Ted Cruz on Senate Republican Deal on Debt Ceiling

How Dangerous is YOUR Neighborhood?

96% of Maryland's 1651 SWAT Team Deployments were in Response to Criminal Activities, 66% of Which Required the SWAT Teams to Employ Forcible Entry

I Know, No One is Interested...

Prepare Yourselves for the Great Deflation?

from CNBC

Marc Faber, publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, told CNBC on Monday that investors are asking the wrong question about when the Federal Reserve will taper its massive bond-buying program. They should be asking when the central bank will be increasing it, he argued.

"The question is not tapering. The question is at what point will they increase the asset purchases to say $150 [billion] , $200 [billion], a trillion dollars a month," Faber said in a " Squawk Box " interview.

The Fed-which is currently buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month-will hold its October meeting next week to deliberate the future of its asset purchases known as quantitative easing .


Faber has been predicting so-called "QE infinity" because "every government program that is introduced under urgency and as a temporary measure is always permanent." He also said, "The Fed has boxed itself into a position where there is no exit strategy."

The continuation of Fed bond-buying has helped support stocks, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) and S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) are coming off two straight weeks of gains, highlighted by record highs for the S&P.

While there may be little inflation in the U.S., Faber said there's been incredible asset inflation. "We are the bubble. We have a colossal asset bubble in the world [and] a leverage or a debt bubble."

Back in April 2012, Faber said the world will face "massive wealth destruction" in which "well to-do people will lose up to 50 percent of their total wealth."

In Monday's "Squawk" appearance, he said that could still happen but possibly from higher levels because of the "asset bubble" caused by the Fed.

"One day this asset inflation will lead to a deflationary collapse one way or the other. We don't know yet what will cause it," he said.

RINO's to Ted Cruz...(response)

Participating Backstabbers
Alabama RINO: Bachus

Alaska RINOs: Young, and in the Senate Murkowski (R-AK)

Arizona RINOs: In the Senate Flake (R-AZ), McCain (R-AZ)

Arkansas RINOs: Cotton, Crawford, Griffin, Womack, and in the Senate Boozman (R-AR)

California RINOs: Calvert, Cook, Issa, McCarthy, McKeon, Miller Gary, Nunes, Valadao

Colorado RINOs: Coffman, Gardner, Tipton

Florida RINOs: Bilirakis, Buchanan, Crenshaw, Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen, Webster, Young, ?

Georgia RINOs: In the Senate Chambliss (R-GA), Isakson (R-GA)

Idaho RINO: Simpson

Illinois RINOs: Davis Rodney, Kinzinger, Roskam, Schock, Shimkus, and in the Senate Kirk (R-IL)

Indiana RINOs: Brooks, Young, and in the Senate Coats (R-IN)

Iowa RINO: Latham

Kansas RINOs: Jenkins, and in the Senate Moran (R-KS)

Kentucky RINOs: Guthrie, Rogers, Whitfield, and in the Senate McConnell (R-KY)

Louisiana RINO: Boustany

Maine RINO: In the Senate Collins (R-ME)

Michigan RINOs: Benishek, Camp, Rogers, Upton

Minnesota RINOs: Kline, Paulsen

Mississippi RINOs: Harper, and in the Senate Cochran (R-MS), Wicker (R-MS)

Missouri RINO: In the Senate Blunt (R-MO)

Montana RINO: Daines

Nebraska RINOs: Fortenberry, Smith, Terry, and in the Senate Fischer (R-NE), Johanns (R-NE)

Nevada RINO: Heck

New Hampshire RINO: In the Senate Ayotte (R-NH)

New Jersey RINOs: Frelinghuysen, Lance, LoBiondo, Runyan, Smith, and in the Senate Chiesa (R-NJ)

New York RINOs: Gibson, Grimm, Hanna, King

North Carolina RINOs: Coble, McHenry, Pittenger, and in the Senate Burr (R-NC)

North Dakota RINOs: Cramer, and in the Senate Hoeven (R-ND)

Ohio RINOs: Boehner, Joyce, Stivers, Tiberi, and in the Senate Portman (R-OH)

Oklahoma RINOs: Cole, and in the Senate Coburn (R-OK)

Pennsylvania RINOs: Barletta, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Kelly, Meehan, Murphy, Shuster, Thompson

South Carolina RINOs: In the Senate Graham (R-SC), Scott (R-SC)

South Dakota RINO: In the Senate Thune (R-SD)

Tennessee RINOs: In the Senate: Alexander (R-TN), Corker (R-TN)

Utah RINO: In the Senate Hatch (R-UT)

Virginia RINOs: Cantor, Rigell, Wittman, Wolf

Washington RINOs: Hastings, Herrera Beutler, McMorris Rodgers, Reichert,

West Virginia RINOs: Capito, McKinley

Wisconsin RINO: Ribble

Tea Party to RINO's... OVER!

Senate Republicans Begin Their Walk of Shame

Turning the Tide, Redux

from Realclearpolitics:

"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Mark Twain's insight comes to mind as one observes the panic of Beltway Republicans over the latest polls in the battle of Obamacare.

According to Gallup, approval of the Republican Party has sunk 10 points in two weeks to 28 percent, an all-time low. In the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, approval of the GOP has fallen to 24 percent.

In the campaign to persuade America of their Big Lie -- that the House Republicans shut down the government -- the White House and its media chorus appear to have won this round.

Yet, the truth is the Republicans House has voted three times to keep open and to fund every agency, department and program of the U.S. government, except for Obamacare.

And they voted to kill that monstrosity but once.

Republicans should refuse to raise the white flag and insist on an honorable avenue of retreat.

And if Harry Reid's Senate demands the GOP end the sequester on federal spending, or be blamed for a debt default, the party should, Samson-like, bring down the roof of the temple on everybody's head.

This is an honorable battle lost, not a war.

Why, after all, did Republicans stand up? Because they believe Obamacare is an abomination, a new entitlement program this nation, lurching toward bankruptcy, cannot afford.

It is imposing increases in health care premiums on millions of Americans, disrupting doctor-patient relationships and forcing businesses to cut workers back to 29 hours a week. Even Democratic Sen. Max Baucus has predicted a coming "train wreck."

Now if the Republican Party believes this, what choice did the House have except to fight to defund or postpone it, against all odds, and tune out the whining of the "We-can't-win!" Republican establishment?

And if Republicans are paralyzed by polls produced by this three-week skirmish, they should reread the history of the party and the movement to which they profess to belong.

In the early 1960s, when the postwar right rose to challenge JFK with Mr. Conservative, events and actions conspired to put Barry Goldwater in the worst hole of a Republican nominee in history.

Kennedy was murdered in Dallas one year before the election. Goldwater had glibly hinted he would privatize Social Security, sell the Tennessee Valley Authority and "lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin."

After his defeat of Nelson Rockefeller in the California primary assured his nomination, Goldwater was 59 points behind LBJ -- 77-18.

The Republican liberals -- Govs. Rockefeller, George Romney and William Scranton -- to the cheers of the Washington press, began to attack Goldwater for "extremism" and failing to vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

At the Cow Palace convention, liberals demanded Goldwater rewrite the platform to equate The John Birch Society with the Communist Party USA and the Ku Klux Klan, which had murdered four black girls at a Birmingham church in 1963 and three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Miss., that same summer.

Goldwater rejected this stinking outrage, declaring, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." And, so, the liberals all abandoned him.

One man stood by Goldwater. The two-time loser Richard Nixon, who had not won a race in his own right since 1950, campaigned for Goldwater and the party longer and harder than Barry himself.

And what became of them all?

Bill Scranton packed it in 1966. George Romney was trounced in 1968 by Nixon, with Goldwater's legions at his side, in New Hampshire, and quit the race two weeks before the returns came in.

Rockefeller, who had spent a career calling Nixon a "loser," lacked what it took to challenge Nixon in any of the contested primaries.

And, lest we forget, one other national Republican spoke up for Goldwater and conservatism in that 1964 humiliation, the retired Hollywood actor and impresario of GE Theater: Ronald Reagan.

Nixon and Reagan would go on to win four of the next five GOP nominations and presidential elections. In the one convention Reagan lost, 1976, the right, as the price of its support of Gerald R. Ford, demanded that Nelson Rockefeller be dumped as vice president.

Done. Rocky was last seen flipping a middle finger to the delegates happily marking "paid" on his account.

Prediction: The people who fought the battle of Obamacare will be proven right to have fought it, and America will come to see this.

And the people who said, "We can't win!" will never win.

America is at a turning point.

If she does not stop squandering hundreds of billions on liberal agenda items like Obamacare and if she do not end these trade deficits sucking the jobs, factories and investment capital out of our country, we will find ourselves beside Greece, Spain, Illinois and Detroit.

Even if America disagrees, as in 1964 when it embraced LBJ's Great Society plunge to social and economic disaster, Republicans need to stand up -- current polls and corporate Republicans be damned.

If the right is right, time will prove it, as it did long ago.

Democrats Admit: Obamacare Launch Has Failed in Maryland

from the Huffington Post

As the nation prepared for the launch of federal health reforms, Maryland was lauded as a leader in adopting the president's signature program. Obama used a community college in Maryland as a backdrop to promote his plan -- and to praise Maryland as a model.

But nearly two weeks after Maryland's online marketplace opened to the uninsured, the state program remains plagued by technical problems, and officials say it could be six weeks before the system is running smoothly. The Maryland Health Connection enrolled just more than 1,120 people in the first 10 days -- compared with more than 9,000 in Kentucky, which has fewer uninsured, and tens of thousands in California and New York.

Other states have had similar problems, and the federal site, which serves 36 states, has been bogged down. But Maryland is now being targeted for criticism by conservatives on Capitol Hill and publications such as the Weekly Standard, which highlighted the fact that consumers could not search Maryland Health Connection to see if their doctors participate in the program.

Some Obamacare supporters are also expressing frustration about the balky website.

"Once you get beyond the slick-looking front page, it looks like something a college kid may have put together in an afternoon. It's rife with weird programming, verification errors and dead ends," said Jim Fortney of Silver Spring, who has built some small websites himself and says he supports the health care program. He has been trying to enroll himself and his 12-year-old son on the Maryland site.

Maryland officials have downplayed the troubles related to the Maryland Health Connection's online portal. They say initial problems -- some created by high demand -- are fixed and others, such as slow movement between pages on the site, are being addressed.

Still, Gov. Martin O'Malley said some problems are likely to continue in Maryland, which has about 800,000 uninsured residents. "My sense of it is, probably for the next month or so, month and a half, we will be working out glitches in the portal," he told reporters Friday.

Joshua Sharfstein, secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said a planned upgrade is in the works and noted that the pace of enrollment in the health exchange is picking up. In the first six days, the state signed up 326 people; four days later there were 1,121.

Still, computer experts are trying to figure out why some state exchanges worked and others -- like Maryland's -- lagged as a key element of the Affordable Care Act took effect.

Sharfstein wasn't specific about the problems that Maryland has encountered, and Noridian Healthcare Solutions LLC, the company contracted to build the software, said it could not comment.

When Obama spoke before a crowd of nearly 2,000 students at Prince George's Community College on Sept. 26, he predicted that signing up for health insurance would be as easy as shopping for "a TV on Amazon."

He acknowledged that some computer problems could emerge around the nation, but praised Maryland's efforts.

"Like any law, like any big product launch, there are going to be some glitches as this thing unfolds," the president said. "Folks in different parts of the country will have different experiences. It's going to be smoother in places like Maryland where governors are working to implement it rather than fight it."

Many states reported they had trouble initially because there was far more interest than expected and servers were overwhelmed. Experts said the sites that worked smoothly -- once computer capacity was increased -- were those that allowed consumers to shop without creating an account. Maryland and the federal site both require registration to see the details of insurance plans, and bottlenecks developed as information was relayed among computers for user verification.

Kentucky officials say the simplicity of their system and strong oversight brought success. They used few graphics and limited text on the website so it wouldn't get bogged down and consumers wouldn't be overwhelmed, said Gwenda Bond, a spokeswoman for Kentucky's Cabinet for Health and Family Services, where the exchange is housed. They thought anonymous browsing would be popular, and as it turns out, that approach avoided the bottleneck plaguing other states.

Most importantly, Bond said, the state used its own technical people, who also oversee Medicaid and other social service systems, to create the overriding architecture of their exchange. They also "stayed in the room" with contractors -- some of the same ones who are running the troubled federal site -- to keep close tabs on the operation.

"We had some glitches," Bond said. "But we were able to correct them quickly."

New York and California also are enrolling thousands of residents. Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, said enrollment was "going strong," with 16,311 applications completed to cover 28,699 people as of Oct. 5.

The website for the New York State Department of Health experienced some slowness upon opening, with 2 million hits in an hour on its first day, but officials added servers in the following days to handle the load and said they haven't experienced any interruption in service. As of Friday, nearly 80,000 residents had enrolled.

But problems with the federal exchange's website means consumers face delays in obtaining coverage in 36 states, including Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Delaware officials don't expect to have any estimate of enrollment until mid-November, said Jill Fredel, spokeswoman for that state's health department.

Other state-run exchanges have faced serious problems. In Oregon, for example, technical difficulties have prevented residents from completing enrollment, though about 4,000 people have filled out initial paperwork either online or in print.

"We're working through the problems," Cover Oregon spokeswoman Ariane Holm said. Officials hope to open the enrollment website to the public by the end of the month. "We want to make sure we get it right, not just get it out there."

Software experts question the approach that the federal government and some states took in creating the online marketplace.

Alexander Howard, a fellow at Harvard University's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism, said the federal government has a procurement problem, and some states may have fallen into the same trap. Governments often contract out large, complex systems to companies that may not be innovative and nimble enough to envision them, write code, communicate and anticipate user needs, he said.

"Maybe [the companies are] not the best at building systems, they're the best at getting government contracts," he said. "There is a thicket of rules and regulations that governs how government can buy and maintain technology."

Paul Smith, chief technology officer at Public Good Software, agreed. He headed software engineering efforts for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign while at the Democratic National Committee, and embraced cutting-edge technology more common to a Silicon Valley start-up to effectively raise donations and organize. He said rigid procurement rules limit such innovation among federal agencies.

Another issue is that the federal website and Maryland's are hitting bottlenecks because they depend on computer links to agencies, including the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, to verify consumer information. The systems at such agencies weren't meant to handle high web-based traffic, the experts said.

The problems can be overcome with good computer code writers, enough servers, proper testing and lots of oversight, Smith and Howard said. But that takes time, and many health exchanges weren't ready by the Oct. 1 deadline for the start of enrollment.

Smith pointed out that the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan also had a rough roll out, though he suspects most people don't remember that because the program is hugely popular.

"I've been developing software for decades and it's buggy," he said. "The first time you always encounter challenges and everyone expects that with any product. ... Going forward I expect the sites to stabilize and be more responsive, and enrolling people in health care and the experience not to be a frustrating one."

If the kinks are not worked out soon, some say authorities may need to ease enrollment deadlines. The uninsured need to buy coverage by March. For coverage to begin in January, consumers must sign up by mid-December.

"There is still time," said Sabrina Corlette, a senior research fellow at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms. "Maryland had been seen as ahead of the pack. But now we're pointing to Kentucky as one of the only states moving smoothly. If this goes on another month, some policy decisions on open enrollment will need to be made."

Maryland officials said 1,121 people have enrolled for insurance through the state's health exchange. Here are samples from some other states:

Kentucky: 9,000-plus

New York: nearly 80,000

California: 28,000-plus

Oregon: zero

Federal system, serving 36 states including Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia: Statistics not available

Veterans Tell Obama Where to Shove his Barrycades

Harford County - Just Another Pay to Play Crony Capital Government?

From the Dagger and Harford Campaign for Liberty:

Fellow Harford County Resident,

On October 1, the Harford County Council held a public hearing regarding Resolution 20-13, an Economic Development Loan for the American Can Company in Belcamp, MD.

The resolution would give the company a “conditional loan” of $125,000 from Harford County and a conditional MEDAF loan from Maryland state of $535,000 in order to expand their headquarters.

These so-called loans are both similar in that they DO NOT require monthly payments during their ten year terms, they DO NOT accrue interest on the principle balance, and if the company meets the agreed upon conditions they DO NOT NEED TO BE RE-PAID!!

Doesn’t really sound like a loan, does it?

American Can Company currently employees 221 full-time workers at its headquarters in Belcamp. They boast $80,000,000 million a year in revenues across their five locations.

And in order to meet the conditions, to make sure this is gift money from the government (because once the government takes it from you it’s no longer your money, right?), all the company has to do is keep their employee total in Belcamp over 200, and hire an additional 25 workers over the next five years.

$660,000 for 25 new jobs – and in the County Council hearing the Council members were reminded of course that this is also a matter of JOB RETENTION. Meaning, after 30 years of happily working in Harford County, this company would consider picking up their entire headquarters and three buildings of manufacturing over which state would bribe them the most?!

Some will say, “You’re being naive. That’s the way the system works.”

Maybe so. But maybe if Maryland concentrated on lower taxes, less regulatory red tape, and a true business-friendly environment, it might find that system works as well.

At the very least, the taxpayers of Harford County should be able to count upon their local officials to be good stewards of their money. Why insist upon making this a conditional loan?

As Councilman McMahan complained during the the last MEDAF loan vote, “we’re going to give ‘em $100,000 instead of a loan, we’re giving money away like a drunken sailor.”

On this upcoming vote, join in calling for our Council members to choose fiscal responsibility. Please, call and email your representative and let them know that you’re opposed to this “conditional loan”.

District A: Dion Guthrie call 410-638-3521
email: dfguthrie@harfordcountymd.gov

District B: Joe Woods call 410-638-3520
email: jmwoods@harfordcountymd.gov

District C: James McMahan call 410-638-3523
email: jvmcmahan@harfordcountymd.gov

District D: Chad Shrodes call 410-638-3522
email: cshrodes@harfordcountymd.gov

District E: Richard Slutzky call 410-638-3522
email: rcslutzky@harfordcountymd.gov

District F: Mary Ann Lisanti call 410-638-3526
email: malisanti@harfordcountymd.gov

Council President Billy Boniface call 410-638-3525
email: wkboniface@harfrodcountymd.gov
Even the County Auditor’s Fiscal Impact Note barely shows Harford County recouping their $125,000 in income taxes from these new jobs over ten years.

This vote could come up as early as TODAY!

Won’t you make a two minute call and voice your opposition today?

For Liberty,

Christina Trotta
Steering Committee Member
Harford County Campaign for Liberty

P.S. Resolution 20-13 must be endorsed by County Executive David Craig, “thereby indicating his approval thereof.” Is he as fond of this type of “freebie financing” as Governor O’Malley seems to be? Since he’s running for Governor in 2014, perhaps we should find out! O’Malley’s administration gave away $15 million in conditional loans alone in 2012!

Call County Executive Craig at 410-638-3350 and email him at CountyExecutive@harfordcountymd.gov and ask him if he supports these freebie “conditional loans”.

How Obama Plans on Saving the Economy

Step 1 - Eliminate the Debt Ceiling * Sequester Cuts

Step 2 - Name a New Fed Chair

Step 3 - Send in The Helicopters full of Money

from the Yahoo Daily Ticker:

She’s “more of a hardshell believer in the benefits of monetary easing,” Rickards tells The Daily Ticker. While he describes Bernanke as having a more stop-and-go approach to quantitative easing over the last several years, he says Yellen is much more likely to say, “'We need to print money, we’ve got to have some goals, we’re gonna keep printing money until we hit those goals.'”

Columbia economist Michael Woodford’s calls for nominal GDP targeting would be an example of this type of policy.

So what’s wrong with that approach? Rickards argues that we’re in an economic depression which is structural as is the ongoing unemployment problem, so the Fed’s cyclical policies may not work. Meanwhile, the risk to the downside, in his view, could be a collapse in confidence in the dollar.


So what else can we expect next year in terms of monetary policy? Rickards predicts 'helicopter money' coming in 2014 – an election year when Republicans and Democrats may have a rare moment of agreement on taxes. Wait, why would 'helicopter money' involve members of Congress, and what is it anyway? Check out the video to find out.

Now Negotiating for Republicans, the King of Fold

Meanwhile, Tea Party Members keep working on their messaging...- h/t: Western Hero

Obamacare, in a nutshell...

Taxpayer Cost - $634,320,919

Who Owns Our Federal Lands?

NOT YOU!

Tear Down the BARRY-cades & Occupy America!Yosemite at Night During ShutNado after all Visitors Evicted...

...and Now, an Important Message to Harry Reid & friends, from the RNC

A Moderate Takes On the Media Extremist Filter

Local Baltimore Man Targetted for Punishment for His Political Views

from the Baltimore Sun

Famed Baltimore neurosurgeon Ben Carson said this week he believes he was targeted for an audit by the Internal Revenue Service because of his vocal opposition to the Obama administration.

Carson said he had only his suspicions to go on, but this year was the first time his taxes had been audited by the IRS and he added that the agency had tarnished its reputation for trustworthiness in an earlier scandal.

"We are in a situation where a government agency has been used to harass opponents of the administration, which places everything that the IRS does in a light of suspicion," Carson said in an interview Thursday. "So whether this is a massive coincidence or if I was targeted, it looks suspicious."

Carson acknowledged that "there's no way to know" whether he was targeted and that the IRS would probably not admit to it, anyway. But he said he wanted to speak publicly about the audit because he is also uneasy that the IRS will oversee the tax implications of the new health care law, which he opposes.

Carson has been in the media spotlight since he took aim at President Barack Obama at a prayer breakfast in February. The next month, he announced he would retire from his longtime post as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has since made numerous appearances on conservative talk shows and launched a weekly column with the conservative-leaning newspaper The Washington Times.

The IRS could not be reached for a response to Carson's comments, as the agency's spokespeople have been furloughed amid the federal government shutdown this week.

Earlier this year, the IRS admitted it had targeted political groups for additional scrutiny of their tax-exempt status. While some left-leaning groups were identified for review, most were conservative. Top IRS officials and the Obama administration denounced the practice and placed the blame on a small group of lower-level staffers who appeared blind to the implications of their actions.

Carson said he thought the IRS controversy did not get enough media coverage and that it was worse than several other scandals, including the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

"This is a much bigger issue than Watergate," he said.

The "Gifted Hands" neurosurgeon is not the first to believe that an IRS audit stems from ulterior motives, though such charges are difficult to prove. Groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Code Pink and Greenpeace have complained they were targeted for audits under Republican administrations. In 2000, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s chief fundraiser asked the IRS to investigate the NAACP's tax-exempt status.

Glen E. Frost, a Columbia-based tax attorney and certified public accountant, said many of his clients that have undergone audits this year have wondered whether they were somehow targeted.

"With all of the press and everything out there, I feel like that's just a natural reaction," he said. "People are looking for explanations."

Frost said the wealthy are more likely to be audited and that the IRS uses a special formula that calculates the risk of tax fraud. Certain charitable contributions, a large number of itemized expenses and a lot of business expenses that are not reimbursed can be red flags, he said.

Carson spoke about the audit at an appearance earlier this week in Alabama and on Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor."

Carson said he was notified in June that his taxes would be audited, and that his real estate holdings, joint tax return with his wife and prior year's returns were probed. He said that agents visited his offices at least once in June and concluded in August that his returns contained no mistakes or wrongdoing.

We Don't Negotiate with Terrorists!

Barack Obama & His "Not Ready for Primetime" Obamacare Players

from CNBC

It's a batting average that won't land the federal marketplace for Obamacare into the Healthcare Hall of Fame.

As few as 1 in 100 applications on the federal exchange contains enough information to enroll the applicant in a plan, several insurance industry sources told CNBC on Friday. Some of the problems involve how the exchange's software collects and verifies an applicant's data.

"It is extraordinary that these systems weren't ready," said Sumit Nijhawan, CEO of Infogix, which handles data integrity issues for major insurers including WellPoint and Cigna, as well as multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates.

Experts said that if Healthcare.gov's success rate doesn't improve within the next month or so, federal officials could face a situation in January in which relatively large numbers of people believe they have coverage starting that month, but whose enrollment applications are have not been processed.

"It could be public relations nightmare," said Nijhawan. Insurers have told his company that just "1 in 100" enrollment applicants being sent from the federal marketplace have provided sufficient, verified information.

Meanwhile, the only person know to have successfully signed up for Obamacare turns out to have been a plant.

Is Harry Reid Serious?

Now Topping the SHUTnado Playlist....

Sorry folks. America is closed. The moose out front should’ve told you!

More Game for RINO Hunters....

Charlie Dent went on the PBS Newshour and pleaded for a surrender. If there were one RINO on the list, he would be the biggest trophy.


Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.): “At this point, I believe it’s time for the House to vote for a clean, short-term funding bill to bring the Senate to the table and negotiate a responsible compromise.” [Press Release, 10/1/13]

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.): “Time for a clean [continuing resolution].” [Official Twitter, 10/1/13]

Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.): “Enough is enough. Put a clean [continuing resolution] on the floor and let’s get on with the business we were sent to do." [Burlington County Times, 10/1/13]

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.): A Fitzpatrick aide tells the Philadelphia Inquirer the congressman would support a clean funding bill if it came up for a vote. [Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/1/13]

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.): Barletta said he would "absolutely" vote for a clean bill in order to avert a shut down of the government. [Bethlehem Morning Call, 10/1/13]

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.): King thinks House Republicans would prefer to avoid a shutdown and said he will only vote for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government, according to the National Review Online. [NRO, 9/30/13]

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.): The California Republican told The Huffington Post he would ultimately support a clean continuing resolution. [Tweet by The Huffington Post's Sabrina Siddiqui, 9/30/13]

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.): “I'm prepared to vote for a clean [continuing resolution].” [The Huffington Post, 9/29/13]

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.): A Wolf aide told The Hill that he agrees with fellow Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell (R) that it's time for a clean continuing resolution. [The Hill, 10/1/13]

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.): A Grimm aide told The Huffington Post that the congressman supports a clean continuing resolution. [10/1/13].

Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.): A local news anchor in Minnesota tweeted that Paulsen told him he would vote for a clean resolution if given the chance. [Blake McCoy Tweet, 10/1/13]

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.): A constituent of Wittman's sent The Huffington Post an email she got from the congressman indicating he would vote for a clean funding bill but hasn't had "an opportunity to do so at this point." [10/1/13]

Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.): LoBiondo told The Press of Atlantic City he'll support "whatever gets a successful conclusion" to the shutdown and a clean funding bill "is one of those options." [The Press of Atlantic City, 10/1/13]

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.): Forbes told The Virginian-Pilot that he supports the six-week clean funding bill that passed in the Senate. [The Virginian-Pilot, 10/2/13]

Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.): The congressman issued a statement saying he would "vote in favor of a so-called clean budget bill." [Office of Rep. Jim Gerlach, 10/2/13].

Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.): Lance's chief of staff confirmed to The Huffington Post that he told a constituent on Wednesday that Lance has voted for clean government funding bills in the past "and would not oppose doing so again should one be brought to the floor." [10/2/13]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho): Simpson told a Roll Call reporter Tuesday night, "I'd vote for a clean CR because I don't think this is a strategy that works." [Daniel Newhauser Tweet, 10/1/13]

Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.): Young told Tampa Bay Times reporter Alex Leary that he's ready to vote for a clean funding bill. "The politics should be over," he said. "It's time to legislate." [Alex Leary Tweet, 10/2/13]

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.): The congressman told Miami Herald reporter Marc Caputo that he would vote for a clean funding bill, provided it has the same funding levels contained in the Senate-passed bill. [The Miami Herald, 10/2/13]

Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.): "I would take a clean (continuing resolution)." [Observer-Dispatch, 10/2/13]

Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.): A Davis constituent tells The Huffington Post that a Davis aide told him Wednesday, "Congressman Davis is prepared to vote 'yes' on a clean CR." Asked for comment, Davis spokesman Andrew Flach told HuffPost that Davis isn't "going to speculate" on what bills may come up in the House and "will continue to vote for proposals brought to the floor that will fund the federal government." [10/2/2013]

Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.): Asked on Twitter if he would support a clean funding bill if it came up for a vote, Griffin tweeted, "sure. Ive already said i would support." [Official Twitter, 10/2/13].

Flashback to Obamacare's Origins...