Michelle Obama Pushing Ban on Junk Food Advertising in Schools

First lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Tuesday the introduction of “school wellness standards” that will dictate how food can be marketed in cafeterias and on school grounds and heavily restrict snacks deemed “unhealthy” by the federal government.

The proposed guidelines would ban brand names, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, from vending machines, on cups, book covers, trashcans, and computer screen savers.

“The idea here is simple—our classrooms should be healthy places where kids aren’t bombarded with ads for junk food,” Obama said. “When parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn’t be undone by unhealthy messages at school.”

The proposal is in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) “Smart Snacks in Schools” regulation, mandated by the first lady’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

“As part of local school wellness policies, the proposed guidelines would ensure that foods and beverages marketed to children in schools are consistent with the recently-released Smart Snacks in School standards,” the USDA said. “Ensuring that unhealthy food is not marketed to children is one of the first lady’s top priorities; that is why it is so important for schools to reinforce the importance of healthy choices and eliminate marketing of unhealthy products.”

The Food and Nutrition Service told the Washington Free Beacon that the rules would be wide-ranging and apply to all areas where students are present up to 30 minutes after the school day ends.

The proposal would only allow advertising for foods that meet the snack standards, which ban snacks that exceed 200 calories, regular sodas, and nearly all other drinks except for “plain water,” “unflavored low fat milk,” and 100 percent fruit juice. High school students can have carbonated beverages that have fewer than 60 calories.

The snack standards are set to go into effect during the 2014-2015 school year.

“Marketing would be permissible for all beverages that meet the Smart Snacks Nutrition standards, which includes some diet sodas,” an official said. “The marketing standards would apply to items such as posters, fliers, and other printed materials, prizes, or other premium items given to students to promote products, cups used for beverage dispensing and various equipment such as the exterior of vending machines, menu boards, coolers, trash cans, and other food service equipment.”

“The standards would apply to all areas of the property under the jurisdiction of the school that are accessible to students during the school day,” the official added. “Examples of areas affected include the cafeteria, classrooms, hallways, gymnasiums, parking lots, and all other areas of the campus that students occupy before school, during the school day, and for 30 minutes after the school day.”

The administration used “Change Lab Solutions,” an organization that provides research and writes laws to encourage “environmental change strategies,” as a modelfor the proposed rules.

The group’s draft law for “limiting food marketing at schools” bans brand names, trademarks, and logos of any food product that does not meet the government’s new healthy school lunch standards.

Change Lab Solutions encourages states to prohibit marketing on everything from uniforms, book covers, marquees, to computer screen savers. The group also encouraged states to go around the First Amendment to gain more government authority on school advertising.

“Although the First Amendment restricts what government can do about advertising in public places, a well-crafted law prohibiting all marketing activities or the marketing of certain types of products at schools would likely survive a First Amendment challenge,” it said. “Because of the unique educational mission of schools, the First Amendment leaves a lot of leeway for the government to regulate the types of commercial messages that are allowed on school grounds.”

Vilsack said the marketing rules would ensure that school environments “promote healthy choices.”

“USDA is committed to working closely with students, parents, school stakeholders, and the food and beverage industries to implement the new guidelines and make the healthy choice, the easy choice for America’s young people,” he said.

[H/T The Washington Free Beacon]

Ted Nugent: Obama Using Health Care Reform And IRS To Start A Race War, Just Like The Nazis

Rocker-turned-conservative activist Ted Nugent declined multiple invitations Monday by talk show host Dennis Miller to back away from his comparisons of the Obama administration to Nazi Germany.

Nugent offered a non-apology last week for his widely condemned comments referring to President Barack Obama as a “subhuman mongrel.”

Miller said Obama may be “a horribly inept civil servant,” but he didn’t understand how Nugent could breeze past his racist comparison and then refer to “jackbooted thugs” in the White House.

“(Obama’s) just a guy in a tollbooth who keeps giving back too much change to people and, you know, I’ll be glad when he’s out of there, but he’s not a Nazi,” Miller said. “I think about the 6 million Jews rounded up and thrown into ovens and then I think about a guy who’s mismanaging the country, but God, it’s not within a million miles.”

Nugent said he didn’t believe Obama was, in fact, Adolf Hitler, but Miller continued to chide him for making Nazi comparisons.

“Do what you want, Ted, but that’s what you mean by that,” he said. “I think you mean Nazis unless there’s some goofball jackbooted thugs I don’t know about in a fictional piece, but I think that’s the reference, and they’re not like that, they just stink at running an economy and they’re a little soft on world terror.”

But that sent Nugent off on a rant.

“I just don’t agree at all,” he said. “There was an incrementalism to what happened in Germany and other places historically, where they came in slowly, and they started, you know, the power struggle between the different races, and the power struggle between different elements of society, and they incrementally worked their way in.”

Nugent cited the Affordable Care Act and the alleged IRS targeting of conservative groups for additional scrutiny as his proof.

“I really believe that what we see with the IRS can be compared accurately and historically to the early maneuvers of people like jack booted thugs, like the brownshirts,” Nugent said. “I really believe that and I think that you are being too soft on them.”

Miller told him they disagreed on this point, but Nugent continued.

“I think he really wants to destroy America,” he said. “I think he wants to follow the Saul Alinksy Rules for Radicals book, destroy our economy, have a — I can’t even think of the term right now — but the war between the haves and the have nots, when the haves have because they try really hard and the have nots don’t have because they don’t try as hard.”

Listen to this audio clip posted online by Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/embed/static/clips/2014/02/24/34166/thedennismillershow-thedennismillershow-20140224-nugent

 [H/T Raw Story]

Obama Administration Confirms Support for Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Who Worked in US Embassy Before His Arrest

(Freedom Outpost) — The unending treachery of Barack Hussein Obama. The State Department has confirmed its support for the Muslim Brotherhood working in the US embassy.

The State Department spokesman said:

“We can confirm that a locally employed staff member of the U.S. Embassy was detained on January 25^th and that, as far as we understand, he has been held without charges since then…”

“The United States does not – has not designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. We have been very clear in Egypt that we will work with all sides and all parties to help move an inclusive process forward. We’ve also repeatedly, both publicly and privately, called on the interim government to move forward in an inclusive manner. That means talking to all parties, bringing them into the process.” So would Obama have supported Hitler in order to be inclusive?

The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist group. 33 million Egyptians took to the streets to protest the Islamic yoke of tyranny imposed by the violent and vicious Muslim Brotherhood. Obama is standing with the Islamic supremacist terrorists — employing them in our embassy. He is playing a dangerous game, and it is the American people who are sure to lose.

The Obama administration insists on including all POVs. So are they invited Zawahiri to the White House? How about Khalid Sheik Muhammad? Such morally depraved equivocation is beneath any civilized nation, let alone the once-great leader of the free world.

Here’s the latest on the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist who was arrested while in the employ of the US embassy:

“Obama admin confirms support for & meetings with Muslim Brotherhood” By Creeping Sharia via Daily Press Briefing – February 12, 2014. h/t @robsatloff

TRANSCRIPT:

1:16 p.m. EST

MS. MARIE HARF: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the briefing. Just a couple items at the top, and then we’ll open it up to questions.

QUESTION: Hi.

MS. HARF: Hi.

QUESTION: I wanted to start by asking about the Embassy employee in Cairo who was arrested for his liaison with the Muslim Brotherhood. First off, what is the reaction of the State Department? What’s being done, I assume, to have him released, if he hasn’t been released already? And then if you could talk a little more broadly about whether or not the State Department or the Administration believes that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, and what this says about dealing with a government in Cairo that is refusing to recognize such a significant part of the population in Egypt.

Note: The media reports said the employee, Ahmed Aleiba, was responsible for contacts between U.S. officials and the Muslim Brotherhood…

MS. HARF: Absolutely. So we can confirm that a locally employed staff member of the U.S. Embassy was detained on January 25^th and that, as far as we understand, he has been held without charges since then. We have been in touch with the Government of Egypt and have requested additional information about his case. The locally employed staff member was detained, I think, over a weekend on January 25^th while off-duty, as I think maybe you mentioned.

The United States does not – has not designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. We have been very clear in Egypt that we will work with all sides and all parties to help move an inclusive process forward. We’ve also repeatedly, both publicly and privately, called on the interim government to move forward in an inclusive manner. That means talking to all parties, bringing them into the process. We’re not saying what the future government should look like specifically other than that it should be inclusive. That, of course, includes the Muslim Brotherhood. We will continue talking to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as part of our broad outreach to the different parties and groups there.

QUESTION: So if he was arrested or detained anyways off-duty, is it your understanding he was – he is being detained because of his liaison with the Muslim Brotherhood, or was there another reason to your understanding?

MS. HARF: Let me see if we have more clarity on this. I’m not sure we have entire clarity about the reasons for his continued detention. Let me check with our folks and see. Again, I’m not sure if we know exactly why he’s being detained.

QUESTION: Because otherwise, I mean I’m sure other employees at the Embassy are – would be reluctant to liaise with the Muslim Brotherhood or any opposition groups that the current government in Cairo seems to not look upon favorably. And –

MS. HARF: Let me see – oh, sorry, go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. No, and so I just wonder, as you say, how the Obama Administration and the State Department is going to continue reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood. How will they do that if employees are being arrested and there’s certain penalties that people have to face in doing so.

MS. HARF: Well – yeah. No, it’s – to be clear, I’m not saying that that was the reason for his detention. I would need to confirm that with folks.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS. HARF: I actually haven’t heard that, so let me check and see that.

Again, he was a locally employed staff member. Our folks that are on the ground there have been talking to the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups as well. So let me see two things if I can get a little more clarity about the reason for his detention and also what his job was at the Embassy. I just don’t have all that clarity.

QUESTION: Okay. So would an American official at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo be able to liaise with the Muslim Brotherhood? I assume they have been.

MS. HARF:Well, they certainly have been. Absolutely.

QUESTION: Right.

MS. HARF: And again, I’m not sure that was the reason for his detention. So before we sort of take this – I’m happy to check and see if we just have some more clarity on that.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: To be clear on this point –

MS. HARF: Uh-huh.

QUESTION: — you’re saying that you have not designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization?

MS. HARF:Correct.

QUESTION: And you’re saying – are you – when you say “we are liaising with the Muslim Brotherhood” –

MS. HARF: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: — are you having regular meetings with them, you are meeting their leadership, you’re discussing the political situation in Egypt?

MS. HARF:Absolutely, as we have said from the beginning of, certainly, this current period of what’s been happening in Egypt, but going back many, many months.

QUESTION: Has there been any expression of alarm or disapproval by the Egyptian Government to your contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood?

MS. HARF: Not to my knowledge, Said, but I’m happy to check with our folks on the ground in Cairo and see if there has been.

[H/T Freedom Outpost]

Rep. Elijah Cummings Doubles Down as Accessory of Treachery for Obama Administration

(Walid Shoebat) — Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) looked the Brian Terry family in the eye and assured them justice; he lied to a grieving family. Upon his expression of sincerity, he ran interference for the Obama administration.

Now it’s been learned that Cummings has run interference for Lois Lerner and, by extension, Malik Obama while simultaneously intimidating a law-abiding citizen who happens to be a conservative.

If you can stomach Obama administration apparatchik Juan Williams asserting that there is no evidence of the IRS targeting conservative groups while calling Lois Lerner an ‘expert’, stick with the video below. When George Will begins speaking toward the end, he calls for granting Lerner immunity and compelling her to testify.

Shortly thereafter, Wallace asks Charles Krauthammer why the Republican majority in the House isn’t pushing harder to get to the bottom of this scandal. Krauthammer seems vexed by it as well (sorry for the auto start; it drives us crazy too but can’t disable it).

http://embed.newsinc.com/Single/iframe.html?WID=1&VID=25596627&freewheel=69016&sitesection=dailycaller&width=570&height=395

As to why House Republicans aren’t pushing harder, it’s an excellent question, Chris. We’ve been asking that very thing for quite some time. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) once again provides the quintessential example. Since admitting that claims about Lerner granting illegal tax-exempt status to Malik Obama, who is connected to terrorism, are “spot on”, Kelly has been hiding under his desk, despite looking Tea Party leaders in the face and telling them, “we’ve got your backs” during a Congressional hearing.

It’s good that Will is asking for Lerner’s testimony through immunity but his focus is all wrong. He wants her to testify about why the IRS specifically targeted conservative groups. In reality, he should be demanding that Lerner be granted immunity to protect her against charges that she aided and abetted an enemy combatant who just so happens to be President Obama’s brother (see Mike Kelly above).

Here is our vast repository of Malik Obama articles.

Meanwhile, it was learned yesterday that Cummings, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, personally targeted King Street Patriots and True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht with three letters on Oversight Committee letterhead. Engelbrecht has sincefiled an ethics complaint against Cummings.

Conversely, Cummings has expressed no interest in getting to the bottom of Lerner’s criminal acts.

It cannot be overstated that Lerner granted Malik Obama – a man with ties to terrorism – 501(c)(3) status in less than 30 days and illegally backdated the approval 38 months while law-abiding citizens like Engelbrecht have been harassed by multiple federal agencies.

Lois Lener: Accessory to Terror Funding

Granting Lois Lerner immunity is an excellent idea. Here is a list of questions we put together last May. She just needs to have some serious charges of being an accessory to terrorism dangled in front of her first.

Here is Engelbrecht on the Kelly File, shortly after filing that complaint (h/t GWP):

[H/T Walid Shoebat]

Judge Jeanine Opening Statement 1/18/2014: Bombshell on Benghazi and Hillary Clinton: “YOU KNEW!”

Putting Lies Ahead of American Lives is the way the Obama administration has handled the 9-11-12 Benghazi attack of our U.S. embassy in Libya.

Fox News Judge Jeanine calls out then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her lack of leadership and accountability during this horrific moment in American history.

Hillary Clinton, don’t bother running in 2016′, the American people are on to you.

[H/T YouTube]

House Committee: Obama Administration Banned Christmas Carols and Cards for Veterans

(The Daily Caller) — The Obama administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prohibited veterans from hearing Christmas carols or receiving gifts wrapped in Christmas-themed wrapping paper, prompting outrage from a congressional committee.

VA officials in Iowa City, Iowa told representatives of the American Legion that they could not hand out gifts to veterans wrapped in wrapping paper that featured the term “Merry Christmas.”

Additionally, the VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia — which treats veterans — banned Christmas carolers from singing Christmas songs with religious references in public areas.

The Dallas VA Medical Center blocked local schoolchildren from giving Christmas cards to veterans because some of the cards included the terms “Merry Christmas” and “God Bless You.” A similar incident occurred in Montgomery, Alabama, where the VA Medical Center blocked veterans from receiving gift bags that included the term “Merry Christmas.”

Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, expressed his outrage over these incidents in a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki provided to The Daily Caller.

“Because Christmas is a federal holiday and VA is a federal entity, VA patients, volunteers and veterans service organizations should be free to respectfully honor it without obstruction or censorship from VA. Unfortunately, it appears some VA officials seem to disagree with this concept,” Miller wrote.

“it is not up to the department to decide whether or not it’s appropriate for certain government entities, such as VA, to allow the recognition of Christmas. That decision was made in the 1800s when our government formally declared Christmas a federal holiday,” Miller wrote.

“Even though we are a nation of many faiths, our government’s recognition of Christmas – a religious holiday by nature – is not devoid of religious references,” Miller added.

Miler asked VA to provide to his committee a plan to correct these kinds of problems by January 20 at the latest.

[H/T The Daily Caller]

Reporter: Tells MSNBC Obama Administration ‘Most Hostile to the Media . . . in US History’

The Obama administration is quick to celebrate the historic significance of just about every action it takes, but the White House is unlikely to embrace the claim that it’s the “most hostile” in U.S. history when it comes tofreedom of the press.

Nevertheless, that is precisely the charge being leveled by former White House reporter Bob Franken.

The talking heads at MSNBC where discussing complaints from photojournalists that the Obama administration is not allowing media photographers to take their own shots, while pushing photos from White House-approved photographers.

“Let’s use the ‘P’ word here: it’s propaganda,” Franken told his fellow panelists. “Every administration tries to manipulate the press, but this is the most hostile to the media that has been in United States history.”

“The reason I say most hostile is because of the Justice Department moves that they’ve made against the press,” Franken continued. “Obviously, they have a contempt for the journalistic process.”

An incredible statement considering just how favorable the media has been to Barack Obama, but even more so that is occurred on MSNBC. As for Franken, it may be a while before you see his mug on the pro-Obama network again.

Imprisoned American Pastor Abandoned In Iran by Obama Administration, Was Not Even Mentioned In Negotiations

[H/T Fox News] — The wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini says she and her family are devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity. The talks over Iran’s nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release.

But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini’s status was not on the table during those talks.

“It’s devastating,” the pastor’s wife Naghmeh Abedini told Fox News Radio.

She said her children were praying to have him home for the holidays. “It’s unbearable,” she said, “to think of another Christmas without him and see my kids not have him home for Christmas.” 

After the nuclear deal announced over the weekend, Abedini said she doesn’t see “any more leverage left.”

“Iran has no incentive for them to release him. I don’t think we have any more leverage,” she said. “We now have to consider other avenues and having other countries speak out because our country when we could have used our leverage chose to stay silent.”

Abedini and others were hopeful after President Obama personally raised Abedini’s plight in a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in September.

As the matter appeared to languish, the American Center for Law and Justice, which represents the Abedini family, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to demand Abedini’s release as a condition of any agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

The deal announced over the weekend, though, included no mention of Abedini. Obama also did not mention the pastor’s case when he made brief remarks from the White House late Saturday night, announcing a six-month plan to suspend parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a rollback of some sanctions.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ, accused Obama and Kerry of having “turned their backs on a U.S. citizen.”

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, confirmed that the Iran talks “focused exclusively on nuclear issues,” though said the U.S. “has certainly raised” Abedini’s case and that of other imprisoned Americans as part of bilateral discussions.

Another case that has recently drawn public attention is that of Amir Hekmati, a U.S. Marine who was arrested in Iran in 2011 while visiting his grandmother.

He was detained on charges of spying for the CIA and sentenced to death. His family says the confession was coerced.

The FBI also reported that, as of this Tuesday, former FBI official Robert Levinson will become one of the longest-held Americans in history — he went missing after traveling to an island off Iran in March 2007; the U.S. government has since received indications he’s being held.

 

Obama ‘Purge Surge:’ Another High Profile Commander is Fired

Not to be an alarmist, but there’s something serious going down within the Military ranks that is nothing short of frightening and downright evil.

On October 23rd, CA reported the laundry list of top-level commanders that were axed.  Today it was reported the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan was relieved of duty.

[H/T WND]: WASHINGTON – After multiple top generals described to WND what they regard as a full-scale “purge” of the U.S. military by the Obama administration, the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan was summarily relieved of duty and his civilian deputy reassigned, pending a “misconduct” investigation.

Nine generals and flag officers have been relieved of duty under Obama just this year – widely viewed as an extraordinary number – and several sources put the total number of senior officers purged during the five years of the Obama administration as close to 200.

In response, prominent retired generals – ranging from Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News senior military analyst, to Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a founder of the Army’s elite Delta Force, to Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Patrick Henry Brady – have all gone on the record with WND, characterizing Obama’s actions as nothing less than an all-out attack on America’s armed forces.

According to U.S. Army Japan, Col. Eric Tilley was suspended from his job by Maj. Gen. James C. Boozer Sr., commander of U.S. Army Japan and I Corps (Forward) for a “lack of confidence” based on the results of an inquiry.

A spokesman for U.S. Army Japan, Maj. Kevin Toner, would not elaborate on what prompted a “lack of confidence,” saying it would be “inappropriate to make public the allegations because the investigation did not lead to findings of criminal misconduct.”

Tilley is to be replaced by Col. Joy Curriera.

Tilley’s dismissal is only the latest in what retired Navy Capt. Joseph John refers to as a “bigger picture” in which some “135 senior officers have been purged.”

“The ‘bigger picture,’” John told WND, “is that the U.S. Armed Forces have been under relentless attack by the occupant of the Oval Office for five years.”

A Naval Academy graduate, John had three tours of duty in Vietnam, served with two SEAL Teams and was an FBI agent. He served on an FBI Swat Team and Special Operations Command Central on nine anti-terrorist operations. He was awarded the Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, five Meritorious Service Medals and 22 medals and unit citations for combat operations in Vietnam, Philippines, Desert Storm and on anti-terrorist operations.

Today, John is chairman of Combat Veterans For Congress PAC (Political Action Committee), which has helped elect 26 combat veterans to the House of Representatives and the Senate from 18 states.

“I believe there are more than 137 officers who have been forced out or given bad evaluation reports so they will never make Flag (officer), because of their failure to comply to certain views,” John told WND.

“The truly sad story is that many of the brightest graduates of the three major service academies witnessing what the social experiment on diversity … is doing to the U.S. military, are leaving the service after five years,” he said. “We are being left with an officer corps that can be made to be more compliant, that is, exactly what Obama needs to effect his long range goals for the U.S. military.”

In an email to WND, John outlined what he termed “a very few of the most egregious” aspects of Obama’s “attack” on the military over the past five years.

Read rest of article

You’re Going to Want to Check Out the Sign We Found Posted at a Recently-Shut Down Restaurant in Texas

TheBlaze reported: A recently-shut down Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Carrollton, Texas, currently has a sign posted outside that reads: “Closed by Obamacare.” After being tipped off by a reader, TheBlaze traveled to the location to confirm the sign’s authenticity.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether or not President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which made its very bumpy debut earlier this week, actually forced the location to shut its doors. Attempts to call the phone number associated with the location only resulted in exchanges with an automated messaging system announcing the number is no longer in use.

It is entirely possible that the sign is more of a political statement than a statement of fact. However, TheBlaze is currently working to obtain more information about the sign and reason for the Carl’s Jr. location’s going out of business. We have reached out to the restaurant chain’s corporate office and this story will be updated should the company respond.

Carl’s Jr. CEO Andrew Puzder recently penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal explaining why he believes Obamacare can’t work:

The rising cost of insurance affects people whether they purchase insurance through their employers or an exchange, since both depend on private insurers. If insurance costs go up, taxpayers also may end up paying more to foot the bill for the higher cost of subsidized insurance. This is particularly concerning since the administration has announced that it will be unable to verify whether applicants for subsidies actually qualify for them. The subsidies are likely to be very popular.

The Obama administration seems to recognize the looming trouble and is urging professional sports organizations and parent groups to encourage young workers signing up for coverage. Maybe that will be effective. It’s certainly preferable to ill-advised attempts to postpone, and thus change, the law by fiat rather than by legislation. Maybe the administration will even do what it should have done in the first place: Take the time to develop a bipartisan, market-driven approach that might actually work.

And Obamacare didn’t get off to a good start this week either.

The Obama administration is taking down its health overhaul website for repairs this weekend. Even the very few that were able to get a health insurance quote faced lengthy wait times and high monthly premiums.

For example, Obama supporter Chad Henderson went through the Obamacare application process and discovered he would pay $175 per month under the president’s health care plan. He is a healthy 21-year-old male who earns $11,500. His monthly premium will be 18 percent of his yearly income if he decides to purchase the plan.

Many others encountered a screen that told them to wait, and they did, sometimes for hours. Refreshing the screen only sent them to the back of the line.

Quite a few got hung up trying to create security questions to protect their accounts. The drop-down menus providing the questions would not populate. As a result, consumers could not advance through the application process and learn if they were eligible for a tax credit to help pay premiums, much less pick a plan.

Some who did make it through were timed out because they took too long comparing plans.

At the end of the first day at most a handful of people had managed to successfully enroll through the federal site.