Republicans create fake health care website to bomb Obamacare

[Coyotl]

California GOP creates fake health care website to discourage constituents from obtaining insurance
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/02/1259641/-California-GOP-creates-fake-healthcare-website-to-discourage-constituents-from-obtaining-insurance

Next step, fake emergency rooms.

Republicans are horrible people. Period.

California Republicans are desperate and shameless. In the past two weeks, GOP Assembly members have sent mailings out on what appears to be the state's dime to their constituents about health insurance. Only, they don't direct those people to CoveredCA.com to sign up. Instead, they send them to their own astroturf version with the url CoveringHealthCareCA.com.

On their version, there are links to negative articles and twisted messages intended to sour people on signing up for health insurance before they ever land at the official health exchange site.

A fake health care site. A fake health care site intended to discourage the people on their own mailing lists from getting health insurance because fuck them, that's why.

If you click on the "Don't have health insurance" tab on the front page, you're taken to a page that puts all the focus on the penalty and none on the benefits. In fact, they have a "penalty calculator" on that page, rather than a premium calculator.

...........

[indepat]

1. Smells like sedition, plain and simple, imo

[Coyotl]

2. Abuse of public funds at least.

[malaise]

9. Chris Hayes covering this now

Lead story

[Coyotl]

18. Great. Hopefully, the dinosaurs will finally go extinct in CA.

[BlueToTheBone]

4. Why, yes it does! n/t

[dchill]

13. Republican behavior has smelled of sedition...

Since St. Reagan. Seditious is their new normal.

[indepat]

22. Couldn't agree more, sedition, treason (October Surprise), obstruction, destruction, MIC-bloating,

deficit-creating, treasury-pillaging, war crimes, war mongering, mass killing imo. Hell, sedition ain't all that bad, considering all the others.

[dchill]

23. All of that...

and union-busting, too!

[2naSalit]

3. Sabotage

espionage... The way these people behave makes me want to do to them what my mother used to do to me; grasp my earlobe between her fingernails and coerce me over to where the nearest acceptable spanking weapon was located, sometimes in another room, and then spank my bottom with three sound whacks. (When your angry mom has you by the earlobe, you follow without resistance!)

I get so frustrated at these POSes, makes me feel slightly violent.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. California GOP?

I didn't know there was one left.

[malaise]

6. Time for some arrests - as I told Nadin, this is criminality

They should be kicked out of the assembly pending serious charges.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. At the very least fraud.

Not an attorney but such could carry some stiff penalties.

[malaise]

12. They must be censured

in the Assembly. Go Dems.

They are really desperate - why did they not know they could get caught;

Seriously the GOP is made up of ReTHUGs - they are first rate thugs. This is sabotage of a Federal Law.

[Overseas]

21. I agree and do hope that happens.

[ramapo]

7. Tell the rats what you think

I'm not much one for Facebook but if you go here:
link:https://www.facebook.com/AssemblyGOP?sk=wall
you can leave a message or three.

[mstinamotorcity2]

16. did

it

[pangaia]

8. Sick, really, really sick.

What about- If you joint the military?

www.joining the military.govmint

Questions you may have..

1- Will I be safe from injury? Well, maybe yes and maybe no. So, try to be a typist. You will be safer in the Navy than in the Army or Air Force.. even safer in the Coast Guard.
Better yet, don't join at all.

2-How is the pay? Well for most, it sucks. So if you want to raise a family on one salary, if you want the best medical care long after, well long after something bad happens.... you might want to think twice.

I'll bet something like this wouldn't last 2 days...

[WillyT]

10. K & R !!!

[mstinamotorcity2]

14. They should be charged

with felony fraud.

[kimbutgar]

15. Something tells me Kamla Harris our excellent AG will be taking action on this

She has always closed down bogus sites she will go after them big time.

[MsPithy]

17. If democrats can't use this shit to take back the house,

increase their majority in the senate and run the table in the states in 2014, they are the worthless piles of crap that I think they are.

Americans don't like sneaky, underhanded, lying cheaters. That is what republicans are.

If democrats can't beat them with a fucking stick, they are worse.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. California has a super majority in the Assembly

And a majority delegation in the US House.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

19. When will Issa be calling for a hearing on this?

Oh yeah, right.

[dchill]

24. Sure he will - I mean he's from California right?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

35. Yup

though I don't think that he's all that concerned about how the law is being undermined/sabotaged by his party but rather just wants to attack the law itself.

[SHRED]

20. CA GOP driving more nails in its coffin

[jimlup]

25. This should be given equal time with all the

healthcare.gov bashing articles the msm is running these days but it won't be...

[adieu]

26. While the site seems plainly duplicitous

It could be argued that the site is just offering the GOP's view of the disastrous nature of Obamacare. Of course, if the GOP were sincere about offering their point of view of the terrible nature of the ACA, they don't need to mask the site by making it look like the site to sign up people for health care.

So yeah, it's duplicity through and through.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

36. Sort of like the right's "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" IMHO

n/t

[Electric Monk]

27. kicking for attention. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. As I did earlier in the DU FB page

Thanks to the Koss blogger Hunter. My unknown friend, you kicked up a media shit storm. I owe you a wonderful looonnnngg day on the phone, and whois, and way back machine.

Thanks guy, you sent many of us down that rabbit hole. We much expanded on it, but thanks for the lead. The second is the LA times economics writer.

I would do it personally on your blog site, but lord knows I have not done the Koss game in a long time.

So if you happen to read this, my sincere thanks.

Now back to reading mostly.

[left on green only]

30. What is wrong with me?

Why can't I find out anything that is any more definitive than just the term "California GOP"? Seems to my naive mind that there should be something that is at least a little more definitive, like maybe just perhaps a name or two? Is the GOP so evasive that they can proceed in the world without needing to give out anything more than just their front name? Or perhaps the "news" inciters have just become a little lazy in their reporting. I don't know. Perhaps they have become so blaze as to think that the public has become so well trained that we no longer require anything as superfluous as an actual person's name before we start acting like Pavlov's dogs?

I'm not buying the story until I can take names and chew ass.

[Coyotl]

32. Did you follow the link and read the page?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/02/1259641/-California-GOP-creates-fake-healthcare-website-to-discourage-constituents-from-obtaining-insurance

Whois to the rescue, here you go

Nope, doesn't really take a lot of labor. WHOIS is your friend, as they say.

And yes, of course they registered the domain at GoDaddy. Jerks.

Interestingly, this doesn't seem to be one of those "cloaked" domain registrations. All the info is right there. Seems like the contact is Sabrina Lockhart, a longtime Republican operative. Currently she's Communications Director for CA Assembly GOP Leader Connie Conway. Hmmm, the address she gave when registering the domain was "State Capitol", and the email she gave seems to be an official CA state government address.

Plus, the phone number she gave (916-319-2034) goes to Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove's office. Here's Assemblywoman Grove's website, which features a plug for this website on its front page.

All this Republicanism for blatantly political work? Is that legal?

You'd think she'd know. She's been at this for a while now. For example she used to work for the Schwartzennegger campaign and was then one of his political appointees. Here's her LinkedIn page.

Anyway, here's who owns and runs the site, and more. .................................

Registrant Name: Sabrina Lockhart
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: State Capitol
Registrant Street: P.O. Box 942849
Registrant City: Sacramento
Registrant State/Province: California
Registrant Postal Code: 94249
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Phone: [phone]
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [e-mail] ...........................

[left on green only]

34. Thank You For Your Indeed Diligent Research

I know that it dwarfs my yeoman's ability to use the Internet. But surely you wouldn't think that it wouldn't dwarf the ability of any investigative reporter who was worth their salt. And doing the good job of informing the public that I know all of them are dedicated to doing, you wouldn't think it would be out of the way for them to want to include that information in their "big scoop."

I live in one of the bright red Nazi counties of California, and I was really hoping I could write a letter of disdain to my sniveling piece of shit state legislators about this, but only if I could totally pin their pasty asses to it. But I am glad now that I have the info as to exactly who was behind it, before I planted my size 12 firmly into my mouth.

Thanks for your research.

[Coyotl]

37. Thank Hunter, et.al at dKos. I just read it.

dKos members get email alerts of recent top articles. I scan that and read the most interesting ones.

[Cha]

31. K!

[Coyotl]

33. The GOP website disclaimer

Reading down the comments in the article:

Thank you for visiting web site run by the California State Assembly Republican Caucus. We want you to know about the collection, use, security, and access to information that may result from your use of this site.

By visiting this web site, you consent to the policies and practices described in this notice, including the collection and use of information as described below. This web site is maintained for the California State Assembly Republican Caucus by the Member Services/VisCom Group.

This web site and the information it contains are provided as a public service by the California State Assembly Republican Caucus. The web site is monitored to ensure its proper operation, to verify the functioning of applicable security features, and for related purposes. Anyone using this web site expressly consents to such monitoring.

We make no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this web site, and expressly disclaim liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this web site or its hyperlinks to other Internet resources. Reference in this web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the State of California, or its employees or agents.

Our web site has links to sites we feel might be useful to you. When you link to another site, you are no longer on our site and are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. Each of those web sites, and the sites to which they link in turn, may have different privacy and use policies.

For example, links are provided to the sites of departments within California state government, local government entities, and agencies of the federal government, each of which may be subject to different restrictions of state and federal law with respect to the collection and use of personal information. Be sure to review those policies as you access additional web sites.

Please note that this policy is subject to change without notice, and that it reflects our current business practices. This policy is dated May 30, 2007.

If you do nothing during your visit to this web site but browse, or download information, we automatically collect and store certain information about your visit. This information does not identify you by name, and we make no attempt to link other web sites with the persons who browse this web site.

This automatic collection of information is used only to help us understand how people are using the web site, and to improve its content and design. The information automatically collected about your visit is as follows:

The Internet Protocol Address and domain name used, but not the e-mail address. The Internet Protocol Address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use your Internet Protocol Address to generate statistics used in the management of this site.

The type of web browser and operating system you used.

The date and time you visited this site.

The web pages or services you accessed at this site, including the first and last web pages you visited.

If you downloaded a form, the form that was downloaded.

If you choose to provide us with personal information, as in e-mail with a comment or question, we will ordinarily use the information to respond to you, to address issues you identify, or to improve our web site. Alternatively, as appropriate, we may forward your e-mail to an appropriate local, state, or federal agency that may be better able to "help" you.

by JeffMasonFL on Tue Dec 03, 2013 = http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/02/1259641/-California-GOP-creates-fake-healthcare-website-to-discourage-constituents-from-obtaining-insurance

[11 Bravo]

40. Damn, that's a lot of words to say "We are shameless lying mother-fuckers, but ...

since we're admitting it up front there's nothing you can do about it!"

[discopants]

38. Republican State Assemblyman Brian Nestande defends spending tax dollars on the mailing!

He's challenging our Democratic Congressman Raul Ruiz in 2014. The local paper has been promoting Nestande's campaign for months by giving him front page stories every time he graps a microphone. Today's breaking story about his mailing to Coachella Valley residents made the front page of the "Valley" section. It won't go unnoticed.

“It’s offensive for someone to say there’s some nefarious plot here. I’m providing a constituent service.”

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20131203/NEWS03/312030024/Nestande-plugs-GOP-backed-website-mailer

[Coyotl]

39. Rep. Mark Takano (D) called on the CA Attorney General to shut down the website

"One congressman — Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of Riverside — in a statement called on the California Attorney General to shut down the website like she did fraudulent sites trying to imitate Covered California in November.

"The Attorney General’s Office did not return multiple Desert Sun calls seeking comment Tuesday."

[B Calm]

41. This should be on the national news!

[Coyotl]

42. It will be. Not to mention Colbert and Stewart, plus Maddow.

[Coyotl]

43. KENTUCKY - Third website ordered removed; ‘deceptively similar’ to state’s health insurance exchange

December 3, 2013 - http://www.kyforward.com/our-health/2013/12/03/third-website-ordered-removed-deceptively-similar-to-states-health-insurance-exchange/
Third website ordered removed; ‘deceptively similar’ to state’s health insurance exchange

Kentucky’s attorney general has taken action against another website for being “deceptively similar” to the state’s official health insurance exchange, kynect.ky.gov. The latest copycat website – kynect101.com – is the third website the attorney general’s Office of Consumer Protection has ordered removed, corrected or blocked.

Attorney General Jack Conway said some consumers attempting to locate the official site through search engines were being deceptively steered to the kynect101.com website instead of kynect.ky.gov, where they were provided false information about their options under the federal Affordable Care Act, including being informed that there were no plans with federal subsidies available to offset a portion of their insurance premiums.

The AG’s Office of Consumer Protection contacted the owners of the website on Nov. 26, demanding that the site be taken down. The letter also noted that kynect is a copyrighted term and that the copycat site infringed on the state’s copyrights.

Google was also contacted and asked to remove the website from Google search results. The site has now been taken down and no longer appears on Google search results.

“Last week, Kentuckians who googled the search term ‘kynect’ received kynect101.com as the first search result – not anymore,” General Conway said. “I will not tolerate sites that mislead consumers. ................

[DCBob]

44. Clearly shows yet another huge difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats simply dont do shit like this, no matter what the issue is or how contentious. Its shocking what's going on in the brains of Republicans that they can justify deceptive despicable crap like this. Sick bastards.

[SidDithers]

45. DU rec...nt

Sid

[napkinz]

46. kick

nt