[Please note: links to news articles and accompanying headlines and text were valid and accurate at the time of posting but content often changes or is deleted by the original publishers for reasons they feel are warranted…ed]
Are the Dems really that clueless about health care?
The last time I heard Newt Gingrich predict that Republicans would take over Congress was 16 years ago when he was pushing his “Contract with America.” I said he was crazy then, but he turned out to be right. Now, he’s predicting that Republicans this year will take over Congress again—the House and the Senate — and not just gain some seats, as the common wisdom holds. (SNIP) Here’s one nugget that Gingrich pointed out: Pages 25 and 26 of the House version of the health care bill require that when expenses exceed revenues for the “temporary” National High-Risk Pool Program, the secretary of health and human services by herself will “make such adjustments as are necessary to eliminate such deficit, including reducing benefits, increasing premiums or establishing waiting lists.” That’s worth repeating: The secretary of health and human services will single-handedly set premium rates, reduce benefits or create waiting lists for services for the most endangered patients. “Anybody who says to you this is not a step to bureaucratic control of America hasn’t read the bill or is telling you a lie,” Gingrich said. “The fact is these bills, these 4,500 pages, were among the worst legislation to leave the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate.” (I’d say that the various bailouts would give it a run for its money.) [Read that last part about the secretary of health and “human services” over and over again to get an idea of why so many people are rejecting this behind closed doors Democrat healthcare legislation…jarg]
President Barack Obama is upping the ante on health care. In a last-ditch effort to salvage his overhaul of the sector, the president unveiled a $950 billion plan that lays the groundwork for his party to try pushing its legislation through Congress without Republican support. Instead of paring his ambitions, as some in the White House had recommended, the president proposed a new plan based on what the Senate passed in December, adding more spending, more subsidies and a revised mix of taxes. Mr. Obama’s plan, released ahead of a televised health summit with congressional leaders Thursday, didn’t include any additional nods to Republican ideas. [Mr. Obama’s healthcare plan, with ZERO GOP input, is so vague the Congressional Budget Office couldn’t put a price tag on it. How convenient. The folks at the Wall Street Journal tagged the mess at nearly a trillion dollars over 10 years…jarg]
Tax group says Obama healthcare proposal breaks pledge
President Barack Obama’s health reform proposal released on Monday breaks his pledge to not raise taxes on filers earning less than $250,000, according to Americans for Tax Reform. The overall proposal is expected to cost $950 billion over 10 years. Taxpayers earning less than $250,000 will pay $136 billion of that total, said Ryan Ellis, ATR’s Tax Policy Director. Obama’s health care proposal broadens the Medicare tax to unearned income that will affect dividend payments, capital gains, annuities, royalties and rents. The White House did not respond to inquiries about whether the tax will be applied to retirement accounts. [I wonder how all those starry eyed young adults who so fervently backed their messiah for president are gonna feel when they realize they will be forced to buy medical insurance and have their taxes raised through the roof to pay for those who refuse to provide for themselves? Elections have serious consequences…jarg]
If you’d like to see just how phony the administration’s latest ploy on health care is, go to the White House website and read this. Under the headline “Will the Republicans Post Their Health Plan… and When?” the White House bemoans the lack of a Republican plan while, not surprisingly, touting its own.
The President believes strongly that Thursday’s bipartisan meeting on health insurance reform will be most productive if both sides come to the table with a unified plan to start discussion – and if the public has the opportunity to inspect those proposals up close before the meeting happens.
That’s why yesterday the White House posted online the President’s proposal for bridging the differences between the Senate- and House-passed health insurance reform bills.
Fair enough. Except that a summary and the full text of the Republican proposed legislation has been posted for months right here. [H.R. 3400 has been available for all to read and review on the internet since, I believe, last OCTOBER but Obama, Democrats and the media are completely unaware of it? I find that just a wee bit hard to believe…jarg]
Obamacare Faces Tough Road in the House
President Obama on Monday removed any doubt that he would scale back his health care ambitions in the current political environment, releasing a plan that increases taxes, spending, and regulation even more than the Senate health care bill that has been overwhelmingly rejected by the public. The brazen move, coming just days before a scheduled health care summit, was accompanied by a renewed willingness to use the reconciliation procedure to ram a health care bill through the Senate with just 51 votes. Taken together, some commentators see a growing momentum for finishing the health care legislation that was put on life support after Sen. Scott Brown’s surprise victory in Massachusetts. But regardless of what happens at this week’s superfluous summit, it’s difficult to see how Democrats cobble together enough votes to pass a final health care bill in the House. [Obama’s plan is nothing but smoke and mirrors. He knows his proposal won’t make it through Congress and that is by design. His plan is intended to make the Senate bill look quite moderate by comparison. These progressives know this is their only shot at ramming this crap down the throats of Americans for decades, maybe forever, so they won’t give up until the deed is done. From this article, ” If Obama fails on a comprehensive health care overhaul where Bill Clinton and other presidents failed before him, the chance won’t come around again anytime soon.”This is the last time out,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. “So this is it. This is it.”…jarg]
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Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19. (SNIP) Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove. [Every time Obama talks about healthcare reform his numbers immediately begin to tank. Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman was right, this guy is a very slow learner…jarg]
Stocks retreat as confidence slumps
Stocks tumbled Tuesday after a key measure of consumer confidence plunged sharply, reflecting investors’ growing pessimism about the strength of the economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost nearly 100 points, or 1%, with around three hours left in the session. The S&P 500 index (SPX) lost 14 points or 1.3%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) fell 35 points, or 1.6%. Stocks swayed on both sides of uneven in the early going, but turned lower after the release of the Consumer Confidence index. The Conference Board said its index fell to 46 in February from 56.5 in January. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would fall to 55. [How can this be? I thought all the talking heads including Obama claimed that the recession is over and our economy has turned the corner towards prosperity due to his Wall Street bailouts and over the top government spending?…jarg]
Consumer Confidence Falls Sharply in February
A monthly poll showed consumers’ confidence took a surprisingly sharp fall in February amid rising job worries. The decline ends three straight months of improvement and raises concerns about the economic recovery. The Conference Board said Tuesday its Consumer Confidence Index fell almost 11 points to 46 in February, down from a revised 56.5 in January. Analysts were expecting only a slight decrease to 55. One gauge, measuring consumers’ assessment of current conditions, dropped to 19.4 from 25.2, the lowest level since 1983. The other barometer, which measures their outlook over the next six months and had been rising since October 2009, fell to 63.8 from 77.3. [In case you were wondering why your stuff on ebay isn’t selling…jarg]
Employers Took 1, 761 Mass Layoffs in January
Employers made 1, 761 mass layoffs in January, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. January marks the first month-to-month increase in the number of mass layoffs since August 2009, indicating a grim employment forecast for Americans on the job hunt. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance filed against them during a 5-week period. [In case you were wondering why nobody has the money to buy the stuff you are selling on ebay, or your spare car or your boat or your house or your…jarg]
Coal-State Democrats Oppose Global-Warming Rules
Eight Democratic senators from industrial states are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate pollution blamed for global warming. In a letter written by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the lawmakers said the agency lacks the power to restrict greenhouse gases from stationary sources such as power plants, factories and mines. The lawmakers said Congress — not the EPA — should address an issue with big implications for thousands of U.S. jobs and businesses. Opposition to EPA regulations by Democrats could pose a serious blow to the Obama administration’s effort to restrict heat-trapping greenhouse gases. While the administration is still pushing for Congress to pass a comprehensive climate bill this year, officials have not ruled out controlling greenhouse gases through regulation. [Looks like we may have several Democrats hoping to hang onto their seats in Congress here…jarg]
Inhofe calls for investigation of researcher Michael Mann
Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma will ask the Justice Department to investigate Pennsylvania State University climatologist and White House adviser Michael E. Mann for his involvement in Climategate, Inhofe told The Daily Caller Monday night. “They’ve been mocking me for years. Redemption is going to feel good,” Inhofe said in a phone interview. (SNIP) Citing the False Claims Act, which “prohibits certain types of activity generally involving claims for payment of money or receipt of property involving the federal government,” Inhofe, who is the ranking member of the Environmental and Public Works Committee, wants Mann investigated for his use of $500,000 in stimulus funds allotted for climate research. Inhofe suspects that any government funds Mann may have used in conjunction with the IPCC and the Climatic Research Unit would be a violation of the False Claims Act. [Good for Inhofe but if he thinks this administration is gonna lift a finger to look into the man made global warming scam he’s in for some serious disappointment since Obama and his cohorts are neck deep in this BS. BTW Inhofe would also like to call global warming huckster Al Gore on the carpet…jarg]
Obama’s Clean Energy Ploy a Sucker’s Game for GOP
Barack Obama has baited a trap for the GOP. The President announced that as a part of his clean energy initiative, he favored building two nuclear reactors at an existing nuclear power facility in Georgia, and would commit $8 billion in loan guarantees to do so. If Senate Republicans, in particular, take the bait, they’ll have been duped into backing the Mr. Obama’s latest scheme to grow the national government into a leviathan — the leviathan that the left and Mr. Obama hanker for. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is a pretty wily customer. Though the Senator praised Mr. Obama’s call for the construction of the new nuclear reactors — the first in thirty years, if built — he knows that the President is dangling them to draw the GOP into supporting Mr. Obama’s broader agenda to impose carbon taxes and to sink a lot more taxpayer money into renewable — green — energy development and jobs. It isn’t Senator McConnell conservatives should fret over. It’s the Senator’s squishier Republican colleagues who are Mr. Obama’s chief target, particularly South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham. [Later in this article, “Senator Graham needs this message spliced into his DNA: Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid care less about issues than they do about using issues as portals to ram through bigger government.” Graham isn’t the only one that needs to figure this out in a hurry, the entire GOP needs to ram this into their “brain”…jarg]
Borderline Dereliction Of Duty
The 2006 Secure Fence Act mandated the “possible” construction of a long wall to protect our frontier. Four years later, no wall, just a new seven-year delay. This is an embarrassment. It was almost a prelude to the Tea Parties now sweeping the nation. Millions of Americans, reacting to brazen demonstrations on U.S. soil by illegal immigrants, mobilized themselves to rouse Congress to do something about millions of illegal immigrants pouring into the U.S. Citizen activists shut down the Capitol Hill switchboard with their calls, formed border watches and marched in the streets. As a result, a shaken Congress scrapped its widely detested McCain-Kennedy comprehensive immigration bill with its amnestylike features in 2005. Instead, it passed Rep. Duncan Hunter’s Secure Fence Act of 2006. [Not all of the illegal aliens streaming across our border are looking for “jobs Americans won’t do” as evidenced by the following article…jarg]
Va. man accused of helping smuggle Somalis into U.S.
Authorities are searching for 270 Somalis believed to have entered the U.S. illegally with the help of a Virginia man who admitted contacts with an Islamic terrorist group. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent said his agency had yet to locate any of the suspected illegal immigrants. According to an affidavit filed in Alexandria’s federal court, Anthony Joseph Tracy told authorities that he came in contact with the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, which announced an alliance with al Qaeda earlier this year. ICE Agent Thomas Eyre testified during a hearing that authorities are “concerned” about the 35-year-old’s dealings with the group. In an e-mail, Tracy reportedly wrote, “i helped alot of somalis and most are good but there are some who are bad and i leave them to ALLAH,” the affidavit said. [This guy “allegedly” waltzed these illegals right across our wide open southern border with Mexico. Imagine that…jarg]
Eric Holder stonewalls Congress on terror lawyers
A number of lawyers who work on terrorist issues at the Justice Department represented terrorist detainees before joining the Obama administration. At a hearing three months ago, Sen. Charles Grassley raised the possibility of a conflict with Attorney General Eric Holder. Grassley, a senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, posed three simple questions: Who are they, who did they represent, and what are their duties at the Justice Department today? At the time, Grassley knew from press reports that two high-ranking department officials now working on detainee issues had previously worked for detainees: Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal once represented Osama bin Laden’s driver, and Jennifer Daskal, an official in the National Security Division, worked on behalf of detainees at the liberal organization Human Rights Watch. [We used to think Janet Reno was the worse AG this country could possibly have. Holder has got to GO!…jarg]
Ft. Hood suspect was Army dilemma
Army superiors were warned about the radicalization of Major Nidal Malik Hasan years before he allegedly massacred 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, but did not act in part because they valued the rare diversity of having a Muslim psychiatrist, military investigators wrote in previously undisclosed reports. An obvious “problem child’’ spouting extremist views, Hasan made numerous statements that were not protected by the First Amendment and were grounds for discharge by violating his military oath, investigators found. Examples of Hasan’s radical behavior have previously been disclosed in press accounts based on interviews with unnamed Army officials, including his defense of suicide bombings and assertions that Islamic law took priority over his allegiance to the United States. [Why the media and Obama administration silence concerning what is going on with this murdering muslim?…jarg]
ACORN ‘dissolved as a national structure’
The embattled liberal group ACORN is in the process of dissolving its national structure, with state and local-chapters splitting off from the underfunded, controversial national group, an official close to the group confirmed. “ACORN has dissolved as a national structure of state organizations,” said a senior official close to the group, who declined to be identified by name because of the fierce conservative attacks on the group that began when a conservative filmmaker caught some staffers of its tax advisory arms on tape appearing to offer advice on incorporating a prostitution business. The videos proved a rallying point for conservatives who had long accused the group of fomenting voting fraud. Though the videos did not produce criminal charges, they appear to have been fatal to the national organization. [Don’t be fooled, these crooks are merely going underground until the heat let’s up…jarg]
Top GOPer releases video of Obama praising ACORN
The ranking member of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee released video today showing then-candidate Obama praising the work of ACORN. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) unveiled the video during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) today. Issa’s staff uncovered the footage during their ongoing probe into ACORN, who conservatives long made a boogeyman. [ACORN has long been involved in voter registration fraud which always benefits Democrats while collecting millions of taxpayer dollars. Some “boogeyman”…jarg]
Reid: ‘Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive’
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suggested Monday that domestic violence by men has increased due to U.S. joblessness. Reid, speaking in the midst of a Senate debate over whether to pass a $15 billion package meant to spur job creation, appeared to argue that joblessness would lead to more domestic violence. “I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “Why? Men don’t have jobs.” [Reid the psychologist. I can’t help but wonder if Dingy Harry will start slappin’ the crap out of his wife when he is fired in November?…ed]
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