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Opinions/Editorials
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Title: Lost My Appetite for Olive Garden
Source: AT
URL Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog ... appetite_for_olive_garden.html
Published: Sep 17, 2011
Author: Charlotte Cushman
Post Date: 2011-09-17 09:35:03 by CZ82
Keywords: None
Views: 11968
Comments: 35

Lost My Appetite for Olive Garden

Charlotte Cushman

Looks like I won't be eating at Olive Garden anymore. In addition I won't be eating at Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze or Seasons 52, all Darden Restaurants. I have now added them to my list of government suck-ups. (And I normally can't stand the expression "suck-ups", but in this case no other one will do.)

On September 15, 2011 Darden Restaurants decided to collaborate with Michelle Obama's childhood anti-obesity campaign. They have announced that they will reduce the amount of calories and sodium in its menu by 20% over the next ten years. It just so happens (I am just positive that this is no coincidence) that Darden Restaurants received a waiver on October 26, 2010 that allows them to avoid some of the insurance mandates of ObamaCare.

Darden Restaurants most likely know that the handwriting is on the wall. They must know that the increased health insurance costs due to ObamaCare will greatly hurt their profits and that they must do something. So they decide to buddy-buddy up with Michelle in order to get themselves excused from it. But it won't work. Giving consent to government intrusions, only paves the way for more. Further invasions become easier each time they are sanctioned.

ObamaCare will have such devastating consequences for the economy that very few will be able to afford to go out to eat anymore anyway, so getting some waivers now will only delay the inevitable. As a friend of mine, said, "You shouldn't empower your own destroyer by negotiating with him. That's slitting your own throat."

Some people have said to me that other first ladies have had their causes, so this is no different. Michelle is just looking out for us. And anyway, eating less sodium and fewer calories should be good for us. My answer is that no one in the government, let alone first ladies, should be taking on "causes." The only purpose of government is to protect our individual rights and it should protect our right to make free choices, not take it away. We are not minions of the state. The government is not supposed to be telling us or advising us what to eat, how to live or breathe. We can decide that for ourselves.

This is not an issue of nutrition, it is an issue of who gets to control your life -- you or the government. Businesses have the right to offer us a product without government interference. And we, the consumers, have the right to buy it or refuse it without government interference. Let us decide for ourselves what we want. After all, what if the government is wrong about nutrition? Then what?

Michelle Obama visited an Olive Garden restaurant in Hyattsville, Maryland when this announcement was made. I have this to say to them: "You have kissed the feet of the government in order to get special favors. Knowing where your lips have been I have lost my appetite for the food at Olive Garden."


Poster Comment:

But I thought ObozoCare was supposed to be a great thing, I mean that's what the sheeple are being told.... hhmmmm guess not!!!

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 21.

#1. To: CZ82 (#0)

Darden Restaurants most likely know that the handwriting is on the wall. They must know that the increased health insurance costs due to ObamaCare will greatly hurt their profits and that they must do something. So they decide to buddy-buddy up with Michelle in order to get themselves excused from it. But it won't work. Giving consent to government intrusions, only paves the way for more. Further invasions become easier each time they are sanctioned.

Q: Has the Obama administration allowed corporations to "opt out" of the new health care law?

A: No. The government has granted more than 200 waivers, but these merely give companies a temporary delay before being required to improve the coverage of cheap, bare-bones plans they currently offer.

http://factcheck.org/2010/12/health-care-law-waivers/

More details at the link for those who think truth matters.

lucysmom  posted on  2011-09-17   10:39:11 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: lucysmom (#1)

Q: Has the Obama administration allowed corporations to "opt out" of the new health care law?

A: No. The government has granted more than 200 waivers, but these merely give companies a temporary delay before being required to improve the coverage of cheap, bare-bones plans they currently offer.

So where does it say "opt out" in the article??? Or is this a question you are posing???

Actually the government has granted over 1000 waivers, and quite a few of them are unions..... hhmmmmmm.....

CZ82  posted on  2011-09-17   14:49:37 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: CZ82 (#3)

Actually the government has granted over 1000 waivers, and quite a few of them are unions..... hhmmmmmm.....

Why don't you do a little research beyond your usual sources and see what you can come up with.

lucysmom  posted on  2011-09-17   17:04:54 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: lucysmom (#4)

Why don't you do a little research beyond your usual sources and see what you can come up with.

There does that make you happy????? Now I suppose you're going to tell me that because your sources refute my sources that mine are no good.... right!!!!! Can I go ahead and laugh now???

Why did Unionized Companies Get so Many Obamacare Waivers?

by Tom Fitton

If you need evidence of the turmoil created by Barack Obama’s socialist health care overhaul, you could certainly look at the myriad of legal challenges currently working their way through the courts. (A date with the Supreme Court is a certainty.) Or you could look at the massive influx of applications from unions and companies scrambling to get out from under the law’s oppressive requirements by obtaining waivers from the Obama administration.

The Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced an arbitrary September 2011 cutoff for waiver applications, but right up to this deadline these exemptions continue to proliferate. According to The Hill, 106 new waivers were granted in July, bringing the total to 1,472 unions and companies that have been granted exemptions from Obamacare. And yet, the Obama administration continues to be super secretive regarding just how these waiver applications are evaluated.

But here’s one thing we do know. Approximately 50% of the waivers granted cover employees of unions even though union workers represent about 12% of the total workforce according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics!

Why are unions seemingly getting a disproportionate number of waivers? That’s just one of many questions at the center of a Judicial Watch investigation.

Recently, for example, we obtained 3,497 pages of Obamacare documents from the Obama HHS pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed on January 4, 2011.

The records include internal HHS email correspondence and strategic documents, as well as email communications with Medicare and Medicaid, and with unions and companies applying for waivers. The records also include preliminary drafts and multiple versions of the health care plan itself, along with comments from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other agencies with concerns and suggestions for revising the plan.

The majority of the email communications relate to the waivers granted by HHS exempting companies and unions from the minimum annual cap on the amount payable to an individual in benefits. (Many companies argue these caps will force them to either drop coverage or raise premiums.) The Obamacare waivers enable these companies and unions to keep their existing plans in place until January 1, 2014, when covered expenses will no longer be limited by a cap. (Just wait and see the chaos that occurs should Obamacare somehow withstand judicial scrutiny and become the law of the land.)

In a general sense, Judicial Watch simply wants to know the criteria by which a company or union is granted one of these waivers. We want to know who got them and who didn’t. We want to know what conditions mandate approval and which mandate rejection. But HHS is mum on these questions. This first batch of 3,500 pages is, believe it or not, just the tip of the iceberg of the thousands of other documents the “transparent” Obama administration continues to withhold from us in contemptuous violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

Which is an especially troubling problem considering the fact that Big Labor seems to be getting big favors from HHS in the form of these waivers.

You may recall Judicial Watch previously obtained documents from HHS regarding closed-door health care meetings between Big Labor and Vice President Joe Biden, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and then-Obamacare Czar Nancy-Ann Min DeParle.

The documents include a list of all of the labor union leaders who attended a meeting with President Obama, along with brief biographical information on each participant. The list included: Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO; Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union; and Jim Hoffa, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, among other Big Labor leaders.

What assurances did the Obama administration give to labor leaders in exchange for their support of the plan? The documents we previously uncovered suggest that the key provisions of the Obamacare law were written solely to address the concerns of union interests. (And now we see Big Labor getting 50% of the waiver haul.)

Speaking over Labor Day Weekend, at a rally for organized labor attended by Barack Obama, Hoffa attacked the Tea Party and urged attendees to get out the vote for Democrats: “President Obama, this is your army…Everybody here has got to vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”

So the unions appear to be getting what they want, a reprieve from Obamacare. And the Obama campaign is getting what it wants, union cash and support. And where does this leave the rest of America? In the dark. The Obama administration continues to push forward with Obamacare under a veil of secrecy, especially the details of these Obamacare waivers.

Waiving the law for 3.4 million Americans is unfair and an affront to the rule of law. And it seems corrupt when political supporters in Big Labor are getting a disproportionate number of waivers from Obamacare. Unions helped write Obamacare and then get exempted from it! And now Big Labor is paying back these waiver favors with campaign support for Barack Obama. Judicial Watch is committed to bringing as much transparency as possible to the thoroughly corrupt Obamacare, especially this ongoing abuse of the “waiver” process.

CZ82  posted on  2011-09-17   17:49:40 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: CZ82 (#5)

Why did Unionized Companies Get so Many Obamacare Waivers?

Because their medical plans don't meet the new criteria, and the new system created by the law will not be up and running until 2014. It is a transitional provision to allow workers to have some coverage, even if inadequate, rather than no coverage at all.

online.wsj.com/article/SB...04575522413101063070.html

lucysmom  posted on  2011-09-18   10:30:38 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: lucysmom (#10) (Edited)

Between LP and here you'[ve been posting how long?

Do you believe that they care about facts?

Boofer is bitching that his "accountants" the new health care law is going to increase his taxes by ~40%...he has 3 employees...he's exempt from the law...

I told him to get new accountants...sounds to me as if they want to embezzle...

war  posted on  2011-09-18   11:49:39 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: war, lucysmom, Badeye, A K A Stone (#11)

Between LP and here you'[ve been posting how long?

Do you believe that they care about facts?

Boofer is bitching that his "accountants" the new health care law is going to increase his taxes by ~40%...he has 3 employees...he's exempt from the law...

I told him to get new accountants...sounds to me as if they want to embezzle...

It seems to me Willie, that the common gossip, cheap shots, smears, and felonious accusations you're making towards Badeye says a lot more about your character and the sort of person you are, and you couldn't have picked a better partner to help spread your lies and smears, miss low and common trailer park trash herself, she's perfect!

Murron  posted on  2011-09-18   12:32:02 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: Murron (#13)

It seems to me Willie, that the common gossip, cheap shots, smears, and felonious accusations you're making towards Badeye says a lot more about your character and the sort of person you are, and you couldn't have picked a better partner to help spread your lies and smears, miss low and common trailer park trash herself, she's perfect!

Hmm - do you think there are any "cheap shots, smears, and felonious accusations" in your post? I know there are.

lucysmom  posted on  2011-09-18   15:14:39 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: lucysmom (#16)

Sometimes the fumes from the still fog Mammy's brain, then she decides to post.

Skip Intro  posted on  2011-09-18   15:25:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#19. To: Skip Intro, war, lucysmom, Badeye, A K A Stone (#17)

Sometimes the fumes from the still fog Mammy's brain, then she decides to post.

I posted because I know Badeye personally, and as a friend I had every right to correct the slander against him, I don't think anything can be lower than trash who come on here and LIE about another person, it's evil.

What's your excuse for posting here, felt a little left out?

Murron  posted on  2011-09-18   15:33:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#20. To: Murron (#19)

...I don't think anything can be lower than trash who come on here and LIE about another person, it's evil.

Again, you leave me awestruck.

lucysmom  posted on  2011-09-18   15:42:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#21. To: lucysidiotmommy, Murron (#20)

Again, you leave me awestruck.

THAT isn't much of a bar moron, flowing water leaves you awestruck.

Mad Dog  posted on  2011-09-18   16:30:04 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


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