Where Is That Waiver Pen? Obama Needs To Break It Out. AGAIN.

Hard to believe some people are still dumb enough to defend the Obamessiah.

New Health Czar Challenges Obama's Ethics Reforms

By Philip Klein

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, who President Obama appointed as director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform on Monday, took home at least $2.4 million in 2006 and 2007 from serving on the corporate boards of health-care companies whose businesses she would be in a position to affect in her new position.

Since leaving the Clinton administration in 2001, DeParle has made a fortune by serving on 10 boards in the health-care industry in addition to her lucrative career as a managing director at private equity firm CCMP Capital and a senior adviser at JP Morgan Partners. Her journey from the public sector to the private sector and back again would seem to represent the type of revolving door relationship between Washington and corporate America that President Obama pledged to put an end to during the campaign and in an executive order.

Tom Daschle, who was originally supposed to hold the same "health czar" position in addition to serving as Secretary of Health and Human Services, came under fire after it was revealed that he received $220,000 for giving speeches to health groups over two years. But DeParle's ties to the health-care industry run much deeper.

In just 2006 and 2007 alone, DeParle earned $376,140 in cash and stock from Cerner Corp., according to a TAS analysis of the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cerner is a leader in the field of health information technology, which the Obama administration has made a key part of its health-care agenda. During the same time, she also was awarded $377,319 by DaVita Corp., which specializes in kidney dialysis, and $224,749 from medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp.

In addition, she served on the board of Triad Hospitals from 2001 through its merger with Community Health Systems in 2007. When the $54-per share deal was approved, she was paid $1,059,205 for the stock options she held in Triad and she sold an additional $349,164 in common stock, for a windfall of $1,408,369.

This analysis only scratches the surface on her overall earnings from corporate boards since 2001. The reason is that some corporations did not specify how much each individual board member received in compensation in their filings in a given year.

For instance, at medical device-maker Guidant Corp., where she served from 2001 until its merger with Boston Scientific in 2006, its filings specify that board members would have received a $36,000 annual retainer, plus $3,000 for every meeting attended in person and $1,000 for every telephone meeting. Without knowing which meetings she attended, it's impossible to say precisely how much she would have earned. In addition, at the time of the Boston Scientific merger, she was able to exercise options on 35,000 shares of Guidant stock, allowing her to convert it into shares in the newly formed entity.

This analysis also leaves out any compensation she would have received for her board work in 2008, because that information is not yet available.

Her service also included stints on the board of Specialty Laboratories Inc. from 2001-2004; pharmacy network Accredo Health Group Inc. from 2002-2005; and diagnostic imaging company Medquest Associates Inc. since 2002. In 2008, she also joined the board of Legacy Hospital Partners Inc., which was formed by former Triad executives and mail order pharmacist Medco Health Solutions Inc. (which took over Accredo).

In her new role as the so-called "health czar" DeParle will be tasked with leading the White House efforts on overhauling the system. Asked yesterday whether her extensive board service would present a problem, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "No. I mean, obviously, the White House has confidence in her and her abilities as part of the health care reform effort here." Gibbs said he anticipated she would leave the boards she is currently serving on.

Daschle eventually withdrew his nomination over controversy stemming from his failure to pay taxes in addition to the uproar over his health-care industry income. As a cabinet nominee, he would have faced Senate confirmation, but DeParle will not since the Obama administration split Daschle's dual role, and tapped Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Shortly after taking office, President Obama issued a widely-touted executive order requiring appointees to take a pledge declaring, "I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts."

As her web of relationships to the medical industry becomes known in greater detail, the administration will be pressed to explain how DeParle could take on overhauling the entire health-care system without violating the spirit, if not the letter, of President Obama's ambitious ethics requirements.

Change?
Definitely. In worse.

Senior Dianne Feinstein Just Can't Keep Her Pie Hole Shut

Here is another example of a lib passing military secrets to the enemy. Where is the outrage of the Democrats accusing Bush & Cheney for blowing the cover of an agent not currently undercover?

LA Slimes:


Feinstein comment on U.S. drones likely to embarrass Pakistan

The Predator planes that launch missile strikes against militants are based in Pakistan, the senator says. That suggests a much deeper relationship with the U.S. than Islamabad would like to admit.


Reporting from Washington -- A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base in that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counter-terrorism collaboration with the United States.

The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise over Pakistani opposition to the campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Islamic extremist targets along Pakistan's northwestern border.

"As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said.

The basing of the pilotless aircraft in Pakistan suggests a much deeper relationship with the United States on counter-terrorism matters than has been publicly acknowledged. Such an arrangement would be at odds with protests lodged by officials in Islamabad, the capital, and could inflame anti-American sentiment in the country.

The CIA declined to comment, but former U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, confirmed that Feinstein's account was accurate.

Dianne Feinstein playing peek-a-boo with Bin Laden

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said Feinstein's comments put Pakistan's government on the spot.

"If accurate, what this says is that Pakistani involvement, or at least acquiescence, has been much more extensive than has previously been known," he said. "It puts the Pakistani government in a far more difficult position [in terms of] its credibility with its own people. Unfortunately it also has the potential to threaten Pakistani-American relations."
Complete article at the link

So here it is: Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee demonstrating how being intelligent isn't a requirement for the position she holds.
Or maybe she's hot for Bin Laden and she's trying to help him. Who knows?

Pathetic can't describe this: UK Foster Mom Fired Because Girl Became Christian

Rule Britannia...ruled by Islamic mobs and their Sharia enforcers*

Christian foster mother struck off after Muslim girl converts
UK Telegraph

The woman has been banned by her local council for failing to prevent the teenager from getting baptised, even though the girl was 16 and made up her own mind to change religion.

The carer, a churchgoer in her 50s who has fostered more than 80 children, has now been forced to move out of her home.

She has lost the farmhouse she rented to look after vulnerable teenagers, due to the loss of income.

Another girl she was looking after has been taken back into care.

The woman, who has launched a legal challenge to the council's challenge, told the Daily Telegraph: "I just want to get my life back.

"I still hope to resolve this so that I can possibly foster again in the future as I simply enjoy helping young people."
--------------------
The ruling has increased concerns that Christians are becoming victims of discrimination in Britain, following the case of Caroline Petrie, the nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient.

She was subsequently reinstated.

The foster mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, insists that she did not pressurise the teenager to convert, and actually tried to discourage her initial interest.

The girl, who is now 17, was taken into care after being assaulted by a family member, saw baptism "as a washing away of the horrible things she had been through and a symbol of a new start," the woman said.

"I offered her alternatives. I offered to find her places to practise her own religion.

"I offered to take her to friends or family. But she said to me from the word go: 'I am interested and I want to come [to church]'."

The carer claims that social services were aware that the girl was attending her evangelical church, and council bosses only objected when she they found out she had been baptised.

Apostasy – the repudiation of one's faith – is strongly condemned in the Koran and is considered taboo in Muslim communities.

Officials advised the teenager to reconsider her decision and stop attending Christian meetings, and in November struck the carer off their register, claiming she breached her duty of care as a foster parent.

"They consider that in some way she should have taken steps to prevent the conversion," said solicitor Nigel Priestley, who is representing the carer.

He is demanding a judicial review into the council's decision, claiming they have breached Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of religion for both the carer and the girl.

He said that the teenager, who is now back with her parents, was "distressed" that her private faith had had such repercussions, and is supporting her former carer's legal bid.

Mike Judge of the Christian Institute, which is funding the carer's legal case, said: "I cannot imagine that an atheist foster carer would be struck off if a Christian child in her care stopped believing in God.

"This is the sort of double standard that Christians are facing in Britain."

Mr Priestley said that the council had now offered to review its decision, but said his client was prepared to pursue legal action if her case was not resolved.

The council in the north of Englandm, which also cannot be named, declined to comment on "sensitive issues surrounding a child in care".

(*Sharia enforcers = liberal elites)