News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Friday, October 23, 2009
Dont Shut Us Out
As a candidate for President, Barack Obama promised us transparency and an open forum when it came to health care. President Obama has instead met behind closed doors, away from the public, and away from the press. Send a message to the President:Dont Shut us Out [Video]
Tags:Barack Obama, government transparency, health care, Obamacare, public option, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Abortion Kills More Black Americans Than Seven Leading Causes of Death Combined
(CNSNews.com) – Abortion kills more black Americans than the seven leading causes of death combined, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2005, the latest year for which the abortion numbers are available.
Abortion killed at least 203,991 blacks in the 36 states and two cities (New York City and the District of Columbia) that reported abortions by race in 2005, according to the CDC. During that same year, according to the CDC, a total of 198,385 blacks nationwide died from heart disease, cancer, strokes, accidents, diabetes, homicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases combined. These were the seven leading causes of death for black Americans that year. . . .
Among the large states not reporting abortions by race--and thus where the number of blacks killed by abortions is not included in the national total of 203,991--are California, Florida, Illinois and the rest of New York state outside of New York City. According to the CDC, the total of 203,991 blacks killed by abortion in 2005 also does not include those aborted by "private physicians’ procedures.” . . .
Dr. Alveda King, niece of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is a pro-life activist. In August 2007 she told a meeting of Priests for Life that abortionists “plant their killing centers in minority neighborhoods and prey upon women who think they have no hope.” “The great irony,” she said, “is that abortion has done what the Klan only dreamed of.” [Full Story] Update: A reader of the above post identified the following video at Maafa21 which is a Life Dynamics project: Tags:abortion, Alveda King, black Americans, black genocide, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Republican Voters Say GOP Reps in Congress Out of Touch
We missed this report in September and now have a base line to monitor changes. Rasmussen Reports:
Republican Voters:
- 74% say their party’s representatives in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters nationwide
- 18% believe their elected officials have done a good job representing the base.
- 55% say that the average Republican in Congress is more liberal than the average Republican Voters.
- 24% say the average Republican in Congress holds views about the same as the average Republican
- 17% think the Congressional Republicans are more conservative than GOP voters.
- 84% overwhelmingly believe it is more important for the party to stand for what it believes in rather than trying to work with President Barack Obama.
- 14% favor more co-operation with the President.
Non Affiliated Voters (with Major Parties):
- 58% say the GOP should stand for what it believes
- 33% would like to see more cooperation with the President.
- 71% believe the Republicans in Congress have lost touch with their base
- 41% believe that the average Republican in Congress is more liberal than the average Republican voters.
Democrat Voters - Those in President Obama’s party overwhelmingly want the GOP to work more closely with the President. [What a surprise.]
Overall, among all voters, 51% believe it is more important for the Republican Party to stand for what it believes in than for the GOP to work with President Obama. Forty-two percent (42%) disagree.
Just 24% of all voters nationwide think Democrats should pass a health care reform bill that is opposed by all Republicans in Congress. Fifty-eight percent (58%) say Democrats should change the bill to win support from "a reasonable number of Republicans." . . . [Full Report] Tags:GOP, Rasmussen Poll, Rasmussen Reports, RepublicansTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 23, 2009 - No Transparency Offered by Court Jester Harry Reid
The Senate is in recess until Monday afternoon but Reid's secret meetings continue - more later. On Tuesday, the Senate plans to vote on another district judge nomination and on cloture of the motion to proceed to a bill to extend unemployment insurance, H.R. 3548.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 64-35 to invoke cloture on the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Defense authorization bill, H.R. 2647. The bill was then passed by a vote of 68-29, thus clearing it for the president’s signature. The bill authorizes $680 billion in defense programs, including $130 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. It also includes an unrelated provision extending federal hate crimes laws to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. Such is the way of duplicitous elected officials who embed a law which cannot stand on its own in the open within another bill which must be passed - in this case to support our troops.
Sen John Thune (R, SD) shared on the record with bloggers about the Democrat's lack of transparency in addressing and developing a health care bill and the associated financial cost to the American people. He encouraged that when the Democrats reveal their final bill, "We are going to need the engagement of the American people .. the bill is going to move fast and furious." Thune also addressed the failure of promised transparency, "Contrary to assertions made by the Presidents, this has been anything but a transparent process. Republicans have not been included, have not had amendments accepted, the deliberations that are going on right now are going on in the majority leader's [Reid's] office behind closed doors along with White House staff and a few of the democratic leaders. So this whole idea that the President promised that his health care plan would be televised on C-SPAN and open to the American public is just a bunch of hot air. This is a very closed and secretive process and we won't know until it's over what that bill will look like." He also shared about the cost impact as revealed by the Senate Finance Committee bill. "Almost 90% of the taxes in the Senate Finance Committee bill would fall on wage earners UNDER $200,000 a year. Remember the president promised that nobody's taxes are going to go up if you make under $250,000 a year. According to the joint tax committee and the Congressional Budget Office, about 90% of the higher taxes are going to hit people who make UNDER $200,000 a year and the joint tax committee went so far to say that over 50% of the tax burden will fall on wage earners who make UNDER $100,000 dollars a year. So, higher taxes on the middle class, higher premiums and we would argue that is not health care reform. Another way it is financed is through cuts to medicare. All this to pay for a $1.8 TRILLION expansion of the Federal Government creating a whole new entitlement program that doesn't do anything to drive cost down. More Spending, more Taxes, Medicate Cuts, additions to the Federal Debt and ironically under the Senate Finance Committee bill 25 million people still don't get insurance. This is not true health care reform!"
As Democrats in the Senate and House huddle behind closed doors to put together health care reform bills to bring to the floor, there is a lot of news today about the possible inclusion of a so-called “public option,” which is a Democrat euphemism for a government-run insurance plan. With some news outlets featuring headlines that make it sound like there is momentum for such a plan, it’s worth recalling that many Democrats remain opposed to the idea and just why it’s such a bad idea.
Despite The Washington Post’s headline, “Lawmakers warm to the public option,” reading the article shows moderate senators remain opposed to the idea. “Liberals, led by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), are seeking support for an ‘opt-out’ provision that would create a government plan but allow states not to participate. . . . Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), the only Republican to support any of the Democrat-sponsored health-care legislation, opposes the Schumer alternative and told reporters Thursday that she would vote against a measure that includes it. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) also criticized the opt-out approach and urged Reid to leave the public plan out of the bill. ‘I applaud his effort,’ Nelson said of Reid's attempt to find common ground. ‘But it's too risky.’”
And The New York Times reports, “As word of [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid’s intention [to include a government-run health insurance plan in the health care bill] spread Thursday, centrist senators from both parties said they had come together in an informal group to resist creation of a uniform nationwide public insurance program.” The Times writes, “One of the centrists, Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, said: “I am pressing to get a government-run, taxpayer-supported public option out of the bill. I want to rely on a reformed private marketplace.” The story also notes that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said he currently opposes including a government-run plan in a health care bill. And other Democrat senators have also previously expressed their opposition to the idea.
So, why is there such bipartisan opposition to a government-run insurance plan? In June, both the Congressional Budget Office and the Lewin Group studied Democrats’ proposals and found that millions would lose their private health care insurance if a government-run plan was implemented. At the time, George Will had an excellent column explaining all the problems with this idea. Will wrote, “Conservatives say that a government program will have the intended consequence of crowding private insurers out of the market, encouraging employers to stop providing coverage and luring employees from private insurance to the cheaper government option. . . . Assurances that the government plan would play by the rules that private insurers play by are implausible. Government is incapable of behaving like market-disciplined private insurers. Competition from the public option must be unfair because government does not need to make a profit and has enormous pricing and negotiating powers.”
Various associations representing major health care stakeholders cite many of the same concerns. Back in March, The New York Times reported, “‘Medicare has systematically been underpaying for services,’ said Dr. Denis A. Cortese, the chief executive of the Mayo Clinic, the highly regarded health system in Minnesota. If more patients are enrolled in a Medicare-like program, he predicted, ‘your very best providers will go out of business’ or stop seeing patients covered by the government plan.”
Sen. McConnell previously explained in June, “By drawing on the experience of countries that have already adopted these government-run systems, I’ve pointed out the serious problems government-run health care creates for millions around the world. I’ve noted that a common defect of these government-run plans is that they deny, delay, and ration health care. And I’ve noted that the primary culprit in almost every case is the so-called government board that these countries have established to decide which treatments and medicines patients in these countries can and cannot have.”
It’s little wonder, then, that the Public and therefore many Democrats cannot support including a government-run insurance plan in a health care reform bill. However, Sen.Harry Reid as the "court jester" for the Obama administration and a few other liberals (including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) keep pushing regardless of the reasons Democrats, Republicans, and many in the health care industry have previously rejected the idea. Reid, Pelosi, Emanuel and Obama do not care that their kind of reform is what most Americans want. Tags:government healthcare, Harry Reid, John Thune, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
State Unemployment Figures Confirm Failure of Obama Stimulus Bill
House Republican Conference: Eight months ago the President signed a $787 billion "stimulus" bill that had been rammed through the House without a single Republican vote. At the time Democrats claimed the bill would "save or create" 4 million U.S. jobs.Since then, nearly 3 million jobs have been lost and the unemployment rate has soared from 8.1 percent to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent.
As the unemployment rate reaches 10 percent for the first time since 1983, the Administration continues to send mixed messages about the economic situation. On one hand, the White House has touted the success of the "stimulus," saying that it already "added between 600,000 and 1.1 million to employment," even as unemployment grew. On the other hand, the President admitted that the "stimulus" has done little for jobs and growth, and argued that more government action needs to be taken, saying, "there is more we need to do. And that's why today, we're announcing new steps to support more lending to America's small businesses-steps that will lead to more jobs, more growth, and a stronger economic recovery."
The Democrats cannot hide the regrettable truth that the State unemployment numbers for September continue to reveal:since the Democrats "stimulus" passed 46 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have seen increased unemployment as the Democrats big-spending policies fail.Now, while Americans suffer in the midst of this economic crisis, Democrats continue their attempts to ram through a government takeover of health care which includes trillions of dollars in taxes and new entitlement spending, as well as a national energy tax. After rejecting a Republican stimulus alternative that would have created twice as many jobs at half the cost, Democrats continue to stifle jobs, handcuff growth, and prolong the economic crisis with new deficits, debt, taxes on job creators and government expansions.
State
Unemployment Rate When "Stimulus" Passed
Unemployment Rate in September
Percentage Change
Alabama
8.4
10.7
27.4%
Alaska
7.9
8.4
6.3%
Arizona
7.4
9.1
23.0%
Arkansas
6.4
7.1
10.9%
California
10.6
12.2
15.1%
Colorado
7.2
7
-2.8%
Connecticut
7.4
8.4
13.5%
Delaware
7.3
8.3
13.7%
District of Columbia
9.9
11.4
15.2%
Florida
9.6
11
14.6%
Georgia
9.2
10.1
9.8%
Hawaii
6.5
7.2
10.8%
Idaho
6.7
8.8
31.3%
Illinois
8.6
10.5
22.1%
Indiana
9.4
9.6
2.1%
Iowa
4.9
6.7
36.7%
Kansas
5.9
6.9
16.9%
Kentucky
9.3
10.9
17.2%
Louisiana
5.7
7.4
29.8%
Maine
7.8
8.5
9.0%
Maryland
6.8
7.2
5.9%
Massachusetts
7.7
9.3
20.8%
Michigan
12
15.3
27.5%
Minnesota
8
7.3
-8.8%
Mississippi
9.1
9.2
1.1%
Missouri
8.3
9.5
14.5%
Montana
6
6.7
11.7%
Nebraska
4.3
4.9
14.0%
Nevada
10
13.3
33.0%
New Hampshire
5.7
7.2
26.3%
New Jersey
8.2
9.8
19.5%
New Mexico
5.4
7.7
42.6%
New York
7.8
8.9
14.1%
North Carolina
10.7
10.8
0.9%
North Dakota
4.3
4.2
-2.3%
Ohio
9.5
10.1
6.3%
Oklahoma
5.5
6.7
21.8%
Oregon
10.7
11.5
7.5%
Pennsylvania
7.5
8.8
17.3%
Puerto Rico
14.3
16.2
13.3%
Rhode Island
10.5
13
23.8%
South Carolina
10.9
11.6
6.4%
South Dakota
4.6
4.8
4.3%
Tennessee
9
10.5
16.7%
Texas
6.5
8.2
26.2%
Utah
5.1
6.2
21.6%
Vermont
7.1
6.7
-5.6%
Virginia
6.6
6.7
1.5%
Washington
8.3
9.3
12.0%
West Virginia
6
8.9
48.3%
Wisconsin
7.8
8.3
6.4%
Wyoming
3.9
6.8
74.4%
Tags:economic stimulus, Obama administration, stimulus bill, unemployment, unemployment rateTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
What are the Democrats trying to hide as they develop nationalized health care in secret behind closed doors?
Tags:Barack Obama, Harry Reid, health care, Impeach Nancy Pelosi, nationalized healthcareTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by William Warren: Tags:Anita Dunn, Fox News, Obama administration, political humor, satire, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 22, 2009 - Hands off our health care!
Senate will resume consideration of the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Defense authorization bill, H.R. 2647. The bill authorizes $680 billion in defense programs, including $130 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also includes an unrelated provision extending federal hate crimes laws to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. At 11:45 am, a cloture vote on the Defense authorization conference report is scheduled.
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid failed to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1776, a $247 billion deficit-financed bill to prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors. The cloture motion was rejected 47-53. The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Roberto Lange to be District Judge for the District of South Dakota. Also,last night, Democrats filed cloture on a bill to extend unemployment insurance, H.R. 3548.
Enemies List: Yesterday, we reported about Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) taking to the Senate floor to ask the White House not to create an "Enemies List." In light of the White House battle against Fox News and conservative media in general, check out the one minute video clip where House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence spoke out from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, defending conservative media outlets and against the bias. One key quote by Rep. quote: "So to my friends in the so-called mainstream media, I say, conservative talk show hosts may not speak for everybody but they speak for more Americans than you do."
Nationalization of Health Care: Today’s New York Times headline, “Democrats Lose Big Test Vote on Health Legislation,” acknowledged the problems facing the behind closed door Democrats, especially Senate majority leader Harry Reid, on their push for health care reform. The Times writes, “Democrats lost a big test vote on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years. . . . Reid . . . could not blame Republicans. A dozen Democrats and one independent crossed party lines and voted with Republicans.” The Wall Street Journal editorial offers a real meaning to yesterday’s vote: “Maybe there's more anxiety among Democrats about a huge permanent increase in government health spending than the White House is willing to let on.”
The Los Angeles Times points out, “The roll call vote was a field guide to the kind of Democrats who will have to be persuaded that the costs of the broader healthcare bill are fully offset, including Southerners like Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and fiscal conservatives like Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota.”
Today’s Gallup poll explains a great deal of this Democrat angst. Gallup writes, “Compared with last month, Americans have become more likely to say the costs their family pays for healthcare will get worse if a healthcare bill passes. . . . In addition to costs, a greater percentage of Americans now compared with last month also expect their healthcare situation to get worse in terms of the quality of care they receive, their healthcare coverage, and the insurance company requirements they have to meet to get certain treatments covered.” Gallup looked at Americans still undecided on the Democrats’ health care proposals and found, “In general, Americans who are undecided . . . predict it is more likely to make their own situations worse rather than better -- especially in terms of cost.” Remarkably, even among supporters of the Democrats’ health care legislation, most don’t believe their health care will improve in terms of costs, quality of care, coverage, and insurance company requirements.
And of course, Americans remain deeply concerned about spending and the deficit. Democrats have spent a lot of time this week touting the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, but you haven’t heard them talk about the numbers it found on the deficit. The vast majority of those surveyed, 68%, believe the Democrats’ health care reforms will increase the deficit, and a majority, 51%, disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the deficit.
If Democrat senators are responsive to Americans’ concerns about spending and negative impacts on their health care, Harry Reid and the White House hopefully could have a real problem on their hands. As Sen. Mitch McConnell said yesterday, “With a record deficit and a ballooning national debt, the American people are saying enough is enough.” A majority of people once informed of the facts are saying, "Hands off our health care!" Tags:government healthcare, Harry Reid, Mike Pence, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Lincoln Votes With Washington Liberals for $245 Billion Unfunded Deficit Spending
Update:Roll Call of votes. Both Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln voted with the Washington Liberals. Remember the old saying "fool me once ... fool me twice...." Arkansas voters allowed Pryor to fool us with his smooth rhetoric and dressing up on occasion to appear to represent Arkansas conservative values. But after being re-elected instead of standing for his constituents, he continues to vote with Reid and other liberals. A quick fix on this issue is not the major issue. The issue is the poor performance of the present government funded health care system for seniors and the willingness to strap us with another $250 BILLION in unfunded deficit for our future generations to pay while hiding the true cost of the providing nationalized health care for everyone. However, we do not have to make the same mistake with Sen Lincoln. We can replace Lincoln. Don't feel sorry for her, Blanche has bankrolled a large Congressional retirement and she has the option to continue living in Virginia working for Obama or as a lobbyist or she could come home to be regrounded in Arkansas values.
Reference prior posts on the Medicare “Doc Fix. "Sen Harry Reid went down in flames when the Senate voted 47-53 and failed to end debate on the Medicare “Doc Fix." Thirteen democrats joined all the republicans to stop advancing this unfunded doc fix forward. By anyone’s standard, today was the first vote on health care reform. Harry Reid, the current pilot of Obama’s reform bill, badly miscalculated the mood of his conference when he cut a backroom deal to jam $250 billion down taxpayer’s throats. In the end, 13 Democrats sided with every Republican to turn back the first attempt to saddle American taxpayers with unsustainable debt through a massive effort to rewrite 1/6th of the U.S. economy behind closed doors."
Senator Blanche Lincoln voted with the liberal Democrats for $245 Billion Unfunded Deficit Spending. Fortunately, a bipartisan majority rejected the efforts of Senator Harry Reid and Blanche Lincoln to add another quarter trillion dollars to the national credit card without any plan to pay for it! A "Doc Fix" may well be needed because of government generated problems with Medicare. But not as another end run to hide the true cost of government run health care being proposed by Reid and the Obama Administration.
"It concerns all Arkansans that Sen. Lincoln continues to join the liberals in Washington rather than siding with the people back home. While she told everyone she would only support a deficit neutral proposal, she gave in to her Parties leaders and other special interests. The result was her voting for a bill that would have increased the deficit by nearly $250 billion. Arkansans want a Senator who will stand up to that type of pressure. We want someone who will always represent our views and values. Sen. Lincoln has once again proved she can’t do that."
“Today Sen. Lincoln made the first installment on the bill for her new committee chairmanship, choosing to side with Sen. Reid and the liberal leadership of the Senate to add $250 billion to the nation’s credit card.
While it is important that we ensure doctors are reimbursed for treating Medicare patients, we must do so in a conservative fashion which doesn’t add to the national debt. This is the conservative position that was embraced today by the likes of Sen. Lieberman and 12 other Democrats who joined in a bipartisan majority to reject the bill.
It is obvious now that Sen. Lincoln’s rhetoric does not match her record. Instead of choosing the conservative path, she opposed it. This is just the latest example of why Arkansans feel their voice is no longer heard in Washington. And that is why we must elect a senator who will restore our voice in the Senate and remember the conservative values we hold dear back in home in Arkansas.”
Tags:Blanche Lincoln, deficit spending, Doyle Webb, RPATo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
We on the right have long argued the relationship between the Obama campaign (and now administration) and the mainstream media was more like puppeteer and marionette than the public servant and public watchdog envisioned by our founders when they insisted on the freedom of the press in our 1st Amendment. But now we have President Obama's chief propagandist gloating about pulling the strings to manipulate the supposed objective media.
"Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control," said Dunn.
"One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters," said Dunn, referring to Plouffe, who was Obama's chief campaign manager.
"We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it," Dunn said.
Now we musn't forget this is the same Propaganda Minister Anita Dunn who last week initiated a war on Fox News, attacking the organization as a "wing of the Republican Party."
With video of the Obama administration equivalent of Joseph Goebbels boasting about controlling the press, it seems clear White House animosity towards Fox stems more from its inability to control the network's coverage than the purported bias.
Some are questioning the wisdom of the White House strategy of waging a war with a major news outlet. "It's a very risky strategy. It's not one that I would advocate," David Gergen said. But such thoughts may represent a level of naivete in thinking the Obama administration still respects the rules of the game, and American traditions such as freedom of the press. But our President may be willing to take yet another lesson from some of his new buddies like Chavez and Castro.
After all, Obama and his Democratic allies haven't tried to camoflauge their intentions for the future of talk radio. They've already made clear, to anyone with open eyes, they intend to destroy any broadcaster who dares air messages critical of the Obamessiah.
What can we infer from such radical idolization of a murderous, Communist tyrant and the war now being waged on Fox News by the White House Propaganda Ministry? Maybe the White House intent is to control the message, or destroy the messenger. Tags:John Allison III, Liberal Media, Obama administration, propagandaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
If you don’t have insurance, you will be required to buy it. The legislation specifies how much you will have to pay for the coverage before any subsidy kicks in. All during the campaign, Obama kept speaking about affordable coverage. Now it appears that his definition of “affordable” might be a bit elastic.
If your household income is $66,000 a year, slightly above the national average, Obama’s health care bill will require you to spend 12 percent of your income -- about $8,000 a year or almost $700 a month -- to buy health insurance before you get any federal subsidy.
Even those making less will have to reach deep into their meager resources to satisfy Obama’s statutory requirement. Families scraping by on only $44,0000 a year will have to pay 7 percent of their income (about $3,000) on insurance. Even those making just $33,000 will have to ante up 4.5 percent of their income (about $1,500) for health insurance. The required payments reach so far down the scale that those who are living at the federal poverty level of $22,000 will have to shell out 2 percent of their totally inadequate incomes ($440) for insurance.
That Obama is charging premiums to those living at or on the border of poverty is absolutely incredible! And this from a candidate who pledged that he would not tax the middle class! If you have insurance, you will get hit by his proposed 40 percent tax on insurance premiums. ...More America, You Asked for It!
They say there's a silver lining behind every cloud. Maybe this is true of President Obama's health care plan as well.
Then again, maybe not. Tags:Dick Morris, Eileen McGann, health care, John Allison, Obamacare, taxesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Philadelphia ACORN Video Released; Supports Allegations of ACORN Problems
by Adam Bitely, NetRight Nation: I was able to attend the press conference this morning where Andrew Breitbart, Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe released their new video filmed at the Philadelphia ACORN office. Interestingly, it looks like they are taking Media Matters to task for their comments on their work thus far. For those who aren't aware, Media Matters is attacking this courageous film team for releasing these videos. Aside from outrageous claims that they are making, Media Matters appears to be in a close relationship with ACORN.
As Andrew Breitbart said at the press conference this morning, "This is not a race issue, this is a human issue." While others claim that the videos are racially motivated, it is clear that this is not race based. Those that claim this are wrong and will be called out for making such erroneous claims.
I also noticed that Media Matters had a camera at the press conference. I wonder how they are reacting to the facts presented to them this morning. From James O'Keefe at BigGovernment.com comes the latest video that is haunting ACORN and Media Matters:
[Video]
UPDATE 2:24 PM EST
FROM BIGGOVERNMENT.COM: We muted the audio of the ACORN employees on the video released today due to ACORN’s legal attack upon us. We call upon ACORN to state publicly now that it has no objection to the public release of any its employees oral statements to us. If they are interested in the truth, why wouldn’t they do so?
Tags:ACORN, prostitution, Adam Bitely, federal housing, NetRight Nation, PhiladelphiaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 21, 2009 - Obama's Enemy List & Congressional Buffoonery
Update 4:21 pm from Sam Adams MMIV: Sen Harry Reid went down in flames when the Senate voted 47-53 and failed to end debate on the Medicare “Doc Fix." Thirteen democrats joined all the republicans to stop advancing this $247 billion, unfunded doc fix forward. By anyone’s standard, today was the first vote on health care reform. Harry Reid, the current pilot of Obama’s reform bill, badly miscalculated the mood of his conference when he cut a backroom deal to jam $250 billion down taxpayer’s throats. In the end, 13 Democrats sided with every Republican to turn back the first attempt to saddle American taxpayers with unsustainable debt through a massive effort to rewrite 1/6th of the U.S. economy behind closed doors.
Just hours earlier Reid was boasting to reporters, “Well, of course I don’t bring anything to the floor if I don’t think I have the votes.” Yet there were several stories, as far back as last week, featuring a number of Senate Democrats explaining they couldn’t vote for this Medicare payments bill without it being paid for. The Obama administration has been expecting Reid to shepherd through a bill that is certain to raise taxes, raise premiums, and cut Medicare, all of which polls show Americans oppose.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said: “In the Senate’s first vote on health care spending this year, a bipartisan majority rejected the Democrat Leadership's attempt to add another quarter trillion dollars to the national credit card without any plan to pay for it. With a record deficit and a ballooning national debt, the American people are saying enough is enough. Today's vote shows that this message is finally starting to get through to Congress. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come in the health care debate ahead.”The Senate will begin consideration of the nomination of Roberto Lange to be District Judge for the District of South Dakota. A vote on the nomination is scheduled for 2 PM. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he intends to hold a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 1776, a $247 billion deficit-financed bill to prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors.
Yesterday, Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (TN) took to the floor asking the White House not to create an "Enemies List." Roll Call reports the Alexander said: “Based upon that experience and my 40 years since then in and out of public life, I want to make . . . a friendly suggestion to President Obama and his White House: Don’t create an enemies list." Alexander read off a list of examples he says support his contention, including: a reported effort by the White House to marginalize the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a supposed effort by the Health and Human Services Department to put a “gag order” on the insurer Humana, the White House move to take on Fox News, Obama’s repeated criticisms of banks and investment houses, his alleged “taking names” of “bondholders who resisted the GM and Chrysler bailouts,” and the president’s move to make insurers the bogeyman of the health care debate. Alexander claimed that the incipient White House “enemies” campaign extends even to Congress. [and he provided examples]. “This behavior is typical of street brawls and political campaign consultants,” Alexander said. “If the president and his top aides treat people with different views as enemies instead of listening to what they have to say, they’re likely to end up with a narrow view and a feeling that the whole world is out to get them. And as those of us who served in the Nixon White House know, that can get you into a lot of trouble.”
Yesterday, the Senate voted 79-19 to approve the conference report on the fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill, H.R. 2892. The bill provides $44.1 billion in funding to the department and now goes to the president for his signature. Also yesterday, Reid filed cloture on the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Defense authorization bill (H.R. 2647) and on the nomination of William Session to be chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Later this afternoon, the Senate is set to vote on what amounts to the first round in the debate over health care reform. Reid has scheduled a cloture vote on a $247 billion bill to eliminate cuts in Medicare payments to doctors over the next decade. However, the bill is not paid for and will be added directly to our record deficit. Senate Republicans along with a number of Democrats have expressed opposition to moving ahead in this manner and hiding the true cost of the Democrat's health care bill.
Reid is apparently undeterred and os pressing forward with a vote, despite what appears to be a lack of support for a bill which adds a quarter trillion dollars to the deficit.The Hill reports today, “A group of Senate Democrats is threatening to derail a deal Majority Leader Harry Reid offered to doctors in exchange for their support of President Barack Obama’s healthcare initiative. Sens. Kent Conrad (N.D.), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Russ Feingold (Wis.), Tom Carper (Del.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) on Tuesday voiced opposition to separate legislation that would freeze scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors for the next 10 years.” Not only that, The Hill notes, “House Democratic leaders also held firm in objecting to the legislation Tuesday, insisting that the Senate agree to offset the cost of the doctor payments with tax increases or spending cuts, or agree to implement pay-as-you-go budget rules for most legislation, which senators have firmly resisted in recent years.”
In his 50th speech on the Senate floor about health care reform today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained why so many senators have problems with Reid’s approach to this bill: “The national debt is nearly 12 trillion dollars. It’s expected to grow by another nine trillion dollars over the next ten years. Medicare and Medicaid cost the federal government nearly $700 billion a year, a cost that’s expected to double in ten years. . . . And now Democrats in Congress are proposing that we put another quarter of a trillion dollars on the government charge card in order to prevent a cut in the reimbursement rate to doctors who treat Medicare patients. All of us want to keep this cut from happening. But the American people don’t want us to borrow another cent to pay for it. And they don’t want Democrats in Congress to pretend that this quarter of a trillion dollars isn’t part of the cost of health care reform — because it is.”
The Wall Street Journal editors are fed up with the Democrats’ shell games on paying for health care reform and write today: “President Obama has made serial promises that he will not sign a health-care bill that ‘adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future, period.’ This was never plausible, but now we can begin to understand what he meant: Democrats plan to make ObamaCare ‘deficit-neutral’ by moving nearly a quarter-trillion dollars off the books, in the fiscal deception of the century.”
As Sen. McConnell said today, “the American people have a message for Democrats in Congress: the time to get our fiscal house in order is not tomorrow. It’s not next year. It’s now. . . . Americans are concerned about the direction we’re headed in. Record debts, record deficits, endless borrowing, and yet every day we hear of more plans to borrow and spend, borrow and spend.”
If Harry Reid hasn’t counted his votes right and the cloture vote fails today, maybe - just maybe, he and other Democrat leaders will reconsider their eagerness to push the country even deeper into a sea of red ink. However, their has been no indicator of this. Reid seems to be a man on a mission to bankrupt our country. Why aren't Democrat Senators and House members looking within their own caucus for people who would better represent them and the American people? Aren't the tired of the buffoons representing them? Do these buffoons actually have too much dirt on their fellow constituents for them to do anything? Congressional buffoonery is getting old to the American people. Tags:government healthcare, Harry Reid, Lemar Alexander, Obama administration, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
by Chuck Baldwin: [Excerpt] . . . I am absolutely convinced that without a renewed allegiance to constitutional government and State sovereignty, there can be no resolution to America's current slide into socialism and oppression. Therefore, it is critical that we cast aside our infatuation with partisan politics and steadfastly stand firm for the principles of federalism and freedom, as did America's founders.
Might you be a modern-day Minuteman who understands the principles of freedom and federalism? I offer the following test. Read it and see if you, too, are a Constitutionalist. (Yes, Martha, this is another Jeff Foxworthy spin-off.)
1. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that every congressman, senator, President, and Supreme Court justice is required to obey the U.S. Constitution. 2. [. . .] you believe that before the United States invades and occupies another country, Congress must first declare war. 3. [. . .] you believe the federal government should live within its means, like everyone else is forced to do. 4. [. . .] you think that taking away people's liberties in the name of security is not patriotic, nor does it make the country more secure. 5. [. . .] you would like to see politicians be forced to abide by the same laws they make everyone else submit to. 6. [. . .] you understand that we have three "separate but equal" branches of government that are supposed to hold each other in check and balance. 7. [. . .] you believe that the federal government has no authority to be involved in education or law enforcement, or in any other issue that the Tenth Amendment reserves to the States, or to the People. 8. [. . .] you believe that gun control laws do nothing but aid and abet criminals while trampling the rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens. 9. [. . .] you believe that the income tax is both unconstitutional and immoral, and, along with the I.R.S. and the Federal Reserve, should be abolished. 10. [. . .] you believe the federal government had no authority to tell former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore that he could not display a monument containing the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery; or to tell a Pace, Florida, high school principal that he could not pray before a meal. 11. [. . .] you believe that Congress or the White House or any sovereign State is not required to submit to unconstitutional Supreme Court rulings. 12. [. . .] you understand that freedom has nothing in common with illegal immigration. 13. [. . .] you understand that outsourcing American jobs overseas is not good for America. 14. [. . .] you believe that the United States should get out of the United Nations and get the United Nations out of the United States. 15. [. . .] you believe that it is not unconstitutional for children in public schools to pray or read the Bible. 16. [. . .] you believe that the Boy Scouts are not a threat to America. 17. [. . .] you believe that the federal government should honor its commitments to America's veterans and stop using U.S. military personnel as guinea pigs for testing drugs and chemicals. 18. [. . .] you believe that U.S. troops should never serve under foreign commanders or wear the uniform or insignia of the United Nations, and that they must never submit to illegal orders, such as turning their weapons against American citizens, or confiscating the guns of U.S. citizens. 19. [. . .] you believe that the federal government has no business bribing churches and faith-based organizations with federal tax dollars. 20. [. . .] you believe that federal agents who murder American citizens should be held to the same laws and punishments that any other citizen would be held to. (Can anyone say, "Waco" and "Ruby Ridge"?) 21. [. . .] you understand that NAFTA, GATT, the WTO, and the FTAA (and similar agreements) are disastrous compromises of America's national sovereignty and independence. 22. [. . .] you would like to see congressmen and senators be required to actually read a bill before passing it into law. 23. [. . .] you understand that it is the job of government to protect and secure God-given rights, not use its power to take those rights away. 24. [. . .] you understand that there is nothing unconstitutional about the public acknowledgement of God and our Christian heritage. 25. [. . .] you believe that government bailouts and "stimulus" expenditures defy virtually every principle of free enterprise and are a flagrant leap into socialism. 26. [. . .] you believe that airport screeners have no business touching women's breasts, using sophisticated machinery to look through passengers' clothing to see their naked bodies, confiscating fingernail clippers, or denying pilots from carrying handguns. 27. [. . .] you believe that many public schools' "zero-tolerance" policies are just plain stupid. 28. [. . .] you believe that parents have a right to homeschool their children. 29. [. . .] you believe that governmental seizure of private property is plain, old-fashioned thievery. 30. [. . .] you are personally determined to not submit to any kind of forced vaccination. 31. [. . .] you oppose any kind of national health insurance. 32. [. . .] you believe that U.S. troops are not the world's policemen, that they are not "nation-builders," and that their purpose is only to defend American lives and property, not to be the enforcement arm of international commercial interests or global elitists. 33. [. . .] you understand that the county Sheriff is the highest law enforcement officer of his district and that federal law enforcement (much of which is unconstitutionally organized, anyway) is obligated to submit to his authority. 34. [. . .] you are determined to oppose America's merger with any kind of regional, hemispheric, or international government, such as the North American Union. 35. [. . .] you oppose sending billions of taxpayer dollars as foreign aid; the U.S. State Department meddling into the private affairs of foreign countries; and ubiquitous foreign entanglements that require vast sums of money, create animosity and hostility towards us, and expose us to foreign wars and conflicts in which we have no national interest. 36. [. . .] you would like to meet one single congressman or senator besides Ron Paul who acts as if he or she has ever read the U.S. Constitution.
Well, how did you fare? Are you a Constitutionalist? If so, your country desperately needs you to stand up and fight for freedom's principles before they are forever taken from us. This means never again voting for anyone--from any party--who will not preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution. So, don't just take the test; make the pledge! Tags:Chuck Baldwin, US ConstitutionTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:captured my attention, hot air, balloon, Barack Obama, political cartoon, William WarrenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gary Bauer, Americans for Working Families: Today’s Washington Times has a shocking report that provides some additional perspective on the New Black Panther controversy. According to the Times, the Obama Justice Department has invalidated the results of a local election in Kinston, North Carolina, because “equal rights for black voters cannot be achieved without the Democratic Party.”
Like virtually all North Carolina communities, Kinston decided to do away with partisan local elections, and the vote wasn’t close. Blacks make up 63% of registered voters in Kinston, and the measure to do away with partisan elections “won a majority in seven of the city’s nine black-majority voting precincts.” According to the Times, “no one among more than a half-dozen city officials and local residents was able to recall a Republican winning office here.” But, the Obama Justice Department decided that white Democrats are racists and won’t vote for a black candidate – unless that candidate is identified on the ballot as a Democrat.
Loretta King, the Justice Department official who overruled the voters of Kinston, North Carolina, also made the decision to drop the case against the New Black Panthers (one of whom is an official Democrat poll watcher). The men were accused of intimidating white voters at a Philadelphia polling location last November.
This administration was supposedly going to transcend race. But these are the types of policies that divide Americans by the color of our skin and hurt race relations. The main hope millions of Americans had, that Barack Obama would help heal our racial divide, has turned to dust. Hans A. von Spakovsky at the The Heritage Foundation who wrote about this in September in National Review commented: [T]he Times story today is a must-read for newly-discovered details. Particularly relevant is the admission by a black member of the city council that “nothing is stopping black voters in Kinston from going to the polls” other than apathy. In other words, there are absolutely no barriers of any kind preventing blacks from voting, which is what the Voting Rights Act is intended to achieve. Even the head of the local NAACP expresses skepticism about DOJ’s involvement. The DOJ is improperly using the Voting Rights Act to guarantee that Democratic candidates win elections, rather than using it as intended to ensure that minority voters have the same opportunity as other voters to get to the polls and elect their candidate of choice. Bobby Eberle, GOPUSA responds: Well, now I think I've seen it all. Obama's Justice Department has ruled against the actions of the town of Kinston, North Carolina. What did this town do that was so terrible? The residents voted overwhelmingly to eliminate partisan elections for mayor and city council members. The Justice Department stepped in and said, "Whoa! Wait just a second!" According to the Justice Department, blacks in Kinston must have the Democrat Party in order to elect their "candidate of choice." How insulting! Basically, what Obama's team is saying is that blacks will only vote for Democrats, and without the party label, blacks can't figure out for themselves which candidate will get their vote. This is not only a slap in the face of the voters, but it continues Obama's efforts to divide people along racial lines rather than bring them together. . . .
First of all, if a person is running for office, and that person is the "candidate of choice" for a voter or group of voters, it doesn't matter if that candidate has a party label attached or not. Shouldn't the electoral process by a process where voters actually pay attention to issues, do a little research, and then make an informed decision? What the Obama folks are saying is, "Forget all that! We just want them to vote for the Democrat." . . .
Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 20, 2009 - Reid Strong-Arms Fellow Senators
Update:Heritage Foundation reports that "This week the Senate is set to vote on a measure that would approve spending for almost one quarter of Obamacare’s $1 trillion price tag. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has introduced, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is moving to the floor, S. 1776 which, . . . raises Medicare provider reimbursement rates by $247 billion over the next ten years and $3 trillion over the next 75. Under current law, doctors nationwide are set to take a 21.5% pay cut for every Medicare patient they see starting in January 2010. Such a cut would lead many doctors to abandon Medicare patients, thus significantly undermining our entire health care system. Doctor’s reimbursement rates do need to be fixed. But such a fix must be part of comprehensive reform of our health care system. Instead, Reid and the White House are trying to pull a fast one on the American people, claiming “the Medicare doctors’ payment discrepancy is a budgetary problem” while “health insurance reform tackles a serious regulatory problem.” The Obama administration is trying to add $247 billion in deficit health care spending one week, and then turn around and claim their health care plan is deficit neutral the next." The Senate will take up the conference report on the fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill, H.R. 2892. A vote on the conference report is scheduled for 4:30 PM. Negotiations are ongoing on an agreement for amendments to S. 1776, a $247 billion bill to prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors.
Over the course of the debate on health care reform, a troubling pattern has emerged among the proponents of the various expensive proposals being pushed by the White House and congressional Democrats: a string of reports about strong-arm tactics being used against those who might dissent with, or offer criticism of, the Democrats’ health reform plans. Senate Democrats in particular seem to be involved in these stories, and today it’s been revealed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been strong arming his fellow democrats. [Get the visual image: skinny - ghost looking- inept - low poll rating Reid, bulling his counterparts who are more esteemed than Reid. Now something is truly wrong with this picture. Power corrupts!]
According to a report in The Hill, “The White House and Democratic leaders are offering doctors a deal: They’ll freeze cuts in Medicare payments to doctors in exchange for doctors’ support of healthcare reform. At a meeting on Capitol Hill last week with nearly a dozen doctors groups, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Senate would take up separate legislation to halt scheduled Medicare cuts in doctor payments over the next 10 years. In return, Reid made it clear that he expected their support for the broader healthcare bill, according to four sources in the meeting.” Further, The Hill reports, “‘They said they’re going to need our help in getting healthcare reform over the goal line and they expect our support,’ said a participant who represents doctors. ‘Reid, Baucus and Dodd. All three said the same thing: They want and expect our support.’”
Today’s news comes in the wake of a push from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to remove anti-trust exemptions for health insurers, which came right after health insurers began pointing to a study they commissioned showing that insurance premiums would increase under a proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). Politico reported at the time, “Schumer’s push comes on the heels of a controversial industry-sponsored report released over the weekend that makes the case that insurance premiums will go up by as much as $4,000 per family by 2019 if the Senate Finance Committee legislation is signed into law. The release of that report by the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans sparked angry blowback from Democrats in both chambers.”
Prior to that, Baucus called in the Obama administration to slap a gag order on the insurer Humana, forbidding it and other companies from communicating about cuts to Medicare Advantage benefits that would result from some of the Democrat health care proposals. Stunningly, even The New York Times editorial page found fault with what it called a “ham-handed attempt to stop health insurers from warning buyers of private Medicare Advantage plans . . . .” The NYT writes, “The administration stepped in after Senator Max Baucus . . . charged that the industry was engaging in unfair scare tactics. But an inquiry by the government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had to stretch facts to the breaking point to make a weak case that the insurers were doing anything improper.”
What is it about health care reform that makes Democrats think they need to resort to such tactics as gag orders, strong-arming, and back room deals? Certainly, Americans remain skeptical of Democrat proposals on a trillion dollar experiment that we know will raise premiums, raise taxes, and cut Medicare. Democrats should address these fundamental flaws in their bills instead of resorting to pressure tactics designed to discourage criticism. Tags:government healthcare, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 19, 2009 - Cards Are Stacked for Single-Payer System
The Senate reconvene at 2 PM today. At 4:30 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1776, a $247 billion bill to prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors. An agreement on amendments to the bill is being negotiated, but no votes are scheduled for today. Later in the week, the Senate could return to the fiscal year 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill or take up the conference reports for the FY 2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill or the FY 2010 Defense authorization bill.
The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, “The Treasury said the U.S. ran its biggest budget deficit since World War II, a record that promises to complicate Democrats’ efforts to enact their agenda. The Treasury Department reported that the deficit for the 2009 fiscal year ended Sept. 30 came in at about $1.4 trillion, or about 10% of the U.S.’s gross domestic product.”
Yet in the face of a record budget deficit, the highest in 64 years, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is planning on pushing through a $247 billion bill to prevent doctors’ Medicare reimbursement rates from being cut—financed entirely through deficit spending. As The New York Times noted last week, “Under the bill, which came as a surprise to members of both parties, none of the cost would be offset or paid for.”
Even some Democrats can’t stomach heaping another quarter trillion dollars onto America’s mountain of debt. According to The New York Times, Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) said they were opposed to this approach. Bayh said, “It’s not fiscally responsible. . . . I could not vote for a bill that raises the deficit by $240 billion, not at a time when we are already hemorrhaging red ink. The physicians’ issue needs to be addressed, but not in a way that increases the deficit.” And Conrad told The Times, “I don’t agree with just adding that amount to the debt. . . . I won’t vote for it.”
In a must-read editorial today, The Washington Post criticizes Reid for another problem with the bill. “In the world according to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), setting Medicare payment levels for doctors has nothing to do with health reform. Really. . . . The so-called doc fix is being rushed to the Senate floor this week in advance of health reform not because it has nothing to do with health reform but because it has everything to do with it. The political imperative is twofold: to make certain that Republicans don’t use the physician payment issue to bring down the larger bill and to placate the American Medical Association. This latest maneuver only heightens the fiscal irresponsibility of what already was a fiscal sleight of hand.”
Indeed, in a conference call with bloggers on Friday., Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) identified it as “a shell game” designed to hide the full costs of Democrats’ health care reform plans. The American Spectator’s Philp Klein explains, “By passing the bill separately, Democrats will try to claim that their larger health care bill costs less than $1 trillion and is deficit neutral.”
The Washington Post recalls in its editorial that “President Obama has vowed that health reform will not add a single dime to the deficit,” but notes that this Medicare payments bill amounts to “2.47 trillion dimes.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday, “As the deficit grew under this administration, we all thought it would set off alarm bells, and that a $1.4 trillion deficit would set off the sirens. Instead, Democrats in Washington are now calling for adding yet another quarter-trillion dollars to the deficit on health care spending alone. Congress simply can’t continue acting like a teenager on a spending spree with his parent’s credit card and no regard to who pays the bill.”
As Senator Reid cobbles together a health care bill behind closed doors, we might as well consider a feature where in the Obama administration will be playing the "biased referee." Here is one very big specific example, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is the point person to establish the “level playing field” between the government plan and private coverage. Sebelius was picked by President Obama because Sebelius could be called upon to "eventually" deliver a single-payer system. The cards are already stacked. How do we know this? In 2007, speaking at Harvard University, Sebelius made it very clear she was for a single payer system “eventually.” View the following video:
Tags:government healthcare, Kathleen Sebelius, Single payer system, single-payer, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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