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Monday, November 11, 2013

Todd Park: Remember That Name


Todd Park with Tim O'Reilyat Gov 2.0 Summit 2010 in Washington DC.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder of O'Reilly Media "an influential book publishing empire...which has snagged a significant share of the computer book market with series such as "The Missing Manual" and "Hacks."


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Obamacare is a self-devouring organism, so it really isn't worth saying much about it. But, it's deviousness and insidiousness are fascinating to observe.

Of course, there is Obama's apology. People shouldn't (ever) underestimate Obama. He may look contrite and worried, but he has pushed as far as he probably never imagined a program on the American people that they never expected. He is clever, and devious.

Here's another interesting point. At the risk of sounding "racist," liberals' favorite sin, Obama sent his white representatives, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Marilyn Tavenner, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, to do his dirty work for him of reporting to the House Ways and Means Committee for Tavener, to the House Energy and Commerce Committee for Sibelius, and to the public and the media for Carney, about the debacles of Obamacare. Jay Carney just appeared periodically to issue apologies, non-apologies, explanations, non-explanations, while standing in front of a blood thirsty media. All went through grueling and humiliating appearances.

Yet, it is much later on that we hear that Obamacare's "main architect" is an Asian - Todd Park. And his involvement in Obamacare and dishonesty about it is far greater than any of these three representatives.

Fox News interviewed Rep. Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversite Committee, on November 7. This is what he had to say about Park:
Issa: ...Todd Park and other people, who knew the facts, had to know the facts, and the facts were from documents we received form lead contractors, that they slowed down to an unacceptable lever at 1,100 users. Well in fact Todd Park was telling us that at 16,000 was the target, and at 250,000 they just couldn't handle it. The truth that their goal, according to documents, wasn't even 16,000. Their goal was 10,000. They reached 1,100. So of course, at 250,000 they were never going to work. Which means that this was a still-born site. This was a failure to launch that they new about on September 30th, and went ahead anyway.

Gretchen Carleson: You know, it's interesting that you bring up Todd Park, the US chief technology officer. On October 6th, that would have been five days after the launch, he said what you just said, and I'll add this to it: "Take away the volume, and it works." Was that also a lie?

Issa: Well it certainly was false statement. And since he was working closely with the lead contractors, and documents show that these contractors were in a sense optimistically saying: "Well we're at 1,100, but we're working toward the goal of 10,000." But that that was on September 30th. Clearly the President had an opportunity with his lead contractors and his technology people to take the time out that Congress was asking them to take, to delay the launch at least until security and speed concerns and so on could be addressed, they didn't do it. And Gretchen, as you and I talk here today, we don't have all the facts, but we certainly have indication that there are security bugs in this software, and yet they're not willing to take the site down to make it secure. They're going forward and hoping for the best that the hackers don't get there before they do.

Carleson:...Are you going to make news here and say that there are other hearings coming up next week?

Issa: We are. On Wednesday we're going to have Todd Parks and a number of other political appointees who were part of this pattern of interference and false statements related to this site. And we're going to try to get to the bottom of why politics went ahead of best practices and good technology, something the American people expect, that didn't happen in this case. And it's the tip of the iceberg that we're worried about is if they're willing to put politics into a website, what will they put into your health care.[Video Source: Huffington Post]
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa issued a subpoena to top Obama administration technology official Todd Park late Friday requiring him to testify at a hearing on the bumpy Obamacare rollout on Wednesday.

In a letter to Park, Issa wrote:
Millions of Americans have lost their health insurance and are rapidly approaching a point where they must prepare for the possibility of having no health insurance on Jan.1, 2014. They deserve your sworn testimony before their elected representatives about what went wrong — not simply the media outlets that White House officials have deemed an appropriate use of your time away from working on the website project.

Given your [continued] unwillingness to appear voluntarily next week, I am left with no choice but to compel your appearance. [Source: From Politico: Darrell Issa subpoenas W.H. tech official for Obamacare hearing.]
According to Politico:
The hearing is expected to focus on the technological problems that have snarled the federal Obamacare enrollment website ever since it launched in October.
One final point: The image that pops up the most frequently when googling Obamacare, or Affordable Care Act, is the following:



It makes me wonder if Park had anything to do with it. I don't understand the juxtaposition of the young Asian woman with the older one, which clearly shows a mother and a daughter. Why not the father as well, or a husband for the younger woman? Why two generatios of Asian womenr? Still, this shows that Asians have become a strong participants in government-initiated programs. This deflates the myth of the financially secure, independent minded Asian, and exposes them as entitlement seekers.
Asian-Americans happen to be the highest-earning group in the U.S., out-earning whites, and they generally place enormous emphasis on family. A perfect fit for Republicans, no? No. Asians voted for Obama by 73-26 [in the 2012 elections]; they were more Democratic than Hispanics. [Source: Asian Voters Send a Message to Republicans]
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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