[VIDEO] HHS: Obamacare Cancellations Are ‘Invitations’ To Buy a New Plan
Posted: October 28, 2014 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Corner, Gehrke, Health Insurance, Insurance, Jeff McWaters, Maurice Jones, National Review, Obamacare, Twitter, Virginia, Virginia Beach, William Booth 1 CommentEnjoy this very special item from Joel Gehrke at The Corner, visually enhanced with some sass from Charles C.W.Cooke:
Gehrke writes: Insurance-policy cancellation notices issued as a result of Obamacare regulations ought to be perceived as “invitations” to purchase new plans, a Health and Human Services official told the Virginia legislature.
“If you got one of the notices that your policy was going to be discontinued because it didn’t adhere to the law, it meant that now you could go into the health-insurance marketplace…”
HHS’s Joanne Grossi told Republican state senator Jeff McWaters, adding,
“So, I just want to remind you that you weren’t losing insurance you were just using that insurance plan and were now being invited to go into the health insurance marketplace.”
Look at this person being invited to put his hands up. pic.twitter.com/7B6D6mY0T4
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) October 28, 2014
Notes on Life and Death in a Mosque
Posted: August 12, 2014 Filed under: Religion, War Room | Tags: Corner, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Jay Nordlinger, Jewish prayer, Knesset Menorah, Lord's Prayer, Names of God in Judaism, Shema Yisrael, Suicide attack 1 Comment
Shema Yisrael at the Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem
From Jay Nordlinger, at The Corner, this chilling excerpt, with my notes at the end:
A friend of mine sent me an article from Breitbart (here). I’d like to quote two paragraphs:
[A unit] of [Israeli] soldiers — which had gone into a mosque looking for weapons, explosives, and rockets — encountered a female suicide bomber who was about to detonate the belt she wore, which would have resulted in the deaths of the soldiers. One of the soldiers instinctively recited the opening words of the holiest Jewish prayer “Shema Yisrael”. The female suicide bomber hesitated and began trembling, giving the soldiers a chance to grab her and disable the device.
The soldiers then took her prisoner and turned her over to a counter-intelligence unit. Their investigation uncovered that the female suicide bomber’s mother was a Jew who had married a Palestinian in Israel and, after the wedding, was smuggled against her will into Gaza. There she lived a life filled with abuse and humiliation, and was basically a captive. In addition to the female suicide bomber, there were two smaller children as well. An armored force went in and rescued the two small children.
On first reading, I understood it to mean the Israeli soldier spoke the opening words of the prayer “Shema Yisrael” in an effort to appeal to the suicide bomber’s humanity, to weaken her resolve, invoking the universal fear of death, fear of “the final judgement”, a fear so primal that it transcends any one religion. A humbling and insightful way to disarm a human bomb.
Because the phrase “instinctively recited” is ambiguous, my first reading was wrong. I missed the real meaning.
On second reading, I understand it wasn’t a quick-thinking tactical maneuver. It was the Israeli soldier’s “I am about to die” moment. Confronting unavoidable death, speaking for himself and his fellow soldiers, he was kissing his ass goodbye. Not unlike a Christian’s invocation of “The Lord’s Prayer“, in a moment of mortal panic. The soldier wasn’t tying to weaken his attacker. He was preparing to die.
The Israeli soldier’s words had the unexpected effect of weakening the suicide bomber’s resolve. Who, unknown to him, was the daughter of a Jewish mother. And a victim herself. She understood this prayer, and trembled upon hearing it.
Which makes this passage even more chilling. And beautiful.
Is my second reading correct?
I’m interested in what other readers think. Read the rest of this entry »
Dalai Lama, Capitalist Convert?
Posted: February 20, 2014 Filed under: Think Tank | Tags: Acton Institute, American Enterprise Institute, Corner, Dalai Lama, Daniel S. Loeb, Jonathan Haidt, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Tibetan people 2 Comments
Getty Images
Over at NRO‘s The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez writes: There is a tendency in certain parts to eye-roll when the word “dialogue” is raised. And I’ve certainly sat through some dialogues now and again that didn’t seem to get anywhere. But today in Washington, D.C., Arthur Brooks, it seems to me, did a very good thing. The president of the American Enterprise Institute hosted the Dalai Lama for a conversation about morality and economics. During the course of private and public interactions with Brooks and the people he gathered at the American Enterprise Institute, the Dalai Lama announced that he had a new respect for capitalists, who, he had previously assumed took people’s money and exploited them.
Dalai Lama and Aurthur Brooks. Image credit: Patrick G. Ryan
An affirmative answer to the question posed in the title of this post would be a step too far, but at AEI today, the spiritual leader of Tibetans wasn’t playing economist or politician, but reminding people of our common humanity and responsibilities to one another. And it seemed pretty clear to me that the hedge-fund billionaire on the main panel, Daniel Loeb, talking about how contemplation and meditation enhances decision-making and his work with an inner-city Brooklyn charter school, was not at all the caricature of capitalists the Dalai Lama is used to hearing from his admirers on the Left.
Arthur, along with Jennifer Marshall at Heritage and the Poverty Cure project at the Acton Institute are doing excellent work trying to advance ideas that help lift people out of poverty.
Bill Ayers public appearance canceled due to a lack of public interest
Posted: October 20, 2013 Filed under: Education, Mediasphere | Tags: Ayers, Barack Obama, Bill Ayers, Corner, Madison Public Library, Public Enemy, United States, Weather Underground, Wisconsin 3 Comments
from The College Fix:
Former Weather Underground terrorist and Obama associate Bill Ayers is having trouble with his book tour, it seems. Local news sources in Wisconsin report that his latest public appearance has been canceled due to a lack of public interest.
The Madison Public Library, which had organized the hour-long event, said they “didn’t have the kind of interest” they had anticipated.
Ayers has been touring the country in support of his new book, Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident.
via The Corner
Melchior Discusses ‘Me and My Obamaphones’
Posted: August 4, 2013 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: Corner, Fox News, Fox News Channel, Jillian Kay Melchior, Lifeline, Mobile phone, Science and Technology, Shannon Bream Leave a commentJillian Kay Melchior sat down with Fox News’ Shannon Bream this afternoon to talk about her recent piece on how she got a hold of three Lifeline cell phones, with little questions asked.
pundit from another planet 