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)
Buffett wrote, “Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering.”
Of course, if that’s the case, why doesn’t Buffett’s company settle its own ongoing tax disputes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? As Americans for Limited Government (ALG) has reported exclusively — a story given national attention by a New York Post editorial — according to Berkshire Hathaway’s own annual report, the company has been embroiled in an ongoing standoff over its tax bills.
Using only publicly-available documents, a certified public accountant (CPA) detailed Berkshire Hathaway’s tax problems to ALG researcher Richard McCarty. Now, the American people have a better idea of how much in back taxes the company could owe Uncle Sam.
According to page 56 of the company report, “At December 31, 2010… net unrecognized tax benefits were $1,005 million”, or about $1 billion. McCarty explained, “Unrecognized tax benefits represent the company’s potential future obligation to the IRS and other taxing authorities. They have to be recorded in the company’s financial statements.”
He added, “The notation means that Berkshire Hathaway’s own auditors have probably said that $1 billion is more likely than not owed to the government.”
$1 billion is not an insignificant chunk of change, even for Buffett, representing about 0.2 percent of the company’s $372 billion in total assets.
So, on one hand Buffett advocates for paying more taxes, but when it comes to his own company’s taxes, he has gone through great lengths to pay less. That’s rich.
As the report chronicles, “We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (‘IRS’) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years at the IRS Appeals Division within the next 12 months. The IRS has completed its examination of our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2005 and 2006 tax years and the proposed adjustments are currently being reviewed by the IRS Appeals Division process. The IRS is currently auditing our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2007 through 2009 tax years.”
McCarty pointed to a prior tax fight the company fought. “Apparently, this is not the first time that Berkshire Hathaway has tangled with the IRS. They fought a 14-year battle over the dividends received deduction. That case was just resolved in 2005,” McCarty said.
In politics, you don’t get to divorce your actions from your words, and if Buffett does not understand that, he ought not to step into the political arena. It led radio host Mark Levin, commenting on Buffett’s seeming tax avoidance hypocrisy, to ask, “Is Warren Buffett stupid?”
Leaving Buffett’s poor political instincts aside, since he says he wants to pay more, why not just pay it? The answer is likely that Buffett’s actions show that he does not actually want to pay more, he wants you to pay more. Tags:Berkshire Hathaway, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett Behind on Taxes, Warren Buffett's Taxes, Bill Wilson, Americans For Limited governmentTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Due to the popularity of the various "Survivor" shows, Arkansas is planning the "Survivor, Arkansas Style!"
Eight non-resident contestants will start in Little Rock. They will drive to Mountain Home, Eureka Springs, Texarkana, back to Russellville and down to Magnolia. They will then proceed up to Fordyce, Hot Springs, Mena, Waldron, Fort Smith, and to Marshall. From there they will go on to Batesville, then to Jonesboro and finally back to Little Rock.
Each contestant will drive a Pink Volvo with large stickers on their cars that read: "I'm a Liberal," "Amnesty for Illegals" "I love the Dixie Chicks," "Military Are Murders," "Boycott Beef", "Buy Rice From China," "Voted for Obama", "George Strait Sucks," "Razorbacks Suck More," "Hillary in 2012," "Don't Fund The Sheriffs' Association." and ............. "I'm here to Confiscate Your Guns."
The first live contestant to complete the designated route in their Pink Volvo wins!.
Disclaimer: Contestants will be responsible for all expenses during the race, including bail bonds, fines, drug tests, injury to others, medical expenses, fuel, wrecker services and car repairs. Removal or the covering of stickers placed on the cars will disqualify the contestant.
--------------- H/T Mickey D. Pendergrass - slightly embellished. Tags:Arkansas, Arkansas Survivor, liberals, Pink Volvos, satire, humorTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:A.F. Branco, politically incorrect, cartoon, big government, Government Gone Wild, jobs, Obama jobs plan, Obama Spending, highway jobsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Wall Street Journal writes today, “The National Labor Relations Board sided with unions in several cases involving rules for organizing and representing workers, further riling business groups as the board continues to push through decisions by year's end. The board's three Democrats outvoted the group's sole Republican member in all three of the cases.”
According to the WSJ, “In [one] case . . . the board decided that the union could seek to organize a group that consists only of nursing assistants [micro unions] at a long-term care facility. That was a blow to the employer, which wanted to include other nonprofessional employees in the unit. . . . A second case . . . involved ‘card check’ elections in which employees sign cards to show their interest in joining a union. In its decision, the board said employees opposed to a union would no longer have the right to immediately challenge an employer's recognition of a card-check vote. Unions prefer the card-check method to secret-ballot elections. In the third case . . . the board bolstered the rights of incumbent unions when a company is sold. It said neither the new owner, nor employees nor rival unions can stage an immediate challenge to the union. Instead, they must give a ‘reasonable period’ and ‘fair chance’ for the union to prove its merits in collective bargaining.”
The Journal notes, “Each of the decisions overturned rulings made in previous years when the board was controlled by Republican appointees, underscoring how the board's interpretation of labor law tends to flip depending on which party is controlling the White House. Business groups, management lawyers and Republican lawmakers have accused President Barack Obama's board appointees of going further than what is typical for Democrats. They say the Obama board is overreaching to bolster unions and union-organizing at a time when union membership has dropped to just 6.9% of the private-sector work force.”
In an editorial, The Journal points out another controversial NLRB decision from last week, writing, “When not telling U.S. companies where they are allowed to locate their operations, the National Labor Relations Board will now require them to display pro-organizing propaganda. The new rule issued last Thursday requires management to post notices about employee rights to unionize, collectively bargain and strike under the National Labor Relations Act. . . . But the rule is especially notable because the NLRB has no statutory authority to promulgate it. The board only has powers when they are invoked by a union petition or an unfair labor practice allegation. The NLRB decided to act purely on its own discretion, thus imposing on some six million employers, the vast majority of which are not under suspicion for any labor violations. . . . The larger danger is that the NLRB will now view failing to post such signs as an unfair labor practice and perhaps ‘evidence of antiunion animus’ in the labor cases that it does adjudicate. In other words, the poster rule is another potential pretext for punishing businesses; the campaign against Boeing for siting a new plant in right-to-work South Carolina isn't based on much more evidence.”
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander described the NLRB’s action involving Boeing in June, saying, “[T]he National Labor Relations Board moved to stop America's largest exporter, the Boeing Company, from building airplanes at a non-union plant in South Carolina, suggesting that a unionized American company can’t expand its operations into one of the 22 states with right-to-work laws, which protect a worker's right to join or not to join a union. . . . So now the NLRB and unions want to make it illegal for a company that has experienced repeated strikes to move production to a state with a right-to-work law.”
As the WSJ editors put it, “It does reveal—again—that the NLRB has become in the Obama era ultra-politicized and an advocate for unions, and it also helps to explain private job creation, or lack thereof.”
Bryon Preston, Pajamas Media also addressed the above this morning and correctly summarized the situation, "These decisions constitute end-runs around Congress and direct assaults on workers’ and employers’ rights. Via micro-unions, Big Labor can now unionize workplaces in piecemeal fashion, squeezing out non-union workers while forcing businesses to deal with multiple and multiplying unions — all of which will probably eventually end up affiliated with the hyper aggressive AFL-CIO. As sops to Big Labor, they’re perfectly within Obama’s wheelhouse and among the very few promises he has made that don’t appear to have expiration dates. ... Damage done, it’s past time for Congress to move to defund the NLRB entirely. Surely there are enough right-to-work state Democrats who can be turned. Along with the EPA, the NLRB represents a grave threat to the economy within the federal bureaucracy. As threats to individual liberties, both the EPA and NLRB are two heads of the ever growing big government hydra that the president is using to fulfill his promise/threat to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America." Tags:NLRB, unions, micro-unions, card check, obama administration AFL-CIO, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Discussing Subsidized Homeowner Flood Insurance - Often a Subsidy for the Rich
Reason TV Editor in Chief Matt Welch appeared on Fox News Freedom Watch to discuss the how the government actually subsidized many risky homes primarily for the rich by giving cheaper flood insurance for beach, lake, and river homes and businesses. Aired on August 30, 2011. The video was provided by Reason TV via YouTube.
Note that if the Federal Government was not offering Federal subsidized flood insurance then the rich (and all others) would not be buying or building businesses and homes on flood prone beaches and rivers unless they were willing to incur and pay for the "real cost" of the insurance through private insurance companies or act irresponsibly and place everything at risk buying no insurance. Why should the taxpayers as a whole be subsidizing the choices and decisions of other people? Do we need "welfare for the rich" to offset the "welfare for the poor"? Do we need a total nanny state controlling access to ones property and resources? A government big enough to take and to use people's money to subsidize via insurance another group of people's home and business location decisions, is big enough to tell you what you can and cannot do with your property.
Tags:government flood insurance, beaches, rivers, lakes, video, personal responsibility, Matt Welch, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
President Obama is a record setter?Under his watch, the national debt has increased $4 trillion -- the fastest debt increase under any President.
Obama, supported by Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats, has shown time and again that he is unwilling to admit failure. Instead, Democrats continue arguing for even more stimulus spending despite deepening deficits with the first failed Stimulus.
Doubling down on failed policies, President Obama has now selected Alan Krueger as his chief economist – yet another academic ideologue with no job-creating experience to be the top cheerleader for his job-destroying tax, borrow and spend agenda. See also:Liberals Laud Alan Krueger’s Fatally Flawed Minimum Wage Study Tags:Obama, new record, deficit, economic record, appointment, chief economist, Alan KruegerTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Arkansas AG McDaniel Stands with Union Bosses Instead of Workers
AG Dustin McDaniels
Stands Behind AFL-CIO
Katherine Vasilos, Republican Party of Arkansas: After refusing to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, Democrat Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is again ignoring the people of Arkansas by declining to join a legal effort to oppose the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) lawsuit to prevent Boeing from building a plant in right-to-work state South Carolina.
“Democrat Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has chosen to side with the likes of the AFL-CIO instead of with Arkansas workers,” said Republican Party of Arkansas Communications Director Katherine Vasilos. “If our own Attorney General does not fight this blatant assault on private industry, then what will he do if the NLRB comes down on an industry looking to locate in Arkansas because of our right-to-work law?”
“As a right-to-work state facing the highest unemployment rate in 24 years, our leaders must be proactive in promoting private investment and economic development efforts in Arkansas,” Vasilos added. “Having an Attorney General not willing to fight the NLRB’s overreach certainly sends the message that Arkansas is not friendly to business.”
President of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce Randy Zook called on Arkansas’ officials to join him in “vigorously opposing this misguided effort," citing that the Boeing challenge “represents a clear-cut threat to our business recruitment efforts.”
“Why is Democrat Dustin McDaniel ignoring the call to confront the NLRB for punishing right-to-work states and hindering job creation?” asked Vasilos “Today, the state GOP calls on McDaniel to join the 16-state amicus brief and fight for the people of Arkansas and the nation.” AG McDaniel Stands With Union Bosses
“Arkansas' Democratic Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is not willing at this time to support the legal effort of 15 Republican Attorneys General to oppose a National Labor Relations Board action against aircraft maker Boeing related to the company’s decision to locate a manufacturing operation in South Carolina.” (Roby Brock, “McDANIEL WITHHOLDING JUDGMENT ON NLRB'S BOEING DECISION,” Talk Business , 8/30/11)
AG Ignores Republican Request to Join Legal Action Against NLRB
“On July 20, State Rep. Andrea Lea, R-Russellville, sent a letter to McDaniel asking him to consider joining the legal effort to block the NLRB.” (Roby Brock, “McDANIEL WITHHOLDING JUDGMENT ON NLRB'S BOEING DECISION,” Talk Business, 8/30/11)
Business Leaders Call on Officials to Oppose Boeing Challenge
“Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas, issued this statement: ‘The Boeing-NLRB dispute is a matter of deep concern to business leaders all across the country. In Arkansas, our worry is that it represents a clear-cut threat to our business recruitment efforts...Hopefully, public officials will see the wisdom of vigorously opposing this misguided effort.’” (Roby Brock, “McDANIEL WITHHOLDING JUDGMENT ON NLRB'S BOEING DECISION,” Talk Business, 8/30/11)
AFL-CIO Wants NLRB To Expand Threat To All Businesses
“AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka defended the National Labor Relation’s Board’s controversial complaint vs. Boeing (BA) , saying the principles in that case ought to apply across the board to businesses.” (Sean Higgins, “AFL-CIO’s Trumka: NLRB Should Apply Boeing Case To All Businesses,” Investor’s Business Daily, 5/30/11)
16-State Amicus Brief Opposes NLRB Decision
“The brief, authored by and South Carolina and Texas, was joined by the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.” (Alan Wilson, “South Carolina and Texas Lead 16 State Action in Latest Challenge to NLRB Complaint,” South Carolina Attorney General, 6/11) Tags:Arkansas, Attorney General, AG, Dustin McDaniel, democrats, unions, AFL-CIO, NLRB, workers, Court challenge, RPA, Republican party of ArkansasTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Reid Wants More Green Jobs Projects, But Nevada Say: "Where Are Those Jobs?"
The AP writes today, “A clean energy revolution is under way in the United States but isn’t happening quickly enough, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. . . . Reid said he expects clean energy projects to be part of jobs bills the Senate will consider when it returns to session next week.”
But a report in National Journal today suggests that all the spending and promises about green jobs haven’t amounted to much, especially in Sen. Reid’s home state of Nevada. National Journal writes, “Reid’s passionate personal commitment to the promise of renewable energy . . . is visibly evident throughout his home state. In the scorched desert 20 miles outside of Searchlight is a vast million-panel solar electricity array, similar to more than 60 other major solar, geothermal, and wind projects that Reid has worked tirelessly to bring to the state. . . . In his politically divided home state, Reid has worked to sell a Nevadan clean-energy economic sector to farmers, ranchers, miners, and the millions of Nevadans who’ve lost their homes and jobs, making Nevada’s 12.9 percent unemployment rate the highest in the country. The hope is that clean-energy jobs can help diversify a state economy that for decades ran on gambling, mining and prostitution--and replace thousands of construction jobs lost in Las Vegas as tourism plummeted and new casino construction slowed.”
“So what do Nevadans think?” National Journal asks. “Interviews with about two dozen voters in Searchlight, Las Vegas, and the key swing city of Henderson yielded remarkably similar responses: The clean-energy boom may have brought a sliver of new jobs, but nowhere near what’s needed to restore Nevada’s staggering economy. ‘Name one person in this town who has a job in the solar industry,’ said Tim Williams, a bartender at the Searchlight Nugget, where Reid is a regular when he’s in town. A dozen patrons shook their heads. ‘I don’t think clean energy is a bad thing, but it’s not bringing us any jobs,’ said Williams . . . . Kirstin Peart, a tileworker who lost her job in Las Vegas about 18 months ago and came out to Searchlight to find work in the mines, said she doesn’t know anybody who has found employment in the renewable energy industry. “The solar places don’t hire anybody from Nevada,” she said. “It’s all people from California, Arizona--there’s very few from Nevada. But there’s so many people in Nevada [who] need the jobs. The unemployment rate is horrible right now. People are hurting bad.”
According to National Journal, “Complaints that the renewable energy industry creates relatively few jobs is probably accurate, say energy and economic experts. . . . Energy experts say while the administration should press policies to scale up innovative new sources of energy to wean the nation off oil, they may not become the massive job generators Obama claims—and certainly not in the next couple of years. . . . ‘This claim was false from the beginning. The claim that you were going to get lots of cost-effective, viable jobs with the green energy revolution was always highly suspicious,’ said David Victor, an expert on energy policy and co-director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at the University of California, San Diego. ‘For now, the industry’s dependent on subsidies, and if the subsidies go, the jobs go.’” Tags:Harry Reid, green jobs, jobs, Nevada, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Patrick Booth, Contributing Author: With the right to free speech, we can claim all our other rights. Without it, how might we stop Government from taking all others. Free speech does not require we agree with others but allow them their public opinions. The Lefts' assaults requiring Political Correctness defined by Liberal Politicians indebted to specific groups financing their re-elections wish statutory restrictions on speech concerning Homosexuality, Islam, Terrorism, Welfare, Multiculturalism, Races and more by anyone whose voiced or written thoughts on morals or ethics might cause any discomfort. The state should not be comfortable, nor allowed, regulating public discourse.
You can be sure I despise Barack Obama as I do any other socialist and consider his every gaseous emanation offensive but I believe he needs to be allowed to speak. Naturally, I think those who support him ignorant in need of education but not gagging. The Left disagrees. Marxism, Communism, and Socialism cannot exist alongside free speech thus always seek restrictions.
Today's Democrats decry Tea Party, Christian, Conservative, and Republican public disagreements as "hate speech" driven by ignorance and evil intent that must be curbed for the betterment of the "State" (or public). Too many public officials, prosecutors, and media seem to think there is but one side to any debate, the liberal, and are ever more comfortable openly arguing just that. Christianity, other moral setting religions, and political Conservatives are often portrayed as restrictive, evil, wrong, and not to be tolerated by those who would extensively restrict speech for the first time in nearly 400 years. To negate free speech is to negate equality under law. When individuals control what may be said publicly, rights accrue only to certain interest groups favored by those individuals, Liberty ceases.
Perhaps racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and all offensive utterances are wrong. Government's criminalization micro-regulating compliance is infinitely worse. Only free thought expressed freely allows open debate improving relations by exposing both good and bad to be accepted as society sees fit.
---------------- PL Booth is an aviator, retired FAA Controller, biker, lover of the Constitution, citizen activist and blogs in the Missouri Ozark Mountains at the Blue Eye View. Tags:PL Booth, Blue Eye, freedom of sppech, free speech, loss of freedom, hate speechTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
New York Times Called To Account for False Reporting
Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service: While I support freedom of the press, holding elected official accountable, and the right to have opinions and perspectives different than those public officials, the deliberate manufacturing of facts is not right. Satire yes, lying no! And, if a major newspaper manufactures facts, it damages all of us. I have often quoted positions and reports by the New York Times. However, the below presented situation places a dark shadow over the NYT reporting if the situation remains uncorrected and internal action by the publisher to correct these situations whenever they occur. We don't wish for the New York Times to loose its credibility as did CBS News after it reported manufactured facts.
Over the last week, there has been much discussion via emails, blogs, and correspondence concerning the NYT article that had alleged false facts / lies regarding Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA-49th District) and his office. It is concerting that the New York Times authors would attack Rep. Issa with false facts after having ignored the alledged illegal actions and continued bazaar and hateful speech of Rep. Maxine Walters (D-CA-35th District) and the failed leadership of the minority leader and former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelois (D-CA-8th District). Of course, maybe that is all we can expect from the press residing within a State where they have politicians like NY Mayor Bloomberg who openly denied ministers praying at a 9-11 memorial, A state that allows non-residents to relocate to New York and file to be their elected officials like former Senator Hillary Clinton. And the continued to sweep dirt under the proverbial carpet for people like the un-venerable Rep. "Charlie" Rangel (D-NY-15th Disrict) who was found guilty by the Ethics Committee of violating 11 counts of House ethics rules including improperly renting multiple rent-stabilized New York apartments, improperly using his office in raising money for the Rangel Center at the City College of New York, and failing to disclose rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic. Thankful, these cited liberals do not represent all of New York. The New York Times has excellent examples in conservatives like Rep. Peter King (R-NY-Dist 3rd District), former NY Gov. George Pataki (R), and NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R).
So what is the agenda of the NY Times writers in their reporting on Rep. Darrell Issa? Is it that Rep. Issa is proving to be a major thorn in the side of the Obama administration and democrats with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearings.
Today, Frederick Hill, Communications Director for Rep. Darrell Issa released the following information and letter sent to the New York Times. Representative Darrell Issa 49TH District of California
August 26, 2011
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Frederick Hill 202-225-0037 Rep. Issa’s Office Presses NY Times on False Story After Two New Major Corrections Gut Article’s Evidence
WASHINGTON. D.C. – The office of Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, today sent a letter to New York Times Assistant Managing Editor and D.C. Bureau Chief Dean Baquet. The letter is in response to one sent to Rep. Issa last night acknowledging two additional significant factual errors in the New York Times’ August 15 front page article while refusing to correct other errors or issue a retraction. The Times has now run corrections on three items in the story.
Below is the text of the letter sent to Mr. Baquet from Rep. Issa’s Director of Communications:
August 26, 2011
Mr. Dean P. Baquet
Assistant Managing Editor
Washington Bureau Chief
New York Times Washington Bureau
1627 I Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Dear Mr. Baquet:
As Congressman Darrell Issa’s Director of Communications, The New York Times’ acknowledgement of two more critical errors in its front page article of August 15 in addition to a previous error corrected on August 16 are steps in the right direction. The new acknowledgment of these false assertions about enormous profits from the sale of a mutual fund and the appreciation of a commercial real estate property owned by Rep. Issa fully removes all examples cited in the article as evidence that the “congressman’s government actions [help] to make a rich man even richer” and that values of his holdings have “soared” due to his official actions.
However, The Times’ continued refusal to accept clear evidence of other mistakes, your unwillingness to retract a deeply flawed story even after acknowledging that factual pillars of the article are incorrect, and your failure to address or defend the conduct of the story’s author, Mr. Eric Lichtblau, is deeply disappointing and makes your response to the issues raised by our office and others inadequate. Your August 25 letter to Rep. Issa, in fact, contains a number false assertions and worrisome distortions as I will explain.
“A gleaming office building overlooking a golf course”
Incredibly, the New York Times continues to dismiss the reporting of other news outlets and first-hand sources who have visited the location of the building where Rep. Issa’s office is located and reported that the building has no golf course view.
The North County Times reported: “[Issa’s] Vista district office [is] in a three-story building that the New York Times referred to as ‘gleaming’ and overlooking a golf course. The building, in fact, is nondescript, overlooks Highway 78 and has no golf course view.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported: “The U-T visited Issa’s offices on Friday, and the Shadowridge Country Club isn’t plainly visible. It’s about a 1.5 mile drive from Issa’s parking lot to the clubhouse … The area is not characterized by rugged foothills so much as suburban living. Down the street are a Burlington Coat Factory, Target and 24 Hour Fitness.”
The owner of the building where Rep. Issa’s office is located has also called the New York Times report an error: “None of the offices located within the Vista Corporate Center at 1800 Thibodo Road, including the office of Congressman Darrell Issa on the third floor, have a view of any golf course whatsoever. Any reports to the contrary are in error.”
While Eric Lichtblau, in an e-mail sent August 15, stated that leasing agents “have advertised its views of the Shadowridge golf course,” the New York Times has not produced any such evidence. The advertisement The Times has produced (http://bit.ly/qibQq8) that references “direct views to the golf driving range” is not a reference to the Shadowridge Golf Course, but is an out-of-date reference to the Vista Golf Practice Center that was once located at 1850 Thibodo Road next door to the building where Rep. Issa’s office is currently located. This driving range was closed many years ago and is currently the site of an apartment complex that one can see on a Google satellite image. As best as I can discern, this out-of-date real estate advertisement is the basis for your decision to reject the accounts of other news outlets who have visited the building and other firsthand sources.
That The New York Times, in the lede of a front page story, would assert that a reporter personally witnessed a golf course view while citing as evidence an out-dated and misinterpreted real estate advertisement indicates an incredibly cavalier approach to ethics and journalistic integrity at your newspaper. While the reporter’s false assertion and the deception he commits against his readers in an effort to foreshadow his clearly negative opinion of Rep. Issa is regrettable, the continuing efforts of The Times’ management to cover-up errors in this deeply flawed article is outright shameful. It is even more so given comments, attributed to you by Politico, that indicate your own doubts about the office’s view: “I don’t think it implied — at least to my mind — that Issa’s office overlooked the golf course.” An appropriate and unbiased description in the story would have said “freeway” or “apartment complex” rather than golf course – which cannot be seen from the building.
“A major supplier of alarms to Toyota” The Times’ continued defense of the false claim that Rep. Issa’s former company, DEI Holdings, was “a major supplier of alarms to Toyota” and that this relationship created a conflict-of-interest is deeply disappointing and contrary to the evidence. Toyota, itself, has disputed this claim telling multiple news outlets, “DEI Holdings is not a direct supplier of Toyota ...” While we have never disputed that some products made by Rep. Issa’s former company are compatible with Toyotas and that some Toyota owners choose to purchase such products, this is far from any reasonable definition of a “major supplier of alarms to Toyota.” According to The New York Times’ definition, even makers of fuzzy dice would be considered major suppliers to Toyota.
When Eric Lichtblau first wrote about Rep. Issa’s involvement with hearings examining Toyota safety defects on February 23, 2010, he noted that Rep. Issa’s former company had sold alarms “for Toyotas and many other makes.” He was also told explicitly by an Issa spokesman that Rep. Issa had, “no vested interest in Toyota's success or failure” and that the firm had never had exclusive contracting agreements with Toyota.
Contrary to assertions made by you and Mr. Lichtblau, when Rep. Issa was asked the next day by Don Imus about this report written by Mr. Lichtblau, he never once said or indicated he had ever been a supplier to Toyota nor did he confirm past ties to Toyota. His statements and references to himself as a former “automobile supplier” did not mention specific companies with whom he had conducted business. I encourage you to re-review this interview since The Times, readily and erroneously, discarded specific denials from Rep. Issa’s office on this matter long before your error-ridden August 15 story was written. In addition, it is surprising that The Times would even attempt to make this assertion without first contacting Toyota.
Questions About Mr. Lichtblau’s Improper Conduct
Rep. Issa’s office decided not to speak with Mr. Lichtblau for his August 15 story because of concern about his inability to put his negative view and bias against Rep. Issa aside in objectively reporting this story. After reading his story, which contained multiple errors smearing Rep. Issa, we feel vindicated by our decision. Had The New York Times assigned a different reporter, our response would have almost certainly been different.
While you do not offer a clear defense of Mr. Lichtblau’s bias against Rep. Issa and his efforts to smear him with factual errors and other distortions, your letter does contain explicit descriptions explaining your views of my efforts to work with him on correcting factual errors in his story. What follows is a timeline of my interaction with him:
Monday, August 15th, 9:15 a.m., I wrote Mr. Lichtblau asking for corrections from the New York Times. I asked for three corrections: the golf course error, the multibillion rather than multimillion misstatement, and correction of the "major supplier" to Toyota assertion.
On the same day, at 10:31 a.m., Lichtblau wrote back that the multibillion error was a typo that will be corrected, but refused the other two requests. He cited an unspecified advertisement as the source for the golf course statement and an Imus clip from over a year ago as the source on the Toyota supplier confirmation.
At 11:37 a.m., I responded to Mr. Lichtblau expressing my continued disagreement on the items he refused to correct. I asked him to provide me with his editors’ contact information if he still found himself in disagreement with my requests.
At 3:13 p.m., nearly four hours later, he responded to my e-mail with a reply that, in its entirety, read: “You must not have seen the Imus interview.” He did not include any names or contacts for his editors.
I hope this timeline is helpful as your assertion that his nearly four hour delay in responding to my second e-mail indicated that he “responded promptly” and your omission of my specific request to be put in touch with editors in my second e-mail suggests you may be misinformed.
Finally, we are disappointed that your response did not address accusations brought forward by Mr. Lee Fang of the Center for American Progress who raised concerns via Twitter with Mr. Lichtblau and The New York Times public editor that this story plagiarized or took without proper attribution items he had previously written about on the blog ThinkProgress. We certainly noticed Mr. Fang’s complaint:
"lhfangLee Fang: Hey @EricLichtblau & @thepubliceditor your NYT Issa piece looks awfully familiar (see http://t.co/uZQBIsz & http://t.co/NSw0Wrc)"
Indeed the items, at least those that could be best categorized as half-truths, appear to be primarily items that are not original reporting but recycled material previously raised by left-wing organizations. We would certainly, however, agree that the most serious errors, including the three that have been the subject of corrections The Times has so-far run and the two I have focused on in this correspondence, all represent original reporting from The New York Times.
We repeat our request and ask that The New York Times reconsider Rep. Issa’s request for a full front page retraction of the August 15 story as well as your attention to multiple errors that have still not been corrected.
Sincerely yours,
Frederick Hill
Director of Communications
cc: Arthur S. Brisbane, Public Editor Tags:New York Times, false reporting, Rep. Darrell Issa, Press ReleaseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
In a must-read editorial today, Wisconsin’s Green Bay Press-Gazette writes, “On his recent Midwest bus tour, President Barack Obama bashed obstructionists in Congress for blocking passage of free-trade accords with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. If only these opponents would get out of the way, he suggested, these agreements would be law, American exports would rise and more jobs would be created.
“But Obama left something out. The agreements can't be passed until the administration submits them to Congress, and it has not yet done this, although a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative said the administration ‘has been eager’ to do that. It's nice to hear they're so eager, although the sentiment would be more convincing if the agreements were actually submitted.”
Indeed, though the president has repeatedly called on Congress to pass these free trade agreements that were negotiated years ago, Democrats in Congress and the White House have in fact continually stalled them. There is a lot of double speak going on in the Obama administration. Colombia, Panama and South Korea. align more with democracy and American principles than the countries run by tinpot dictators and radical not aligned with American ideals. What is the White House's real back door agenda?
And there have been consequences for American businesses, as the Press-Gazette points out. “Colombia's ambassador to the United States, Gabriel Silva Lujan, notes that U.S. farmers once claimed 46 percent of Colombia's food import market. Now the proportion is 20 percent — and likely to go lower. A free trade pact between Colombia and Canada, another big wheat exporter, went into effect last week. Colombia is the sixth-largest market for Caterpillar, another big U.S. exporter. But Caterpillar's products, too, may be at a disadvantage in Colombia's growing mining sector, as Colombians seek alternatives free of the tariff-based mark-ups applied to U.S. products. All of this makes little sense when you consider that U.S. tariffs on Colombian goods are already minimal, while their tariffs on our goods remain quite stiff. The agreement would lower that barrier.”
The editorial continues, “As Obama himself once said, ‘If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we will lose the chance to create jobs on our shores. We have to seek new markets aggressively, just as our competitors are.’ Well said, Mr. President. Now please submit the agreements.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell obviously agrees with the editorials position. He said earlier this month, “Expanding trade with these allies will create jobs and opportunities but they have been delayed since the President came to office. At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and businesses are looking for opportunities to hire, we must do everything we can to create an environment where jobs can come back. So it is my hope that the President, who continues to refuse to send these agreements to Congress while simultaneously calling for Congress to act, will finally resolve this contradiction by sending the agreements immediately . . . .” Tags:Obama administration, free trade agreement, editorialTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Today, on the Kelly Megan show on Fox News, Frank Luntz, an American political consultant and pollster, called the following ad by the RNC a very good ad because it identifies statistics / facts. However, he said it would have been better if the ad had used a woman's voice verses the ominous voice.
Help get the truth out to the American people about Obama's disastrous record of epic policy and leadership failure. It's time to stand up for Main Street U.S.A. and bring a halt to the "Debt-End" Express. Listen and share the to the statistics / facts. Video Source:
Tags:Debt, Jobs, facts, President Obama, failed results, bus tour, results, taxpayer, RNC, adTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
By Hugh Hewitt: National excess, like individual overindulgence, leads to uncomfortable aftereffects and even deeply painful ones.
The "hope and change hangover" the country is experiencing is 100 percent the consequence of the policies adopted in 2007 and 2008 by President Obama in concert with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
Even the recession bequeathed to this trio of massive spenders combined with the dire consequences of the Panic of 2008 did not oblige the country to struggle through the dreariest recovery in modern times.
This is an Obama-made becalming of the economic waters, an inevitability when Obamacare, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms, an out-of-control federal regulatory blob consisting of the Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Department of Interior and more, combined with massive deficits to create the perfect storm for the private sector.
Amity Shlaes described in her magnificent "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" how President Franklin Roosevelt and his group of political operatives and academic theorists prolonged the terrible times brought on by the Crash of 1929 by endless "innovation."
The uncertainty that resulted drove capital and the entrepreneurs who might have deployed it underground. Unpredictable government was a menace to private-sector planning and investment, but this fundamental truth eluded Roosevelt.
Sadly, Obama, wearing his Alinskyite blinders and advised by his Chicago gang, either didn't read or failed to understand Shlaes' arguments. Every promise he made about every policy and program he proposed has turned to ash, and the national headache is profound and debilitating.
Don't expect "hope and change" to be the defining brand of the president's bid for re-election. But do expect a "hair of the dog" set of proposals when the president unveils the specifics of his latest "hard pivot" to jobs.
Could the president really trust his mainstream media allies so much that he would dare propose a second stimulus? It would require an almost Mount Everest amount of self-regard and economic ignorance to believe that more federal spending is the ticket out of our near zero-growth economy.
Rush Limbaugh argued last week -- very persuasively as usual -- that the president will do just that and then campaign against a Congress that would never pass such an obviously irresponsible second spending bender.
If the president does attempt to tout a new stimulus, the instant and prolonged chorus should be laughter and ridicule, and the political consequence an approval rating heading toward 30 percent.
Three out of 10 Americans might believe in ghosts, Bigfoot and the efficacy of Stimulus 2.0 but even proposing such an absurd program should cement in an election result that will be 1980 2.0.
The president's only real option -- and the country's -- is the recipe adopted by Ronald Reagan in 1981: tax reduction for the job creators and a single-minded focus on shuttering the regulation factories of the Beltway, which are crushing expansion in 100 different ways.
The president's only rational hope for re-election is a genuine economic recovery, one which demonstrates almost unstoppable momentum toward 4 percent growth over many years.
And the only way to get such growth is to put out massive incentives for the people who create private-sector jobs.
The problem is that even if every economist in America signed on to such a proposal, even if Paul Krugman, George Soros and every MSNBC host recited in unison the same prescription, still this deeply ideological president could not bring himself to embrace it.
Obama is apparently convinced of very few things outside of his own abilities, Chicago rules and the powerful effects of his speeches on the public.
But he really and truly does seem to believe the nostrums of his community organizing days, and the recipes he pushed then (and detailed in his first memoir) remain the fixed star of his economic theory.
Sadly, they don't work. They have never worked. They won't work now. Examiner Columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who blogs daily at HughHewitt.com. Tags:INSERT TAGSTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Sunday is a great time to reflect. In the too many past months of the Obama administration, Obama has continued to try to blame GW Bush for the problems when BH Obama was too inept at handling. The following photos offer a simple comparison outside of the realm of the White House. While Bush may not have been the best ever president, Obama will be able to lay claim to being the worst president ever - even after accepting a Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely nothing.
Tags:presidents, GW Bush, BH Obama, Geroge W. Bush, Barack Obama, jets, umbrella, photo,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Received from P.L. Booth who blogs The View from Blue Eye. In some cases, a picture is worth more than a thousand words.This picture speaks volumes. Photos of Lt. James "Rick" Perry and Barack Obama.
Tags:photo, Rick Perry, Barack Obama, age 22To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Barack Obama, Government, Politics, Media Culture, Michael Ramirez, failing economy, Hurricane Irene, Glenn Foden, political cartoonsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, Editor:: Today, the Arkansas Republican Assembly (ARRA) held it's 2011 Annual Convention in Springdale, Arkansas. Representatives from Washington County, Benton County and Baxter County met at Front Porch Family Diner which provided excellent hosting services to the Convention delegates.
The convention lasted four hours. It opened with prayer and the pledge of allegiance. The delegates were seated and introductions made of delegates and guests. President Dr. Pat Briney reviewed the stated beliefs, principles and objectives of the Arkansas Republican Assembly. He identified to the visitors representing TEA Parties, Patriot Groups, potential candidates and college students that the ARRA is a "good gathering point for conservatives." He also discussed how the ARRA as a caucus group is "set up to confront liberal leaning conservatives."
Vice President Duane Neal discussed the activities by various ARRA members including those serving in positions with the Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA) and with county republican committees. Two members in attendance, Joe Leblanc and Duane Neil serve on the RPA Rules Committee and they and Collette Leblanc and serve as RPA State Committee. John Eves, President of the Hispanic Republican Assembly, is a member of the RPA State committee. Also identified were those who were serving as officers of County Republican Committees, County Republican Assemblies and as leaders in activist conservative groups.
Neal also identified that the National Federation of Republican Assembly (NFRA) Presidential Preference Convention Convention will be held at the Polk County Convention Complex on October 28-30 in Des Moines, Iowa. The ARRA is allowed 10 delegates and 3 alternates, Registration is $199 each and the local hotel is offering discounted rates for delegates for 2 nights. The committee voted to allow Dr. Briney, ARRA President, to coordinate and approve delegates as the ARRA will not meet again before the NFRA convention.
Neal also addressed the State RPA rules and deadline for filing to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention in August, 2012 in Tampa, Florida.
Dr. Bill Smith, President of the Baxter County Assembly, Baxter County Republican Committee Board member, 1st Congressional District Delegate, and Editor of the ARRA News Service, spoke on activism, new media opportunities. He detailed the outreach of the ARRA News Service and the recognized awards received in the last year. Smith discussed the supportive work by and gave credit to the TEA Parties, Patriot Groups and Americans For Prosperity Arkansas in advancing the awakening of conservatives in Arkansas and aiding the Republican gains in Arkansas in the 2010 elections.
Mike Sevack, Chairman of the Benton County Republicans,, member of the State RPA committee, member of the RPA Chairmmens' Committee, and President of the Benton County Republican Assembly discussed the work and coordination and support efforts of the local county assembly in fostering good members and aiding to keep the county committee focused on principles. As a small business owner, with several employees, Sevack identified the negative stress and problems presently placed on small business owners by the programs, regulations and laws advanced by the Obama administration and the the former Democrat controlled Congress. He also identified the need to keep focused on the legislative and bureaucratic actions of the State Government in Little Rock.
ARRA Treasure JD Chastain presented the treasure report and filed a copy with the secretary.
Several people in attendance identified that they would be filing for state legislative positions and county offices. Their names are not published herein as they will be issuing press releases at meetings with the public in the near future.
Dr. Briney identified that the NFRA President Rod Martin had been granted a seat on the National Republican Party. At the end of the meeting several members and guest shared opportunities for conservative involvement in upcoming events in Arkansas. Tags:ARA, Arkansas Republican Convention, news, Springdale, ArkansasTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:A.F. Branco, political cartoon, Gaddafi, Maxine WaltersTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Smith, Editor: Sharing this video not to make you a better pundit. Sharing it because Andrew Klavan satire with class makes me laugh. And, in these days of reporting on Obama, the Economy, Obama, No Jobs, Obama, attacks on rights and freedoms, Obama, Biden, Obama etc., Obama - without insightful comedic reliefs would make one rather sour. So I must say "Thanks Andrew!" and dear reader enjoy this video!
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PJTV's Andrew Klavan takes some time out of his busy schedule to lay out three simple rules for wannabe pundits.
Tags:Andrew Klavin, PJTV, Wannabe Pundits, liberal media, bias, culture, David BrooksTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: In today's Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore pits "Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics." It is a very telling tale of how two men with very different ideas about government tackled two recessions with very different results. Here are some excerpts: "The two presidents have a lot in common. Both inherited an American economy in collapse. And both applied daring, expensive remedies. Mr. Reagan passed the biggest tax cut ever, combined with an agenda of deregulation, monetary restraint and spending controls. Mr. Obama, of course, has given us a $1 trillion spending stimulus.
"By the end of the summer of Reagan's third year in office, the economy was soaring. The GDP growth rate was 5% and racing toward 7%, even 8% growth. In 1983 and '84 output was growing so fast the biggest worry was that the economy would 'overheat.' …By the end of Reagan's first term, it was Morning in America. Today there is gloomy talk of America in its twilight. …
"The Godfather of the neo-Keynesians, Paul Samuelson, was the lead critic of the supposed follies of Reaganomics. He wrote in a 1980 Newsweek column that to slay the inflation monster would take 'five to ten years of austerity,' with unemployment of 8% or 9% and real output of 'barely 1 or 2 percent.' Reaganomics was routinely ridiculed in the media, especially in the 1982 recession. That was the year MIT economist Lester Thurow famously said, 'The engines of economic growth have shut down here and across the globe, and they are likely to stay that way for years to come.' The economy would soon take flight for more than 80 consecutive months."Ronald Reagan believed government is the problem. Barack Obama believes government is the solution. We've tried it his way for the past two and a half years, and the results are painfully obvious. What the left-wing naysayers said would happen under Reagan is taking place right now under Obama! Unemployment is above 9%. "The engines of economic growth have shut down." Today, GDP was again revised downward, to just 1%. Are you better off today than you were four years ago?
It doesn't have to be this way. The tale of this recession can have a happy ending too. To paraphrase Reagan, "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery begins when Obama loses his job!"
This "tale of two recessions" is a great story, particularly for younger Americans who may have fallen for the hype about hope and change. Share it with them. It's a story that cannot be told often enough throughout the course of the next 14 months. Tags:Steve Moore, recession, recessions, Obamanomics, Reaganomics, Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families,To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
“I’m not afraid of anybody,” Maxine Waters told constituents in Los Angeles, not backing down from comments made about President Obama earlier in the week. “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned – the tea party can go straight to hell.” So much for civility in politics, for which Obama has called. . . . Tags:Congressional Black Caucus, Maxine Waters, Obama, Racist, Tea Party Racist, Tea Party Terrorists. A.F. Branco, Political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Sustainable Development Puts American Lifestyles in UN's Crosshairs
by Cathie Adams, International Issues Chairman, Eagle Forum : Americans do not like having our standard of living in the United Nations' crosshairs, especially considering we pay 22% of its $2.5 billion regular budget, plus 27% of its $9.5+ billion peacekeeping budget. Since 1987, the UN has plied a borderless issue called "sustainable development" to demean American lifestyles and demand economic, social and environmental "justice." They use it to agitate class warfare and control the behavior of people, businesses and organizations. It is the UN's cure-all for the world's real and imagined problems including global warming/climate change, poverty, conflict, etc.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol was the UN's first major sustainable development conquest, putting mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions in only 37 industrialized countries, intended to force moving industrial wealth from rich to poor countries. Even though the U.S. Senate did not ratify that treaty, former President Bill Clinton created the President's Council on Sustainable Development that uses federal grants to infiltrate every classroom and countless local governments with sustainable development.
The UN has a new weapon in its sustainable development arsenal: government benchmarks for "consumption and production." Targeting 1.4 billion "rich" people in every nation, it accuses them of greedily consuming 80% of global output.
The proposal's author, Mohan Munasinghe, a native of Sri Lanka, is Director-General of the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, U.K. As vice chair of the International Panel on Climate Change, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. His proposal, called "Millennium Consumption Goals: How the Rich Can Make the Planet More Sustainable," would replace "unsustainable values like greed . . . especially among the young" with government benchmarks for consumption and production.
Munasinghe complains that "governments quickly found over $5 trillion for stimulus packages . . . to prop up banks and promote unsustainable consumption. . . . Meanwhile, only about $100 billion per year are devoted to alleviate poverty and far less to combat climate change." Concerning national defense, he adds, "Some types of [government] expenditures . . . also need to be targeted — e.g., the U.S. $1.5 trillion per year spent on armaments worldwide."
The MCGs' objective is to "complement" the Millennium Development Goals, signed by former President Clinton at the 2000 Millennium Summit. Both MCGs and MDGs define sustainable development's three Marxist pillars to equalize the world economically, socially and environmentally, claiming it safeguards the "future survival of humanity."
The Millennium Development Goals are to:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women (Advocate for CEDAW, the international Equal Rights Amendment, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)
Reduce child mortality and promote child health (Advocate for the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child to usurp parental rights and empower the UN.)
Improve maternal health (Advocate for UN Family Planning, including taxpayer funded abortions.)
At the May PrepCom for the Rio+20 meeting in New York City, a proposed 10-year "Framework of Programs" for sustainable consumption and production was rejected, so Munasinghe's sight is now set on the 2012 Earth Summit, Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Americans must elect a new president in 2012 who rejects sustainable development's Marxist intentions and will eliminate all federal grants that advance it. Tags:Eagle forum, UN, sustainable development, targeting rich people, Millennium Development Goals, 2012 Earth Summit, Rio+20, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Recall President Obama's promise, "If You Like Your Plan, You Can Keep It" Well the truth is shaping up to be much different and in line with the liberal progressive agenda.
The AP reported yesterday, “Nearly one in 10 midsize or large employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers once federal insurance exchanges start in 2014, according to a survey from a large benefits consultant. Towers Watson also found in a survey completed last month that an additional 20% of companies are unsure about what they will do. . . . Employer-sponsored health insurance has long been the backbone of the nation's health insurance system. But the studies suggest some employers, especially retailers or those paying low wages, feel they will be better off paying fines and taxes than continuing to provide benefits that eat up a growing portion of their budget every year.”
This is something Republicans warned about as Democrats were jamming through their unpopular health care bill. Yet President Obama insisted, “If you like your current [health care] plan, you will be able to keep it. Let me repeat that: if you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it.” And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.”
Also, recall that in the wake of the Democrat health care bill’s passage last year, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned , “The fact of the matter is, the list of failed promises is growing every day. They called us alarmists for saying businesses would dump employees from their insurance plan. Yet now it’s being reported that some of the nation’s biggest employers are seriously considering cutting employee health care and paying the lower-cost penalties instead, just like we predicted. There goes the President’s vow that ‘if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.’ . . . For every promise that crumbles, another one of our warnings is vindicated. Day after day, Republicans said the health care bill would raise taxes, raise premiums, and cut Medicare for seniors. We said it would increase costs, because it didn’t take an actuary to figure that you don’t save money on health care by spending more on it. . . . [A]ll these headlines are only confirming what the American people already believed, and what Republicans said, all along: that more government isn’t the solution to out-of-control health care spending any more than spending money we didn’t have on projects we didn’t need was the secret to robust job growth.”
Now we have the AP confirming that another failed promise will occur if Obamacare is allowed to be implemented. Most employees will not get to keep their healthcare plan as promised but they will forced into the limited government healthcare plan. Tags:Obamacare, National Healthcare, broken promiseTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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