Saturday, April 30, 2016

Americans need a bipartisan fix to our health care system. Here's how to do it.

Just a few common sense and practical steps can turn what we have now into a more bipartisan approach to health insurance reform.

Democrats need to admit Obamacare is unpopular because it is not meeting the needs of too many people.

Republicans need to admit we don't need to "repeal and replace" Obamacare with another complex ideological health insurance reform plan to make our system work a lot better.

Both sides should be willing to build on a list of bipartisan ideas they can both embrace.
THESE ARE WORTH READING - CLICK ON ARTICLE BELOW: USA TODAY: Customer-friendly Obamacare fixes: Column by Robert Laszewski 7:24 p.m. EST January 14, 2015

Robert Laszewski is president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, LLC (HPSA), a policy and marketplace consulting firm specializing in assisting its clients through the significant health policy and market change afoot. Before forming HPSA in 1992, Mr. Laszewski spent nine years as a chief operating officer of a health and group benefits insurer. The majority of Mr. Laszewski’s time is spent being directly involved in the marketplace as it comes to grips with the health care cost and quality challenge.

HEALTH CARE POLICY and MARKETPLACE REVIEW

4 things you never heard about Ted Cruz before

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

CITIZEN TED: WHY TED CRUZ LIED ABOUT HIS MOTHER - UPDATE


EXCLUSIVE


THE LIES:

[From: “A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America” – June 30, 2015 by Ted Cruz]


Ted Cruz said his mother Eleanor’s first son Michael Wilson was born (and later died) in 1965 while she was married to her first husband Alan Wilson.

Ted Cruz said:  “After meeting each other at Geocom in New Orleans, my parents had moved to Canada…”


THE TRUTH:

Michael Wilson was not the son of Alan Wilson—he and Eleanor divorced in 1963—and the baby was born out of wedlock in 1966.

Eleanor moved from England to Canada in December, 1967


THE REASON FOR THE LIES:
 
Ted Cruz was born out of wedlock in 1970
AND
Birth Abroad Out-of-Wedlock to a U.S. Citizen Mother:
A person born abroad out-of-wedlock to a U.S. citizen mother may acquire U.S. citizenship under Section 309(c) of the INA if the mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of the person’s birth and if the mother was physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the person’s birth. The U.S. citizen mother must be the genetic or the gestational mother and the legal parent of the child under local law at the time and place of the child’s birth to transmit U.S. citizenship.

CRUZ FAMILY TIMELINE


            Nov 23, 1934       TED CRUZ’s MOTHER BORN in Delaware, U.S. (Eleanor Darragh)

  1956       Graduated from Rice University, Texas

                          1956       Married Alan Wilson

                          1960       Moved to London with husband Alan Wilson

                          1963       Divorced from Alan Wilson

                          1966       Birth/death of Michael Wilson (not related to former husband Alan Wilson)

A McClatchy newspaper review by Maria Recio of the 2015 book “A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Miracle of America” states "Cruz reveals that his mother, Eleanor, had a child, a son named Michael, during her first marriage, who died when he was a baby."  Another McClatchy article states: "Although Cruz in his book cites 1965 for Michael Wilson’s birth and death.  London records obtained by McClatchy show that a Michael Wilson was born and died in 1966 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in Kensington, a London neighborhood."

              July 26, 1967      Selective Service registration of Rafael Bienvenido Cruz (NEW ORLEANS, LA): (Manager of Computer Applications at Geophysics & Computer Services Inc.)

        December, 1967       Moved to Canada (Eleanor Darragh Wilson)

   Jan 1968–Feb 1969       Eleanor meets and marries Rafael Cruz within 14 months of moving to Canada?
No marriage certificate has ever been produced anywhere and “Marriage   Abroad” has many strict requirements:

                        1969      “In 1969, at his new oil company job, he met his second wife, Eleanor Elizabeth Darragh Wilson”       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Bienvenido_Cruz#Personal_life

             March, 1970       Ted Cruz is conceived. [CORRECTED: 1969 changed to 1970]

  December 22, 1970       TED CRUZ BORN IN CANADA
  December 31, 1970        Birth registered at Calgary [70-08-032264]

Paul R. Hollrah, retired government relations executive and a two-time member of the U.S. Electoral College, explains that "According to the U.S. State Department, Bureau of Consular Affairs, the U.S. citizen parent(s) of a child born on foreign soil must obtain a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA, Form FS-240) at some time prior to the child’s eighteenth birthday if the parent desires to pass on their U.S. citizenship to their offspring" and then wonders:  "So the question arises, did Ted Cruz’s parents assemble all the necessary documents and then drive or fly to the office of the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal, a distance of 2,196 miles? Or did they simply rely on the fact that his mother was a U.S. citizen, assuming that her U.S. citizenship would be automatically passed on to her son?” All applicants will need to provide the following forms and documents:  11 STEPS TO PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

                       1973        Rafael Bienvenido Cruz becomes a Canadian citizen. 
           1973        Rafael Bienvenido Cruz moves back to the United States alone!

                       1974        Rafael Bienvenido Cruz returns to Canada, takes Eleanor and Ted to the U.S.
“Parents of a child born abroad to a U.S. citizen or citizens should apply for a CRBA and/or a U.S. passport for the child as soon as possible. Failure to promptly document a child who meets the statutory requirements for acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth may cause problems for the parents and the child when attempting to establish the child’s U.S. citizenship and eligibility for the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship, including entry into the United States. By law, U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States.”

 November 6, 1986      IRCA Signed into law by Ronald Reagan, November 6, 1986 (Immigration Reform and Control Act aka Simpson–Mazzoli Act)
                       1986      Ted Cruz gets a passport for the first time for an alleged high school trip to England.

 2005       Rafael Bienvenido Cruz renounces his Canadian citizenship when he applies for--and becomes--a U.S. Naturalized citizen.

           May 14, 2014      TED CRUZ RENOUNCES CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP

          June 30, 2015      “A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Miracle of America” released.


FINAL NOTES:


Like Barack Hussein Obama, Cruz himself has failed to release the following documents:



2012 INTERVIEW:
Interviewer:
“What is your understanding of how one becomes a natural born Citizen?”
Ted Cruz:
“Two citizen parents and born on the soil.”



Extremely interesting legally with many amazing references throughout…but Cruz’s defense of Santeria reminds me why John Jay wrote that letter to George Washington!!! A MUST READ!!!!!



THE END


--by Linda Starr
APRIL, 2016

UPDATE: Anna Tomerlin had a much more extensive (and accurate timeline) that I found after I published this. The following site has republished it (her own is currently offline):
Editor’s Note: Anna Tomerlin has done some extensive investigation into the family line of Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz and frankly, the information is quite disturbing. Anna has graciously allowed us to repost her article to inform the public.
Constitutional Eligibility is a Matter of National Security – The Family Time Line of Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz


Monday, April 11, 2016

TAXES: LIKE DEATH BY A THOUSAND PAPER CUTS

Excerpt from "A List Of 97 Taxes Americans Pay Every Year"
#1 Air Transportation Taxes (just look at how much you were charged the last time you flew)
#2 Biodiesel Fuel Taxes
#3 Building Permit Taxes
#4 Business Registration Fees
#5 Capital Gains Taxes
#6 Cigarette Taxes
#7 Court Fines (indirect taxes)
#8 Disposal Fees
#9 Dog License Taxes
#10 Drivers License Fees (another form of taxation)
#11 Employer Health Insurance Mandate Tax
#12 Employer Medicare Taxes
#13 Employer Social Security Taxes
#14 Environmental Fees
#15 Estate Taxes
#16 Excise Taxes On Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
#17 Federal Corporate Taxes
#18 Federal Income Taxes
#19 Federal Unemployment Taxes
#20 Fishing License Taxes
#21 Flush Taxes (yes, this actually exists in some areas)
#22 Food And Beverage License Fees
#23 Franchise Business Taxes
#24 Garbage Taxes
#25 Gasoline Taxes
#26 Gift Taxes
#27 Gun Ownership Permits
#28 Hazardous Material Disposal Fees
#29 Highway Access Fees
#30 Hotel Taxes (these are becoming quite large in some areas)
#31 Hunting License Taxes
#32 Import Taxes
#33 Individual Health Insurance Mandate Taxes
#34 Inheritance Taxes
#35 Insect Control Hazardous Materials Licenses
#36 Inspection Fees
#37 Insurance Premium Taxes
#38 Interstate User Diesel Fuel Taxes
#39 Inventory Taxes
#40 IRA Early Withdrawal Taxes
#41 IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
#42 IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
#43 Library Taxes
#44 License Plate Fees
#45 Liquor Taxes
#46 Local Corporate Taxes
#47 Local Income Taxes
#48 Local School Taxes
#49 Local Unemployment Taxes
#50 Luxury Taxes
#51 Marriage License Taxes
#52 Medicare Taxes
#53 Medicare Tax Surcharge On High Earning Americans Under Obamacare
#54 Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (if you don’t buy “qualifying” health insurance under Obamacare you will have to pay an additional tax)
#55 Obamacare Surtax On Investment Income (a new 3.8% surtax on investment income)
#56 Parking Meters
#57 Passport Fees
#58 Professional Licenses And Fees (another form of taxation)
#59 Property Taxes
#60 Real Estate Taxes
#61 Recreational Vehicle Taxes
#62 Registration Fees For New Businesses
#63 Toll Booth Taxes
#64 Sales Taxes
#65 Self-Employment Taxes
#66 Sewer & Water Taxes
#67 School Taxes
#68 Septic Permit Taxes
#69 Service Charge Taxes
#70 Social Security Taxes
#71 Special Assessments For Road Repairs Or Construction
#72 Sports Stadium Taxes
#73 State Corporate Taxes
#74 State Income Taxes
#75 State Park Entrance Fees
#76 State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)
#77 Tanning Taxes (a new Obamacare tax on tanning services)
#78 Telephone 911 Service Taxes
#79 Telephone Federal Excise Taxes
#80 Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Taxes
#81 Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Taxes
#82 Telephone State And Local Taxes
#83 Telephone Universal Access Taxes
#84 The Alternative Minimum Tax
#85 Tire Recycling Fees
#86 Tire Taxes
#87 Tolls (another form of taxation)
#88 Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
#89 Use Taxes (Out of state purchases, etc.)
#90 Utility Taxes
#91 Vehicle Registration Taxes
#92 Waste Management Taxes
#93 Water Rights Fees
#94 Watercraft Registration & Licensing Fees
#95 Well Permit Fees
#96 Workers Compensation Taxes
#97 Zoning Permit Fees
Yet despite all of this oppressive taxation, our local governments, our state governments and our federal government are all absolutely drowning in debt.
When the federal income tax was originally introduced a little more than 100 years ago, most Americans were taxed at a rate of only 1 percent.
But once they get their feet in the door, the social planners always want more.
Since that time, tax rates have gone much higher and the tax code has exploded in size.
Why do we have to have the most convoluted tax system in the history of the planet?
Why can’t things be simpler?
In a previous article entitled “24 Outrageous Facts About Taxes In The United States That Will Blow Your Mind“, I listed a number of reasons why our federal income tax system has become a complete and utter abomination that is entirely out of control…


READ MORE

Climate records show no evidence of increasing extremes in wet-dry climate in the twentieth century that is projected by current climate models, shows new study

A new study published in Nature has looked at 1,200 years of water history in the northern hemisphere, and found a rather different story to that simulated by climate models for the same period.
Scientist: No evidence of extreme drought and floods in the twentieth century

Former Soviet professor Yuri Glazov, Jamie Glazov's father

My father was a scholar at the Soviet Academy of Sciences and a professor at Moscow State University. His main field of study concerned Oriental languages and cultures, with a specialty in the Chinese, Sanskrit and Tamil areas. Despite his rewarding career, my dad put everything on the line and began to attend human rights demonstrations in Moscow on behalf of political prisoners. He also started to sign letters of protest against the political repressions that were heightening in the country in the 1960s, connected as they were to the re-Stalinization of the Soviet Union after the Khrushchev thaw. The activities my dad engaged in could land a Soviet citizen in the gulag or a psychiatric hospital for decades.

On February 24, 1968, my father signed the Letter of Twelve, a letter written and signed by twelve Soviet dissidents to the Supreme Congress of Communist Parties in Budapest denouncing Soviet human rights abuses. He was immediately fired from his work for being “unprofessional” in his scholarly studies (even though he previously had received high praise for his academic studies).

The picture of my dad, shown above, was taken by a friend who had come to visit him the evening of the day he was expelled from the Academy. . .
READ MORE

Sunday, April 10, 2016

ALERT: Three U.S. Churches to Vote on Anti-Israel Resolutions this Spring

Legal Insurrection:
Spread the word about how a minority of committed anti-Israel, and in many cases anti-Semitic, activists are trying to steer some of America’s oldest churches astray toward a morally suspect agenda.

Because the best antidote to hate is exposure.
READ MORE

You don't become a "natural born citizen" at age 43!

Excerpt from Ted Cruz: Neither a Natural Born Citizen Nor “TrusTed” (3/7/2016):
...maybe Senator Cruz, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness, can tell us what he knows about persons born in foreign countries getting a security clearance from the U.S. Government. Cruz said that “as a U.S. Senator, I believe I should be only an American,” but he did not disclose to the people of Texas that he was a citizen of Canada at birth when he ran for that office. This is even with U.S. Senators, among the various responsibilities they have relative to U.S. relations with foreign nations, being called upon to vote on treaties with foreign nations. In 2014, after being confronted by the public media about his Canadian birthright citizenship, Cruz did renounce that Canadian citizenship with which he was born. That was 18 months after he took the oath of office as a U.S. Senator. But Cruz, born to a Cuban citizen father, was also born potentially a Cuban citizen at birth. To date, he has not mentioned his potential Cuban citizenship at birth, even though he could have qualified through his Cuban father for that citizenship under the Cuban Constitution.[8] What have Cruz’s activities been in the U.S. Senate relative to the United States normalizing relations with Cuba? I am not faulting and never would fault Cruz for his birth circumstances. But a U.S. Senator and President, acting in a public capacity, has to disclose to the public what his or her private interest via-a-vis a foreign nation may be.

Regardless of what Cruz knew or did not know about his Canadian citizenship, Cruz was born in Canada presumably to a U.S. citizen mother, but to a non-U.S. citizen father. Hence, he was not born in the country to parents who were its citizens, which means that he is not nor can he be a citizen through his birth circumstances alone. Rather, he is what Minor called an “alien of foreigner” in need of naturalization.[9] Therefore, he is not nor can he be a natural born citizen. Not being a natural born citizen, for him to be a citizen he needed the aid of a positive law, which in his case is a naturalization Act of Congress. He was not born in the United States and so he could not rely upon the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides the floor standard of citizenship for those born in the United States, requiring that they be at least born subject to its jurisdiction. Being born in a foreign country, he had to rely upon a naturalization Act of Congress, without which Cruz would have been born an alien. This means that Cruz is at best a naturalized "citizen" of the United States "at birth," so made only by a naturalization Act of Congress (in his case it is the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952[10]). Congress through a naturalization Act made Cruz a citizen of the United States “at birth,” meaning that he did not have to go through any naturalization process after birth.[11] But still, it is only because of this naturalization Act that his birth circumstances allowed him to be a citizen of the United States at birth. In other words, Cruz's birth circumstances alone would have made him an alien and not a citizen. It is only by virtue of that naturalization Act which took up his birth circumstances and allowed him to become a citizen at birth. He therefore is not and cannot be a “natural” born citizen.

Cruz and his supporters proclaim that the Framers would have accepted Cruz as a true natural born citizen because of how the First Congress treated persons such as him in the Naturalization Act of 1790.[12] First, Congress does not have the constitutional power to make anyone a natural born citizen. In matters of citizenship, the Constitution at Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 gives to Congress only the power [t]o establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization . . . throughout the United States.” This naturalization power does not include the power to make anyone a natural born citizen, who does not need any naturalization Act of Congress or any other law to be a citizen. Congress was not given any powers to bestow citizenship upon anyone through any process other than naturalization. Hence, if Congress made those foreign-born children citizens of the United States, it did so only through its naturalization powers.

Second, that Act is a naturalization Act of Congress and surely a natural born citizen does not need a naturalization Act of Congress to be a "natural" born citizen.

Third, the Act provided: “And the children of such person so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States. And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens.” Congress treated children born in the United States to alien parents as aliens who could naturalize as citizens of the United States upon their parents naturalization if done during their children’s minority and when they shall be dwelling in the United States. This was consistent with the definition of a natural born citizen which provided that only children born in the country to parents who were citizens were natural born citizens and therefore also ipso facto citizens of the United States. As to children born out of the United States, the Act said that children born out of the United States to U.S. citizen parents (both father and mother had to be U.S. citizens) "shall be considered as natural born citizens of the United States." Hence, it only treated children born out of the United States to U.S. citizen parents for all intents and purposes as natural born citizens, meaning that it gave by statute to those children the same privileges, immunities, and rights enjoyed by true natural born citizens which under the Constitution could not include the privilege of being President. Fourth, Congress, under the leadership of James Madison and with the approval of President Washington, repealed that Act in 1795, when it passed the Naturalization Act of 1795,[13] which provided in Section 3: “And be it further enacted, that the children of persons duly naturalized, dwelling within the United States, and being under the age of twenty-one years, at the time of such naturalization, and the children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States.” As we can see, Congress, again consistent with the definition of a natural born citizen, treated children born in the United States to alien parents as aliens, allowing them to become citizens of the United States upon their parents naturalizing if done during their children’s minority and if those children shall be dwelling in the United States. It also surgically removed the "shall be considered as natural born citizens” language of the 1790 Act and replaced it with "shall be considered as citizens of the United States." What is critical to understand is that Congress treated children who naturalized after birth and those who became citizens at birth by birth out of the United States to U.S. citizen parents the same, i.e., as “citizens of the United States.” Congress clearly informed that those children born out of the United States to U.S. citizen parents were not to be accepted as natural born citizens, but rather as citizens of the United States, like children who become citizens through naturalization after birth. Congress has never again used the natural born citizen language in any of its naturalization Acts. Rather, it has since 1795 told us that any person becoming a citizen under one of its naturalization Acts is a citizen of the United States. It is amazing that those who rely upon the 1790 Act to demonstrate that Cruz is a natural born citizen omit from their story that Congress repealed that Act in 1795 and in the 1795 Act said that those children shall be considered as citizens of the United States and not as natural born citizens.

Fifth, Cruz was born to an alien father which means that he could not benefit from the 1790 Act which required a child born out of the territory and jurisdiction of the United States be born, not only to a U.S. citizen mother but also to a U.S. citizen father to be bestowed U.S. citizenship at birth. The 1790 Act, along with that of 1795 and 1802, also required that the citizen father be a resident of the United States prior to his child’s birth. Not until 1934 could someone like Cruz, born in a foreign country to a U.S. citizen mother and alien father, become a citizen of the United States.[14] Somebody born under the birth circumstances of a Ted Cruz, born in a foreign country presumably to a U.S. citizen mother and to an alien father, was not even a citizen of the United States let alone a natural born citizen of the United States until 1934, when Congress passed a naturalization Act for the first time allowing children born out of the United States to a U.S. citizen mother and to an alien father to qualify as a citizen of the United States. Cruz and his supporters also hide this little inconvenient truth from the public. Surely, we are not to reasonably believe that someone born under the same birth circumstances as Cruz, who was under the Constitution and under the naturalization Acts of Congress an alien from 1776 until 1934 and only become a citizen in 1934, could be a natural born citizen.

Cruz is correct that if he wants to be President and Commander in Chief, he has to be “only an American.” But for a natural born citizen, that status starts at birth, not at age 43, which is when Cruz renounced the foreign citizenship with which he was born.

The Founders and Framers wrote the Constitution in a way that best provided for the protection of our unalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. They sought to do that by giving us a constitutional republic and providing for the survival and preservation of that republic. In the governmental scheme that they gave us, they provided for the Office of President and Commander in Chief, a singular and all-powerful office involving the concentration of both civilian and military power into one person. Because of such concentration of power in one individual, the Framers recognized that such offices also presented great risk to the republic and its people. They therefore gave us the “natural born Citizen” clause as one basis for eligibility to such offices. Through the natural born citizen clause, they instructed us that such power must fall into the hands of a person who can be trusted with it to the greatest degree possible and that such guarantee is of much greater importance to the survival and preservation of the constitutional republic than the fleeting politics and personal favor of having one person necessarily occupy that office. What is profound is that the Founders and Framers put their trust in “Nature and Nature’s God”[15] and not in political and legal institutions to accomplish that end. This historical and legal evidence, not meant to be exhaustive, provides a clear picture that Ted Cruz is not a natural born citizen and therefore not eligible to be President.[16] So, is Ted Cruz a natural born citizen and to be “TrusTed?” I think not.
Mario Apuzzo, Esq.
March 7, 2016
http://puzo1.blogspot.com