Sen Jeff Merkley (D, Oregon): soft on Iran, for apparently most of my life.

I appreciate the Oregonian nervously reporting* about the Washington Free Beacons’s chronicling of Senator Jeff Merkley’s knee-jerk tendency to apologize for a regime that hangs homosexuals and adulterers: I might not have gotten to it for a while otherwise. Anyway, it’s depressing how unsurprising this report is:

The senator who fronted a campaign against new sanctions on Iran earlier this year has since 1979 been advocating that the United States take a soft line on Iran due to his belief that America’s global power and influence are waning, according to a copy of the lawmaker’s 235-page college thesis obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) emerged in January as one of the leading Senate Democrats who massaged the press on behalf of the Obama administration and pressured his colleagues to kill new Iran sanctions that were supported by a bipartisan majority of lawmakers.

Continue reading Sen Jeff Merkley (D, Oregon): soft on Iran, for apparently most of my life.

Tweet of the Day, It Is One Of Those Enduring Demographic Mysteries edition. #obamacare

I can’t imagine the reason for this, either.

It’s almost as if they’re… upset over Obamacare!

Inconceivable!

Moe Lane

PS: When you read the article, be prepared: the subject (Dr. Monica Wehby) is… the sort of candidate that could maybe win a statewide election in Oregon. You just have to ask yourself how much watching the Democrats go into brown-pants panic is worth to you; for that matter, an incremental strategy isn’t a bad argument for states like Oregon. Goodness knows the Democrats keep doing it to us.

Oracle abandoning Cover Oregon. #obamacare

I dunno if ‘open question’ is the right term to use.

Oracle Corp., the giant technology company at the center of the Cover Oregon controversy, has significantly downsized its army of software developers trying to salvage Oregon’s health insurance exchange website.

What that means for the Oregon exchange — which has been plagued by bugs and remains largely unfinished — is an open question. Exchange acting director Bruce Goldberg did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Continue reading Oracle abandoning Cover Oregon. #obamacare

*Somebody* at Cover Oregon will end up going to jail. #obamacare

Background: in February of 2013 the relevant players in the Cover Oregon Obamacare debacle – and they knew that it was a debacle, even then; the Democrat-controlled Oregon state government just forgot to tell anyone – had a rather emotionally intense meeting that produced, among other things*, a list of issues/action items/whatnot.  And that’s important, because…

Tucked away on page four of that list is a brief item labeled “Oracle Contract Issues.” It touches on contracts and accounting the state used with Oracle – the vendor hired to provide much of the website’s software and technical support – that were “inconsistent with generally acceptably industry best practice procedures.”

Here’s where things get interesting.

The report goes on to say the issue was resolved, citing an audit by the Secretary of State’s office that “found everything in order.”

But the KATU On Your Side Investigators have learned that that audit – the only piece of evidence used to dismiss major accountability problems surrounding a contract that eventually grew to $119 million – doesn’t exist.

Continue reading *Somebody* at Cover Oregon will end up going to jail. #obamacare

This is how the attack ads this cycle are going to go. #oregon #obamacare

Get used to it. Shoot, even grin a little: because the Democrats can’t particularly respond in kind.

This particular ad is from Dr. Monica Wehby (pediatric neurosurgeon), who is one of the candidates in the Republican Oregon Senatorial primary. As you can see, it is a hardline critique of sitting Democrat Jeff Merkley, using… Senator Merkley’s own words.  This is going to happen a lot this cycle: far too many* sitting Democrats made the mistake of mechanically parroting Barack Obama’s inane sound bite about how if you liked your plan or doctor, you could keep them. Worse, those Democrats said that within range of recording devices.

Dr. Wehby’s (and every other Republican’s, most likely) response? “Keep your doctor.  Change your Senator.” Continue reading This is how the attack ads this cycle are going to go. #oregon #obamacare

Oregon mother can’t afford #obamacare for her baby.

Of course not.

One Oregon mother says that she is unable to afford health insurance for her and her 18-month-old son because it’s too expensive.

[snip]

[Kate] Holly’s husband works for a non-profit organization that pays for his health care, but the couple is unable to afford to have her and their son covered under his plan. And she’s been told their combined income is too much to qualify for a subsidized health care plan under Cover Oregon.

Continue reading Oregon mother can’t afford #obamacare for her baby.

Cover Oregon: “SAUVE QUI PEUT! HOME! HOME! PICKUP AND HOME!” #obamacare

“Any beacon you can hear. Six minutes! All hands, save yourselves, pick up your mates. Home on any beacon! Sauve qui* -”

I am not exaggerating:

Oregon’s troubled health insurance exchange began robocalling applicants Friday, warning them that if they don’t receive enrollment confirmation by Monday, they should seek coverage elsewhere for Jan. 1.

“If you haven’t heard from us by Dec. 23, it is unlikely your application will be processed for Jan. 1 insurance coverage,” a woman’s voice on the pre-recorded call from Cover Oregon says. “If you want to be sure you have insurance coverage starting Jan. 1, you have other options.”

…Heckuva job, John Kitzhaber. Heck of a job.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Via @Herminator.

*Literary reference**.

**If you inexplicably don’t want to read a classic science fiction novel that makes the Activist Left spit, fine: ‘sauve qui peut’ means ‘every man for himself.’

Cover Oregon Watch: …yeah, well, there’s nothing to watch. NOTHING. #obamacare

NOTHING AT ALL.

Oregon, a state that fully embraced the Affordable Care Act, is enduring one of the rockiest rollouts of President Back Obama’s signature health care law, with an inoperative online exchange that has yet to enroll a single subscriber, requiring thousands to apply on paper instead.

Unlike most other states, Oregon set an ambitious course to make its insurance exchange, dubbed Cover Oregon, an “all-in-one” website for every individual seeking health coverage, including those who are eligible for Medicaid.

But instead of serving as a national model, Oregon’s experience has emerged as a cautionary tale, inviting comparisons to technical glitches that have plagued other state-run portals and the federal government’s website for those states lacking exchanges of their own.

I have so much pity in my heart over this that I almost don’t want to put up again the filk I did on October 1st. Continue reading Cover Oregon Watch: …yeah, well, there’s nothing to watch. NOTHING. #obamacare

Quote of the Day, Good Thing Oreg… No, Let’s Not Make That Joke edition. #obamacare

Too cruel*.

Anyway, Cover Oregon just now announced that its state health care exchange will not actually be live this month, after all.  So, when will it be up? Funny you should ask that…

[When asked about the original Halloween(!) timeline,] Spokesman Michael Cox said that timeline is now a goal, rather than an expectation.

…Do I even need to translate that? Continue reading Quote of the Day, Good Thing Oreg… No, Let’s Not Make That Joke edition. #obamacare