that no matter how “carefully” a voter reviews their on-screen ballot to ensure their “vote is accurately cast”, there is still no way to know that the voting system will record those votes as intended. Moreover, there is no way to know after the election whether the results actually reflect the will of the electorate, as we recently discussed in this article at Slate detailing some of the closest and most-watched races in the nation which will likely be determined on identical or similar 100% unverifiable DRE systems next Tuesday.

Removing systems from service once they are reported to be failing would be the safest way to deal with such problems, but long time North Carolina Election Integrity advocate Joyce McCloy, Director of NC Coalition for Verified Voting and editor of Voting News, explained to The BRAD BLOG tonight that many of the state’s counties wouldn’t have enough machines or back-up paper ballots to handle the election if failing machines were removed from service.

In past elections, most notably in both 2006 and 2008, it has been largely Democratic voters who have complained that their attempted touch-screen votes were seen flipping to Republican (or other party’s) candidates. Little action was taken on their behalf by either elections officials or the Democratic Party. Many of those who complained were tarred as being being “conspiracy theorists” or “sore losers” by Republicans, and both elections officials and voting machine company representatives generally marginalized the complaints as either non-existent or “human error” on the part of the voter.

According to the NC GOP’s attorney Tom Farr, similar arguments were made by the BoE in this morning’s proceedings. “What I heard in the argument today was, the problem with the touchscreen voting machines are the fault of the voters, not the State Board and we have to preserve the integrity of the State Board and its reputation. And that’s more important than making sure that voters had their ballots counted accurately, and that’s what I thought was outrageous,” Farr told the media after the court hearing.

Another report of votes flipping from Republican to the Green Party on a straight-ticket ballot, as caught on cellphone video, occurred last week in Texas (along with a report of another voter who saw his vote flip from Democratic to Republican in a different TX county.) In Nevada a Republican voter claimed her touch-screen vote was pre-selected on screen for Sen. Harry Reid in his tight race against Republican Sharron Angle. In both instances, local election officials downplayed the incidents by blaming the voters.

Such occurrences have marred virtually every election since the proliferation of unverifiable touch-screen voting was enabled by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. While many jurisdictions have decertified the systems in favor of paper ballot-based optical-scan systems, some 20 to 30% of the nation’s voters still use DREs at the polling place.

McCloy told The BRAD BLOG this evening that the state had been set to ban DRE systems all together some time ago, until the legislation was scotched after apparent lobbying by election officials in counties who use, and very much like, the systems. Afterwords, the legislation was reportedly modified to allow the touch-screen systems to stay in place.

ES&S voting systems have a storied history of failure. In 2006, the iVotronics were found to have inexplicably failed to record some 18,000 votes in a special election for the U.S. House in Florida (in which the Republican candidate was declared the “winner” by just 369 votes). That incident led to the state getting rid of virtually all of their touch-screen systems. ES&S iVotronics were also used at the polling place for South Carolina’s primary where Alvin Greene, the unemployed South Carolina veteran who failed to campaign or even have a campaign web site, inexplicably defeated four-term state Senator and former Circuit Court Judge Vic Rawl for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.”

Read more:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8162

After the federal judge ruling in 2010, Gary O. Bartlett, Executive Director of the SBOE, State Board of Elections, issued the following memo on October 30, 2010.

http://content.news14.com/pdf/memo%202010-11.pdf

I do not recall seeing either of those signs.

From the voting machine errors in Guilford County NC. Notice the signs at minute 2:54. They do not match the ones from the memo.

The attitude of boards of elections in NC seem to best be summed up by the following quote:

“What I heard in the argument today was, the problem with the touchscreen voting machines are the fault of the voters, not the State Board and we have to preserve the integrity of the State Board and its reputation. And that’s more important than making sure that voters had their ballots counted accurately, and that’s what I thought was outrageous,” said Tom Farr NC GOP attorney.

http://triangle.news14.com/content/top_stories/632096/judge-rules-in-favor-of-gop-over-touchscreen-voting

More on Gary Bartlett and NC State corruption from Citizen Wells June 29, 2010.

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/november-2010-elections-not-the-end-end-of-beginning-winston-churchill-change-congress-clean-up-justice-dept-courts-state-government/

 

 

142 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Board of Elections, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Civil rights, Election 2012, Election Boards, Election Law, Election update, Mitt Romney, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Presidential candidate, Voter fraud, voters, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , ,

NC voter fraud, Dead people voting in Guilford Cumberland Forsyth Davidson counties?, 112 year olds, Carolina Transparency data from State Board of Elections

Posted on October 29, 2012 | 43 comments

NC voter fraud, Dead people voting in Guilford Cumberland Forsyth Davidson counties?, 112 year olds, Carolina Transparency data from State Board of Elections

“In 2007, Merritt’s office uncovered 24,821 invalid driver’s license numbers and 700 invalid Social Security numbers in the voter registration database; 380 people who appeared to have voted after their deaths; and a handful of votes cast by 17-year-olds in previous election cycles.”…Carolina Journal October 26, 2010

“The end justifies the means, the template of the left.”…Citizen Wells

“The past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had
actually been destroyed. For how could you establish, even
the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside
your own memory?”…George Orwell, “1984″

Our population is aging but not this much.

Carolina Transparency, a user friendly database from the Civitas Institute, that gets data straight from the State Board of Elections, reveals an unrealistic number of 112 year olds voting in some NC counties.

Guilford 1,011 32.88%
Cumberland 821 26.7%
Forsyth 716 23.28%
Davidson 230 7.48%

http://www.carolinatransparency.com/votetracker/gen2012/age/112/

I can assure you that there are not that many 112 year olds in any of those counties.

So, the obvious question is: Are dead people voting?

That is, are the registrations of deceased people being used by others to vote illegally?

Somebody has some explaining to do.

From the Civitas Institute.

“NC Vote Tracker is back for the 2012 General Election! Vote Tracker is the user-friendly database at the Civitas Institute’s Carolina Transparency website (www.carolinatransparency.com/votetracker/) that helps us all wade through early voting numbers. The data comes straight from the State Board of Elections (SBOE) website, where it is refreshed each morning with the previous day’s early voting activity. First introduced in 2010, NC Vote Tracker allows us to break down the early voting data by party, age, gender, race, congressional and state House and Senate districts.

The first numbers we will be seeing from Vote Tracker are from absentee by-mail ballots. This year, just as in 2010, the absentee ballots were scheduled to be mailed Sept. 7, 60 days ahead of Election Day, but most counties failed to meet the statutorily required deadline. The two largest counties (Mecklenburg and Wake) told Civitas that they would be mailing their absentee by-mail ballots on September 22, so expect a jump in the numbers at that time. Unfortunately, this delay will have the biggest effect on the military vote. The biggest jump in numbers will come the day after One-Stop voting, which begins on Thursday, Oct. 18 — you can be sure that this form of voting will not be delayed.

In 2008 more than half of the votes in North Carolina were cast early. Of the 4,352,739 total votes cast in the 2008 General election, 2,411,116 were cast at One-Stop early voting, 227,799 by absentee by-mail voting, and 1,714,824 on Election Day.

In view of the fact that early voting has become very popular, we should expect most voters to vote early this year too. (It is important to note that in the 12 years since one-stop early voting was enacted, it has not increased voter turnout in North Carolina) We can also expect more people to vote this year, seeing that on August 30, 2008 there were 5,921,166 people registered to vote in North Carolina and on September 1, 2012 the State Board of Elections documented 6,026,628 registered voters. That’s an 8.2 percent voter registration increase in just four years.

Perhaps the most revealing numbers and those that will give us a better picture of the voters’ mood in this year’s election are the voter registration trends after the 2008 General Election. Since January 2009 the Democratic Party voter rolls have decreased by 109,945 voter (-1.75 percent), Republicans have lost 7,957 voters (-0.13 percent), Libertarians have gained 11,410 voters (+.18) percent and the unaffiliated ranks have grown 222,205 voters (+3.54 percent). With the knowledge that the unaffiliated ranks have grown and both major parties have decreased in number, we will be looking at voter turnout in the early voting period with a whole new perspective.

So, instead of waiting until after the election to find out who voted, we can get a head start by utilizing NC Vote Tracker to track voters who choose to vote early by mail or in-person at an early voting site.”

http://www.nccivitas.org/2012/nc-vote-tracker-reveals-voting-trends/

Thanks to commenter truefreedom.

43 Comments

Posted in Acorn voter fraud, Barack Obama, Board of Elections, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Civil rights, corruption, Election 2012, Election Boards, Election Law, Election update, NC, NC voters, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Presidential candidate, Voter fraud, voters

Tagged , , ,

NC earthquake, October 29, 2012, Western North Carolina, 2.9 magnitude, Near Marion

Posted on October 29, 2012 | 24 comments

NC earthquake, October 29, 2012, Western North Carolina, 2.9 magnitude, Near Marion

A magnitude 2.9 earthquake struck near Marion, NC this morning. More on this soon.

There was also a magnitude 3.9 earthquake in Arkansas.

http://www.world-earthquakes.com/location.php?title=Monday,%20October%2029,%202012%2011:49:05%20UTC&desc=Earthquake%20in%20North%20Carolina%20with%20a%20magnitude%20of%20M2.9&lat=35.5627&lon=-82.0040

24 Comments

Posted in Earth, earthquake, NC, News, North Carolina

Tagged , , , , ,

Obama exposed in NC in print, October 25, 2012, Rhino Times, Obama lies on Benghazi, Romney debate performance, US economy, Israel, Liberal mainstream media having hissy fit

Posted on October 25, 2012 | 48 comments

Obama exposed in NC in print, October 25, 2012, Rhino Times, Obama lies on Benghazi, Romney debate performance, US economy, Israel, Liberal mainstream media having hissy fit

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

“The function of the press is very high. It is almost Holy.
It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which
the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or
suppress the news is a breach of trust.”…. Louis D. Brandeis

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

From John Hammer of the Rhino Times, in print in NC, October 25, 2012.

“But technology has its downside as well, and President Barack Hussein Obama is learning about the problems with electronic communication. The problem is that people can go back and find the records.

Obama tried to blame the whole Benghazi confusion on the State Department and the intelligence community. It simply was not believable that during and after the attack the State Department and the intelligence community believed that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration. Four people were killed in the attack but everyone else survived, plus there were the surveillance videos.

Obama clearly was doing his best to push this entire controversy past Nov. 6 because after Nov. 6 it won’t matter whether he got an email from Ambassador Chris Stevens the day before the attack demanding more security, or a text message during the attack describing the well-organized planned attack that was taking place.

The truth is that Obama knew that it was an organized planned attack, but it doesn’t fit in with the worldview that he is trying to sell to the American people that the US has defeated al Qaeda and the world is a safer place because of President Obama. The truth didn’t fit in with his message, so he changed the story that he told to the American people and now he has been caught. It may change someone’s vote to know that the president deliberately misled the American people to better his chance of getting reelected.”

“The polls that the public sees just aren’t that good. Proof of that is that they still have North Carolina in the “leaning Romney” category. Barring some last minute surprise that will cause even hardcore Republicans to vote for Obama there is no way that Obama can win North Carolina. So any poll that doesn’t put North Carolina solidly in the Romney camp, and I haven’t seen one that does, is automatically suspect.”

“Judging from the campaigns, not only does Romney think he is ahead, Obama is convinced that Romney has won and is running around the country like a madman attacking Romney, trying to make something happen.

And Obama has to attack Romney; he has no other viable campaign. Obama can’t run on his record and he has a big problem if he presents a great plan to bring the country’s economy back around because then the question is, Why aren’t you doing this now? Why do you have to wait to get reelected?”

“One of the biggest lies of the debate was when Obama talked about Israel being “our greatest ally in the region.” Obama refused to even meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he was in the US this fall. Obama said it didn’t fit into his schedule, but during the same time he managed to find time for David Letterman and a lot of campaigning, which indicates his priorities.

Also, the White House has refused to say that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Obama has been as rude to Netanyahu as one head of state can be to another, and now he is trying to say that he believes Israel is our closest ally. You simply don’t treat your friends the way Obama has treated Israel. As president he has never visited Israel.”

“But in the debate it certainly didn’t appear that Obama knew more about foreign affairs than Romney. In fact, Romney did what presidents often do and mentioned some obscure groups and movements that may be big news in national security briefings but haven’t made the daily newspapers. It made Romney seem like he was more knowledgeable.

Obama’s comment about horses and bayonets was just rude. It was a good idea, but the way he said it was rude and mean. No one doubts that Romney knows all about aircraft carriers and submarines. But Obama is a rude man. He is rude to our allies, rude to the people he should be working with in Congress, rude to his political opponents and rude to foreign heads of state who visit him in the White House.

Romney once again didn’t take the bait.

But Romney’s big advantage in this race is the economy. The question that people are going to be asking when they go into the polls is, “Am I better off than I was four years ago?” And for the vast majority of Americans the answer is no.

Not only did Obama allow Romney to talk about the economy, he got sucked in and started talking about it himself.”

“The liberal mainstream media are having a hissy fit right now. The liberal media have figured out that their candidate is not going to win and they are beside themselves. The attitude seems to be, how can the American people ignore all the horrible things they have written about Romney and vote for him?”

“The New York Times Sunday magazine did a hit job on Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan this week. It is amazing what they manage to weave into an article like it belongs. But the reporter, Mark Leibovich, seemed to dislike Sen. Rob Portman even more than Ryan.

Here’s one phrase about Portman, which is really interesting if you have a few facts: “One mark against the wealthy senator was that he might be perceived as too much of a Grey Poupon Republican …”

Here’s the problem. Portman is certainly wealthy, and he is a senator, but he is not a “wealthy senator.” He is kind of average by Senate standards. Portman doesn’t even make the list of the 50 wealthiest members of Congress. Portman, according to Roll Call, is worth about $6.72 million.”

“So of the top 10 richest members of Congress, three are Republicans and seven are Democrats. And Portman doesn’t make the top 50, yet The New York Times refers to him as a “wealthy senator.” How many times have you read – wealthy Sen. Dianne Feinstein, wealthy Sen. John Kerry, or wealthy Sen. Frank Lautenberg?”

“The article is an incredible piece of liberal Democrat propaganda, but very smoothly done. It makes it sound like offering someone barbecue sauce is a bad thing. The tone is really incredible.”

Read more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-10-24-213602.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

John Hammer.

Excellent!

48 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Debate, Democrats, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Jobs, Journalism, Liberalism, Lies, Mitt Romney, NC, NC voters, News, North Carolina, NY Times, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, Presidential debate, republicans, Romney, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Obama default in 2008 NC voting machines, Guilford County Obama default again in 2012, Voting machine calibration?, Is there a party default on NC voting machines?

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 8 comments

Obama default in 2008 NC voting machines, Guilford County Obama default again in 2012, Voting machine calibration?, Is there a party default on NC voting machines?

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre. With the feeling that he was speaking to O’Brien, and also that he was setting forth an important axiom, he wrote:

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984”

Reports are already coming in of Romney votes being overridden with Obama votes in Guilford County NC.

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/greensboro-guilford-county-votes-default-to-obama-romney-vote-override-voting-machine-calibration-problem-board-of-elections-director-george-gilbert-recurring-problem/

This also happened in 2008.

Is there a party default for voting machines in NC?

From Black Box Voting October October 25, 2008.

“Is there a “party default” on touch screen machines? NC votes flip to Obama”

“GUILFORD COUNTY – “Laurie Edwards of Thomasville heard a strange voting story from her mother this week.

Turns out it’s a fairly widespread problem with touch-screen voting machines.

Edwards said her mother, Liz Odom of Greensboro, had problems getting a voting machine in Jamestown to accept her presidential vote on Friday. She cancelled the vote until the machine accepted it.

“I have had several complaints of this happening, with the machines giving the Democratic vote when the Republican was selected,” Bill Wright, chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party, told elections officials Friday. “These machines should be calibrated every day so this does not happen.”

Election officials agreed to check the iVotronic machines more carefully and urged voters to study the review screens to make sure all their selections are correct before casting the electronic ballot.

“We know not everyone is pushing that review screen button,” Wright said.

West Virginia voters have reported similar problems with touch-screen machines manufactured by Election Systems & Software, which is North Carolina’s only machine vendor. Experts acknowledge that the machines can scramble vote selections if they are uncalibrated, causing a touch in the wrong place and an incorrect vote selection.

“Voters should tell us if they are having any problems,” said Guilford County Elections Director George Gilbert. “If they don’t tell us, then we can’t know. I don’t know how many of these are calibration problems. Some people touch the wrong spot.”

Gilbert said older machines present the most problems. Election workers test voting machines before deploying them to voting sites.

“The new ones do not get out of calibration in two weeks of use,” he said. “We will find the ones that are out of calibration.””

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/323-Is-there-a-party-default-on-touch-screen-machines-NC-votes-flip-to-Obama.html

From Citizen Wells November 2, 2010.

“A Craven County voter says he had a near miss at the polls on Thursday when an electronic voting machine completed his straight-party ticket for the opposite of what he intended.

Sam Laughinghouse of New Bern said he pushed the button to vote Republican in all races, but the voting machine screen displayed a ballot with all Democrats checked. He cleared the screen and tried again with the same result, he said. Then he asked for and received help from election staff.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/nc-voter-fraud-update-voting-machine-errors-nc-gop-lawsuit-status-voter-registration-issues/

From WITN October 30, 2010.

“Judge Rules On GOP Voting Machine Lawsuit”

“A Federal judge ordered Saturday that the State Board of Elections be required to take steps to ensure voters’ ballots are accurately cast, following a lawsuit filed by the NCGOP after receiving multiple reports of voting inaccuracies in several North Carolina counties.

“We are pleased with today’s outcome,” said NCGOP Chairman Tom Fetzer. “But it is unfortunate that a Federal judge had to intervene. The State Board of Elections should have voluntarily taken these steps to ensure a free and fair election.”

On Saturday evening, after a two-day hearing, a Federal Judge ordered in the NCGOP’s favor, requiring the SBOE to take the following steps on Election Day:

1) Provide written and oral notice to every voter using touch screen machines that problems exist, and to carefully review their ballots before confirming them.

2) Preserve all Personal Electronic programs, ballots, metadata, source codes, and any programs or data that reflects machine calibration.

3) Issue an order that poll workers in all precincts be required to keep a record of all complaints by voters regarding the touch screen voting machines.

The suit was filed against the SBOE by the NCGOP after receiving multiple reports of voting inaccuracies in counties across North Carolina. The complaints followed a similar pattern, in that voters using touch screen voting machines were attempting to cast a straight-ticket Republican vote, while the machine attempted to verify their vote as a straight-ticket Democrat.

Previous Story:

State Board of Elections officials are meeting with GOP officials Saturday in Raleigh to discuss recent problems occurring with electronic voting machines.

Those officials are trying to come up with a resolution after North Carolina’s Republican Party sued the State Board of Elections Friday, alleging that touch-screen machines are thwarting efforts by voters to cast Repubican ballots.

Election officials have said there have only been a few isolated problems with voting machines and that officials were able to quickly fix the problems.

Republican Party officials say they have heard problems in a number of counties. They are demanding that election officials provide notice to all voters about problems, preserve all data and track all complaints.

Two Craven County Election workers were fired after they talked to WITN about these problems.

We will bring you an update on this meeting as soon as it becomes available.”

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Meeting_About_Electronic_Voting_Machine_Problems_106378699.html

 

8 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Civil rights, Election, Election 2012, Election Boards, Election Law, Election update, Mitt Romney, NC, NC voters, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Presidential candidate, Voter fraud, voters, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

Greensboro Guilford County votes default to Obama, Romney vote override, Voting machine calibration problem?, Board of Elections Director George Gilbert recurring problem

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 16 comments

Greensboro Guilford County votes default to Obama, Romney vote override, Voting machine calibration problem?, Board of Elections Director George Gilbert recurring problem

“Isn’t it necessary to eliminate these parties, and isn’t it time to put an end to their useless activity?”…Joseph Goebbels, July 31, 1932 Reichstag elections

“The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon.
And since the party is in full control of all records, and in
equally full control of the minds of it’s members, it follows
that the past is whatever the party chooses to make it. Six
means eighteen, two plus two equals five, war is peace,
freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”…George Orwell, “1984”

From My Fox 8 October 23, 2012.

“Guilford Co. voters say ballot cast for Romney came up Obama on machine”

“GREENSBORO, N.C. –The Presidential election is just around the corner and voting issues have already become a problem in Guilford County.
On Monday, several voters complained that their electronic ballot machine cast the wrong vote. All the complaints were made by people who voted at the Bur-Mil Park polling location.

One of the voters, Sher Coromalis, says she cast her ballot for Governor Mitt Romney, but every time she entered her vote it defaulted to President Obama.
“I was so upset that this could happen,” said Coromalis.

Guilford County Board of Elections Director George Gilbert says the problem arises every election. It can be resolved after the machine is re-calibrated by poll workers.

“It’s not a conspiracy it’s just a machine that needs to be corrected,” Gilbert said.

After the third try, Coromalis says she was able to get her vote counted for Gov. Romney but was still annoyed.
“I should have just mailed it in,” Coromalis said.

Elections officials say the machines have been fixed as of Tuesday, and no problems have been reported since.

Early Voting ends November 3.”

Watch report here.

http://myfox8.com/2012/10/23/guilford-county-voters-say-they-voted-for-the-wrong-candidate/

If this has happened to you or if you have had another problem voting in NC, leave a comment here.

Thanks to commenter Philo-Publius.

16 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Election 2012, Election Boards, Election update, Mitt Romney, NC, NC primary, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , ,

NC unemployment rate 9.6 percent, October 19, 2012, 4.5 percent when Bush took office, 4.7 percent when Democrats took both houses in January 2007

Posted on October 19, 2012 | 61 comments

NC unemployment rate 9.6 percent, October 19, 2012, 4.5 percent when Bush took office, 4.7 percent when Democrats took both houses in January 2007

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“The weak job growth recorded during 2011 did little to replace the jobs lost earlier in the business cycle. Since the onset of the “Great Recession,” North Carolina has lost, on net, 295,300 positions, or 7.1 percent of its payroll employment base.”

“Absent significant changes in economic conditions and public policies, weak job growth, high levels of joblessness, and pervasive economic hardships appear to be in store for North Carolina, with 2012 apt to mark the fifth consecutive year of negative or minimal job growth.”…South by North Strategies, LTD February 10, 2012

“People leaving the labor force were a big reason that North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent in April, a month when only 1,400 more people got jobs.”…WRAL May 18, 2012

The NC Department of Commerce announced the unemployment rate for September. 9.6 percent. To put this in perspective it was  4.5 percent when Bush took office in January 2001 and 4.7 percent when the Democrats took control of both houses of congress in January 2007.

In my humble opinion, the report leaves much to be desired and appears to be attempting to put a positive spin on the numbers. Here are a couple of statements that I found interesting.

“Among the major industries in North Carolina, Government had the largest over-the-month increase in employment at 30,600 (4.6%), followed by Education & Health Services (2,700; 0.5%), Professional & Business Services (2,300; 0.4%), Construction (1,700; 1.0%), and Manufacturing (200; <0.1%).”

“The Goods Producing sector decreased by 4,500 (0.7%) jobs over the year. Construction declined by 6,700 (3.7%), followed by Mining & Logging (200; 3.5%), while Manufacturing grew by 2,400 (0.5%).”

http://www.ncesc1.com/pmi/rates/PressReleases/State/NR_Sept_2012_StRate_M1.pdf

From Citizen Wells September 29, 2012.

“Despite the lies from politicians like Barack Obama who blamed George Bush for all of his ills, numbers do not lie.

When George Bush became president in January 2001, the unemployment rate in NC was 4.5 percent.

When the Democrats took control of both houses of congress in January 2007, the unemployment rate in NC was 4.7 percent.

When Obama took control of the White House in January 2009, the unemployment rate in NC was 9.0 percent. In November 2008 it was 7.8 percent.

Before the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January 2011, the unemployment rate hit a high of 11.4 percent in NC.

The stated unemployment rate is currently 9.7 percent in NC.

The National Labor Force Participation Rate is 63.5 percent, a record low.

The North Carolina Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.0 percent.

More on the jobs situation in NC from Citizen Wells February 14, 2012.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/nc-unemployment-rates-under-george-bush-democrat-congress-and-barack-obama-4-5-percent-when-bush-took-office-4-7-percent-when-democrats-took-both-houses/

61 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Jobs, Lies, NC, NC voters, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , ,

Obama fact checked in print in NC, October 18, 2012, Rhino Times, John Hammer prints truth about Obama, Economy Obamacare Libya attack debate, Obama lies

Posted on October 18, 2012 | 35 comments

Obama fact checked in print in NC, October 18, 2012, Rhino Times, John Hammer prints truth about Obama, Economy Obamacare Libya attack debate, Obama lies

“if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them”…Barack Obama

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

“The function of the press is very high. It is almost Holy.
It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which
the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or
suppress the news is a breach of trust.”
…. Louis D. Brandeis

From John Hammer of the Rhino Times, in Greensboro, NC October 18, 2012.

“Another debate and another pounding of the economic policies of President Barack Hussein Obama by Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Obama has a difficult task running for reelection with the economy in its current shape. Romney is relentless in pointing out that the economy grew slower this year than last year and grew slower last year than the year before, and that 23 million Americans are unemployed. When Romney says the real unemployment rate is 10.7 percent Obama doesn’t argue. When Romney says that Obama has piled up budget deficits of over $1 trillion year after year, Obama doesn’t argue.

Obama does say that his policies are going to work, but it’s hard to sell the idea that policies that haven’t worked for four years are suddenly going to start working in the fifth year or maybe the sixth year or the seventh year.

Romney talks a lot about Obamacare, but Obama doesn’t. He talks about bringing health care to every American, but he doesn’t dwell on Obamacare because polls show that most Americans are against it. It’s his signature piece but he has all but given up selling it to the American people.

When it comes to the contraception aspect of Obamacare, Obama is extremely misleading. Nobody is talking about not providing contraception services. The question is, who pays. According to Obamacare it has to be a free service. Why? Why is that free? Most medical care is not free even if you have insurance. What’s more, Obamacare will force the Catholic Church and other religious organizations to provide abortion services that they believe are morally wrong.

If Obamacare is not changed by the courts or by Congress, it is likely that Catholic hospitals, clinics, social service providers, universities, schools and other outreach programs will close. Perhaps Obama has been listening to his Catholic Vice President Joe Biden and not the Catholic bishops. But he might want to pay attention because if Catholic hospitals close in the major cities, there is going to be a health care disaster, and the Catholic bishops have made it abundantly clear that they are going to have no part in providing abortions.

Biden was entirely wrong in his answer about the situation with Obamacare and the Catholic Church, but then Biden has been told by at least one bishop that he is not a Catholic in good standing and should not participate in the sacraments.

, , ,

There are only two possibilities I can think of when it comes to the response by President Obama to the planned and well-executed terrorist attack on the American compound in Benghazi, Libya.

One is that when an American ambassador was killed in the line of duty for the first time since 1979, during the Carter administration, President Obama decided that in the midst of a presidential election he could not afford to admit that he had refused to give an American ambassador in one of the most dangerous places on earth adequate protection. So he lied to the American people about what happened and hoped that the truth wouldn’t come out until after Nov. 6.

The other is that the Obama administration is so incompetent that it borders on criminal. For two weeks the Obama administration – through its press secretary, Jay Carney, and the US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice – claimed that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration over a video some nutcase in California made.

But the night of Sept. 11, when the attack was underway, Obama should have immediately known that an American embassy compound where the American ambassador was in residence was under attack by well-organized and well-armed terrorists. We have one of the most sophisticated communications systems in the world. If the president isn’t informed about a terrorist attack on a US embassy compound immediately, then what is the system used for? To make sure Obama doesn’t miss any basketball scores? When high-level State Department officials are being killed that is an emergency.

The State Department knew. The intelligence community knew. Obama made a big deal about watching the attack on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan live in the White House. It wasn’t exactly true that they were watching it live, but they were watching the video the night that it happened.

The American embassy compound in Benghazi had surveillance cameras. The Rhino Times office also has surveillance cameras. You can watch The Rhino Times surveillance cameras real time from a computer, tablet or smart phone anywhere you can hook up to the internet. I cannot believe that the surveillance cameras at the American compound in Benghazi were not hooked up to some communication device so that they could be watched by people in the State Department and intelligence community.

Even without the surveillance cameras, the US had competent people on the ground who, once they got away from immediate danger, reported to their superiors. In fact, according to the State Department timeline, a call about the attack went out immediately with frequent updates. The State Department knew as soon as the men in the compound knew that they were under attack by an organized force.

Vice President Biden says that he didn’t know, and that is entirely possible. Why would anyone bother to tell the vice president, even if he were a competent, honest, intelligent human being? The vice president isn’t going to be making any decisions. He is completely out of the loop as long as the president is alive. Biden may still believe that the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration or he may believe that it took place in the last century where he evidently spends a lot of his time.

But President Obama knew or should have known within minutes exactly what was happening in Benghazi. He should have received the reports from those on the ground and he should have been watching the action on the surveillance cameras. But the reports from those in the compound who escaped only to be attacked at the so-called safe house about a mile away should have been more than enough proof that this was a highly organized, well-planned attack.

So in this next debate Obama needs to explain to the American people what happened. Was there such a tremendous communications breakdown that he didn’t get word from Libya about what happened for two weeks? Did the State Department put the Benghazi terrorist attack report on a sailing ship to send it to the White House? How on earth could a report and surveillance video take two weeks to get to the White House?

Obama needs to explain. If the first day the White House had gotten the story wrong that could be attributed to an honest mistake, but in today’s world to claim that the White House didn’t get information from its embassy for two weeks is simply a lie or evidence of overwhelming incompetence.

, , ,

Liberals love this, and the moderator for the presidential debate, Candy Crawley, is certainly a card-carrying liberal, which is why she re-asked the incredibly stupid question about making AK-47s illegal in the United States. Romney answered the question correctly by saying that fully automatic weapons are already illegal in the US. They have been since 1934. It is possible to get a license to have one, but it is not easy or cheap.

One of the so-called fact checkers said Romney was wrong when he said that fully automatic weapons were illegal. Technically Romney was wrong. Most people would tell you that it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon without the proper permit, but the fact checkers evidently would tell you that is wrong because you can carry a concealed weapon on your own property without a permit. Technically there was no Vietnam War, but that is simply not how we speak. Technically only a couple of hundred people get to vote for president, but candidates and pundits talk about voters in the presidential race all the time. Nobody says “people who vote for electors committed to one candidate,” we call them voters.

However, what the question was about were “assault weapons,” which is a term invented during the Clinton administration. The AK-47 is not an assault weapon; it is an assault rifle because it is fully automatic and for all practical purposes illegal. The assault weapons ban was not about banning a particular kind of rifle but banning rifles because of the way they looked. Rifles that operate identically could be legal or illegal based on how they looked. One that looked like a hunting rifle would be legal and one that looked like an assault rifle would be illegal.

It was a law that simply made people who want all guns to be illegal happy, but didn’t really do anything. Now many hunters are using what are technically assault weapons for hunting. They are lightweight, accurate and make good hunting rifles. And it is true that they are used to kill people. But knives are also frequently used to kill people and there was no question for the candidates about making knives illegal.

, , ,

President Harry S. Truman, a Democrat who won the respect of both parties and whom history has smiled upon, had a plaque on his desk that read, “The Buck Stops here!”

President Obama, a Democrat who has not won the respect of Republicans and is losing the respect of many Democrats and whose place in history is unknown, has no such plaque, and up until Tuesday night did not follow the philosophy expressed on the plaque.

We know this because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was sent out to take the fall for Benghazi. The buck stopped with the secretary of state, not the president. You have to wonder what Truman would say about such cowardice by an American president.

Obama takes full credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden although he was over 7,000 miles away. That was Obama who took Bin Laden out, not the Navy Seals who were onsite risking their lives and doing the shooting. But when an American ambassador gets killed in the line of duty for the first time since 1979, it was not Obama’s fault, but the fault of the secretary of state.

During the second presidential debate on Tuesday night, the story changed again. Evidently having Hillary Rodham Clinton take the fall for the terrorist attack in Benghazi was not working with the American people. So during the Tuesday night debate Wendy Crawley threw Obama a softball so he could take full responsibility for the failure.

The attack was on Sept. 11, and on Oct. 16 the president finally takes full responsibility. It does make you wonder how many months it would have taken for Obama to take full responsibility if it wasn’t an election year.

, , ,

The more we learn about Obama the more questions arise. According to his own personal history Barry Obama quit being Barry and became Barack when he was at Occidental College in Los Angeles. By the time he went to Columbia University he was going by Barack exclusively, even to the point, according to his sister, of trying to get his family to call him Barack. But Martha Raddatz reportedly invited Barry Obama to her wedding. So if everyone called him Barack and had no reason to even know that he was called Barry as a kid, why was Barry invited to the wedding.

Or did really close friends at Harvard call him Barry? We’ll never know.

, , ,

They call it the Stupid Party for a reason, and unfortunately the reason hasn’t gone away. Four years ago the moderator of the vice presidential debate, Gwen Ifill, had written a book about Obama. If he were elected her book would make money, if he lost then the book would go in the remainder bin. She had a lot of money riding on the outcome of the debate and the election.

But then the Republicans allow that snafu to be topped. Barry Obama went to Martha Raddatz’s wedding and she was invited to the Obamas’ wedding but didn’t attend. However, her husband (now her ex) did. Do the Republicans vet these people at all? Do they have a list of Obama’s immediate family and if the person is not on that list, not named George Obama for instance, then they are eligible?

Then when you think it can’t get any worse they come up with this woman for the second town hall meeting, Candy Crawley, who gave Obama 9 percent more time than Romney and was much harder on Romney than on Obama. She also selected the questions, which were Obama-friendly, and asked her own follow-up questions, which she was not supposed to do according to the agreement signed by both campaigns.

This just in for the next and final debate, Obama’s campaign Communications Director David Axelrod is unexpectedly unavailable to moderate the debate so the Commission on Presidential Debates has asked Michelle Obama if she will step in. The Commission on Presidential Debates has noted that Mrs. Obama is a Harvard Law graduate like president Obama but did not attend Harvard Law School at the same time as President Obama, so they do not think she will have a conflict of interest based on their law school years.

The Republican Party has reportedly agreed to accept Michelle Obama as a fair and impartial moderator but has insisted that her daughters not be allowed to sit with her while she moderates the debate.

Who are these people on the Commission on Presidential Debates? Do they pick moderators from a list submitted by the Obama campaign? It’s like having the Ram’s Club pick the referees for the Duke-Carolina game. The Republicans have four years to get their act together but they had better get some conservative Republicans appointed to the Commission on Presidential Debates.”

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-10-18-213522.112113-Under-The-Hammer.html

 

35 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Health Insurance, Healthcare bill, Jobs, Lies, media, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, ObamaCare, Occidental College, Presidential candidate, Presidential debate, Terrorist Attacks, The Case Against Barack Obama, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , , , ,

Obamacare and Catholic Church, Religious liberty and health care, Dr. Grattan Brown, Natural Law as the Foundation of Religious Liberty, Belmont Abbey College

Posted on October 2, 2012 | 12 comments

Obamacare and Catholic Church, Religious liberty and health care, Dr. Grattan Brown, Natural Law as the Foundation of Religious Liberty, Belmont Abbey College

“Führer, my Führer, give me by God. Protect and preserve my life for long. You saved Germany in time of need. I thank you for my daily bread. Be with me for a long time, do not leave me, Führer, my Führer, my faith, my light, Hail to my Führer!”…Recited by Hitler youth

“If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”…Barack Obama

“First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me –
and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.”…Pastor Martin Niemoller

From Saint Pius X Church in NC.
“Saint Pius X to Host Lecture on Religious Liberty & the HHS Mandate

Dr. Grattan Brown, STD, a professor at Belmont Abbey College, will deliver a lecture,

“Natural Law Foundations of Religious Liberty & the HHS Mandate,”

in the church on Saturday, October 6, at 7 p.m. Dr. Brown is a former researcher in religion and public policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC and former professor at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia.

A reception will precede the event at 6 p.m.

This is an important topic not just to Catholics, but to all Americans who cherish religious liberty. Much is heard about the issue in the news, but Dr. Brown will be able to help us understand the issue from the viewpoint of Catholic tradition and Church teaching.
This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.”

http://www.stpiusxnc.com/

From Citizen Wells November 18, 2011.
“Belmont Abbey sues feds over birth control rule”
“Belmont Abbey College has filed a broad legal challenge to the part of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms that requires employer insurance plans to cover contraception and other birth control.
The Catholic college in Gaston County says the federal mandate forces religious institutions opposed to birth control to violate their beliefs or face penalties. The rule goes into effect next August.
The school has sued a number of federal agencies. The defendants include Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Keith Maley, an HHS spokesman, said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm.”

Defense of the Faith: A Forum on “Religious Liberty” (Part 2 of 4 – Dr. Grattan Brown)

“Published on May 28, 2012 by StBenedictPressTAN
Defense of the Faith: A Forum on Religious Liberty (PART 2 OF 4)
Dr. Grattan Brown: “Natural Law as the Foundation of Religious Liberty”
PART 1: Introduction (http://youtu.be/9v3FQYZ_d9g)
PART 3: Mr. Kyle Duncan (http://youtu.be/o-qfS4Q7Z_w)
PART 4: Mrs. Nancy Matthews (http://youtu.be/tl91F_R6l2s)
On March 21, 2010, the United States House of Representatives voted on, and narrowly passed, a new national healthcare reform bill. Two days later, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into federal law. On January 20, 2012, over repeated objections by the United States Catholic Bishops and other religious leaders, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reaffirmed a rule mandating that virtually all private healthcare plans must cover sterilization, abortifacients and contraception by plan years beginning on or after August 1, 2012.
This action has been called by many religious leaders an egregious violation of the first amendment which states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .”
On Saturday, February 11, 2012, over one hundred attendees gathered for a forum on religious liberties hosted on the campus of Belmont Abbey College. The event was moderated by Dr. William Thierfelder, president of Belmont Abbey College. Three nationally-recognized speakers took the podium.
Dr. Grattan Brown, Associate Professor of Theology at Belmont Abbey College, opened the forum with his presentation on Natural Law as the foundation for religious liberty, addressing various contraceptive methods mandated under the new administrative guidelines, and their potential to function as abortifacients in violation of Natural Law.
Mr. Kyle Duncan, Senior Legal Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm located in Washington, DC, spoke on the accelerating legal challenges to religious liberty in the United States.
Mrs. Nancy Matthews, recently retired Chancellor and General Counsel for the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT, closed the forum with a presentation on the goals and objectives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ ad hoc committee on religious liberty. Mrs. Matthews is currently a consultant to this committee.
It is our hope that this forum will help you to better understand these issues facing the Catholic Church and nearly all employers in America today and encourage you to take action to ensure the continued protection of religious freedom.”

12 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Catholics, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Civil rights, Faith, Family, Government, Health Insurance, Healthcare bill, Lies, Medicine, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, ObamaCare, Religion, Religious freedom, The Case Against Barack Obama, US Department of Justice, Washington DC, white house

Tagged , , , ,