I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
White House Exults in General Motors Repayment
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003116-503544.html
Excerpt: No one was cheering louder than the White House about General Motors' repayment of $6.7 billion in loans from the federal government. First thing this morning, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs alerted his 56,000 followers on Twitter of "BIG NEWS." "GM pays back US $6.7 billion used to save jobs," Gibbs exulted. But he had more. "BIGGER NEWS," he trumpeted. "Payment was 5 years ahead of schedule." And Gibbs still had a few of his 140 characters left to link to a New York Times article about it. Later at his daily press briefing, Gibbs didn't wait for a reporter to ask him about the GM payback. He portrayed it as a vindication of President Obama's decision to provide a federal bailout to GM and Chrysler:
GM Money Game
http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2010/04/gm-money-game.html
Excerpt: The issue came up yesterday at a hearing with the special watchdog on the Wall Street Bailout, Neil Barofsky, who was asked several times about the GM repayment by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who was looking for answers on how much money the feds might make from the controversial Wall Street Bailout. "It's good news in that they're reducing their debt," Barofsky said of the accelerated GM payments, "but they're doing it by taking other available TARP money." In other words, GM is taking money from the Wall Street Bailout - the TARP money - and using that to pay off their loans ahead of schedule. "It sounds like it's kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting in the other," said Carper, who got a nod of agreement from Barofsky. "The way that payment is going to be made is by drawing down on an equity facility of other TARP money." Translated - they are using bailout funds from the feds to pay off their loans. For you and me, that might be like using one credit card to pay off another, eh?
So here’s my deal for BO
We bought a little condo in the Chicago area last June, for $160k. We still owe $121k. If President Obama will send me $121,000 in TARP Money, I’ll pay off my home loan 29 years early. And he can be exultant, take all the credit and blame George Bush for my being in debt. Deal or no deal? Sure, the taxpayers get screwed, but given the deficits, they will hardly notice. It won’t be like I’m the only one in line for government handouts. I figure a few more beers and I’ll be “too big to fail.”
Second Navy SEAL found not guilty of prisoner abuse
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/second_navy_seal_found_not_guilty_SrdAXqEHg9ItuIidpBLVGJ
Excerpt: A second U.S. Navy Seal facing charges of prisoner abuse was acquitted in Baghdad Friday. Petty officer Jonathan Keefe's acquittal followed a similar not guilty verdict against fellow serviceman Julio Huertas on Thursday. Keefe reportedly appeared in court in his sailor uniform and was sitting between two defense counselors, one civilian and one Navy. In a last minute decision, Keefe changed his request from a jury verdict to a military judge. In opening remarks, his counsel questioned the validity of the prisoner's testimony, arguing that terrorists were trained to claim abuse when they are arrested. Ahmed Hashim Abed's, the alleged victim, diverged from his testimony given in the Huertas case Wednesday. In that case, he said he was punched in the stomach and fell to the ground, but Friday he said he was kicked in the stomach. Keefe and Huertas were accused along with fellow Seal Matthew McCabe of brutality in connection with Abed's arrest. Abed was arrested in conjunction with the brutal murder of four American Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, Iraq. (In a just world, they would have shot Abed, then had drinks and medals all around.)
Gangster Government Becomes a Long-Running Series
http://jewishworldreview.com/michael/barone042210.php3
Excerpt: Almost a year ago, in a Washington Examiner column on the Chrysler bailout, I reflected on the Obama administration's decision to force bondholders to accept 33 cents on the dollar on secured debts while giving United Auto Worker retirees 50 cents on the dollar on unsecured debts. This was a clear violation of the ordinary bankruptcy rule that secured creditors are fully paid off before unsecured creditors get anything. The politically connected UAW folk got preference over politically unconnected bondholders. "We have just seen an episode of Gangster Government," I wrote. "It is likely to be a continuing series." Fast forward to last Friday, when the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Goldman Sachs, alleging that the firm violated the law when it sold a collateralized debt obligation based on mortgage-backed securities without disclosing that the CDO was assembled with the help of hedge fund investor John Paulson. On its face, the complaint seems flimsy. Paulson has since become famous because his firm made billions by betting against mortgage-backed securities. But he wasn't a big name then, and the sophisticated firm buying the CDO must have assumed the seller believed its value would go down. That's not the only fishy thing about the complaint. Yesterday came the news, undisclosed by the SEC Friday, that the commissioners approved the complaint by a 3-2 party-line vote. Ordinarily, the SEC issues such complaints only when the commissioners unanimously approve. Fishy thing No. 3: Democrats immediately used the complaint to jam Sen. Christopher Dodd's financial regulation through the Senate.
Government report: New healthcare reform law could lead to higher prices, employers dropping coverage
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/93947-govt-report-new-health-law-could-lead-to-higher-prices-employers-dropping-coverage-
Surprise! The hangover gets worse. Excerpt: A new government report from Rick Foster, the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), finds that President Barack Obama's new healthcare reform law would cost $828 billion over the next decade while saving $577 billion. Foster notes that CMS's projections do not take into account changes to the tax code that have been enacted. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that over the next 10 years, the healthcare package would decrease the deficit. The CMS analysis, provided to The Hill on Thursday, concludes that the healthcare overhaul will reduce the number of the nation's uninsured from 57 million to 23 million. However, the report raises several warnings about the impact of healthcare reform. Foster states, "The additional demand for health services could be difficult to meet initially with existing health resources and could lead to price increases, cost shifting, and/or changes in providers' willingness to treat patients with low-reimbursement health coverage." The report also suggests that some employers will stop offering their employees healthcare coverage benefits: "A number of workers who currently have employer coverage would likely become enrolled in the expanded Medicaid program or receive subsidized coverage through the [Health] Exchanges. For example, some smaller employers would be inclined to terminate their existing coverage, and companies with low average salaries might find it to their -- and their employees' -- advantage to end their plans..." Foster claims that the law's penalties on employers who don't offer their workers health insurance "are relatively low compared to prevailing health insurance costs."
States assess health law's impact on physician shortages
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/states-assess-health-laws-impact-physician-shortages/2010-04-12
And the hangover gets even worse. Excerpt: The consensus generally indicates that health reform will exacerbate current or looming physician shortages across the country, particularly in primary care. Long term, the nation may see a shortage of about 160,000 physicians by 2025, reports the American Medical News. Although the health law includes provisions to get more medical students enrolled, states worry they may not be able to beat the clock. Mississippi, already suffering the worst doctor shortage in the country, will have an additional 500,000 insured patients in 2014 when the individual health insurance mandate takes effect. Although the University of Mississippi Medical Center--the state's only medical school, which already produces half of its physicians--has been working to increase enrollment, lean budgets likely will thwart their efforts for at least the next two years, the school's dean told the Clarion Ledger.
Majority of Americans 'confused' about health care law
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/1-health-care-poll-2.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: Majorities of Americans described themselves as "confused" about the new health care bill and acknowledge they don't have enough information about it to grasp how it will affect their lives, according to a new poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The numbers -- fifty-five percent of those tested expressed confusion about the law while 56 percent didn't know what impact it would have on them -- suggest that President Obama and his administration have their work cut out for them in the runup to the midterm elections. Obama and his team have long argued that once people found out what is in the bill (and what's not) public opinion would shift in their favor. And, the Kaiser poll does show -- as have a slew of other national surveys -- that many of the early-implementing provisions are quite popular. More than eight in ten people support tax credits for small companies who offer coverage to their employees (86 percent), back the idea of making it harder for insurance companies to drop you when a major medical problem occurs (81 percent) and like the idea of barring health plans from charging a co-pay for basic services (82 percent). The potential problem for the administration is that it has proven harder than it may have at first appeared to educate the public about the politically popular elements of the legislation.
Will the VAT Lady Sing? If so, it's over for America.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575198370425467284.html
Excerpt: A cultural battle is under way in America, a battle between, in columnist Michael Barone's, words, "the culture of dependence and the culture of independence." The culture of dependence is the belief by American liberalism that government can make better decisions for people than people can make for themselves. The U.S. has now created the largest government spending increases, takeovers, and regulation expansion in the past 65 years, since the end of World War II. It is going to get even worse, as the President's budget plans to spend $45 trillion in the next 10 years, a 70% increase in spending over the last 10. Estimated tax revenues will only be $35 trillion--or maybe even less if the current economic difficulty lasts for a while. The Tax Foundation estimates that we would have to more than double current income tax rates for everyone to balance the 2010 budget, or increase the rates by 50% or more to balance the budgets over the next 10 years. To put America's new spending policy into perspective, the Heritage Foundation's Brian Riedl reports that federal spending in the 1980s and 1990s remained flat--about $21,000 per household. During George W. Bush's administration, the figure rose to $25,000 per household, and President Obama's budget plans to spend $32,000 per household by 2019. And that number is before all the baby-boomers retire and another $10,000 or so in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs will be spent in addition. So the new, European America that we have become will need some serious new money to pay for all this spending. Doubling all personal income tax rates would be politically unlikely, and doubling the rates for the top 1% or 2% of taxpayers would not raise anywhere near enough. So what to do? Reducing federal spending is the most sensible approach, but Congress is unlikely to do it. It is pretty easy to argue that this administration's necessary course will instead be to hike taxes, and not just higher income tax rates will be on the table. We recently saw the White House preference when economic adviser and former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volker said, "If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes," suggesting what we should do is enact a value-added Tax, which he believes is "not as toxic an idea" as it once was.
Arizona Deals With Illegal Alien Immigration
http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty563.htm
Excerpt: Arizona citizens suffer drunk driving deaths, rapes, schools destroyed, hospitals bankrupting and a host of problems from nearly 500,000 illegal aliens working and living in their state. A whopping 57,000 Arizona citizens walk out to find their cars stolen every year. Mexican drug gangs use those vehicles for transport of their billion dollar enterprises. People traffickers use those stolen cars for the far-reaching illegal alien smuggling network that commences in Phoenix. Arizona schools suffer the children of an estimated 460,000 illegal alien migrants that crossed over the border in violation of federal laws. Arizona’s prisons remain full of illegal aliens while citizens and police suffer death at the hands of criminal aliens. This month, an illegal alien walked over the border to execute lifelong Arizona rancher Rob Krentz on his own property. National Parks Ranger Chris Eggle suffered death at the hands of a drug runner on the Arizona border at Organ Pipe National Park.
Ariz. governor signs immigration enforcement bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042301250.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert
Excerpt: "We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," Brewer said after signing the law. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation." Obama said in Washington that he's instructed the Justice Department to examine the Arizona bill to see if it's legal, and said the federal government must enact immigration reform at the national level - or leave the door open to "irresponsibility by others." "That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe," Obama said. 9AZ—doing jobs the Feds won’t do, like enforcing the law.)
U.S. Navy Veterans Association takes out newspaper ad, says it's legit
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/navy-veterans-group-takes-out-newspaper-ad-says-its-legit/1089568
Excerpt: The U.S. Navy Veterans Association, now being investigated by two Florida agencies, placed a quarter-page ad in the Tampa Tribune Thursday urging veterans to continue donations to the group and making assurances that its fundraising is beyond reproach. Though the nonprofit already has been shut down in one state, the ad says the Navy Veterans group continues to conduct activities for veterans across the United States. The ad features a color photograph showing a patient at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital who benefited from a charitable gift last year. The patient is surrounded by 14 people, some of whom are described as members and officers of the Navy Veterans group who "really exist." None are identified. The ad takes a slap at the St. Petersburg Times for stories published in March that revealed the nonprofit's members and officers are nowhere to be found and millions of dollars in charitable gifts are mostly undisclosed and unverifiable. "A recent newspaper series attempted to poke holes in our operation," the ad says. "We want to assure you that we meet every standard in our fundraising efforts and the administration of the Association.”This is America and our supporters know that character assassination is not the American way."
And these people want to run what's left of our free-market economy?
http://northernmuckraker.blogspot.com/2010/04/and-these-people-want-to-run-whats-left.html
Excerpt: Two of Hillary Clinton's State Department minions give a tiny (and recently in bankruptcy) "minority-owned company" a large no-bid contract for expensive crystal stemware. Strangely enough, that company doesn't even make glasses and therefore outsources the work to Sweden, and the diplomats are now disingenuously "blaming US firms for failing to compete" for the work. Well, how are legitimate American stemware companies such as Steuben supposed to competitively bid for a job that wasn't opened up for general bidding in the first place. Would it surprise anyone to find out that the high-level State Department geniuses behind this scheme are big-time Obama donors who made offering a minority business a lucrative contract, regardless of whether or not the company could fulfill the work order, the overriding priority in the process?:
Greece asks for activation of aid package
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042301437.html
An improvement on our system. When US politicians buy votes with irresponsible spending, US taxpayer suffer. In this case, Greek politicians bought the votes, but German and French taxpayer must cough up. Germans retire at 66, must be happy at paying for Greeks to retire at 56. Excerpt: Pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, Greece on Friday requested a massive, $56 billion rescue that is aimed at preventing a financial meltdown in the heart of Europe and will test the resolve of the European Union to uphold its pledge to bail out the troubled Mediterranean nation. The desperate move to seek billions from European nations and the International Monetary Fund potentially locks Greece into fresh rounds of austerity cuts and could worsen public unrest. It came as investors lost faith in the accuracy of Greece's financial reporting and as flight of capital was threatening to undermine the Greek banking system.
The Climate Swindle
http://www.oregoncatalyst.com/index.php/archives/3165-The-Climate-Swindle.html
I’m Shocked! Excerpt: Are you worried about your carbon footprint hurting the earth? Don’t worry. Now climate doomsayers can sleep easy at night. For a fee a carbon offset provider will gladly funnel your money into earth friendly projects aimed to reduce greenhouse gases, such as planting trees in Ecuador or supporting a wind farm in Texas. But are carbon offset providers really delivering what they claim? Studies of international carbon offset schemes have revealed examples of widespread fraud and abuse. And now, investigations into two of the most prominent carbon offset providers in the U.S. have revealed that neither of them actually offers real reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
My Carbon Offset Scheme
You send me money. I’ll spend it on whisky and dissipated living. I’ll die earlier, thus reducing my carbon footprint, offsetting your AC this summer. The more you send, the worse I’ll live.
U.S. Faces Choice on New Weapons for Fast Strikes
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/world/europe/23strike.html?hp
Excerpt: In coming years, President Obama will decide whether to deploy a new class of weapons capable of reaching any corner of the earth from the United States in under an hour and with such accuracy and force that they would greatly diminish America’s reliance on its nuclear arsenal. Yet even now, concerns about the technology are so strong that the Obama administration has acceded to a demand by Russia that the United States decommission one nuclear missile for every one of these conventional weapons fielded by the Pentagon. That provision, the White House said, is buried deep inside the New Start treaty that Mr. Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed in Prague two weeks ago. Called Prompt Global Strike, the new weapon is designed to carry out tasks like picking off Osama bin Laden in a cave, if the right one could be found; taking out a North Korean missile while it is being rolled to the launch pad; or destroying an Iranian nuclear site — all without crossing the nuclear threshold. In theory, the weapon will hurl a conventional warhead of enormous weight at high speed and with pinpoint accuracy, generating the localized destructive power of a nuclear warhead. The idea is not new: President George W. Bush and his staff promoted the technology, imagining that this new generation of conventional weapons would replace nuclear warheads on submarines.
The Left’s secret plan for state takeover may be coming to a 2010 election near you http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/23/the-lefts-secret-plan-for-state-takeover-may-be-coming-to-a-2010-election-near-you/#ixzz0lwLTLalD
Excerpt: The story begins in 2004, when four affluent liberals decided to pool their money and began organizing for Democrats. Tim Gill, Rutt Bridges, Jared Polis, and Pat Stryker — progressives all, and collectively worth billions — spent just $2.5 million during their first election cycle. Result: Republicans lost majorities in both houses of the state legislature for the first time since the Kennedy administration. Democrats also flipped a congressional seat and picked up one of the two Senate seats the party took control of that year. (The other was Barack Obama in Illinois). By 2008, the transformation of Colorado was complete, with Democrats taking the governorship, the other Senate seat and 5 of 7 congressional seats.
Cops: Man shot, killed in self defense
http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/crime/cops-man-shot-killed-in-self-defense
There’s good news if you look for it. Excerpt: Metro Police say it appears that a man opened fire and shot another man in self defense during an attempted robbery at a downtown apartment complex. Brian Blevins, 24, told police he was moving into a building near 16th and Pennsylvania on Sunday when he was approached by 38-year-old Christopher Hampton. Blevins said Hampton asked him if he had change for a $5 bill. “The one guy said no the other guy said yeah let me go get it, it's in the apartment so he then followed him into the apartment, once they were in he pulled a gun out on them and ordered them into the back room,” said Sgt. Matt Mount of the Indianapolis Metro Police Department. Police say Blevins kept his gun in a back room. He came out and opened fire shooting Hampton in the back. Hampton was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives say Hampton was wearing an ankle bracelet at the time of the shooting for an invasion of privacy, violation of a protective order arrest on April 5.
Court throws out Hamdania conviction
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_5c4f1616-8c6e-5c0d-9500-3e63464e695b.html
Excerpt: A military appeals court on Thursday overturned the murder conviction of a Camp Pendleton Marine who had been found guilty of leading his squad in the 2006 kidnapping and slaying of an Iraqi man in the village of Hamdania. The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals said Thursday that it made the ruling because an attorney for Sgt. Larry Hutchins' was improperly dismissed prior to the man's 2007 trial. That act alone is sufficient to set aside Hutchins' conviction for the April 2006 incident and erase his 11-year prison sentence, the nine-member court found. "I'm just so happy," said Hutchins' mother, Kathy, when reached at her Boston-area home. Thursday afternoon. "After everything that's happened, I just can't believe it." Hutchins, 26, was told of the court decision during a telephone call from his attorney, Marine Capt. S. Babu Kaza.
Brewer to sign immigration bill Friday
http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1286888
Enforce the law? What an outrage! Excerpt: News/Talk 92.3 KTAR has learned that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer WILL sign controversial Senate Bill 1070 - the bill that would require police to arrest anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. Sources familiar with the governor's decision tell KTAR the governor will sign the bill into law Friday afternoon. On Thursday night, Brewer, a keynote speaker at the 41st annual Chicanos Por La Causa anniversary dinner in downtown Phoenix, was faced with protestors outside.
North Carolina cools on President Obama
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36241.html
Excerpt: While North Carolina Republicans feel emboldened by the national political climate, the state’s Democrats, once united by their support for Obama, are beginning to fracture. Obama’s approval rating has slid in the state he won by just 14,000 votes, hovering in the low 40s, according to some polls. Several House Democrats from North Carolina broke ranks with the White House in the health care vote. Their decision galvanized pro-labor Democrats to work to form a third party, North Carolina First, which could jeopardize Democrats’ congressional majority. So perhaps it’s no coincidence that not a single elected official or candidate is expected to greet Obama on the tarmac after Air Force One touches down in the district of Rep. Heath Shuler – one of the 39 Democrats who voted against health care reform.
Iran begins war games in Persian Gulf oil route
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100422/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_war_games
If they aren’t real careful, President Wobbly will send them another strongly worded note! Excerpt: Ahead of the military maneuvers, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Washington of trying to dominate the world through its nuclear arsenal and vowed that Iran would not bend before what he called "implicit atomic threats."
'Muhammad' now a dirty word on 'South Park'
http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/04/south-park-censorship-.html
The state of Freedom of Speech. It can be shut down by intimidation as well as government. Excerpt: Now "South Park" can't even say the words "Prophet Muhammad." After last week's episode of the Comedy Central series sparked a threat (and yes, it was certainly a threat) from a radical Islamic website, the network has cracked-down-for-their-own-good on creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone during last night's continuation of the show's storyline. For those who missed the drama, the show's 200th episode last week mocked the one "celebrity" that the series has been largely unable to depict, the Prophet Muhammad, who was hidden from view in a bear costume. A U.S.-based website RevolutionMuslim.com then warned Parker and Stone they could end up like Theo Van Gogh (the Dutch filmmaker who was murdered by Muslim extremists after depicting Muhammad on his show) and even posted the address of the show's production office. The site has since been shut down. Last night, "South Park" continued the controversial Muhammad storyline, but with a key difference: every instance of the words "Prophet Muhammad" was bleeped out, making the episode practically incomprehensible, especially to anybody who missed the previous week.
Afghanistan: Girls inhale 'poison' at Kunduz school
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.281862305
Poisoning girls: Islamic. Showing Mohammad in a bear’s costume? An outrage and you must die! Excerpt: At least 12 female students were hospitalised in Afghanistan on Wednesday after inhaling a poisonous substance sprayed at a school in northern Afghanistan. The 12 students of the Fatima Zahra Girl School, and a teacher and an assistant were mysteriously poisoned, Hamayon Khamush, director of the hospital in Kunduz city, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. The Taliban's strict form of fundamentalist Islam prohibits girls from attending school. To defend their ideology, Taliban militants have attacked girl students with gas and acid.
Obama Appeases U.S. Muslims
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36639
Excerpt: The New York Times reported Monday, with no hint that it understood the implications of what it was reporting, that Barack Obama is reaching out to Hamas-linked groups in the United States, while hamstringing our response to the terror threat by making obfuscation of the ideology of jihad terrorists official U.S. policy.
Iran: Doing Nothing Is Not an Option
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/iran_doing_nothing_is_not_an_o.html
Excerpt: Obama not only refuses to act, but he blocks any meaningful action by Congress. Today, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), the only bill with some actual teeth in it, is languishing in conference committee. The bill targets Iran's dependence on foreign oil imports. It tells companies who supply, ship, or insure shipments of refined petroleum to Iran that they have a choice: Do business with Iran, or do business with the U.S. While Iran is the fourth-largest oil exporter in the world, it imports a reported 40% of its gasoline and another 11% of its diesel fuel. Even though IRPSA passed the Senate with a unanimous vote and got an overwhelming majority of 412 votes in the House, it has been stuck in conference since December. Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL) told Foxnews.com, "The Obama administration is pushing Congress to postpone action on the bill[.]" The House and Senate issued letters to President Obama urging him to impose "crippling sanctions" on Iran. The letters further urge the president to sanction Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's banking system, and Iran's ability to import refined petroleum. The bipartisan House letter was spearheaded by Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) and Mike Pence (R-IN), while the bipartisan Senate letter was led by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The administration is hoping for international action through the U.N., which is another way of saying that he will do nothing.
The Tea Party, Timothy McVeigh, and Tainted History
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/the_tea_party_timothy_mcveigh.html
Excerpt: After conducting twenty-five thousand witness interviews, the FBI could not find one witness who tied the neo-Nazi suspects to downtown Oklahoma City, Timothy McVeigh, the Ryder truck, getaway vehicles, or the bombsite. All had irrefutable alibis. In short, the FBI failed to produce one eyewitness account, fingerprint, motel registration log, or phone record linking these alleged conspirators to the commission of the crime. The judge who presided over Terry Nichols' 2004 state murder trial ruled the Bureau's pursuit of additional domestic terrorists amounted to nothing more than "hyperbole and a dry hole." The FBI compliantly accepted the court's rebuke rather than take receipt of my voluminous dossier indicting Iraqi soldiers in the crime. In 1997, when I attempted to surrender the witness statements and corroborative evidence, the FBI flatly refused to take it. But I persisted, and in 1999, FBI Agent Dan Vogel accepted the witness affidavits and investigative file. From there, the documents simply vanished.
South Korean ship ‘hit by North Korean torpedo’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7104498.ece
Excerpt: "Military intelligence made the report to the Blue House [the presidential palace] and Defence Ministry immediately after the sinking of the Cheonan that it is clearly the work of North Korea’s military,” an unnamed military source was quoted as telling Yonhap. “North Korean submarines are all armed with heavy torpedoes with 200kg warheads. It is the military intelligence’s assessment that the North attacked with a heavy torpedo.” A separate report suggested that the ship was sunk in a suicide mission, with a manned, midget submarine exploding after being steered under the ship’s hull. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper suggested that this was an act of retaliation for a naval skirmish in November in which a handful of North Korean sailors are believed to have been killed after an exchange of fire with South Korea’s more modern navy.
Blagojevich sends not-so-subtle message to Obama
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-friday-20100423,0,1271799,full.column
Excerpt: Rod Blagojevich finally made good on a promise: He put President Barack Obama right in the middle of Blagojevich's own political corruption case. And now it's finally clear why, from the moment of Blagojevich's arrest in December 2008, White House spinners loudly portrayed our former Gov. Dead Meat as some drooling, raving lunatic. A lunatic is not to be believed, and Dead Meat will continue to be characterized as such by Obama defenders. But raving lunatics care little for their own survival. And in an amazing defense motion filed Thursday, Blagojevich proved once again that he is quite sane. He wants Obama to testify in his federal criminal case. The feds allege that Blagojevich conspired to sell off Obama's old U.S. Senate seat, among other charges. Obama's former patron and real estate fairy, the convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko, is a key player in the government's case. Blagojevich's aim is to undercut what Rezko has told investigators. And now Blago wants the president to do the undercutting from the witness stand, with the nation riveted to his every recollection of his days in Chicago politics, hanging with Tony and the guys, with the midterm November elections approaching.
Redactions Revealed: The Six Secrets You Need to Know From the Obama Subpoena Request
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/The-Six-Secrets-You-Need-to-Know-From-the-Blagojevich-Filing-91848634.html
Excerpt: Former governor Rod Blagojevich's defense team asked Thursday to issue a trial subpoena to the President of the United States of America. The motion, intended to be heavily redacted, was improperly edited -- the full document was easily viewable if the text is copied and pasted to another document (an error first revealed on Capitol Fax). Below, the six revelations the redacted portions were meant to conceal: 1. Obama may have lied about conversations with convicted fraudster Tony Rezko.
Ms. Weaver Goes to Washington
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/22/ms-weaver-goes-to-washington/
Excerpt: Today in Washington: actress Sigourney Weaver testifies before the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on the topic of ocean acidification. Because, you know, she played an environmental scientist in Avatar. It’s the best fit since Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, and Sissy Spacek — all of whom had played farm women — testified on America’s agricultural crisis. Congress doesn’t have time to vote on presidential nominations. It doesn’t bother engaging in serious oversight of presidential power and civil liberties abuses. It looks at the ceiling and whistles as the national debt approaches Greek levels. But members of Congress have time to listen to an actress discuss the topic of ocean acidification. (Reminds of the time I suggested the short, low-cut skimpy black dress my step-daughter had on for a job interview might not be appropriate. “She rolled her eyes and said, “Bob, Ally McBeal dresses like this and she’s a lawyer! They can no longer tell TV and movies from reality.)
Obama should return Wall Street's money
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Obama-should-return-Wall-Street_s-money-91850159.html
Excerpt: On the one hand, Obama and congressional Democrats like Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Dodd of Connecticut accuse Wall Street executives of routinely taking dangerous gambles with investors' money, fraudulently packaging and selling securities that are guaranteed to become worthless, lining their pockets with outrageous bonuses, and, worst of all, dispatching armies of high-paid lobbyists to Washington to keep the federal regulators off their backs. These sins and more are why, according to the Democrats' narrative, Congress must pass the Obama-Dodd financial reform bill that will make "too big to fail" a permanent part of federal regulatory policy. It will also empower Washington to designate selected financial firms as "systemically essential" and thus eligible for federal bailouts and other forms of regulatory favoritism like government-backed credit. On the other hand, the reality is that Obama-Dodd puts satin sheets on that king-sized bed federal regulators have shared for years with favored Wall Street executives. That's why Goldman Sachs and other huge Wall Street securities firms are quite comfortable with being bashed by Obama even as he makes deals with them and cashes their checks. By the way, Obama-Dodd does nothing about Fannie and Freddie, the government-created mortgage giants whose obsession with subprime mortgages and paying off influential congressmen to look the other way actually led to the economic meltdown. Obama, Dodd and other Democratic leaders want to keep taking Wall Street's campaign contributions, which they are raking in at a phenomenal rate. Nearly 70 percent of Goldman Sachs political donations went to Democrats in 2009, according to OpenSecrets.org. And, as the Washington Examiner's J.P. Freire reported earlier this week, combine Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's $415,595 in Goldman Sachs contributions to her 2008 presidential campaign with Obama's beaucoup bucks from the firm and the total is 10 times what President George W. Bush got from Enron. This is hope and change?
Showing posts with label Healthcare Reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare Reform. Show all posts
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Political Digest March 19, 2010
Political Digest for March 19, 2010
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
Health care reform in Washington meets the Chicago Way
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0317-20100316,0,4939258.column
From Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, a long-time Obama watcher. Excerpt: "These congressmen are starting to understand what it's like in Chicago, with the Chicago guys running the White House. They (the Democrats) have to know they're the fall guys," Laski said. "Otherwise, why would they so desperate to keep their fingerprints off the health care thing.”
Stupak: It’s been ‘a living hell’
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/87519-its-been-a-living-hell-says-rep-stupak
Statists are always intolerant of opposition and diversity of thought. Since they know what’s best for you, you must be evil, stupid or both to oppose them. At least they are not sending opponents to the camps. Yet. Excerpt: Leading a revolt against President Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation over abortion has been a “living hell” for Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). The telephone lines in his Washington and district offices have been “jammed” and he’s gotten more than 1,500 faxes and countless e-mails — most of which he says don’t come from his constituents. The fight has taken a toll on his wife, who has disconnected the phone in their home to avoid harassment. “All the phones are unplugged at our house — tired of the obscene calls and threats. She won’t watch TV,” Stupak said during an hourlong interview with The Hill in his Rayburn office. “People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.” Stupak has become a nationally known figure because of his demands for tough language in healthcare legislation to prevent any federal subsidies from being used for abortion services.
CBO: Health package costs $940 billion; Hoyer eyes Sunday vote
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/87557-cbo-health-package-costs-940-billion-cuts-deficit-by-130b
Wish they would say that the score is for the SIX years of spending envisioned in the bill, that if it were for the full ten years it would be $X. This bill has as much chance of cutting the deficit as I do of being elected pope. Democrats are lauding a CBO report that found their healthcare package will cut the deficit by $130 billion. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer hailed the figures from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office during a meeting with a group of reporters on Thursday morning and said the House would vote on Sunday. He said House Democrats had crafted a bill that would amount to the largest deficit reduction package in more than 15 years. “We think the numbers are now pretty well set from CBO,” Hoyer said. “We think it will post the largest deficit reduction of any bill that we’ve adopted in the Congress since 1993.”
To Repeat: Doctors Could Hang It Up
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=527698
Health Overhaul: We were harshly criticized last September for an IBD/TIPP Poll that showed 45% of doctors would consider leaving medicine if a health care takeover passed. A new poll has vindicated our findings. Our questionnaire went out Aug. 28 to some 25,600 doctors nationwide. Of that substantial sample, we got 1,476 responses. One hundred of those were retired, leaving 1,376. At the time, virtually no one had stopped to ask doctors how they felt about the medical takeover being discussed in Congress. We thought it was vital to ask them, since any overhaul would rise or fall on its implementation by doctors themselves. To say we were stunned with the results is an understatement. Of the physicians queried, 45% said they'd consider closing their practice or retiring early if the overhaul then being considered were enacted. Also, 65% said they opposed the government's attempts at taking over the health care system. Just 33% supported it.
Nearly One-Third of Doctors Could Leave Medicine if Health-Care Reform Bill Passes, According to Survey Reported in New England Journal of Medicine
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/62812
Excerpt: Nearly one-third of all practicing physicians may leave the medical profession if President Obama signs current versions of health-care reform legislation into law, according to a survey published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The survey, which was conducted by the Medicus Firm, a leading physician search and consulting firm based in Atlanta and Dallas, found that a majority of physicians said health-care reform would cause the quality of American medical care to “deteriorate” and it could be the “final straw” that sends a sizeable number of doctors out of medicine. More than 29 percent (29.2) percent of the nearly 1,200 doctors who responded to the survey said they would quit the profession or retire early if health reform legislation becomes law. If a public option were included in the legislation, as several liberal Senators have indicated they would like, the number would jump to 45.7 percent.
'Nobody Wants to Vote for the Senate bill'
Democrats are ignoring their own polls.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703734504575125693906113572.html
Excerpt: The Democratic spin explaining why polls show the public opposed to their health care bill is that voters actually like the individual pieces of the bill but have been turned off by the messy process. Yesterday, Joel Benenson, a pollster for the Democratic National Committee, reported the results of his own survey done for the Service Employees International Union. It claims the difficulty liberals are having in selling health-care reform "centers squarely on perceptions of a breakdown in the legislative process, exemplified by deal-cutting and special deals for the constituents of key swing Senators." But it appears that Democrats are ignoring their own findings. Last week, President Obama backed away from his earlier demand that lawmakers' special deals be stripped out of the bill. Then there's Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who yesterday endorsed a parliamentary maneuver under which the House would "deem" the Senate's health care bill approved without the House voting on it. Ms. Pelosi actually told reporters: "Nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill." Her scheme to allow House members to escape political responsibility even drew the ire of the Washington Post editorial page, which has strongly backed health care reform: "What is intended as a final sprint threatens to turn into something unseemly and, more important, contrary to Democrats' promises of transparency and time for deliberation." In ramming through an unpopular 2,700-page health care bill using brute force tactics, Democrats are in danger of passing what amounts to the longest suicide note in history. Their own pollsters are telling them the public has rebelled against their tactics. So their response is to press their foot down even harder on the gas pedal. We'll see how that works out for them.
Rep. Kucinich to vote yes on healthcare bill, giving needed boost to Democrats
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/87295-kucinich-to-vote-yes-on-healthcare-giving-a-boost-to-democrats
This is just PR to make it appear the bill has momentum. No one with two working brain cells expected Dennis the Far Left Menace to vote against a bill expanding government. Excerpt: Maverick liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced Wednesday he will vote in favor of healthcare reform, handing Democrats a crucial vote. The Ohio lawmaker and perennial left-wing presidential candidate made the announcement at a Wednesday morning press conference two days after President Barack Obama personally lobbied him during a flight to Ohio on Air Force One to switch his vote.
The impudent tyranny of Sen. Harry Reid
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/Examiner-Editorial-The-impudent-tyranny-of-Sen-Harry-Reid-79946927.html
Older post, but worth noting as this get’s shoved down our throats. Excerpt: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is proving once again the maxim that darkness hates the light. Buried in his massive amendment to the Senate version of Obamacare is Reid’s anti-democratic poison pill designed to prevent any future Congress from repealing the central feature of this monstrous legislation. Beginning on page 1,000 of the measure, Section 3403 reads in part: “… it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” In other words, if President Barack Obama signs this measure into law, no future Senate or House will be able to change a single word of Section 3403, regardless whether future Americans or their representatives in Congress wish otherwise. Note that the subsection at issue here concerns the regulatory power of the Independent Medicare Advisory Board (IMAB) to “reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending.” That is precisely the kind of open-ended grant of regulatory power that effectively establishes the IMAB as the ultimate arbiter of the cost, quality and quantity of health care to be made available to the American people. And Reid wants the decisions of this group of unelected federal bureaucrats to be untouchable for all time.
The Failure of RomneyCare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703625304575115691871093652.html
And Romney’s the Conservative hope for 2012? Excerpt: The former Massachusetts governor enacted something very similar to the Obama health plan. It isn't working well. Former Massachusetts governor and likely 2012 presidential aspirant Mitt Romney has been on the wrong side of the defining political battle of our time. Mr. Romney claimed earlier this month on "Fox News Sunday" that the Massachusetts health reform plan he signed into law in 2006 is "the ultimate conservative plan." But there are many similarities between it and the ObamaCare loathed by conservative voters. Both have an individual mandate requiring most residents to have health insurance or pay a penalty. Most businesses are required to participate or pay a fine. Both rely on government-designed purchasing exchanges that also provide a platform to control private health insurance. Many of the uninsured are covered through Medicaid expansion and others receive subsidies for highly-prescriptive policies. And the apparatus requires a plethora of new government boards and agencies. While it's true that the liberal Massachusetts legislature did turn Mr. Romney's plan to the left, his claims that his plan is "entirely different" will not stand up to the intense scrutiny of a presidential campaign, especially a primary challenge. Mr. Romney needs to be more honest about his Massachusetts experiment and its failings. Mr. Romney insisted in a recent interview on "Fox News Sunday" that "our plan is working well," and he defended his state's right to create its own plan. He also said in his book "No Apology" that because of the plan everyone in Massachusetts now has access to "portable, affordable health insurance." Not exactly. While Massachusetts' uninsured rate has dropped to around 3%, 68% of the newly insured since 2006 receive coverage that is heavily or completely subsidized by taxpayers. While Mr. Romney insisted that everyone should pay something for coverage, that is not the way his plan has turned out. More than half of the 408,000 newly insured residents pay nothing, according to a February 2010 report by the Massachusetts Health Connector, the state's insurance exchange. Another 140,000 remained uninsured in 2008 and were either assessed a penalty or exempted from the individual mandate because the state deemed they couldn't afford the premiums. Mr. Romney's promise that getting everyone covered would force costs down also is far from being realized. One third of state residents polled by Harvard researchers in a study published in "Health Affairs" in 2008 said that their health costs had gone up as a result of the 2006 reforms. A typical family of four today faces total annual health costs of nearly $13,788, the highest in the country. Per capita spending is 27% higher than the national average. The state's stubbornly high health costs are partly the result of intrusive government regulations that stifle competition in the insurance market and strict mandates on what services insurance must cover. A 2008 study by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that the state's most expensive insurance mandates cost patients more than $1 billion between July 2004 and July 2005. The Massachusetts health reform law left all of them in place.
Obamacare Increases Unemployment, Insurance Premiums, Deficit And Debt
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/03/17/obamacare-increases-unemployment-insurance-premiums-deficit-and-debt/
Do you think supporters really believe that a massive new government program will reduce the deficit? They can’t be that stupid. Excerpt: President Barack Obama and congressional leaders claim that the Senate health bill, which will likely face a vote in the House by the end of the week, will decrease the deficit and bend the cost curve related to health care spending. However, recent analysis by The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) shows that this is far from true. Instead, the bill’s mandates and numerous new taxes will have tumultuous effects. Passing Obamacare will come at the expense of the American people as it would grow the federal debt, increase premiums, and stifle economic growth. The Senate bill would have disastrous effects on the economy and federal spending.
Governors rise up against federal takeover of health care
Dems’ job-killing government takeover of health care dumps costs onto states, millions into bankrupt Medicaid
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=11958
Excerpt: As Democrats in Washington continue plotting and scheming behind closed doors, desperately trying to force their job-killing government takeover of health care down Americans’ throats, governors across America are rising up – and, like the American people – are demanding that out-of-touch Democrats scrap their massive health care proposal. Governors have noted time and time again – for more than a year – that the Democrats’ government takeover of health care will kill American jobs and shift billions in unfunded mandates onto the states. For months, a state rebellion against ObamaCare has been brewing: measures have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures, similar to the proposal just signed into law by Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, providing that no individual may be compelled to purchase health insurance. Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN), in a letter to the Congressional delegation of Indiana, noted how the unfunded mandates would affect his state:
Premiums would rise under Obama plan
By: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ap/fact-check-obamas-claim-that-premiums-would-fall-under-his-health-plan-misses-the-fine-print-88065482.html
There are conservatives who think Obama is stupid, and actually believes what he says. I think not. Too many examples of him saying things that were clearly untrue just to impress the audience of the moment. Excerpt: Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print. Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say. If cost controls work as advertised, annual increases would level off with time. But don't look for a rollback. Instead, the main reason premiums would be more affordable is that new government tax credits would help millions of people who can't afford the cost now. Listening to Obama pitch his plan, you might not realize that's how it works. Visiting a Cleveland suburb this week, the president described how individuals and small businesses will be able to buy coverage in a new kind of health insurance marketplace, gaining the same strength in numbers that federal employees have. "You'll be able to buy in, or a small business will be able to buy into this pool," Obama said. "And that will lower rates, it's estimated, by up to 14 to 20 percent over what you're currently getting. That's money out of pocket." And that's not all. Obama asked his audience for a show of hands from people with employer-provided coverage, what most Americans have. "Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent," said the president, "which means they could give you a raise." A White House press spokesman later said the president misspoke; he had meant to say annual premiums would drop by $3,000. It could be a long wait.
Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011367936_walgreens18m.html
The collapse of our great healthcare system is starting. Excerpt: Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement. The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients. In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents. Walgreens follows Bartell Drugs, which stopped taking new Medicaid patients last month at all 57 of its stores in Washington, though it still fills Medicaid prescriptions for existing customers at all but 15 of those stores.
Judge won't dismiss medical marijuana case under Obama made me do it defense.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/minute-orders-courts/2010/mar/16/judge-wont-dismiss-medical-marijuana-case-under-ob/
Excerpt: James Stacy, the Vista medical marijuana dispensary owner facing federal drug charges, has lost an intriguing bid to have the charges against him thrown out.
Stacy had argued that President Obama, when he was Candidate Obama, had basically said he wouldn't prosecute medical marijuana providers who were complying with state law, and that Stacy had relied on that -- and later statements by Attorney General Eric Holder -- to launch his business. He also said the prosecution violated the Tenth Amendment because it "commandeered" local law enforcement to enforce federal policy. The intriguing arguments received some attention after first being reported by San Diego CityBeat in December.
Tax Fairness Reaches A Tipping Point
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=527490
The fiscal collapse is coming. Excerpt: The latest data show a record number of people with no tax obligation. We also have the highest-earning nontaxpayers ever. With more riding the wagon and fewer pulling, it should soon break down. A record number of the 142 million tax returns filed in 2008 resulted in no taxes owed, according to the Tax Foundation's analysis of the latest IRS data. About 51.6 million returns, or 36.3%, were filed by those whose deductions, exemptions and tax credits wiped out any federal income-tax obligation. These aren't people who have overpaid their taxes or had so much withheld from their paychecks that they'll get refunds. Those people owe taxes and merely provided the government with a zero interest loan until accounts are settled. These are people who pay no taxes at all. There's been a 59% increase in the number of nonpayers since 2000, growing from 32.6 million in 2000 to 51.6 million in 2008. In the same period, the total tax filers grew by only 10%. Not only are fewer people paying any taxes, but also the income levels for these nonpayers have steadily risen. A family of four earning more than $50,000 can have no income tax liability after taking the standard deduction and the child tax credit. According to the Tax Foundation, "The major elements of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 boosted the maximum income for nonpayers to more than $56,700" — the highest ever. The government has continually expanded the value of benefits such as the earned income tax credit to the point where you get a check from Uncle Sam even if you paid no taxes during the year. That's what made it so laughable when the administration claimed it was cutting taxes for most Americans when nearly 40% pay no taxes to start with. These are in essence welfare checks.
Another Look at Climate Sensitivity
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/03/16/another-look-at-climate-sensitivity/#more-17381
OK, a quick pop quiz. The average temperature of the planet is about 14°C (57°F). If the earth had no atmosphere, and if it were a blackbody at the same distance from the sun, how much cooler would it be than at present?
a) 33°C (59°F) cooler
b) 20°C (36°F) cooler
c) 8° C (15°F) cooler
The answer may come as a surprise. If the earth were a blackbody at its present distance from the sun, it would be only 8°C cooler than it is now. That is to say, the net gain from our entire complete system, including clouds, surface albedo, aerosols, evaporation losses, and all the rest, is only 8°C above blackbody no-atmosphere conditions.
Gloomy Obama would rather be a victim than leader
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Gloomy-Obama-would-rather-be-a-victim-than-leader-88227907.html
People are noticing how little President Obama seems to enjoy his job.
The president's two main emotions on display are regret and indignation. He's either lecturing about the problems facing the country in a slightly patronizing tone or expressing his disgust with someone who won't take his lesson to heart. A standard Obama rally goes something like this: A mild joke at the expense of some dignitary present (Congressman Hornswaggle can't bowl to save his life), a sad story tweaked bordering on bathos (Suzy Creamcheese and her 15 foster children and five shelter dogs are being forced out of their home), the identification of her tormentor (rapacious banks), and finally a promise to seek justice for the afflicted despite the political cost to himself ("It may not be good politics, but it's the right thing to do."). Rather than being energized by trying to solve problems at a level of maximal achievable good, Obama and his team speak to the American people with the enthusiasm of an Army bereavement officer. It is their sad duty to inform you that they must overhaul the health care system. As Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt wrote, Obama needs to show the American people "he's happy we hired him" and to ditch the "lugubriousness." Part of the funereal vibe may arise from Obama's self-regarding nature. He never absorbed a crucial bit of wisdom: You can take your job seriously without taking yourself seriously.
Obama nominee’s sympathy for sexual sadists
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=11938
In the left’s view, everyone is a victim and not responsible, except productive members of society who earn a good living and must be punished. Excerpt: President Obama’s judicial nominees are getting more dangerous with each White House announcement. If you don’t believe us, consider one judge’s opinion that the “sexual sadism” of a multiple rapist-murderer was “clearly a mitigating factor” that argued against executing the murderer and perhaps even against convicting him in the first place. Or that a type of Megan’s Law sex-offender registry should be overturned because it “stigmatizes nondangerous registrants.” Even a child-porn convict should serve a sentence less than half as long as official guidelines suggest if his mental and emotional condition is fragile.
Capitol Hill cops decry bullying staff members
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/87249-capitol-hill-cops-decry-bullying-staffers
Don’t you peasants know who I am? Excerpt: U.S. Capitol Police officers say they need more backing from their leaders to stop congressional staffers who insist on bypassing metal detectors when entering the Capitol with lawmakers. Several officers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Hill that without a written directive of the policy, they’re left to face bullying staffers and intimidating lawmakers who have been known to file complaints against the officers. The staffers have accused them of discourteous treatment after being stopped and directed to the magnetometers. The officers say the directive must come from either Capitol Police Chief Phillip Morse or the House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood and must outline the screening protocol. That would give officers a reference point when lawmakers attempt to have their staff bypass security screening points leading into the Capitol. “I don’t mind doing the job — just give me the tools to do it,” said one officer, who asked that his name not be used. Last week The Hill reported that Capitol Police have violated security protocol by not stopping and screening every staffer through metal detectors when he or she has entered the Capitol, according to Livingood’s testimony before a House panel.
“JihadJane” said to have confessed
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100317_JihadJane_said_to_have_confessed.html?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BLohUPB8GeM2b5&
Where do I go to sign up to be on the firing squad? Excerpt: The Montgomery County woman who calls herself "JihadJane" has confessed to the FBI about her alleged role in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist, according to two people close to the investigation. Colleen LaRose confessed to FBI agents shortly after her October arrest at Philadelphia International Airport, where she had just arrived from London, said the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html?th&emc=th
Comment from a Marine buddy: Well, we just had the former Congressman Charlie Wilson die, the guy who did all kinds of behind the scenes stuff to help the mujahedin kick the Russians out of Afghanistan, and now maybe we have his successor. It seems that maybe this federal employee diverted funds from a program to better our military's understanding of Afghan culture to operatives who hunted down and killed terrorists and their leaders. The Times writes this up as kind of a scandal, and Furlong may be in real trouble over it. Of course, one might just argue that spending money to take out terrorists is actually more effective than spending money on cross-cultural programs that may possibly help our military take out terrorists, but such logic doesn't play well at the Times or for a lot of our elected leaders.' Interesting note is that the Times had employed in the past some of the same people supposedly on Furlong's payroll in their attempts to find a kidnapped reporter. Apparently it was OK for them to spend money on operatives to accomplish the mission important to them, but not OK for others to follow suit in any way. Personally I hope that if Furlong is found to have actually done this, he gets a note of caution in his file, and one hell of a celebratory dinner. –Del
Excerpt: Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States. The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The contractors, in turn, gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said. While it has been widely reported that the C.I.A. and the military are attacking operatives of Al Qaeda and others through unmanned, remote-controlled drone strikes, some American officials say they became troubled that Mr. Furlong seemed to be running an off-the-books spy operation. The officials say they are not sure who condoned and supervised his work. It is generally considered illegal for the military to hire contractors to act as covert spies. Officials said Mr. Furlong’s secret network might have been improperly financed by diverting money from a program designed to merely gather information about the region.
Jihadism: The Grassroots Paradox
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100317_jihadism_grassroots_paradox?utm_source=SWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100318&utm_content=readmore&elq=d3facf9e33e24986aab39922e379e935
Wonder why so many Muslims never got the “Islam is a Religion of peace” memo? Excerpt: Last week, rumors that Adam Gadahn had been arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, quickly swept through the global media. When the dust settled, it turned out that the rumors were incorrect; the person arrested was not the American-born al Qaeda spokesman. The excitement generated by the rumors overshadowed a message from Gadahn that the al Qaeda media arm as Sahab had released on March 7, the same day as the reported arrest. While many of the messages from al Qaeda figures that as Sahab has released over the past several years have been repetitive and quite unremarkable, after watching Gadahn’s March 7 message, we believe that it is a message too interesting to ignore. In the message, which was titled “A Call to Arms,” Gadahn starts by telling jihadists to strike targets that are close to them. He repeats the al Qaeda doctrinal position that jihad is a personal, religiously mandated duty for every able-bodied Muslim. He then tells his audience that “it is for you, like your heroic Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan, to decide how, when and where you discharge this duty. But whatever you do, don’t wait for tomorrow to do what can be done today, and don’t wait for others to do what you can do yourself.” As the message progresses, Gadahn’s praise of Fort Hood shooter Hasan continues. Gadahn lifts up Hasan as an example for other Muslims to emulate: “the Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role-model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers and yearns to discharge his duty to Allah.” He adds that Hasan was the “ideal role model” for Muslims serving in the armed forces of Western countries and of their Muslim allies. Gadahn’s message is clearly intended to encourage more jihadists to emulate Hasan and conduct lone wolf terrorist attacks. Regarding the planning of such attacks, Gadahn praises Hasan for being a careful planner and for not engaging in a hasty, reckless or poorly planned operation. He states that Hasan clearly learned from the mistakes of others and did not repeat them. Although Gadahn does not specify particular plots in which he believes mistakes were made by grassroots jihadists, he is undoubtedly referring to cases such as the May 2009 arrest of a group of grassroots jihadists in White Plains, N.Y., who came to the attention of authorities when they sought help from a man who turned out to be an FBI informant. Gadahn praises Hasan for practicing careful operational security by keeping his plans to himself and for not discussing them over the phone or Internet. He also notes that Hasan did not make the mistake of confiding in a person who might have been an FBI informant, as several other plotters have done. Gadahn also says Hasan “didn’t unnecessarily raise his security profile or waste money better spent on the operation itself by traveling abroad to acquire skills and instructions which could easily be acquired at home, or indeed, deduced by using one’s own powers of logic and reasoning.” When discussing methods lone wolf jihadists can use to conduct their attacks, Gadahn notes that while Hasan used firearms in his assault at Fort Hood, jihadists are “no longer limited to bullets and bombs” when it comes to weapons. “As the blessed operations of September 11th showed, a little imagination and planning and a minimal budget can turn almost anything into a deadly, effective and convenient weapon which can take the enemy by surprise and deprive him of sleep for years on end.” Gadahn then turns his attention to targeting. He counsels lone wolf jihadists to follow a three-pronged target selection process. They should choose a target with which they are well acquainted, a target that is feasible to hit and a target that, when struck, will have a major impact. He notes that Hasan’s choice of Fort Hood fit all three criteria, but that jihadists should not think that military bases are the only high-value targets in the United States or other Western countries. “On the contrary,” Gadahn insists, “there are countless other strategic places, institutions and installations which, by striking, the Muslim can do major damage.”
Attackers kill 12 in latest Nigeria fighting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence;_ylt=AsaUx7NcRbxws2mrfKxIWNNv24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTM4a3ZncGpwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzE3L2FmX25pZ2VyaWFfdmlvbGVuY2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDMTJjaHJpc3RpYW52
Didn’t get the memo. Excerpt: attackers killed 12 people Wednesday morning in a small Christian village in central Nigeria, officials said, cutting out most of the victims' tongues in the latest violence in a region where religious fighting already has killed hundreds this year. The attack almost mirrored the tactics used by those who carried out similar massacres in Christian villages last week when more than 200 people were slaughtered. Under the cover of darkness and a driving rain, raiders with machetes entered the village of Byie early Wednesday, setting fire to homes and firing gunshots into the air to drive frightened villagers into the night, witness Linus Vwi said.
The Führer Cult: Germans Cringe at Hitler's Popularity in Pakistan
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,683966,00.html
Could it be because he killed Jews? Excerpt: Pakistan is the opposite of Germany. The mountains are in the north, the sea is in the south, the economic problems are in the west and the east is doing well. It's not hard for a German living in Pakistan to get used to these differences, but one contrast is hard to stomach: Most people like Hitler.
Turkey threatens to expel 100,000 Armenians over 'genocide' row
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/7465701/Turkey-threatens-to-expel-100000-Armenians-over-genocide-row.html
You claim we harmed the Armenians? Ha! We will punish….the Armenians! Excerpt: Turkey has threatened to expel 100,000 Armenians from the country in response to the US branding the First World War killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide".
Pakistani court charges 5 Americans with terrorism
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_us_arrests
Life in a Pakistani prison will give them time to reflect on how much better Islamic countries are than the US. Excerpt: A Pakistani court charged five young Americans on Wednesday with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country and conspiring to wage war against nations allied with Pakistan, their defense lawyer said. The men — all Muslims from the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia — pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges, the most severe of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, defense lawyer Hasan Dastagir told The Associated Press.
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
Health care reform in Washington meets the Chicago Way
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0317-20100316,0,4939258.column
From Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, a long-time Obama watcher. Excerpt: "These congressmen are starting to understand what it's like in Chicago, with the Chicago guys running the White House. They (the Democrats) have to know they're the fall guys," Laski said. "Otherwise, why would they so desperate to keep their fingerprints off the health care thing.”
Stupak: It’s been ‘a living hell’
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/87519-its-been-a-living-hell-says-rep-stupak
Statists are always intolerant of opposition and diversity of thought. Since they know what’s best for you, you must be evil, stupid or both to oppose them. At least they are not sending opponents to the camps. Yet. Excerpt: Leading a revolt against President Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation over abortion has been a “living hell” for Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). The telephone lines in his Washington and district offices have been “jammed” and he’s gotten more than 1,500 faxes and countless e-mails — most of which he says don’t come from his constituents. The fight has taken a toll on his wife, who has disconnected the phone in their home to avoid harassment. “All the phones are unplugged at our house — tired of the obscene calls and threats. She won’t watch TV,” Stupak said during an hourlong interview with The Hill in his Rayburn office. “People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.” Stupak has become a nationally known figure because of his demands for tough language in healthcare legislation to prevent any federal subsidies from being used for abortion services.
CBO: Health package costs $940 billion; Hoyer eyes Sunday vote
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/87557-cbo-health-package-costs-940-billion-cuts-deficit-by-130b
Wish they would say that the score is for the SIX years of spending envisioned in the bill, that if it were for the full ten years it would be $X. This bill has as much chance of cutting the deficit as I do of being elected pope. Democrats are lauding a CBO report that found their healthcare package will cut the deficit by $130 billion. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer hailed the figures from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office during a meeting with a group of reporters on Thursday morning and said the House would vote on Sunday. He said House Democrats had crafted a bill that would amount to the largest deficit reduction package in more than 15 years. “We think the numbers are now pretty well set from CBO,” Hoyer said. “We think it will post the largest deficit reduction of any bill that we’ve adopted in the Congress since 1993.”
To Repeat: Doctors Could Hang It Up
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=527698
Health Overhaul: We were harshly criticized last September for an IBD/TIPP Poll that showed 45% of doctors would consider leaving medicine if a health care takeover passed. A new poll has vindicated our findings. Our questionnaire went out Aug. 28 to some 25,600 doctors nationwide. Of that substantial sample, we got 1,476 responses. One hundred of those were retired, leaving 1,376. At the time, virtually no one had stopped to ask doctors how they felt about the medical takeover being discussed in Congress. We thought it was vital to ask them, since any overhaul would rise or fall on its implementation by doctors themselves. To say we were stunned with the results is an understatement. Of the physicians queried, 45% said they'd consider closing their practice or retiring early if the overhaul then being considered were enacted. Also, 65% said they opposed the government's attempts at taking over the health care system. Just 33% supported it.
Nearly One-Third of Doctors Could Leave Medicine if Health-Care Reform Bill Passes, According to Survey Reported in New England Journal of Medicine
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/62812
Excerpt: Nearly one-third of all practicing physicians may leave the medical profession if President Obama signs current versions of health-care reform legislation into law, according to a survey published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The survey, which was conducted by the Medicus Firm, a leading physician search and consulting firm based in Atlanta and Dallas, found that a majority of physicians said health-care reform would cause the quality of American medical care to “deteriorate” and it could be the “final straw” that sends a sizeable number of doctors out of medicine. More than 29 percent (29.2) percent of the nearly 1,200 doctors who responded to the survey said they would quit the profession or retire early if health reform legislation becomes law. If a public option were included in the legislation, as several liberal Senators have indicated they would like, the number would jump to 45.7 percent.
'Nobody Wants to Vote for the Senate bill'
Democrats are ignoring their own polls.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703734504575125693906113572.html
Excerpt: The Democratic spin explaining why polls show the public opposed to their health care bill is that voters actually like the individual pieces of the bill but have been turned off by the messy process. Yesterday, Joel Benenson, a pollster for the Democratic National Committee, reported the results of his own survey done for the Service Employees International Union. It claims the difficulty liberals are having in selling health-care reform "centers squarely on perceptions of a breakdown in the legislative process, exemplified by deal-cutting and special deals for the constituents of key swing Senators." But it appears that Democrats are ignoring their own findings. Last week, President Obama backed away from his earlier demand that lawmakers' special deals be stripped out of the bill. Then there's Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who yesterday endorsed a parliamentary maneuver under which the House would "deem" the Senate's health care bill approved without the House voting on it. Ms. Pelosi actually told reporters: "Nobody wants to vote for the Senate bill." Her scheme to allow House members to escape political responsibility even drew the ire of the Washington Post editorial page, which has strongly backed health care reform: "What is intended as a final sprint threatens to turn into something unseemly and, more important, contrary to Democrats' promises of transparency and time for deliberation." In ramming through an unpopular 2,700-page health care bill using brute force tactics, Democrats are in danger of passing what amounts to the longest suicide note in history. Their own pollsters are telling them the public has rebelled against their tactics. So their response is to press their foot down even harder on the gas pedal. We'll see how that works out for them.
Rep. Kucinich to vote yes on healthcare bill, giving needed boost to Democrats
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/87295-kucinich-to-vote-yes-on-healthcare-giving-a-boost-to-democrats
This is just PR to make it appear the bill has momentum. No one with two working brain cells expected Dennis the Far Left Menace to vote against a bill expanding government. Excerpt: Maverick liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced Wednesday he will vote in favor of healthcare reform, handing Democrats a crucial vote. The Ohio lawmaker and perennial left-wing presidential candidate made the announcement at a Wednesday morning press conference two days after President Barack Obama personally lobbied him during a flight to Ohio on Air Force One to switch his vote.
The impudent tyranny of Sen. Harry Reid
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/Examiner-Editorial-The-impudent-tyranny-of-Sen-Harry-Reid-79946927.html
Older post, but worth noting as this get’s shoved down our throats. Excerpt: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is proving once again the maxim that darkness hates the light. Buried in his massive amendment to the Senate version of Obamacare is Reid’s anti-democratic poison pill designed to prevent any future Congress from repealing the central feature of this monstrous legislation. Beginning on page 1,000 of the measure, Section 3403 reads in part: “… it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” In other words, if President Barack Obama signs this measure into law, no future Senate or House will be able to change a single word of Section 3403, regardless whether future Americans or their representatives in Congress wish otherwise. Note that the subsection at issue here concerns the regulatory power of the Independent Medicare Advisory Board (IMAB) to “reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending.” That is precisely the kind of open-ended grant of regulatory power that effectively establishes the IMAB as the ultimate arbiter of the cost, quality and quantity of health care to be made available to the American people. And Reid wants the decisions of this group of unelected federal bureaucrats to be untouchable for all time.
The Failure of RomneyCare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703625304575115691871093652.html
And Romney’s the Conservative hope for 2012? Excerpt: The former Massachusetts governor enacted something very similar to the Obama health plan. It isn't working well. Former Massachusetts governor and likely 2012 presidential aspirant Mitt Romney has been on the wrong side of the defining political battle of our time. Mr. Romney claimed earlier this month on "Fox News Sunday" that the Massachusetts health reform plan he signed into law in 2006 is "the ultimate conservative plan." But there are many similarities between it and the ObamaCare loathed by conservative voters. Both have an individual mandate requiring most residents to have health insurance or pay a penalty. Most businesses are required to participate or pay a fine. Both rely on government-designed purchasing exchanges that also provide a platform to control private health insurance. Many of the uninsured are covered through Medicaid expansion and others receive subsidies for highly-prescriptive policies. And the apparatus requires a plethora of new government boards and agencies. While it's true that the liberal Massachusetts legislature did turn Mr. Romney's plan to the left, his claims that his plan is "entirely different" will not stand up to the intense scrutiny of a presidential campaign, especially a primary challenge. Mr. Romney needs to be more honest about his Massachusetts experiment and its failings. Mr. Romney insisted in a recent interview on "Fox News Sunday" that "our plan is working well," and he defended his state's right to create its own plan. He also said in his book "No Apology" that because of the plan everyone in Massachusetts now has access to "portable, affordable health insurance." Not exactly. While Massachusetts' uninsured rate has dropped to around 3%, 68% of the newly insured since 2006 receive coverage that is heavily or completely subsidized by taxpayers. While Mr. Romney insisted that everyone should pay something for coverage, that is not the way his plan has turned out. More than half of the 408,000 newly insured residents pay nothing, according to a February 2010 report by the Massachusetts Health Connector, the state's insurance exchange. Another 140,000 remained uninsured in 2008 and were either assessed a penalty or exempted from the individual mandate because the state deemed they couldn't afford the premiums. Mr. Romney's promise that getting everyone covered would force costs down also is far from being realized. One third of state residents polled by Harvard researchers in a study published in "Health Affairs" in 2008 said that their health costs had gone up as a result of the 2006 reforms. A typical family of four today faces total annual health costs of nearly $13,788, the highest in the country. Per capita spending is 27% higher than the national average. The state's stubbornly high health costs are partly the result of intrusive government regulations that stifle competition in the insurance market and strict mandates on what services insurance must cover. A 2008 study by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that the state's most expensive insurance mandates cost patients more than $1 billion between July 2004 and July 2005. The Massachusetts health reform law left all of them in place.
Obamacare Increases Unemployment, Insurance Premiums, Deficit And Debt
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/03/17/obamacare-increases-unemployment-insurance-premiums-deficit-and-debt/
Do you think supporters really believe that a massive new government program will reduce the deficit? They can’t be that stupid. Excerpt: President Barack Obama and congressional leaders claim that the Senate health bill, which will likely face a vote in the House by the end of the week, will decrease the deficit and bend the cost curve related to health care spending. However, recent analysis by The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) shows that this is far from true. Instead, the bill’s mandates and numerous new taxes will have tumultuous effects. Passing Obamacare will come at the expense of the American people as it would grow the federal debt, increase premiums, and stifle economic growth. The Senate bill would have disastrous effects on the economy and federal spending.
Governors rise up against federal takeover of health care
Dems’ job-killing government takeover of health care dumps costs onto states, millions into bankrupt Medicaid
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=11958
Excerpt: As Democrats in Washington continue plotting and scheming behind closed doors, desperately trying to force their job-killing government takeover of health care down Americans’ throats, governors across America are rising up – and, like the American people – are demanding that out-of-touch Democrats scrap their massive health care proposal. Governors have noted time and time again – for more than a year – that the Democrats’ government takeover of health care will kill American jobs and shift billions in unfunded mandates onto the states. For months, a state rebellion against ObamaCare has been brewing: measures have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures, similar to the proposal just signed into law by Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, providing that no individual may be compelled to purchase health insurance. Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN), in a letter to the Congressional delegation of Indiana, noted how the unfunded mandates would affect his state:
Premiums would rise under Obama plan
By: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ap/fact-check-obamas-claim-that-premiums-would-fall-under-his-health-plan-misses-the-fine-print-88065482.html
There are conservatives who think Obama is stupid, and actually believes what he says. I think not. Too many examples of him saying things that were clearly untrue just to impress the audience of the moment. Excerpt: Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print. Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say. If cost controls work as advertised, annual increases would level off with time. But don't look for a rollback. Instead, the main reason premiums would be more affordable is that new government tax credits would help millions of people who can't afford the cost now. Listening to Obama pitch his plan, you might not realize that's how it works. Visiting a Cleveland suburb this week, the president described how individuals and small businesses will be able to buy coverage in a new kind of health insurance marketplace, gaining the same strength in numbers that federal employees have. "You'll be able to buy in, or a small business will be able to buy into this pool," Obama said. "And that will lower rates, it's estimated, by up to 14 to 20 percent over what you're currently getting. That's money out of pocket." And that's not all. Obama asked his audience for a show of hands from people with employer-provided coverage, what most Americans have. "Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent," said the president, "which means they could give you a raise." A White House press spokesman later said the president misspoke; he had meant to say annual premiums would drop by $3,000. It could be a long wait.
Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011367936_walgreens18m.html
The collapse of our great healthcare system is starting. Excerpt: Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement. The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients. In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents. Walgreens follows Bartell Drugs, which stopped taking new Medicaid patients last month at all 57 of its stores in Washington, though it still fills Medicaid prescriptions for existing customers at all but 15 of those stores.
Judge won't dismiss medical marijuana case under Obama made me do it defense.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/minute-orders-courts/2010/mar/16/judge-wont-dismiss-medical-marijuana-case-under-ob/
Excerpt: James Stacy, the Vista medical marijuana dispensary owner facing federal drug charges, has lost an intriguing bid to have the charges against him thrown out.
Stacy had argued that President Obama, when he was Candidate Obama, had basically said he wouldn't prosecute medical marijuana providers who were complying with state law, and that Stacy had relied on that -- and later statements by Attorney General Eric Holder -- to launch his business. He also said the prosecution violated the Tenth Amendment because it "commandeered" local law enforcement to enforce federal policy. The intriguing arguments received some attention after first being reported by San Diego CityBeat in December.
Tax Fairness Reaches A Tipping Point
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=527490
The fiscal collapse is coming. Excerpt: The latest data show a record number of people with no tax obligation. We also have the highest-earning nontaxpayers ever. With more riding the wagon and fewer pulling, it should soon break down. A record number of the 142 million tax returns filed in 2008 resulted in no taxes owed, according to the Tax Foundation's analysis of the latest IRS data. About 51.6 million returns, or 36.3%, were filed by those whose deductions, exemptions and tax credits wiped out any federal income-tax obligation. These aren't people who have overpaid their taxes or had so much withheld from their paychecks that they'll get refunds. Those people owe taxes and merely provided the government with a zero interest loan until accounts are settled. These are people who pay no taxes at all. There's been a 59% increase in the number of nonpayers since 2000, growing from 32.6 million in 2000 to 51.6 million in 2008. In the same period, the total tax filers grew by only 10%. Not only are fewer people paying any taxes, but also the income levels for these nonpayers have steadily risen. A family of four earning more than $50,000 can have no income tax liability after taking the standard deduction and the child tax credit. According to the Tax Foundation, "The major elements of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 boosted the maximum income for nonpayers to more than $56,700" — the highest ever. The government has continually expanded the value of benefits such as the earned income tax credit to the point where you get a check from Uncle Sam even if you paid no taxes during the year. That's what made it so laughable when the administration claimed it was cutting taxes for most Americans when nearly 40% pay no taxes to start with. These are in essence welfare checks.
Another Look at Climate Sensitivity
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/03/16/another-look-at-climate-sensitivity/#more-17381
OK, a quick pop quiz. The average temperature of the planet is about 14°C (57°F). If the earth had no atmosphere, and if it were a blackbody at the same distance from the sun, how much cooler would it be than at present?
a) 33°C (59°F) cooler
b) 20°C (36°F) cooler
c) 8° C (15°F) cooler
The answer may come as a surprise. If the earth were a blackbody at its present distance from the sun, it would be only 8°C cooler than it is now. That is to say, the net gain from our entire complete system, including clouds, surface albedo, aerosols, evaporation losses, and all the rest, is only 8°C above blackbody no-atmosphere conditions.
Gloomy Obama would rather be a victim than leader
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Gloomy-Obama-would-rather-be-a-victim-than-leader-88227907.html
People are noticing how little President Obama seems to enjoy his job.
The president's two main emotions on display are regret and indignation. He's either lecturing about the problems facing the country in a slightly patronizing tone or expressing his disgust with someone who won't take his lesson to heart. A standard Obama rally goes something like this: A mild joke at the expense of some dignitary present (Congressman Hornswaggle can't bowl to save his life), a sad story tweaked bordering on bathos (Suzy Creamcheese and her 15 foster children and five shelter dogs are being forced out of their home), the identification of her tormentor (rapacious banks), and finally a promise to seek justice for the afflicted despite the political cost to himself ("It may not be good politics, but it's the right thing to do."). Rather than being energized by trying to solve problems at a level of maximal achievable good, Obama and his team speak to the American people with the enthusiasm of an Army bereavement officer. It is their sad duty to inform you that they must overhaul the health care system. As Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt wrote, Obama needs to show the American people "he's happy we hired him" and to ditch the "lugubriousness." Part of the funereal vibe may arise from Obama's self-regarding nature. He never absorbed a crucial bit of wisdom: You can take your job seriously without taking yourself seriously.
Obama nominee’s sympathy for sexual sadists
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=11938
In the left’s view, everyone is a victim and not responsible, except productive members of society who earn a good living and must be punished. Excerpt: President Obama’s judicial nominees are getting more dangerous with each White House announcement. If you don’t believe us, consider one judge’s opinion that the “sexual sadism” of a multiple rapist-murderer was “clearly a mitigating factor” that argued against executing the murderer and perhaps even against convicting him in the first place. Or that a type of Megan’s Law sex-offender registry should be overturned because it “stigmatizes nondangerous registrants.” Even a child-porn convict should serve a sentence less than half as long as official guidelines suggest if his mental and emotional condition is fragile.
Capitol Hill cops decry bullying staff members
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/87249-capitol-hill-cops-decry-bullying-staffers
Don’t you peasants know who I am? Excerpt: U.S. Capitol Police officers say they need more backing from their leaders to stop congressional staffers who insist on bypassing metal detectors when entering the Capitol with lawmakers. Several officers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Hill that without a written directive of the policy, they’re left to face bullying staffers and intimidating lawmakers who have been known to file complaints against the officers. The staffers have accused them of discourteous treatment after being stopped and directed to the magnetometers. The officers say the directive must come from either Capitol Police Chief Phillip Morse or the House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood and must outline the screening protocol. That would give officers a reference point when lawmakers attempt to have their staff bypass security screening points leading into the Capitol. “I don’t mind doing the job — just give me the tools to do it,” said one officer, who asked that his name not be used. Last week The Hill reported that Capitol Police have violated security protocol by not stopping and screening every staffer through metal detectors when he or she has entered the Capitol, according to Livingood’s testimony before a House panel.
“JihadJane” said to have confessed
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100317_JihadJane_said_to_have_confessed.html?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BLohUPB8GeM2b5&
Where do I go to sign up to be on the firing squad? Excerpt: The Montgomery County woman who calls herself "JihadJane" has confessed to the FBI about her alleged role in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist, according to two people close to the investigation. Colleen LaRose confessed to FBI agents shortly after her October arrest at Philadelphia International Airport, where she had just arrived from London, said the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html?th&emc=th
Comment from a Marine buddy: Well, we just had the former Congressman Charlie Wilson die, the guy who did all kinds of behind the scenes stuff to help the mujahedin kick the Russians out of Afghanistan, and now maybe we have his successor. It seems that maybe this federal employee diverted funds from a program to better our military's understanding of Afghan culture to operatives who hunted down and killed terrorists and their leaders. The Times writes this up as kind of a scandal, and Furlong may be in real trouble over it. Of course, one might just argue that spending money to take out terrorists is actually more effective than spending money on cross-cultural programs that may possibly help our military take out terrorists, but such logic doesn't play well at the Times or for a lot of our elected leaders.' Interesting note is that the Times had employed in the past some of the same people supposedly on Furlong's payroll in their attempts to find a kidnapped reporter. Apparently it was OK for them to spend money on operatives to accomplish the mission important to them, but not OK for others to follow suit in any way. Personally I hope that if Furlong is found to have actually done this, he gets a note of caution in his file, and one hell of a celebratory dinner. –Del
Excerpt: Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States. The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The contractors, in turn, gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said. While it has been widely reported that the C.I.A. and the military are attacking operatives of Al Qaeda and others through unmanned, remote-controlled drone strikes, some American officials say they became troubled that Mr. Furlong seemed to be running an off-the-books spy operation. The officials say they are not sure who condoned and supervised his work. It is generally considered illegal for the military to hire contractors to act as covert spies. Officials said Mr. Furlong’s secret network might have been improperly financed by diverting money from a program designed to merely gather information about the region.
Jihadism: The Grassroots Paradox
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100317_jihadism_grassroots_paradox?utm_source=SWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100318&utm_content=readmore&elq=d3facf9e33e24986aab39922e379e935
Wonder why so many Muslims never got the “Islam is a Religion of peace” memo? Excerpt: Last week, rumors that Adam Gadahn had been arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, quickly swept through the global media. When the dust settled, it turned out that the rumors were incorrect; the person arrested was not the American-born al Qaeda spokesman. The excitement generated by the rumors overshadowed a message from Gadahn that the al Qaeda media arm as Sahab had released on March 7, the same day as the reported arrest. While many of the messages from al Qaeda figures that as Sahab has released over the past several years have been repetitive and quite unremarkable, after watching Gadahn’s March 7 message, we believe that it is a message too interesting to ignore. In the message, which was titled “A Call to Arms,” Gadahn starts by telling jihadists to strike targets that are close to them. He repeats the al Qaeda doctrinal position that jihad is a personal, religiously mandated duty for every able-bodied Muslim. He then tells his audience that “it is for you, like your heroic Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan, to decide how, when and where you discharge this duty. But whatever you do, don’t wait for tomorrow to do what can be done today, and don’t wait for others to do what you can do yourself.” As the message progresses, Gadahn’s praise of Fort Hood shooter Hasan continues. Gadahn lifts up Hasan as an example for other Muslims to emulate: “the Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role-model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers and yearns to discharge his duty to Allah.” He adds that Hasan was the “ideal role model” for Muslims serving in the armed forces of Western countries and of their Muslim allies. Gadahn’s message is clearly intended to encourage more jihadists to emulate Hasan and conduct lone wolf terrorist attacks. Regarding the planning of such attacks, Gadahn praises Hasan for being a careful planner and for not engaging in a hasty, reckless or poorly planned operation. He states that Hasan clearly learned from the mistakes of others and did not repeat them. Although Gadahn does not specify particular plots in which he believes mistakes were made by grassroots jihadists, he is undoubtedly referring to cases such as the May 2009 arrest of a group of grassroots jihadists in White Plains, N.Y., who came to the attention of authorities when they sought help from a man who turned out to be an FBI informant. Gadahn praises Hasan for practicing careful operational security by keeping his plans to himself and for not discussing them over the phone or Internet. He also notes that Hasan did not make the mistake of confiding in a person who might have been an FBI informant, as several other plotters have done. Gadahn also says Hasan “didn’t unnecessarily raise his security profile or waste money better spent on the operation itself by traveling abroad to acquire skills and instructions which could easily be acquired at home, or indeed, deduced by using one’s own powers of logic and reasoning.” When discussing methods lone wolf jihadists can use to conduct their attacks, Gadahn notes that while Hasan used firearms in his assault at Fort Hood, jihadists are “no longer limited to bullets and bombs” when it comes to weapons. “As the blessed operations of September 11th showed, a little imagination and planning and a minimal budget can turn almost anything into a deadly, effective and convenient weapon which can take the enemy by surprise and deprive him of sleep for years on end.” Gadahn then turns his attention to targeting. He counsels lone wolf jihadists to follow a three-pronged target selection process. They should choose a target with which they are well acquainted, a target that is feasible to hit and a target that, when struck, will have a major impact. He notes that Hasan’s choice of Fort Hood fit all three criteria, but that jihadists should not think that military bases are the only high-value targets in the United States or other Western countries. “On the contrary,” Gadahn insists, “there are countless other strategic places, institutions and installations which, by striking, the Muslim can do major damage.”
Attackers kill 12 in latest Nigeria fighting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence;_ylt=AsaUx7NcRbxws2mrfKxIWNNv24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTM4a3ZncGpwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMzE3L2FmX25pZ2VyaWFfdmlvbGVuY2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwM1BHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDMTJjaHJpc3RpYW52
Didn’t get the memo. Excerpt: attackers killed 12 people Wednesday morning in a small Christian village in central Nigeria, officials said, cutting out most of the victims' tongues in the latest violence in a region where religious fighting already has killed hundreds this year. The attack almost mirrored the tactics used by those who carried out similar massacres in Christian villages last week when more than 200 people were slaughtered. Under the cover of darkness and a driving rain, raiders with machetes entered the village of Byie early Wednesday, setting fire to homes and firing gunshots into the air to drive frightened villagers into the night, witness Linus Vwi said.
The Führer Cult: Germans Cringe at Hitler's Popularity in Pakistan
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,683966,00.html
Could it be because he killed Jews? Excerpt: Pakistan is the opposite of Germany. The mountains are in the north, the sea is in the south, the economic problems are in the west and the east is doing well. It's not hard for a German living in Pakistan to get used to these differences, but one contrast is hard to stomach: Most people like Hitler.
Turkey threatens to expel 100,000 Armenians over 'genocide' row
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/7465701/Turkey-threatens-to-expel-100000-Armenians-over-genocide-row.html
You claim we harmed the Armenians? Ha! We will punish….the Armenians! Excerpt: Turkey has threatened to expel 100,000 Armenians from the country in response to the US branding the First World War killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide".
Pakistani court charges 5 Americans with terrorism
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_us_arrests
Life in a Pakistani prison will give them time to reflect on how much better Islamic countries are than the US. Excerpt: A Pakistani court charged five young Americans on Wednesday with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country and conspiring to wage war against nations allied with Pakistan, their defense lawyer said. The men — all Muslims from the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia — pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges, the most severe of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, defense lawyer Hasan Dastagir told The Associated Press.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Political Digest March 18, 2010
Political Digest for March 18, 2010
Robert A. Hall
http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
No Need for an Election this Year
Pelosi and the Democrats can just “Deem” themselves re-elected. Voting and Democracy is so 2008.
Calling Your Representative
If you’ve tried calling your US Representative in Washington about the Healthcare Destruction Bill, and can’t get through because the lines are jammed, you can look up his/her district office. You can also Google his/her name and usually find a link to a contact form where you can send an e-mail. Let your voice be heard. Here are some sites for contacting your Congress Critters:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
http://www.congress.org/
http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
House Democrats' tactic for health-care bill is debated
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031602746.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
HCR—the suppository approach. Excerpt: An obscure parliamentary maneuver favored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suddenly ignited Tuesday as the latest tinder in the year-long partisan strife over reshaping the nation's health-care system, triggering debate over the strategy's legitimacy and political wisdom.
The Big Question: Should Dems 'deem and pass' healthcare?
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/87065-the-big-question-should-dems-deem
Some interesting comments. Excerpt: Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest news story burning up the blogosphere today. Today's question: House Democrats are set to "deem" the Senate healthcare bill passed. Is this an appropriate maneuver? Is it any different from Republican tactics? Damon N. Spiegel, entrepreneur and writer, said: Appropriate!!!!!! This has to be one of the most insane maneuvers in congressional history. We’re talking about a plan that could bankrupt a country already on the verge of losing its long standing AAA status. Yes, this has been used in the past, and so has reconciliation, but not to the magnitude of 1 trillion dollars. Can’t the democrats just realize that this is set for an embarrassing failure? This is not about winning the battle nor the fight; this is clearly an emotional win and one that will be very costly to the taxpayer. Seriously, the democrats don’t have the votes or this would be done. They are shamelessly embarrassing themselves and more importantly they’re threatening a system that has governed for 200+ years. Please carefully read this: GET RID OF THE EMOTIONAL PROCESS. TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE TRUE ECONOMICS OF WHERE THE UNITED STATES STANDS TODAY AND BE SMART. TAKE THE TIME TO START OVER. Focus on a few problems that can start the process of reform in this country. Focus on what is really hurting American’s and American physicians –preexisting condition and Payment to Physicians by insurance companies. If you really don’t get this, please call me right now and I’ll give you a little 101 on the problem and how much money can be saved across the board for patients, physicians, insurance companies and yes the good old government that is so capable of running a profitable. I take that back; this is not even close to a breakeven business.
Republican lawyers warn Democrats of "deem and pass" consequences
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/20100317-deem-and-pass-midterms.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: Less than 24 hours after House Democratic leaders floated the idea of using a parliamentary procedure to avoid a recorded vote on the Senate health care bill, a group of Republican lawyers -- including the legal counsels for the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee as well as high profile campaign attorney like Ben Ginsberg of Patton Boggs and Cleta Mitchell of Foley & Lardner -- penned an open letter making clear that such a tactic would not make Democrats immune from attacks on the bill in the fall campaign. Citing an assertion from Rules Committee ranking member David Dreier (Calif.) that "a vote for the rule is a vote for the Senate bill," the group wrote: "We believe it is accurate to state in public communications that the effect of a vote for any rule illustrated in [Dreier's memo] is a vote for the Senate bill and all of its provisions." Put simply: Republicans believe that House Democrats using the "deem and pass" maneuver in no way prohibits GOP candidates and party committees from attacking them for "voting" for the Senate legislation. The letter along with House Republican leaders' vow to force a vote on the use of "deem and pass" is a reminder that GOPers believe the health care bill -- no matter the outcome of the vote later this week (or weekend) -- is something close to a silver bullet for them in the coming midterm elections. "The point here is that there is no cover for Democrats on this vote," said Ken Spain, communications director of the NRCC -- adding that the other side is "resorting to political and legislative trickery" to try and keep from being attacked in a campaign setting. While all of the parliamentary jockeying is almost certain to be forgotten by voters by this fall (if it was ever noticed in that first place), Republicans want to make sure that targeted Democrats know that they will be held accountable for every nook and cranny of the Senate legislation whether or not they go on the record in support or opposition to it.
Americans 'Disgusted' With Congress: NBC/WSJ Poll
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35897628
They’ll be calling Bush for PR advice. Excerpt: As they prepare for climactic votes on health care reform, lawmakers face an angry public that isn't likely to applaud any decision they make, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. The survey showed Congress with a paltry 17 percent approval rating from the public, with opinions decidedly mixed on lawmakers seeking to stop or advance President Obama's health care agenda.
Lincoln: House move to avoid vote 'won't fly'
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/87171-lincoln-maneuver-to-avoid-vote-wont-fly
The little critters scurry for cover. Excerpt: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) says House Democratic leaders should hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate health care bill and not use the "self-executing rule." Leaders have toyed with the idea in order to avoid a tough vote that might not have the required support. Lincoln is also calling on her primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, to renounce the maneuver. "Arkansans and most Americans are demanding more accountability from Washington, not less, so I believe that any plan to approve major reform without actually voting for it simply won't fly outside the beltway," Lincoln said in a statement. Lincoln was one of the final votes Senate Democratic leaders landed when they passed the health care bill. Halter is challenging her from the left.
Slaughter House Rules
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575123512773070080.html
Excerpt: We're not sure American schools teach civics any more, but once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law. Until this week, that is, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving to merely "deem" that the House has passed the Senate health-care bill and then send it to President Obama to sign anyway. Under the "reconciliation" process that began yesterday afternoon, the House is supposed to approve the Senate's Christmas Eve bill and then use "sidecar" amendments to fix the things it doesn't like. Those amendments would then go to the Senate under rules that would let Democrats pass them while avoiding the ordinary 60-vote threshold for passing major legislation. This alone is an abuse of traditional Senate process. But Mrs. Pelosi & Co. fear they lack the votes in the House to pass an identical Senate bill, even with the promise of these reconciliation fixes. House Members hate the thought of going on record voting for the Cornhusker kickback and other special-interest bribes that were added to get this mess through the Senate, as well as the new tax on high-cost insurance plans that Big Labor hates. So at the Speaker's command, New York Democrat Louise Slaughter, who chairs the House Rules Committee, may insert what's known as a "self-executing rule," also known as a "hereby rule." Under this amazing procedural ruse, the House would then vote only once on the reconciliation corrections, but not on the underlying Senate bill. If those reconciliation corrections pass, the self-executing rule would say that the Senate bill is presumptively approved by the House—even without a formal up-or-down vote on the actual words of the Senate bill. Democrats would thus send the Senate bill to President Obama for his signature even as they claimed to oppose the same Senate bill. They would be declaring themselves to be for and against the Senate bill in the same vote. Even John Kerry never went that far with his Iraq war machinations.
A Democrat's view from the House: Senate bill isn't health reform
By Louise M. Slaughter, Special to CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/12/23/slaughter.oppose.senate.bill/index.html?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
My, how her views have changed! Now she’s going to force through the Senate Bill. Excerpt: I do not want to subsidize the private insurance market; the whole point of creating a government option is to bring prices down. Insisting on a government mandate to have insurance without a better alternative to the status quo is not true reform. By eliminating the public option, the government program that could spark competition within the health insurance industry, the Senate has ended up with a bill that isn't worthy of its support. The public option is the part of our reform effort that will lower costs, improve the delivery of health care services and force insurance companies to offer rates and services that are reasonable. Although the art of legislating involves compromise, I believe the Senate went off the rails when it agreed with the Obama Administration to water down the reform bill and no longer include the public option.
Pelosi, Slaughter went to court against GOP in 2005 case that exposes Slaughter Solution flaw
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Pelosi-Slaughter-went-to-court-against-GOPs-self-executing-rule-in-2005---87773712.html
Does that shoe pinch on the other foot?
Levin's Landmark Legal Foundation to File Immediate Challenge if House Dems Try to Pass Health-Care Bill Without Actually Voting on It
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/62939
Excerpt: Conservative talk-radio host and attorney Mark Levin said he plans to file an immediate lawsuit if House Democratic leaders try to utilize a little-known maneuver under House rules to pass the health-care bill without actually having to vote on it.
Quality Competition
http://www.john-goodman-blog.com/quality-competition/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-9466
Excerpt: Most providers don’t compete for patients either on price or on quality. Since out-of-pocket payments by patients are well below the true cost of their care, demand exceeds supply and services are rationed by waiting — just like in Canada. In such an environment, quality improvements do not increase provider income and quality degradation does not decrease it. That’s why so much of the health care system resembles the Department of Motor Vehicles. In some specialized markets, however, providers actively seek more customers, often advertising directly to patients — on TV, in magazines, etc., sometimes in other cities and sometimes nationwide. For example, New York’s Mount Sinai Medical and Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Massachusetts General in Boston are all aggressive advertisers on cancer care. In these markets, third-party payment significantly exceeds the marginal cost of care, and supply often exceeds demand. Providers in these markets typically compete for patients based on quality. They need patient-pleasing services in order to attract their clientele in the first place and to retain them as ongoing customers. And their activities raise an obvious question: Why can’t we have quality competition system-wide?
ObamaCare and Eugenics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575123590196012672.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion
Excerpt: What Stupak is hearing from his colleagues is not the pro-choice argument that the government should permit abortion as a matter of individual liberty. Rather, they claim that the government should encourage abortion as a social expedient--a cost-cutting measure. The first thing one must say about this position is that when stated categorically, it is nonsense. Sure, babies are expensive. But from society's standpoint, that expense is a necessary investment--the only way to produce the next generation of productive adults. A society in which babies are a net long-term cost--in which the average person consumes more over his lifetime than he produces--is unsustainable. A policy aimed at reducing the number of babies born would be economically ruinous, because within a few decades it would result in a shortage of workers and taxpayers. But as a matter of cold cost-benefit analysis, not all babies are equal. Some are costlier than others, and not all grow into productive adults. In particular, certain disabilities and diseases are very expensive to treat and limit productive adulthood by causing either early death or lifelong dependency. In order to be effective, a policy of using abortion as a cost-cutting measure would have to aim at preventing the birth of babies with such pre-existing conditions. The goal would be not a reduction in the number of babies, but an "improvement" in the "quality" (narrowly defined in economic terms) of the babies who are born. This is known as eugenics. Getting government into the eugenics business would have disturbing implications for reproductive liberty. What would happen to a woman who received, say, a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome? She would be free (as she is today) to exercise her right to have an abortion. But would she be free to exercise her right not to have an abortion? Presumably the government could not directly force her to abort, as this would provoke political outrage and run afoul of Roe v. Wade and subsequent rulings. But one can easily imagine softer forms of coercion coming into play. A government-run insurance plan, for instance, could deny or limit coverage for the treatment of certain conditions if diagnosed before fetal viability, on the ground that the taxpayer should not be forced to pay the costs of the woman's choice to carry her child to term. Perhaps the courts would find this an "undue burden" on a woman's right to choose, but that does not strike us as an open-and-shut case.
Ten ways to have real heath care reform
http://ow.ly/1n1HJ
The bills in Congress are not about reducing costs or reform. They are about building government and the class of employees and recipients dependent on the statist party.
Disasters In Obamacare
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19110&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
Good summary to share.
A move toward divided government?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/why-republicans-may-not-need-a.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
Excerpt: Republicans have taken considerable flack -- mostly from their Democratic rivals -- for being the "party of no", blocking President Obama's major agenda items but offering few big picture solutions to the problems of the day. And, Republican strategists and even some elected officials have acknowledged that the party has not done much on the issue front. "This lurch to the left in public policy is helping Republicans even though we have not done that much to take advantage of it," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recently. The "party of no" charge has set off a serious debate within Republican circles about whether or not the GOP needs a set of policies on things like energy, health care and the economy to bring to the American public to maximize their chances at gains this fall. Some argue that a "Contract with America" (part 2) is a necessity, others see it as unnecessary -- essentially handing Democrats a list of ripe electoral targets. Buried deep in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll is a question that suggests that simply painting themselves as the loyal opposition to the President's policies might be enough for Republicans this fall. Asked whether it is better for one party to control Congress and the White House so "they can work together more closely" or whether it is better for there to be divided control of Congress and the presidency "to prevent either one from going too far", 31 percent of registered voters preferred the former option while 60 percent chose the latter. Those numbers mark a significant retreat from NBC/WSJ polling conducted in the fall of 2008 as Obama coasted to victory and Democrats prepared to significantly expand their congressional majorities. In an early October 2008 survey, 41 percent said it would be better for one party to control all levers of government in Washington while 48 percent chose the checks and balances option.
Interesting story about government
Due to some breathing problems, I’ve been going to repertory therapy. One of the fellows I see a few mornings a week owns a coating business. He’s 70, has been a life-long epileptic, now has MS so lung problems. Still working full time, still giving money to his kids in their 50s for rent, etc. (Welcome to America where we are raising a generation of parasites!)
Among the things he does is work on munitions for the government. He has just told them to take a hike on a contract because the specs are from 1927, and the steel specified isn’t made. He doesn’t want to join similar firms driven bankrupt trying to meet specs long outdated by modern technology.
He reports that he was working on tank shells, where the casings are no longer made of brass. He claimed the military lost two tanks when the crews set a hot used primer down on a shell and it cooked off. They tried using rubber rims, but the heat caused the rubber to peel, resulting in extraction problems—not good in combat. He developed a thicker primer that dissipated the heat, solved the problem and saved the government $9M. Usually the government gives you half for developing something that saves money. He says they declined to pay, saying the solution was too easy and that anyone could have thought of it. (Anyone but a government bureaucrat, of course.)
I have no way of verifying this; it might be just what we Marines call a Sea Story. But it sure sounds like the efficiency we can expect from the people who want to control our healthcare system. God help the next generation in Collectivist America.
What's the Matter With Illinois?
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/03/16/whats_the_matter_with_illinois__98384.html
It’s run by corrupt liberal Democrats in league with corrupt Republicans. What’s the mystery? Excerpt: Over the last two budget cycles, every state except North Dakota has had to close a budget gap. But a handful of states stand out for the depth of their fiscal problems. For 2010, seven states had budget gaps totaling more than 25% of general fund spending, as measured by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Of these, six have a clear story about how they ended up in such a mess. Nevada is battered by weak travel to Las Vegas, while California is heavily reliant on shrinking income tax revenues. Arizona, California and Nevada were all hit particularly hard by the burst of the property bubble. Alaska's odd finances are sensitive to falling oil prices. And New York and New Jersey are feeling the effects of fewer, and smaller, Wall Street bonuses. The most puzzling member of the "over 25% club" is Illinois. Illinois did not see a particularly large bubble (or burst) in property prices, does not have outsize exposure to finance or tourism, and has a lower-than-normal reliance on its flat income tax. So how did the state achieve a staggering budget gap equaling 47% of its fiscal 2010 budget, second only to California?
Allies everywhere feeling snubbed by President Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603322.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
Excerpt: The contretemps between President Obama and Israel needs to be seen in a broader global context. The president who ran against "unilateralism" in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term. Israelis shouldn't feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking about the end of the "special relationship" with America and worrying that Obama has no great regard for the British, despite their ongoing sacrifices in Afghanistan. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has openly criticized Obama for months (and is finally being rewarded with a private dinner, presumably to mend fences). In Eastern and Central Europe, there has been fear since the administration canceled long-planned missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic that the United States may no longer be a reliable guarantor of security. Among top E.U. officials there is consternation that neither the president nor even his Cabinet seems to have time for the European Union's new president, Herman Van Rompuy, who, while less than scintillating, is nevertheless the chosen representative of the post-Lisbon Treaty continent. Europeans in general, while still fond of Obama, have concluded that he is not so fond of them -- despite his six trips to Europe -- and is more of an Asian president. The Asians, however, are not so sure. Relations with Japan are rocky, mostly because of the actions of the new government in Tokyo but partly because of a perception that the United States can't be counted on for the long term. In India, there are worries that the burgeoning strategic partnership forged in the Bush years has been demoted in the interest of better relations with China.
Israel and the Crisis with Obama
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703734504575125433891508788.html?mod=djemITP_h
Excerpt: Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as Israeli prime minister collapsed in 1999 in part because he had an unhappy relationship with President Bill Clinton. It is understandable then that Mr. Netanyahu's current government had, until last week, strived to stay close to President Barack Obama. That strategy would have been entirely sensible if Mr. Obama were simply another president in the long line since Franklin Roosevelt who vigorously asserted U.S. national interests, championed our friends (especially beleaguered ones), and kept alliances strong. But Mr. Obama is different. He is our first post-American president. He looks beyond American exceptionalism and believes that our role on the world stage should be merely one nation among many. Mr. Netanyahu's strategy is therefore out-of-date and flawed. Israel has sought to accommodate Mr. Obama on two critical issues: negotiations with Palestinians and Iranian nuclear weapons. These efforts have largely kept bilateral disagreements out of sight. But now the suppressed conflicts are fully visible and will either be resolved or cause a serious collision between Israel and the U.S.
Pacific Pushback: Has the U.S. Empire of Bases Reached Its High-Water Mark?
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/05-6
Long but important. Excerpt: For a country with a pacifist constitution, Japan is bristling with weaponry. Indeed, that Asian land has long functioned as a huge aircraft carrier and naval base for U.S. military power. We couldn’t have fought the Korean and Vietnam Wars without the nearly 90 military bases scattered around the islands of our major Pacific ally. Even today, Japan remains the anchor of what’s left of America’s Cold War containment policy when it comes to China and North Korea. From the Yokota and Kadena air bases, the United States can dispatch troops and bombers across Asia, while the Yokosuka base near Tokyo is the largest American naval installation outside the United States. You’d think that, with so many Japanese bases, the United States wouldn’t make a big fuss about closing one of them. Think again. The current battle over the Marine Corps air base at Futenma on Okinawa — an island prefecture almost 1,000 miles south of Tokyo that hosts about three dozen U.S. bases and 75% of American forces in Japan — is just revving up. In fact, Washington seems ready to stake its reputation and its relationship with a new Japanese government on the fate of that base alone, which reveals much about U.S. anxieties in the age of Obama. What makes this so strange, on the surface, is that Futenma is an obsolete base. Under an agreement the Bush administration reached with the previous Japanese government, the U.S. was already planning to move most of the Marines now at Futenma to the island of Guam. Nonetheless, the Obama administration is insisting, over the protests of Okinawans and the objections of Tokyo, on completing that agreement by building a new partial replacement base in a less heavily populated part of Okinawa.
Will America Defend Its Asian Allies?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575044354072896096.html
Likewise. Excerpt: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a visit to Hawaii last month to proclaim that, under the Obama administration, the United States is back in Asia to stay. Yet the fine details of the Pentagon's 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, released this week, may not convince Asian partners that America will retain both the resolve and the capacity to maintain a decisive military edge in the region. Superficially, there is much in the report that's reassuring. It reinforces the importance of alliances. It commits the U.S. to maintaining a forward military presence in Asia and a strong extended nuclear deterrent, while paying lip-service to the pipedream of a nuclear-free world. It focuses on rising threats in domains such as the oceans, space and cyberspace where—at least until recently—the U.S. has become used to uncontested dominance…. It is hard to square the report's legitimate concern about the "lack of transparency and the nature of China's military development and decision-making processes" with reports that the administration has downgraded China as a U.S. intelligence priority. Any rolling back of U.S. surveillance operations around China's maritime periphery in response to Beijing's bluster should also be of concern to U.S. allies. An even bigger question, though, is whether the U.S. will be able to afford the force outlined in the report: one capable of conducting stabilization operations when necessary and continuing to keep the peace in Asia into the future. Asian governments are nervous that this time around America's decline is real, and they are hedging in response. Both Australia and South Korea are building up their naval forces, for instance. It is no bad thing for U.S. allies to contribute more to international security, but a fundamental loss of confidence in the durability of American military dominance in Asia would be profoundly destabilizing. The report will only reassure U.S. allies if they are convinced Washington will deliver on the capabilities it promises and can project power, deter aggression and come to their aid. With little evident appetite in the White House or Congress to rein in rampant domestic spending, pressures on the defense budget will only increase. Asian governments will have little option but to divert resources to acquire more sophisticated weapons. That's not good news for anyone, including America.
Er, sorry, you still read newspapers because why now?
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/03/16/er-sorry-you-still-read-newspapers-because-why-now/
Reporters can’t ID Iwo Jima Flag Raising photo. Excerpt: The Chicago Tribune’s Ron Grossman writes: I took a quick survey in the newsroom the other day, something between a Rorschach test and a pop quiz, asking younger colleagues to identify an iconic photograph [see photo above] of World War II. While some instantly recognized the image, others couldn’t quite place it. Extremely disturbing on many levels. You can say, “Well, kids these days don’t learn the right things in school” and you’d be absolutely correct. But I didn’t learn about Iwo Jima in school, either. I learned about it through old Life magazines and then-new (1970s) Time magazines and from TV shows and old movies. Heck, there’s a Johnny Cash song about one of the men in that photo. What should really disturb you is not just that these young, “educated” people didn’t recognize this image after almost 20 years of public education. You should ask yourself how and why kids who “want to get into the media” apparently managed not to consume any media before they decided to major in it.
Iran sought to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/iran_sought_to_buy_nuclear_wea.html
Excerpt: The "Father of the Pakistani Bomb," A.Q. Khan, has written an official report on his illegal activities that points the finger at Iran for seeking to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan at the end of the 1980's. ...(I)t is little wonder that American presidents from Clinton through Obama have insisted that the Iranians want nuclear bombs, despite their protestations to the contrary.
The Gay Terrorist Who Could Have Foiled 9/11
http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/gay-terrorist?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BLoMcVB8Gc-hwx&
Interesting recent historical example of why the Patriot Act was/is necessary. Excerpt: A year and a half before September 11, 2001, the C.I.A. tried to recruit an Iraqi terrorist thought to be secretly gay, The New York Observer reports. If the agency had been successful, the terrorist attack perhaps could have been prevented. The C.I.A. hoped Ahmad Hikmat Shakir could be an "access agent"—someone without high-level knowledge but who could arrange contacts with people who do. Short, fat and jolly, he perhaps could have been flipped by threats to reveal his sexuality. In January 2000, al Qaeda was meeting in Kuala Lumpur, and Shakir picked up an eventual 9/11 hijacker, Khalid al-Mihdhar, at the airport. Al Mihdar had a multiple-entry visa to the U.S., but the C.I.A. didn't inform the F.B.I., who could have put him on a watch list or questioned him. An F.B.I. agent was drafting a memo to alert bosses about Mihdar's likely visit to the U.S., but the C.I.A. told him to hold off. The F.B.I. wasn't alerted to his presence stateside until August 2001. The C.I.A.'s actions are one of the biggest mysteries of the attacks, but the Observer speculates that proceeding with the alert could have exposed the agency's attempts to convert Shakir.
America: Break the Silence on Islam
http://www.amilimani.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=174&Itemid=2
Excerpt: The American people must hear the truth about Islam continually until they are completely aware of its dangers. Sadly, our Churches dare not speak up for fear of being accused of intolerance toward another religion. Our academia, the university professors, left or right, dare not, because, most likely, they would lose their salaries. Our politicians dare not because they are master practitioners of euphemism, hedging, doubletalk, and outright deception, and they need your votes as well as your money. Our editors dare not because they would lose subscribers. Businessmen dare not because they might lose customers and clientele. Even ordinary clerks dare not because they might be discharged. So I thought I would tell you. My fellow Americans, America is faced with a formidable enemy. This enemy has a name: Islam. I think it is time to revisit the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and see if Islam is qualified as a religion. Is this an outlandishly absurd proposal? Not at all, serious problems require equally serious solutions. The call for evaluation of the First Amendment may be seen as an attempt to curb Islam or other militant cults. The truth is: it is. It is truly a matter of survival of the United States and the free world. It is time to take a stand and shift the debate to orthodox Islam. We do not have to investigate every other religion on earth in order to compare them or offer opinion about their relative “goodness” in order to declare that on the whole Islam perpetuates evil. Let others devolve into religious disagreements. But for those commentators who would respond: “OK great, so now what...you claim Islam is evil. How do we combat that?” Your response is already clear: Through the spread of truth, not deceit. Through voluntary social sanctions and laws in every civilized country that forbid evil practices like Sharia, coercion and violence against women, threats against those who disagree, honor killings, apostasy and other hate crimes. Let the world know the truth and decide for itself. Let Muslims who come to their senses opt out. America, with a long history of protecting religious freedom, still clings to the “hands off” practice of leaving alone any doctrine or practice billed as religion. A thorny problem is in deciding what constitutes a religion and who is to make that call. The dictionary supplies a sociologically useless definition for religion: “The expression of man’s belief in and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe.” Just about anyone or any group under this definition can start a religion, and they indeed do—and some do so at significant costs to others. Muslims, under the banner of religion, are infringing blatantly on the rights of others, not only in Islamic countries, but also in much of the non-Muslim world. By their acts of dogmatic barbarity, Muslims are slowly awakening the non-Muslim democracies to the imminent threat of Islamic terrorism keen on destroying their free secular and free societies. As more and more Muslims arrive in American land, as they reproduce with great fecundity, as they convert the disenchanted and minorities, and as petrodollar-flush Muslims and Muslim treasuries supply generous funds, Muslims gather more power to undermine a serious challenge to the American system of governance—democracy. As for democracy, the rule of the people, Muslims have no use at all. Muslims believe that Allah’s rule must govern the world in the form of Caliphate—a theocracy. Making mockery of democracy, subverting its working, and ignoring its provisions is a Muslim’s way of falsifying what he already believes to be a sinful and false system of governance invented by the infidels.
Malaysia's religion minister rejects child marriage reform
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/03/malaysias-religion-minister-rejects-child-marriage-reform.html
Excerpt: As always, what's standing in the way here is Muhammad's own example -- a "beautiful pattern of conduct," per Qur'an 33:21. Muhammad married Aisha when she was six, and consummated the marriage when she was nine. For this cleric, condemning child marriage would thus run the risk of implying Muhammad did something wrong, or that his example is less relevant for Muslims in modern times. In a land where churches are firebombed over the use of the word "Allah," one can imagine there being some fallout over that. In any event, keeping the status quo on child marriage laws lets the Sharia-inclined have it both ways: there is a symbolic law on the books for the sake of appearances, but a religious loophole to get around it in practice
Internet Video: Muslims Must Rise Up in Nigeria
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/16/world/AP-AF-Nigeria-Violence.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
didn’t get the memo. Excerpt: A video posted on a militant Web site calls for Muslims in Nigeria to use ''the sword and the spear'' to rise up against Christians in Africa's most populous nation, according to a translation released Tuesday by a U.S. group that monitors militant sites. The video on the Ansar al-Mujahideen forum, a Web site sympathetic to al-Qaida, comes in the wake of a series of religious massacres and riots in central Nigeria.
Quote
"The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex." --James Madison The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/
Robert A. Hall
http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.
No Need for an Election this Year
Pelosi and the Democrats can just “Deem” themselves re-elected. Voting and Democracy is so 2008.
Calling Your Representative
If you’ve tried calling your US Representative in Washington about the Healthcare Destruction Bill, and can’t get through because the lines are jammed, you can look up his/her district office. You can also Google his/her name and usually find a link to a contact form where you can send an e-mail. Let your voice be heard. Here are some sites for contacting your Congress Critters:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
http://www.congress.org/
http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
House Democrats' tactic for health-care bill is debated
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031602746.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
HCR—the suppository approach. Excerpt: An obscure parliamentary maneuver favored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suddenly ignited Tuesday as the latest tinder in the year-long partisan strife over reshaping the nation's health-care system, triggering debate over the strategy's legitimacy and political wisdom.
The Big Question: Should Dems 'deem and pass' healthcare?
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/87065-the-big-question-should-dems-deem
Some interesting comments. Excerpt: Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer their insight into the biggest news story burning up the blogosphere today. Today's question: House Democrats are set to "deem" the Senate healthcare bill passed. Is this an appropriate maneuver? Is it any different from Republican tactics? Damon N. Spiegel, entrepreneur and writer, said: Appropriate!!!!!! This has to be one of the most insane maneuvers in congressional history. We’re talking about a plan that could bankrupt a country already on the verge of losing its long standing AAA status. Yes, this has been used in the past, and so has reconciliation, but not to the magnitude of 1 trillion dollars. Can’t the democrats just realize that this is set for an embarrassing failure? This is not about winning the battle nor the fight; this is clearly an emotional win and one that will be very costly to the taxpayer. Seriously, the democrats don’t have the votes or this would be done. They are shamelessly embarrassing themselves and more importantly they’re threatening a system that has governed for 200+ years. Please carefully read this: GET RID OF THE EMOTIONAL PROCESS. TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE TRUE ECONOMICS OF WHERE THE UNITED STATES STANDS TODAY AND BE SMART. TAKE THE TIME TO START OVER. Focus on a few problems that can start the process of reform in this country. Focus on what is really hurting American’s and American physicians –preexisting condition and Payment to Physicians by insurance companies. If you really don’t get this, please call me right now and I’ll give you a little 101 on the problem and how much money can be saved across the board for patients, physicians, insurance companies and yes the good old government that is so capable of running a profitable. I take that back; this is not even close to a breakeven business.
Republican lawyers warn Democrats of "deem and pass" consequences
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/20100317-deem-and-pass-midterms.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: Less than 24 hours after House Democratic leaders floated the idea of using a parliamentary procedure to avoid a recorded vote on the Senate health care bill, a group of Republican lawyers -- including the legal counsels for the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee as well as high profile campaign attorney like Ben Ginsberg of Patton Boggs and Cleta Mitchell of Foley & Lardner -- penned an open letter making clear that such a tactic would not make Democrats immune from attacks on the bill in the fall campaign. Citing an assertion from Rules Committee ranking member David Dreier (Calif.) that "a vote for the rule is a vote for the Senate bill," the group wrote: "We believe it is accurate to state in public communications that the effect of a vote for any rule illustrated in [Dreier's memo] is a vote for the Senate bill and all of its provisions." Put simply: Republicans believe that House Democrats using the "deem and pass" maneuver in no way prohibits GOP candidates and party committees from attacking them for "voting" for the Senate legislation. The letter along with House Republican leaders' vow to force a vote on the use of "deem and pass" is a reminder that GOPers believe the health care bill -- no matter the outcome of the vote later this week (or weekend) -- is something close to a silver bullet for them in the coming midterm elections. "The point here is that there is no cover for Democrats on this vote," said Ken Spain, communications director of the NRCC -- adding that the other side is "resorting to political and legislative trickery" to try and keep from being attacked in a campaign setting. While all of the parliamentary jockeying is almost certain to be forgotten by voters by this fall (if it was ever noticed in that first place), Republicans want to make sure that targeted Democrats know that they will be held accountable for every nook and cranny of the Senate legislation whether or not they go on the record in support or opposition to it.
Americans 'Disgusted' With Congress: NBC/WSJ Poll
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35897628
They’ll be calling Bush for PR advice. Excerpt: As they prepare for climactic votes on health care reform, lawmakers face an angry public that isn't likely to applaud any decision they make, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. The survey showed Congress with a paltry 17 percent approval rating from the public, with opinions decidedly mixed on lawmakers seeking to stop or advance President Obama's health care agenda.
Lincoln: House move to avoid vote 'won't fly'
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/87171-lincoln-maneuver-to-avoid-vote-wont-fly
The little critters scurry for cover. Excerpt: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) says House Democratic leaders should hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate health care bill and not use the "self-executing rule." Leaders have toyed with the idea in order to avoid a tough vote that might not have the required support. Lincoln is also calling on her primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, to renounce the maneuver. "Arkansans and most Americans are demanding more accountability from Washington, not less, so I believe that any plan to approve major reform without actually voting for it simply won't fly outside the beltway," Lincoln said in a statement. Lincoln was one of the final votes Senate Democratic leaders landed when they passed the health care bill. Halter is challenging her from the left.
Slaughter House Rules
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575123512773070080.html
Excerpt: We're not sure American schools teach civics any more, but once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law. Until this week, that is, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving to merely "deem" that the House has passed the Senate health-care bill and then send it to President Obama to sign anyway. Under the "reconciliation" process that began yesterday afternoon, the House is supposed to approve the Senate's Christmas Eve bill and then use "sidecar" amendments to fix the things it doesn't like. Those amendments would then go to the Senate under rules that would let Democrats pass them while avoiding the ordinary 60-vote threshold for passing major legislation. This alone is an abuse of traditional Senate process. But Mrs. Pelosi & Co. fear they lack the votes in the House to pass an identical Senate bill, even with the promise of these reconciliation fixes. House Members hate the thought of going on record voting for the Cornhusker kickback and other special-interest bribes that were added to get this mess through the Senate, as well as the new tax on high-cost insurance plans that Big Labor hates. So at the Speaker's command, New York Democrat Louise Slaughter, who chairs the House Rules Committee, may insert what's known as a "self-executing rule," also known as a "hereby rule." Under this amazing procedural ruse, the House would then vote only once on the reconciliation corrections, but not on the underlying Senate bill. If those reconciliation corrections pass, the self-executing rule would say that the Senate bill is presumptively approved by the House—even without a formal up-or-down vote on the actual words of the Senate bill. Democrats would thus send the Senate bill to President Obama for his signature even as they claimed to oppose the same Senate bill. They would be declaring themselves to be for and against the Senate bill in the same vote. Even John Kerry never went that far with his Iraq war machinations.
A Democrat's view from the House: Senate bill isn't health reform
By Louise M. Slaughter, Special to CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/12/23/slaughter.oppose.senate.bill/index.html?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
My, how her views have changed! Now she’s going to force through the Senate Bill. Excerpt: I do not want to subsidize the private insurance market; the whole point of creating a government option is to bring prices down. Insisting on a government mandate to have insurance without a better alternative to the status quo is not true reform. By eliminating the public option, the government program that could spark competition within the health insurance industry, the Senate has ended up with a bill that isn't worthy of its support. The public option is the part of our reform effort that will lower costs, improve the delivery of health care services and force insurance companies to offer rates and services that are reasonable. Although the art of legislating involves compromise, I believe the Senate went off the rails when it agreed with the Obama Administration to water down the reform bill and no longer include the public option.
Pelosi, Slaughter went to court against GOP in 2005 case that exposes Slaughter Solution flaw
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Pelosi-Slaughter-went-to-court-against-GOPs-self-executing-rule-in-2005---87773712.html
Does that shoe pinch on the other foot?
Levin's Landmark Legal Foundation to File Immediate Challenge if House Dems Try to Pass Health-Care Bill Without Actually Voting on It
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/62939
Excerpt: Conservative talk-radio host and attorney Mark Levin said he plans to file an immediate lawsuit if House Democratic leaders try to utilize a little-known maneuver under House rules to pass the health-care bill without actually having to vote on it.
Quality Competition
http://www.john-goodman-blog.com/quality-competition/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-9466
Excerpt: Most providers don’t compete for patients either on price or on quality. Since out-of-pocket payments by patients are well below the true cost of their care, demand exceeds supply and services are rationed by waiting — just like in Canada. In such an environment, quality improvements do not increase provider income and quality degradation does not decrease it. That’s why so much of the health care system resembles the Department of Motor Vehicles. In some specialized markets, however, providers actively seek more customers, often advertising directly to patients — on TV, in magazines, etc., sometimes in other cities and sometimes nationwide. For example, New York’s Mount Sinai Medical and Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Massachusetts General in Boston are all aggressive advertisers on cancer care. In these markets, third-party payment significantly exceeds the marginal cost of care, and supply often exceeds demand. Providers in these markets typically compete for patients based on quality. They need patient-pleasing services in order to attract their clientele in the first place and to retain them as ongoing customers. And their activities raise an obvious question: Why can’t we have quality competition system-wide?
ObamaCare and Eugenics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575123590196012672.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion
Excerpt: What Stupak is hearing from his colleagues is not the pro-choice argument that the government should permit abortion as a matter of individual liberty. Rather, they claim that the government should encourage abortion as a social expedient--a cost-cutting measure. The first thing one must say about this position is that when stated categorically, it is nonsense. Sure, babies are expensive. But from society's standpoint, that expense is a necessary investment--the only way to produce the next generation of productive adults. A society in which babies are a net long-term cost--in which the average person consumes more over his lifetime than he produces--is unsustainable. A policy aimed at reducing the number of babies born would be economically ruinous, because within a few decades it would result in a shortage of workers and taxpayers. But as a matter of cold cost-benefit analysis, not all babies are equal. Some are costlier than others, and not all grow into productive adults. In particular, certain disabilities and diseases are very expensive to treat and limit productive adulthood by causing either early death or lifelong dependency. In order to be effective, a policy of using abortion as a cost-cutting measure would have to aim at preventing the birth of babies with such pre-existing conditions. The goal would be not a reduction in the number of babies, but an "improvement" in the "quality" (narrowly defined in economic terms) of the babies who are born. This is known as eugenics. Getting government into the eugenics business would have disturbing implications for reproductive liberty. What would happen to a woman who received, say, a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome? She would be free (as she is today) to exercise her right to have an abortion. But would she be free to exercise her right not to have an abortion? Presumably the government could not directly force her to abort, as this would provoke political outrage and run afoul of Roe v. Wade and subsequent rulings. But one can easily imagine softer forms of coercion coming into play. A government-run insurance plan, for instance, could deny or limit coverage for the treatment of certain conditions if diagnosed before fetal viability, on the ground that the taxpayer should not be forced to pay the costs of the woman's choice to carry her child to term. Perhaps the courts would find this an "undue burden" on a woman's right to choose, but that does not strike us as an open-and-shut case.
Ten ways to have real heath care reform
http://ow.ly/1n1HJ
The bills in Congress are not about reducing costs or reform. They are about building government and the class of employees and recipients dependent on the statist party.
Disasters In Obamacare
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19110&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
Good summary to share.
A move toward divided government?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/why-republicans-may-not-need-a.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
Excerpt: Republicans have taken considerable flack -- mostly from their Democratic rivals -- for being the "party of no", blocking President Obama's major agenda items but offering few big picture solutions to the problems of the day. And, Republican strategists and even some elected officials have acknowledged that the party has not done much on the issue front. "This lurch to the left in public policy is helping Republicans even though we have not done that much to take advantage of it," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recently. The "party of no" charge has set off a serious debate within Republican circles about whether or not the GOP needs a set of policies on things like energy, health care and the economy to bring to the American public to maximize their chances at gains this fall. Some argue that a "Contract with America" (part 2) is a necessity, others see it as unnecessary -- essentially handing Democrats a list of ripe electoral targets. Buried deep in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll is a question that suggests that simply painting themselves as the loyal opposition to the President's policies might be enough for Republicans this fall. Asked whether it is better for one party to control Congress and the White House so "they can work together more closely" or whether it is better for there to be divided control of Congress and the presidency "to prevent either one from going too far", 31 percent of registered voters preferred the former option while 60 percent chose the latter. Those numbers mark a significant retreat from NBC/WSJ polling conducted in the fall of 2008 as Obama coasted to victory and Democrats prepared to significantly expand their congressional majorities. In an early October 2008 survey, 41 percent said it would be better for one party to control all levers of government in Washington while 48 percent chose the checks and balances option.
Interesting story about government
Due to some breathing problems, I’ve been going to repertory therapy. One of the fellows I see a few mornings a week owns a coating business. He’s 70, has been a life-long epileptic, now has MS so lung problems. Still working full time, still giving money to his kids in their 50s for rent, etc. (Welcome to America where we are raising a generation of parasites!)
Among the things he does is work on munitions for the government. He has just told them to take a hike on a contract because the specs are from 1927, and the steel specified isn’t made. He doesn’t want to join similar firms driven bankrupt trying to meet specs long outdated by modern technology.
He reports that he was working on tank shells, where the casings are no longer made of brass. He claimed the military lost two tanks when the crews set a hot used primer down on a shell and it cooked off. They tried using rubber rims, but the heat caused the rubber to peel, resulting in extraction problems—not good in combat. He developed a thicker primer that dissipated the heat, solved the problem and saved the government $9M. Usually the government gives you half for developing something that saves money. He says they declined to pay, saying the solution was too easy and that anyone could have thought of it. (Anyone but a government bureaucrat, of course.)
I have no way of verifying this; it might be just what we Marines call a Sea Story. But it sure sounds like the efficiency we can expect from the people who want to control our healthcare system. God help the next generation in Collectivist America.
What's the Matter With Illinois?
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/03/16/whats_the_matter_with_illinois__98384.html
It’s run by corrupt liberal Democrats in league with corrupt Republicans. What’s the mystery? Excerpt: Over the last two budget cycles, every state except North Dakota has had to close a budget gap. But a handful of states stand out for the depth of their fiscal problems. For 2010, seven states had budget gaps totaling more than 25% of general fund spending, as measured by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Of these, six have a clear story about how they ended up in such a mess. Nevada is battered by weak travel to Las Vegas, while California is heavily reliant on shrinking income tax revenues. Arizona, California and Nevada were all hit particularly hard by the burst of the property bubble. Alaska's odd finances are sensitive to falling oil prices. And New York and New Jersey are feeling the effects of fewer, and smaller, Wall Street bonuses. The most puzzling member of the "over 25% club" is Illinois. Illinois did not see a particularly large bubble (or burst) in property prices, does not have outsize exposure to finance or tourism, and has a lower-than-normal reliance on its flat income tax. So how did the state achieve a staggering budget gap equaling 47% of its fiscal 2010 budget, second only to California?
Allies everywhere feeling snubbed by President Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031603322.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
Excerpt: The contretemps between President Obama and Israel needs to be seen in a broader global context. The president who ran against "unilateralism" in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term. Israelis shouldn't feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking about the end of the "special relationship" with America and worrying that Obama has no great regard for the British, despite their ongoing sacrifices in Afghanistan. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has openly criticized Obama for months (and is finally being rewarded with a private dinner, presumably to mend fences). In Eastern and Central Europe, there has been fear since the administration canceled long-planned missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic that the United States may no longer be a reliable guarantor of security. Among top E.U. officials there is consternation that neither the president nor even his Cabinet seems to have time for the European Union's new president, Herman Van Rompuy, who, while less than scintillating, is nevertheless the chosen representative of the post-Lisbon Treaty continent. Europeans in general, while still fond of Obama, have concluded that he is not so fond of them -- despite his six trips to Europe -- and is more of an Asian president. The Asians, however, are not so sure. Relations with Japan are rocky, mostly because of the actions of the new government in Tokyo but partly because of a perception that the United States can't be counted on for the long term. In India, there are worries that the burgeoning strategic partnership forged in the Bush years has been demoted in the interest of better relations with China.
Israel and the Crisis with Obama
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703734504575125433891508788.html?mod=djemITP_h
Excerpt: Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as Israeli prime minister collapsed in 1999 in part because he had an unhappy relationship with President Bill Clinton. It is understandable then that Mr. Netanyahu's current government had, until last week, strived to stay close to President Barack Obama. That strategy would have been entirely sensible if Mr. Obama were simply another president in the long line since Franklin Roosevelt who vigorously asserted U.S. national interests, championed our friends (especially beleaguered ones), and kept alliances strong. But Mr. Obama is different. He is our first post-American president. He looks beyond American exceptionalism and believes that our role on the world stage should be merely one nation among many. Mr. Netanyahu's strategy is therefore out-of-date and flawed. Israel has sought to accommodate Mr. Obama on two critical issues: negotiations with Palestinians and Iranian nuclear weapons. These efforts have largely kept bilateral disagreements out of sight. But now the suppressed conflicts are fully visible and will either be resolved or cause a serious collision between Israel and the U.S.
Pacific Pushback: Has the U.S. Empire of Bases Reached Its High-Water Mark?
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/05-6
Long but important. Excerpt: For a country with a pacifist constitution, Japan is bristling with weaponry. Indeed, that Asian land has long functioned as a huge aircraft carrier and naval base for U.S. military power. We couldn’t have fought the Korean and Vietnam Wars without the nearly 90 military bases scattered around the islands of our major Pacific ally. Even today, Japan remains the anchor of what’s left of America’s Cold War containment policy when it comes to China and North Korea. From the Yokota and Kadena air bases, the United States can dispatch troops and bombers across Asia, while the Yokosuka base near Tokyo is the largest American naval installation outside the United States. You’d think that, with so many Japanese bases, the United States wouldn’t make a big fuss about closing one of them. Think again. The current battle over the Marine Corps air base at Futenma on Okinawa — an island prefecture almost 1,000 miles south of Tokyo that hosts about three dozen U.S. bases and 75% of American forces in Japan — is just revving up. In fact, Washington seems ready to stake its reputation and its relationship with a new Japanese government on the fate of that base alone, which reveals much about U.S. anxieties in the age of Obama. What makes this so strange, on the surface, is that Futenma is an obsolete base. Under an agreement the Bush administration reached with the previous Japanese government, the U.S. was already planning to move most of the Marines now at Futenma to the island of Guam. Nonetheless, the Obama administration is insisting, over the protests of Okinawans and the objections of Tokyo, on completing that agreement by building a new partial replacement base in a less heavily populated part of Okinawa.
Will America Defend Its Asian Allies?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575044354072896096.html
Likewise. Excerpt: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a visit to Hawaii last month to proclaim that, under the Obama administration, the United States is back in Asia to stay. Yet the fine details of the Pentagon's 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, released this week, may not convince Asian partners that America will retain both the resolve and the capacity to maintain a decisive military edge in the region. Superficially, there is much in the report that's reassuring. It reinforces the importance of alliances. It commits the U.S. to maintaining a forward military presence in Asia and a strong extended nuclear deterrent, while paying lip-service to the pipedream of a nuclear-free world. It focuses on rising threats in domains such as the oceans, space and cyberspace where—at least until recently—the U.S. has become used to uncontested dominance…. It is hard to square the report's legitimate concern about the "lack of transparency and the nature of China's military development and decision-making processes" with reports that the administration has downgraded China as a U.S. intelligence priority. Any rolling back of U.S. surveillance operations around China's maritime periphery in response to Beijing's bluster should also be of concern to U.S. allies. An even bigger question, though, is whether the U.S. will be able to afford the force outlined in the report: one capable of conducting stabilization operations when necessary and continuing to keep the peace in Asia into the future. Asian governments are nervous that this time around America's decline is real, and they are hedging in response. Both Australia and South Korea are building up their naval forces, for instance. It is no bad thing for U.S. allies to contribute more to international security, but a fundamental loss of confidence in the durability of American military dominance in Asia would be profoundly destabilizing. The report will only reassure U.S. allies if they are convinced Washington will deliver on the capabilities it promises and can project power, deter aggression and come to their aid. With little evident appetite in the White House or Congress to rein in rampant domestic spending, pressures on the defense budget will only increase. Asian governments will have little option but to divert resources to acquire more sophisticated weapons. That's not good news for anyone, including America.
Er, sorry, you still read newspapers because why now?
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/03/16/er-sorry-you-still-read-newspapers-because-why-now/
Reporters can’t ID Iwo Jima Flag Raising photo. Excerpt: The Chicago Tribune’s Ron Grossman writes: I took a quick survey in the newsroom the other day, something between a Rorschach test and a pop quiz, asking younger colleagues to identify an iconic photograph [see photo above] of World War II. While some instantly recognized the image, others couldn’t quite place it. Extremely disturbing on many levels. You can say, “Well, kids these days don’t learn the right things in school” and you’d be absolutely correct. But I didn’t learn about Iwo Jima in school, either. I learned about it through old Life magazines and then-new (1970s) Time magazines and from TV shows and old movies. Heck, there’s a Johnny Cash song about one of the men in that photo. What should really disturb you is not just that these young, “educated” people didn’t recognize this image after almost 20 years of public education. You should ask yourself how and why kids who “want to get into the media” apparently managed not to consume any media before they decided to major in it.
Iran sought to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/iran_sought_to_buy_nuclear_wea.html
Excerpt: The "Father of the Pakistani Bomb," A.Q. Khan, has written an official report on his illegal activities that points the finger at Iran for seeking to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan at the end of the 1980's. ...(I)t is little wonder that American presidents from Clinton through Obama have insisted that the Iranians want nuclear bombs, despite their protestations to the contrary.
The Gay Terrorist Who Could Have Foiled 9/11
http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/gay-terrorist?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BLoMcVB8Gc-hwx&
Interesting recent historical example of why the Patriot Act was/is necessary. Excerpt: A year and a half before September 11, 2001, the C.I.A. tried to recruit an Iraqi terrorist thought to be secretly gay, The New York Observer reports. If the agency had been successful, the terrorist attack perhaps could have been prevented. The C.I.A. hoped Ahmad Hikmat Shakir could be an "access agent"—someone without high-level knowledge but who could arrange contacts with people who do. Short, fat and jolly, he perhaps could have been flipped by threats to reveal his sexuality. In January 2000, al Qaeda was meeting in Kuala Lumpur, and Shakir picked up an eventual 9/11 hijacker, Khalid al-Mihdhar, at the airport. Al Mihdar had a multiple-entry visa to the U.S., but the C.I.A. didn't inform the F.B.I., who could have put him on a watch list or questioned him. An F.B.I. agent was drafting a memo to alert bosses about Mihdar's likely visit to the U.S., but the C.I.A. told him to hold off. The F.B.I. wasn't alerted to his presence stateside until August 2001. The C.I.A.'s actions are one of the biggest mysteries of the attacks, but the Observer speculates that proceeding with the alert could have exposed the agency's attempts to convert Shakir.
America: Break the Silence on Islam
http://www.amilimani.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=174&Itemid=2
Excerpt: The American people must hear the truth about Islam continually until they are completely aware of its dangers. Sadly, our Churches dare not speak up for fear of being accused of intolerance toward another religion. Our academia, the university professors, left or right, dare not, because, most likely, they would lose their salaries. Our politicians dare not because they are master practitioners of euphemism, hedging, doubletalk, and outright deception, and they need your votes as well as your money. Our editors dare not because they would lose subscribers. Businessmen dare not because they might lose customers and clientele. Even ordinary clerks dare not because they might be discharged. So I thought I would tell you. My fellow Americans, America is faced with a formidable enemy. This enemy has a name: Islam. I think it is time to revisit the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and see if Islam is qualified as a religion. Is this an outlandishly absurd proposal? Not at all, serious problems require equally serious solutions. The call for evaluation of the First Amendment may be seen as an attempt to curb Islam or other militant cults. The truth is: it is. It is truly a matter of survival of the United States and the free world. It is time to take a stand and shift the debate to orthodox Islam. We do not have to investigate every other religion on earth in order to compare them or offer opinion about their relative “goodness” in order to declare that on the whole Islam perpetuates evil. Let others devolve into religious disagreements. But for those commentators who would respond: “OK great, so now what...you claim Islam is evil. How do we combat that?” Your response is already clear: Through the spread of truth, not deceit. Through voluntary social sanctions and laws in every civilized country that forbid evil practices like Sharia, coercion and violence against women, threats against those who disagree, honor killings, apostasy and other hate crimes. Let the world know the truth and decide for itself. Let Muslims who come to their senses opt out. America, with a long history of protecting religious freedom, still clings to the “hands off” practice of leaving alone any doctrine or practice billed as religion. A thorny problem is in deciding what constitutes a religion and who is to make that call. The dictionary supplies a sociologically useless definition for religion: “The expression of man’s belief in and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe.” Just about anyone or any group under this definition can start a religion, and they indeed do—and some do so at significant costs to others. Muslims, under the banner of religion, are infringing blatantly on the rights of others, not only in Islamic countries, but also in much of the non-Muslim world. By their acts of dogmatic barbarity, Muslims are slowly awakening the non-Muslim democracies to the imminent threat of Islamic terrorism keen on destroying their free secular and free societies. As more and more Muslims arrive in American land, as they reproduce with great fecundity, as they convert the disenchanted and minorities, and as petrodollar-flush Muslims and Muslim treasuries supply generous funds, Muslims gather more power to undermine a serious challenge to the American system of governance—democracy. As for democracy, the rule of the people, Muslims have no use at all. Muslims believe that Allah’s rule must govern the world in the form of Caliphate—a theocracy. Making mockery of democracy, subverting its working, and ignoring its provisions is a Muslim’s way of falsifying what he already believes to be a sinful and false system of governance invented by the infidels.
Malaysia's religion minister rejects child marriage reform
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/03/malaysias-religion-minister-rejects-child-marriage-reform.html
Excerpt: As always, what's standing in the way here is Muhammad's own example -- a "beautiful pattern of conduct," per Qur'an 33:21. Muhammad married Aisha when she was six, and consummated the marriage when she was nine. For this cleric, condemning child marriage would thus run the risk of implying Muhammad did something wrong, or that his example is less relevant for Muslims in modern times. In a land where churches are firebombed over the use of the word "Allah," one can imagine there being some fallout over that. In any event, keeping the status quo on child marriage laws lets the Sharia-inclined have it both ways: there is a symbolic law on the books for the sake of appearances, but a religious loophole to get around it in practice
Internet Video: Muslims Must Rise Up in Nigeria
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/16/world/AP-AF-Nigeria-Violence.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
didn’t get the memo. Excerpt: A video posted on a militant Web site calls for Muslims in Nigeria to use ''the sword and the spear'' to rise up against Christians in Africa's most populous nation, according to a translation released Tuesday by a U.S. group that monitors militant sites. The video on the Ansar al-Mujahideen forum, a Web site sympathetic to al-Qaida, comes in the wake of a series of religious massacres and riots in central Nigeria.
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"The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex." --James Madison The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/
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