Health Care Bill, Terrorists, and Airport Security

One of the best ways to understand what a piece of legislation is all about is, well, to read it, (which too many of our elected officials refuse to do...or don't allow enough time for the American people to do). This is even more true when it comes to Obamacare.

For example, Grover Norquist had a little fun doing a word search on the House version of Obamacare and found some interesting patterns.

The Conservative Outpost points out the following: If you care about your freedom (and/or your money), take a look at how often the following words appear in the bill:

• "Tax" 87 times
• "Taxable" 62 times
• "Excise tax" 10 times
• "Taxes" 15 times
• "Fee" 59 times
• "Penalty" 113 times
• "Require" 118 times
• "Must" 58 times
• "Shall" 3,424 times

Not exactly the language of liberty, is it?

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Obamacare gives Medicare bureaucrats the power to ration health care by forcing doctors to prescribe cheaper medical devices and drugs. In the recent case of Hays v. Sebelius, the court ruled that Medicare doesn't have the right to make this rule, but Obamacare takes jurisdiction away from the courts to hear any appeal from decisions of the new Medicare Commission.

The "stick" applied to primary-care doctors is imposing financial penalties if they refer too many patients to specialists. The "carrot" is financial rewards to doctors who give up small practices and consolidate into larger medical groups or become salaried employees of hospitals or other large institutions. The Senate bill even has a four-page section artfully written to enable ACORN to get federal health care grants. This section describes grant recipients as "community and consumer-focused nonprofit groups" having "existing relationships ... with uninsured and underinsured consumers." http://townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2009/12/29/ten_new_reasons_why_obamacare_can_still_be_killed?page=2

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/opinion/29herbert.html?_r=3

If even the plan’s proponents do not expect policyholders to pay the tax, how will it raise $150 billion in a decade? Great question.

We all remember learning in school about the suspension of disbelief. This part of the Senate’s health benefits taxation scheme requires a monumental suspension of disbelief. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, less than 18 percent of the revenue will come from the tax itself. The rest of the $150 billion, more than 82 percent of it, will come from the income taxes paid by workers who have been given pay raises by employers who will have voluntarily handed over the money they saved by offering their employees less valuable health insurance plans.

Can you believe it?

I asked Richard Trumka, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., about this. (Labor unions are outraged at the very thought of a health benefits tax.) I had to wait for him to stop laughing to get his answer. “If you believe that,” he said, “I have some oceanfront property in southwestern Pennsylvania that I will sell you at a great price.”

A survey of business executives by Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, found that only 16 percent of respondents said they would convert the savings from a reduction in health benefits into higher wages for employees. Yet proponents of the tax are holding steadfast to the belief that nearly all would do so. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to David Limbaugh, in part, regarding Barack Hussein Obama: The public is scared to death -- not about the ebbs and flows of the economy in the short term, but about the very survival of the country -- because of the reckless spending policies Obama is deliberately pursuing and the other "elements" of his destructive agenda to remake America in his image -- including going soft on terrorism.

What [liberals] need to get through their heads -- and then share with impervious colleagues -- is that Obama didn't undertake his radical agenda to turn America into a full-blown socialist state because of "the size of the problems (he) inherited." That was just a convenient excuse.

He had plans to "spread the wealth around" long before TARP became an acronym. He and his wife were trashing America as arrogant and dismissive long before this economic crisis fell into their laps just months before the 2008 election.

Obama didn't impose his Draconian stimulus bill or omnibus spending bills to jump-start the economy. He did it to transfer wealth and establish slush funds for re-election (I would add - funds with which to "buy" the votes he needs in Congress to pass his agenda]. He didn't push cap and trade to reduce "global warming," but to bring America down to size with the "underdeveloped" nations of the world. He didn't obsessively promote Obamacare to improve the economy, "bend the cost curve" (what a joke!), achieve universal coverage or improve the quality of health care. He did it to amplify the federal government's power over all aspects of our lives. http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidLimbaugh/2009/12/29/its_not_the_economy,_stupid!_its_national_survival!?page=full&comments=true

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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Whistleblowers-punished-for-warning-of-aviation-security-lapses-8693641-80219982.html

They've been frantically trying to warn America for the past six years: Aviation security is a joke, and it's only a matter of time before terrorists destroy another airplane full of innocent passengers.

The close call in Detroit on Christmas Day has vindicated a group of highly experienced experts -- including former airline pilots, federal air marshals and Federal Aviation Administration inspectors -- who were fired or demoted for pointing out obvious flaws in the nation's post-9/11 aviation security system to their chain of command.

Even now, facing financial ruin after their careers were trashed and their families destroyed, courageous members of the Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association ( airline-whistleblowers.org) refuse to be silenced.

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Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants planning attacks from Yemen'

“They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit. There are maybe hundreds of them — 200, 300.”

Dr al-Qirbi said it was the “responsibility” of countries with strong intelligence capabilities to warn states such as Yemen about the movements of terror suspects. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6970574.ece

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The organizers of a Dearborn-area group on Facebook are calling for Muslims to protest against the actions of a Nigerian man accused of trying to attack a Northwest Airlines flight en route to Detroit Metro Airport on Friday. Majed Moughni, a Dearborn attorney, said Sunday afternoon that Muslims need to let the world know that those who would commit terrorism do not represent Islam. His Facebook group, Dearborn Area Community Members, is calling for local Muslims to hold a protest during the scheduled Jan. 8 hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The 23-year-old was charged Saturday with trying to detonate an explosive device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Friday. He told federal authorities he was acting on orders from Al Qaeda. http://www.freep.com/article/20091228/NEWS02/912280316/Protest-planned-to-tell-world-Islam-is-peaceful
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Is the following (intrusive, invasive xrays that show us totally naked, and place frequent travelers at risk of high radiation levels) what you wish for our government to do to "protect" us all as we fly from place to place? Or do you think that some true profiling should be expected, singling out those types of folks who are currently targeting us and our county, as well as all other infidels, for death? I for one am weary of being picked out of line for further inspection of my purse and my carry-on bag (for explosives, among other things) while those who fit the terrorist profile are left unsearched because we are more afraid of not be politically correct than we are intent on saving lives.... Perhaps we could start by also searching those who actually fit the profile as well as little old ladies, babies and such. Now that would be a beginning!

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http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/18361
Percy Sutton, long-time Borough President of Manhattan passed away this week at 89. (Snip) There is one more little thing that Sutton is known for and that is for revealing that Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, a member of the Black Panthers and a well-known Islamist, was the benefactor that paid for Barack Obama’s Harvard education. In October of 2008 Sutton appeared on NY1, a cable news channel in New York City.
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Press reports have hinted at it for several days, but now the media has just come out and reported it: The same al Qaeda cleric who advised the Fort Hood shooter also counseled Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – the Christmas Day bomber. Here is Victor Morton in the Washington Times: The Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner had his suicide mission personally blessed in Yemen by Anwar al-Awlaki. There is more and more evidence that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who Awlaki works with, sponsored Abdulmutallab’s attack. And Awlaki’s involvement confirms that this was a professional hit attempt – not the work of an “isolated extremist,” as President Obama first claimed. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Weblogs/TWSFP/TWSFPView.asp#14619
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http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2009/12/30/napolitano-builds-undie-bomber-terrorists-went-great-lengths
The hapless Homeland Security head has a 679-word piece in today's USA Today basically promising to do better. She begins with this line [emphasis added]:

Friday's attempted terrorist attack against Northwest Flight 253 near Detroit is a powerful illustration that terrorists will go to great lengths to try to defeat the security measures that have been put in place since September 11, 2001.

"Great lengths?" Really? You buy a plane ticket for a kid, stick a few ounces of explosives in his nappies, then hope he'll make it onboard and remember which end to light.

And far from choosing someone with a good chance of completing his murderous mission, the plotters picked a guy with enough red flags surrounding him to have stocked a May Day parade back in the old Soviet Union. Need we count some of the ways?

• Denied British visa.
• On some kind of US watch list.
• Father warned our embassy and various intel agencies.
• Paid cash.
• One-way ticket.
• No checked luggage.

Napolitano would want us to imagine diabolical masterminds behind a fiendish plot that the Obama admin might be excused for not undoing. But far from demonstrating the "great lengths" to which the terrorists will go, what happened on December 25th illustrates only the deep incompetence of those responsible for stopping it.

Health Care Bill and Terrorists In Our Midst

Grover Norquist and Jane Hamsher are not often on the same side of anything, beyond both usually being in the Western Hemisphere. Norquist is a leading voice of fiscal conservatism as head of the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform; Hamsher is a leading voice of the digital left, whose blog Firedoglake has taken on influence in speaking up for progressives during the health care debate and in pressuring lawmakers through its activist arm, FDL Action.

But the two have united to level serious allegations at White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and demand his resignation.

Hamsher and Norquist coauthored a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today calling for a Department of Justice investigation of Emanuel for his role on the board of Freddie Mac, alleging that the White House, since Emanuel arrived there, has blocked an investigation of the government-sponsored mortgage lender. http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/12/odd_couple_of_norquist_hamsher_call_for_investigation_rahms_resignation.php
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The CBO's miscalculation regarding the Senate health care bill: Democrats had been insisting that bill somehow cut the deficit and strengthened Medicare, but as it turns out the CBO had to clarify that the savings of the bill were being double counted. The "savings" the bill produces either have to be applied toward the Medicare trust fund or they have to be put toward the cost of the legislation. Yesterday our President said: "This bill with strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program. Because it’s paid for and gets rid of waste and inefficiency in our health care system this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade. In fact, we just learned from the Congressional Budget Office that this bill will reduce our deficit by $132 billion over the first decade of the program, and more than one trillion dollars in the decade after that."
NOT! This is but one more example as to why we cannot trust our government with the massive takeover of our health care..... What else has been overlooked, twisted or misstated? http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/The-massive-accounting-blunder-that-should-sink-health-care-reform-80065752.html
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The president accused Republicans of abuse for employing the very rules that make the Senate the "world's greatest deliberative body."

"If this pattern continues, you're going to see an inability on the part of America to deal with big problems in a very competitive world, and other countries are going to start running circles around us," Obama warned. What he is saying is that other governments around the world -- those tyrannical states that do not share our respect for the minority -- are better forms of government, better equipped to compete in this modern world. His casting aspersions on the very genius of the American government because he can't get his way is cause for alarm.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/rips_the_american_way_8Ns44nIAGjDwfD7BNSCQFJ#ixzz0ahnPNKSj

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On Wednesday, Al-Jazeera's Arabic-language website published an interview with US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who said he and Hasan communicated by email for over a year about the permissibility of killing US soldiers and Israeli civilians.

"The first message I received from Nidal was on 17 December 2008," Aulaqi told the interviewer, adding that Hasan initiated the email communication.

"He asked about killing American soldiers and officers and whether that was legitimate or not," Aulaqi said.

Links between the Muslim cleric and Hasan are already being investigated, but the interview reveals for the first time how long the two men knew each other and communicated, and also offers insight into how early Hasan was thinking about the possibility of attacking fellow servicemembers. ttp://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.bfa31bb71423ae24c6092cc685173db9.cc1&show_article=1

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The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government's many terror databases since November, which is when his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria. However, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to the attention of intelligence officials months before that, according to a U.S. government official involved in the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because it is ongoing. Four weeks ago, Abdulmutallab's father told the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son's religious beliefs. This information was passed on to U.S. intelligence officials. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_on_go_ot/us_airliner_attack_investigation;_ylt=AqTZMxKmdKPxSrdZHXSMvqOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQwajY1ZmxoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjI3L3VzX2FpcmxpbmVyX2F0dGFja1
9pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW9uBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMwRwb3MDOQRwdANob21

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Cops fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners. The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen. (Snip) They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike. A Scotland Yard source said: "The great fear is Abdulmutallab is the first of many ready to attack planes and kill tens of thousands."We know there are four or five radicalised British Muslim cells in the Yemen. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2785733.ece#ixzz0ayz835MG

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Janet Napolitano's appearance on CNN this morning, in which she tried to put a happy face on the fact that a known terrorist sympathizer got onto a flight bound for America and nearly brought it down, has been widely and justly derided:

NAPOLITANO: What we are focused on is making sure that the air environment remains safe, that people are confident when they travel. And one thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here. The passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action.

So the "system" consists of hoping there is an alert Dutch filmmaker on board, and that the terrorist's detonator fails?

Within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 flights in the air had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred on the Northwest Airlines flight. We instituted new measures on the ground and at screening areas, both here in the United States and in Europe, where this flight originated.
So the whole process of making sure that we respond properly, correctly and effectively went very smoothly.

The idea that responding to terrorist attacks, rather than preventing them, constitutes "success" is eerily reminiscent of our policies pre-September 11. The administration's spin was a little thick even for CNN's Candy Crowley. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/12/025255.php

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Obama feigns outrage over bonuses,
then approves bigger bailout for
bonus-givers Fannie and Freddie
Washington Examiner [DC], by David Freddoso

“The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress.

More Health Care Bill Particulars

The Senate health care bill gives employers two powerful incentives to stop offering health insurance coverage to their workers. First, if an employer does offer coverage, its lower-wage workers will lose the federal insurance subsidy they would otherwise get. Secondly, if an employer does not offer coverage, the $750-per-worker fine it faces will be far less than the premiums it would pay if it did offer coverage.

Where does this leave a mom and dad with two children and an annual income greater than $88,200? It leaves them without employer-based health insurance and facing a federally mandated $15,000-per-year insurance bill.

If this legislation is not stopped now, there will surely be a popular rebellion when the insurance mandate hits in five years.

When that happens, the liberals will not say: We made a mistake. We never should have forced families out of their employer-based health insurance and required them to purchase a $15,000 policy. They will say: We told you so. We cannot trust these greedy insurance companies. We need a single-payer system so the government can provide everyone with health care.

Just like they did in the Soviet Union. http://townhall.com/columnists/TerryJeffrey/2009/12/23/obamacare_slaps_$15,000_annual_fee_on_middle_class_families?page=2

As Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) explained the morning after the Senate bill passed, "What we're building here is not a mansion, it's a starter home … it has room for expansion and additions in the future. If we don't start the starter home, we'll never get there. So this is not the end of health care reform, this is the beginning of health care reform."

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Two key issues seem to be attracting the bulk of the legal threats [to attempt to declare the new bill unconstitutional]: a mandate for individuals to purchase health insurance and the special treatment that states like Nebraska are getting in the bill.

On the first issue, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., on Tuesday renewed the call to examine the constitutionality of whether the federal government can require Americans to purchase a product. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/health-care-face-string-legal-challenge

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Sterling, Ill. – Federal and state officials faced a vociferous public and skeptical state legislators here Tuesday at a public hearing on the proposal to transfer Guantánamo Bay detainees to the Thompson Correctional Center in northwest Illinois.

Three issues dominated the debate: whether or not the state will lose money in selling the correctional center to the federal government, whether giving up an underused facility was wise given the overcrowding in the state's prisons, and finally, whether the safety of Illinois residents is at stake in housing terror suspects in their backyards.

“We’re talking about bringing terrorists to Illinois,” said state Sen. Bill Brady (R). He was one of several who chastised state officials such as Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael P. Randle with “doubletalk” in suggesting the state prison was at average capacity while at the same time endorsing an early release program for 200 prisoners to shore up bed space. http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20091223/ts_csm/270290

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Rep. Alan Grayson, Lunatic-Fla., known mainly for saying the Republicans' health plans called for asking the sick to "die quickly" and for telling former Vice President Cheney to "shut the f--k up," sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking the Department of Justice to investigate, fine, and perhaps send to jail for five years a Florida activist who reacted to his behavior by setting up a fundraising Web site called "mycongressmanisnuts.com."

He complained that the blogger was "senseless and juvenile." "Just five years?" queried blogger Ed Morrissey. "Why doesn't Grayson just demand that Holder chop off her head?" http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/_Shut-up_-is-a-favorite-Democrat-talking-point-8675353-79938422.html

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Looks like the steadily growing list of constitutional, ethical and political outrages that constitute the Harry Reid version of Obamacare is sparking a rebellion in the states, as AP reports South Carolina's attorney general plans to investigate the vote-buying that surrounded the proposal in the Senate majority leader's office.

According to AP, South Carolina's Henry McMaster is being joined by the attorneys general of Michigan and Washington state in a suit to determine the constitutionality of the Obamacare proposal. Their initiative was prompted by a request from South Carolina's two senators, Lindsay Graham and Jim DeMint, both Republicans. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obamacare-sparking-10th-Amendment-rebellion-79937187.html

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(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said the White House and the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives have been pressuring him not to speak out on the "compromise" abortion language in the Senate version of the health care bill.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/58921

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A U.S. House Democrat who opposes the health care overhaul announced Tuesday he is defecting to the GOP, another blow to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith spoke to reporters at his home in northern Alabama, a region that relies heavily on defense and aerospace jobs.

"I believe our nation is at a crossroads and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt," Griffith said as his wife Virginia stood by his side. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091222/D9COJHCO0.html

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Why wouldn't insurers support a bill that places a gun at the head of every American and shouts: "Write a check to an insurer, or we'll send you to jail!"

Independent-thinking liberals are now suffering from buyer's remorse. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called in vain for the death of Obamacare. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann promised to go to prison before he would comply with the bill's mandate to purchase health insurance. Markos Moulitsas of the liberal Daily Kos wrote on Twitter: "Insurance companies win. Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate."

But none of them will learn the underlying lesson that the legislative process tried to teach them. The free market is a harsh mistress, but a fair one. Big Government, on the other hand, is always for sale to the powerful. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Rude-awakening-for-naive-Left-about-big-government-8677436-79987917.html

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House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said, “Rather than sitting here and carping about what Nelson got for Nebraska, I would say to my friends on the other side of the aisle: Let’s get together and see what we can get for South Carolina.” http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/wehner/203961

Health Care Bill Mandates and Global Warming

Particulars of Health Care Bill:

------------------------------------------- "I don't know if there's a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that was important to them, and if they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them," Reid said Monday.

Christopher Dodd of Connecticut put a provision into the bill that will send $100 million of our taxpayer dollars to his state to be used to build a new hospital

The AARP will receive benefits of $100 million dollars.

Doctors in five states only will be paid more, not less, for the Medicare reimbursement

Doctor owned hospitals will receive benefits, but not-for-profit hospitals will receive less

Another concession, sought by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., exempts roughly 800,000 seniors in Florida from potential benefit cuts by private Medicare Advantage plans.
Michigan, home of two other Democrats, would earn higher Medicare payments and some reduced fees for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) held out for larger Medicaid payments for his state (neighboring Massachusetts would get some, too). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122102861_2.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

It was being reported on Fox News last night that Ben Nelson, he of exempting Nebraska in perpetuity from paying for Medicare in his state (for any new participants), is now willing to rescind that provision from the bill if his state governor demands it. It's not that HE thinks it is unbelievably wrong. He must have thought that it was just fine to have the rest of America pay for his state forever. Now he must be reacting to wide public dismay and the possibility that it may be unconstitutional. Being the big man that he is, he makes his governor take the possible blame.
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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation. During a floor speech, he excoriated Senate GOP members for holding up the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups. He started off by citing an editorial from the Manchester Journal Inquirer, which used the insult "lunatic fringe.":

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2009/dec/20/sen-whitehouse-foes-health-care-bill-are-birthers-/

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Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) pointed out some rather astounding language in the Senate health care bill during floor remarks tonight. First, he noted that there are a number of changes to Senate rules in the bill--and it's supposed to take a 2/3 vote to change the rules. And then he pointed out that the Reid bill declares on page 1020 that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board cannot be repealed by future Congresses: http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/12/reid_bill_declares_future_cong_1.asp --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT: The Individual Mandate in "Obamacare" is Unconstitutional RE: The mandate under the Obama-Pelosi-Reid healthcare legislation requiring American citizens to purchase health insurance violates the U.S. Constitution. ACTION: We urge you to make this point to members of the U.S. Senate-and if a bill passes the Senate to impress upon members of both chambers of Congress-that the key provision in the healthcare legislation violates the U.S. Constitution. http://spectator.org/blog/2009/12/22/conservative-leaders-against-t -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A new global body dedicated to environmental stewardship is needed to prevent a repeat of the deadlock which undermined the Copenhagen climate change summit, Gordon Brown will say tomorrow. The UN’s consensual method of negotiation, which requires all 192 countries to reach agreement, needs to be reformed to ensure that the will of the majority prevails, he feels. The Prime Minister will say: “Never again should we face the deadlock that threatened to pull down those talks. Never again should we let a global deal to move towards a greener future be held to ransom by only a handful of countries. One of the frustrations for me was the lack of a global body with the sole responsibility for environmental stewardship. [C an you spell soverignty, and it's loss? Can you visualize a one world government, where the world is after America's nasty riches?] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's foreign minister called President Barack Obama an "imperial and arrogant" liar Monday for his conduct at the U.N. climate conference, a reflection of the communist island's increasingly fiery verbal attacks on the U.S. government. Bruno Rodriguez spent an hour and a half lambasting Obama's behavior in Copenhagen, telling a news conference, "at this summit, there was only imperial, arrogant Obama, who does not listen, who imposes his positions and even threatens developing countries." called the summit "a fallacy, a farce" and said Washington used back-room deals and strong-arm tactics to foist on the world a deal that he labeled "undemocratic" and "suicidal" because it urges—but does not require—major polluters to make deeper emissions cuts. Rodriguez also said Cuba and other poor nations have refused to recognize the agreement because they weren't permitted to participate in its development. He singled out comments Obama made during a news conference in Copenhagen, when the U.S. president said no agreement had yet been reached but he was confident one would before the summit ended. "Obama knew he was lying, that he was deceiving public opinion," the foreign minister said. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9CNTBTG3&show_article=1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Obama administration has a lot riding on geothermal energy, which it sees as a future source of clean, green and virtually unlimited electricity. Over the past year alone, the U.S. Department of Energy has invested some $440 million in projects trying to turn heat trapped in bedrock deep underground into electricity. But the trial this week of a Swiss geologist – accused of causing earthquakes during the construction of a geothermal power plant – has raised doubts about the safety of some geothermal schemes, and may have contributed to the collapse of one government-backed project in California earlier this month. Worries about the link between this new power source and earthquakes came to the fore in 2006, when the building of a geothermal plant in the Swiss city of Basel triggered a series of tremors. http://www.sphere.com/world/article/could-new-geothermal-energy-source-trigger-quakes/19285935?icid=main|netscape|dl1|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fworld%2Farticle%2Fcould-new-geothermal-energy-source-trigger-quakes%2F19285935

Health Care Bill Bribe and Ben Nelson

Exhibit A is the outright bribe extracted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Corn Huckster State) from Sen. Harry Reid. As a result of Nelson’s performance in his role of Hamlet in the health care deliberations, we will have two health care systems in this country; one for Nebraska and one for the other 49 states.

In its quixotic attempt to ensure everyone has health insurance, the Reid legislation greatly expands Medicaid eligibility. Because Medicaid is a program whose costs are split between the federal and state governments, this expansion in eligibility raise costs dramatically for states. States will be forced to either raise taxes or cut other services to accommodate the forced increase in Medicaid spending.

Unless that state is Nebraska. Below is the text for Nelson’s bribe. Under this language the federal government will forever cover the costs of Medicaid expansion in Nebraska. Taxpayers in every other state will forever be responsible for the expanded Medicaid program in Nebraska [and their own state]. Outrageous doesn’t do justice to describe this situation. Sen. Nelson also secured an exemption from a new insurance tax for non-profit companies in his state. Mutual of Omaha and Nebraska’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield won’t have to pay a tax other companies will be required to pay. http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/19/sen-nelsons-bribe/

[Is this enough to make you spitting mad!? I am mad at all Senators who voted for this, and wonder if it can really be enforced....... To me, this even outweighs the issue of using trickery to get us Americans to pay for abortions on demand, for pay we will. It is the purchase, with OUR money, of Senators' votes, this time following the new "Louisiana Purchase" of Mary Landrieu at $300 million dollars. Isn't there a law that forbids holding out just one specific group or state for federal favors above all others? If there isn't, there should be. Can't we all assume that the Democrats who went along with Obama without a state pay-off are now feeling pretty stupid for giving in so easily? You can contact Senator Nelson @ Web Form: http://bennelson.senate.gov/email-issues.cfm. He deserves to hear from each and every American about his selling out of his country just so that Obama won't be "keeping track of him." ala: "Ever wonder what happens to those Democrats who fail to go along with what President Obama is demanding? Here's one example: “Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,” Obama told DeFazio during a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, according to members afterward. http://thehill.com/homenews/house/72889-pelosi-rahm-do-not-scare-rep-defazio]. Here is my letter to Nelson's office: Mr. Nelson: I know I am not one of your constituents, but I am a proud American citizen who is disheartened and disgusted that a Senator could make a decision on a Socialist bill without reading it, and especially by being paid off. The decision would have been respected (though still condemned) by many if it weren't tied, as was Mary Landrieu's vote, to a direct bribe - using our taxpayer monies! Shame on you, and may this be declared unconstitutional!

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At 1:00 AM this morning, the Senate voted to end debate on the health care bill. They will, of course, convene to pass the measure sometime soon, probably while we are all sleeping, for this is to be the most open government we have ever seen, along with having C-Span actually cover the debates on the proposed law. Right. They are trying to discourage those pesky Republicans who, by using various accepted methods, may try to stall this vote until at least Christmas Eve.

Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said he and his colleagues had a duty to fight until the last minute.

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After a weekend of no public appearances at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Vice President Joe Biden will spend a workday of no public appearances in the same place.

According to his official White House schedule, at precisely 1 p.m. today Eastern time Biden will lead a transcontinental conference call "with mayors from across the country to discuss implementation" of the Obama Spends a Gazillion Dollars to Create and/or Save Thousands of Jobs Maybe More But the Unemployment Rate Is Still 10 Percent Act, sometimes called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Biden has been kind of in charge of that while the multi-tasking president was wheeling his beloved healthcare bill into intensive care and commuting to Scandinavia this fall.

Because Obama promised his would be the most transparent White House administration in history, Biden's mayoral conference call is closed to everyone except the unidentified mayors, including especially those in the annoying, unelected media. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/

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The health-care reform bill expected to win passage in the U.S. Senate is an attack on “liberty” in America, said Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential candidate from Arkansas. Huckabee was the star of the show at an Omaha rally held Sunday against President Obama's health care initiative. (Snip) About 1,800 people packed the lower level of the Omaha Music Hall for the rally. http://www.omaha.com/article/20091220/NEWS01/712209849

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Gitmo, Global Warming, and Health Care

Is a new Ice Age coming?

No, Al Gore is a liar. [No, it is not I who wrote that.....]

The Herald Sun: Last week we showed that the first of his Climategate defences was so preposterously wrong that it was doubtful he had even read the leaked emails he tried to dismiss. You see, five times in two interviews he dismissed the emails as dated documents that were at least 10 years old:

I haven’t read all the e-mails, but the most recent one is more than 10 years old.

In fact, most of the controversial emails, as I showed, were from just the past two years - and the most recent from just last month - November 12, to be precise. [The column goes on to tell of another lie, regarding taking emails out of context] http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/climategate_this_time_al_gore_lied.

Watts Up With That shows a video of Al Gore talking temperatures:

This is mind blowing ignorance on the part of Al Gore. Gore in an 11/12/09 interview on NBC’s tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, speaking on geothermal energy, champion of slide show science, can’t even get the temperature of earth’s mantle right, claiming “several million degrees” at “2 kilometers or so down”. Oh, and the “crust of the earth is hot” too.

Screencap of Gore on The Tonight Show 11/12/09

Temperature of the sun’s corona: 1–2 million kelvin

Temperature of the sun’s photosphere: 6,000 kelvin

Temperature of the Earths mantle, more than “2 kilometers or so down”: between 500 °C to 900 °C (773 to 1173 kelvin) http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/16/gore-has-no-clue-a-few-million-degrees-here-and-there-and-pretty-soon-were-talking-about-real-temperature/

[Well, at least we know now just why this man who claims the Earth is melting tomorrow won't ever take part in a debate, much less answer a question from an audience member who is a non-believer.]

And the latest: A former US vice president and environmental activist Al Gore called Tuesday for world leaders to meet in Mexico City in July to complete a climate treaty under negotiation in Copenhagen. Gore told a standing-room audience in the Danish capital that a summit in Mexico City previously scheduled near the end of next year was too late and too close to mid-term US elections. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.354c4819061b1a983164b0ac91ee04b8.871&show_article=1

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[Just how low can our school systems go?] The good folks at MassResistance have provided rock-solid evidence that Kevin Jennings, [whom Obama appointed as his "Safe Schools Czar] is unfit to be near any school kids, much less be the “safe schools czar.” More than 50 congressmen think so, too, and have sent a letter to President Obama demanding that Jennings go. The most shocking evidence is a booklet that was on a table at an April 30, 2005 GLSEN-sponsored seminar at Brookline High School, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Titled The Little Black Book: V 2.0 Queer in the 21st Century, the pamphlet is packed with pornographic pictures, obscenities and advice to kids on how to engage in perverse and dangerous behaviors using all sorts of bodily functions. Included is a helpful list of the gay bars in Boston where underage teens can become prey for boozed-up, over-21 patrons. The bars’ special attractions are listed, including such amenities as strippers and video porn. The booklet was produced by the AIDS Action Committee, Boston, with assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Health and several other publically supported organizations. http://townhall.com/columnists/RobertKnight/2009/12/15/how_to_defend_an_indefensible_%E2%80%9Csafe_schools_czar%E2%80%9D [I know, I know, this looks like something that has to be made up - but it isn't... Do you know just what is happening in your school system?]

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Townhall is revealing that: With willing one-world accomplices in Washington, D.C., gun-grabbers around the globe believe they have it made.

In fact, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just announced the Obama Administration would be working hand in glove with the UN to pass a new “Small Arms Treaty.”

Disguised as legislation to help in the fight against “terrorism,” “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates,” the UN Small Arms Treaty is nothing more than a massive, GLOBAL gun control scheme.

Ultimately, the UN’s Small Arms Treaty is designed to [make possible that we could be made to] register, ban and CONFISCATE firearms owned by private citizens like YOU.

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The Institute of Economic Analysis, a Moscow-based independent economic think tank, alleged in a paper released Tuesday that climate change data involving Russia appears to have been tampered with.

“The Hadley Center as well as the CRU ... about a week ago, put up on a Web site the data they used for calculating global temperatures,” said Illarionov. “It looks like that, based on this information, the (climate researchers) selected particular (meteorological) stations on the Russian territory and rejected using some other stations. (The report) is an analysis of what stations have been used, what stations have not been used and based on this analysis it looks like the real actual temperature dynamics .. . in Russia, that is the increase in warming, have been artificially increased by 0.64 degrees Celsius.”

According to an analysis of the report in the Russian daily business newspaper Kommersant, the stations cover most of Russia but the Hadley Center used only 25% of the stations in its reports, typically ones closer to large population centers. The data from the unused stations reportedly did not show any substantial warming trends. http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politics/1057-russian-think-tank-alleges-climate-data-tampered-with

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In a stunning reversal of fortune for President Barack Obama, top progressives are attacking the health-reform plan moving through the Senate as “hollow,” “unsupportable” and a sellout to corporate interests.

Republicans, after plotting for months to sink the signature legislation of Obama’s first year, suddenly think that Democrats might wind up doing it for them.

Most dangerously for White House chances of assembling 60 Senate votes, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean launched a third day of attacks on the emerging bill, arguing in a Washington Post op-ed that it meets none of his benchmarks for “real reform.” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30737.html

Practice for Jihad and more Health Care Shenanigans

One reader of Michelle Malkin's article expressed to me: "Are they serious?!?! These are KIDS!!! The law of unintended consequences with this "change" will surely amount to hugely increased cases of childhood/adolescent depression, leading to drug and alcohol abuse and random acts of violence and agression a la Columbine...not to mention a greasing of the skids towards acts of terrorism against America! What are these people thinking and where is the child psychologist in all this?!?!"
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Canada Free Press is once again leading coverage, this time on possible terrorist practices for Jihad. They write: It happened again on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, less than a month after the incident aboard AirTran Flight 297. United Airlines Flight 227, scheduled to depart Denver International Airport at 1:50 pm Wednesday for Los Angeles was disrupted when several passengers who were described as Middle Eastern in appearance, confirmed by this investigator to be a group of Muslims traveling together, were removed from that aircraft due to suspicious behavior. [I have been sitting on the information on the AirTran flight til further confirmation appeared. It seems we should all be warned that these possible practice sessions are occurring. We passengers must not let them think we will sit in our seats in fear and let them do their will. You and I are expected to stay in our seats and not disrupt others. They should do the same. Just Google the subject and read for yourself... or go to this website: http://sheikyermami.com/2009/12/03/us-13-muslims-practice-dry-run-aboard-airtran-flight-297-media-silence/ ]
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For those of you interested in finance, you may read the entire article. To keep it short, just know the following: U.S. gave up billions in tax money in deal for Citigroup's bailout repayment

DEAL MADE TO RECOVER BAILOUT
Firms exempted from rule when U.S. sells its stake

The IRS, an arm of the Treasury Department, has changed a number of rules during the financial crisis to reduce the tax burden on financial firms. The rule changed Friday also was altered last fall by the Bush administration to encourage mergers, letting Wells Fargo cut billions of dollars from its tax bill by buying the ailing Wachovia.

"The government is consciously forfeiting future tax revenues. It's another form of assistance, maybe not as obvious as direct assistance but certainly another form," said Robert Willens, an expert on tax accounting who runs a firm of the same name. "I've been doing taxes for almost 40 years, and I've never seen anything like this, where the IRS and Treasury acted unilaterally on so many fronts." A senior Republican staffer also questioned the government's rationale. "You're manipulating tax rules so that the market value of the stock is higher than it would be under current law," said the aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "It inflates the returns that they're showing from TARP and that looks good for them." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504534.html

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“We are on the precipice of an achievement that has eluded Congresses and presidents for generations,” Obama told reporters after meeting with Senate Democrats for about an hour at the White House complex. [He is describing his health care bill. What an odd choice of words: precipice. And, Mr. President, it may be an "historic" achievement, but not all historic events are good ones...]

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Reporting from Washington - As the White House on Tuesday detailed its proposal to move terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a prison in rural Illinois, some lawmakers made it clear that they would try to derail President Obama's plans to shutter the controversial detention center.

In addition to buying the nearly empty state prison in Thomson, Ill., to house the Guantanamo detainees, the government said, it plans to set up a courtroom in the facility for defendants who will be tried before a military commission.

Pentagon officials said they would send as many as 1,500 military personnel to serve at the underused prison, and that they would hold annual hearings to review whether detainees were a threat and should remain there or whether they qualified for transfer to other countries.

But Republican lawmakers' opposition could prove a serious obstacle to the plan, White House aides said, because congressional action is needed to change a law that bars the transfer of detainees to U.S. soil for any purpose other than prosecution. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-guantanamo-prison16-2009dec16,0,6631852.story

Educating for "Social Justice"

In a departure from my normal snippets of various columns, today I am posting the entire article from Michelle Malkin about the "socialization" of our schools. I firmly believe that beginning in preschool (yes, preschool!), our children are not so subliminally being taught to hate America, to the detriment of teaching how to read, write and do arithmetic. In a few days, I will speak of one reader's personal experience with this. In the meantime, it would be helpful to hear your examples. The words and experiences need to be voiced before we can do anything about it. Our very country is at risk.

Michelle Malkin:

The two most important questions for society, according to the Greek philosopher Plato, are these: What will we teach our children? And who will teach them? Left-wing celebrities have teamed up with one of America's most radical historians to take control of the classroom in the name of "social justice." Parents, beware: This Hollywood-backed Marxist education project may be coming to a school near you.

On Sunday, Dec. 13, the History Channel will air "The People Speak" -- a documentary based on Marxist academic Howard Zinn's capitalism-bashing, America-dissing, grievance-mongering history textbook, "A People's History of the United States." The film was co-produced and bankrolled by Zinn's Boston neighbor and mentee Matt Damon. An all-star cast of Bush-bashing liberals, including Danny Glover, Josh Brolin, Bruce Springsteen, Marisa Tomei and Eddie Vedder, will appear. Zinn's work is a self-proclaimed "biased account" of American history that rails against white oppressors, the free market and the military.

Zinn's objective is not to impart knowledge, but to instigate "change" and nurture a political "counterforce" (an echo of fellow radical academic and Hugo Chavez admirer Bill Ayers' proclamation of education as the "motor-force of revolution"). Teachers are not supposed to teach facts in the school of Zinn. "There is no such thing as pure fact," Zinn asserts. Educators are not supposed to emphasize individual academic achievement. They are supposed to "empower" student collectivism by emphasizing "the role of working people, women, people of color and organized social movements." School officials are not facilitators of intellectual inquiry, but leaders of "social struggle."

Zinn and company have launched a nationwide education project in conjunction with the documentary. "A people's history requires a people's pedagogy to match," Zinn preaches. The project is a collaboration between two "social justice" activist groups, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change.

Rethinking Schools recently boasted of killing a social studies textbook series in the Milwaukee school system because it "failed to teach social responsibility." A Rethinking Schools guide on the September 11 jihadi attacks instructs teachers to "nurture student empathy" for our enemies and dissuade students from identifying as Americans. "It's our job to reach beyond this chauvinism." And a Rethinking Schools guide to early childhood education written by Ann Pelo disparages "a too-heavy focus on academic skills" in favor of "social justice and ecological teaching" for preschoolers.

Teaching for Change's objective, in Obama-esque fashion, is to train students not to achieve actual proficiency in core academic subjects, but to inspire them to "become active global citizens." Today's non-achieving aspirants are tomorrow's Nobel Peace Prize winners, after all.

No part of the school curriculum is immune from the social justice makeover crew. Zinn's partners at Rethinking Schools have even issued teaching guides to "Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers" -- which rejects the traditional white male patriarchal methods of teaching computation and statistics in favor of p.c.-ified number-crunching:

"'Rethinking Mathematics' is divided into four parts. The first part is devoted to a broad view of mathematics that includes historical and cultural implications. Part Two includes nine classroom narratives in which teachers describe lessons they have used that infuse social justice issues into their mathematics curriculum. Included here … an AP calculus lesson on income distribution. The third part contains three detailed classroom experiences/lessons. These include a physical depiction of the inequitable distribution of the world's wealth, the results of a student investigation into how many U.S. presidents owned slaves, and a wonderful classroom game called 'Transnational Capital Auction' in which students take on the role of leaders of Third World countries bidding competitively for new factories from a multinational corporation. …

"Short lessons, provocative cartoons and snippets of statistics are scattered throughout 'Rethinking Mathematics.' A partial list of topics includes racial profiling, unemployment rate calculation, the war in Iraq, environmental racism, globalization, wealth distribution and poverty, wheelchair ramps, urban density, HIV/AIDS, deconstructing Barbie, junk food advertising to children and lotteries." (from a review by James V. Rauff of Millikin University)

Our students will continue to come in dead last in international testing. But no worries. With Howard Zinn and Hollywood leftists in charge, empty-headed young global citizens will have heavier guilt, wider social consciences and more hatred for America than any other students in
the world.
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A notebook sold to a student out of a supply machine at Mill Creek Elementary School bears a logo and slogan similar to those used in the Obama campaign last year. The supplier also distributed pencils with a similar theme. [Isn't that so terrific? No? DO watch what your child's school is up to in their efforts to indoctrinate students.]

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Good Government - It's Hard To Find

The words of Thomas Jefferson come to mind these days. He said during his first inaugural address, in 1801: "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

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I would like to hear from any of my readers who are on Medicare, and wish to inform those of you who are not yet old enough to be forced into this scheme. After one year on Medicare, at a price of $47 per person for Part B coverage, I am now informed that that same coverage will jump to $153 per person per month. Oh, yes - whereas prior to the new contract, Medicare covered a person for emergency care anywhere in the world, it will now cover a person only in the good old USA. How's that for Hope and Change? Do we still believe our taxes will not rise, the Obamacare Plan will save us money, and that even though 500 Billion will be taken from Medicare while the new plan is to push all people 55 years old onto the government plan, there will be no rationing??!! I talked to my care provider, who told me that the directive for the rise in rates came from the federal government, not the provider. Those of us on Social Security received no increase this year, and yet government employees were just granted a 2% increase in salary.

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Pat Buchanan: Unemployment is at 10 percent, near the postwar high of 1983. Fifteen million Americans are out of work. Ten million more have given up looking or are working fewer hours than they would like.

We have been losing jobs every month for two years.

Why, then, are we still bringing immigrants into the United States at a rate of 125,000 a month to take jobs from fellow Americans and compete with our unemployed for the jobs that open up?

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ABC News reports: In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) inadvertently posted online its entire airport screening procedures manual, including some of the most closely guarded secrets regarding special rules for diplomats and CIA and law enforcement officers. The most sensitive parts of the 93-page Standard Operation Procedures were apparently redacted in a way that computer savvy individuals easily overcame.

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Fox News Radio reports: President Obama and the First Family were planning a “non-religious Christmas,” according to Social Secretary Desiree Rogers. Ms. Rogers reportedly told a gathering of former social secretaries that the Obamas did not intend on putting the Nativity scene on display – a longtime East Room tradition. The account was reported in the Fashion and Style section of The New York Times. The White House confirmed to the Times that there had been internal discussions about making Christmas more inclusive – but in the end – tradition won out – and the Nativity scene is once again in its traditional East Room spot. [It has been said, but not confirmed, that the Obama's do not give Christmas gifts to their children.... If so, doesn't that make you wonder why not?]

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Reuters reports: The Obama Administration is touting that their stimulus program has saved or created 640,329 jobs since it was enacted back in February through the end of October. This number is updated and posted on the Administration’s recovery.gov web site. That amounts to $246,436 per job based on the $157.8bn that has been awarded so far! Total compensation earned by the average payroll employee during October, on an annualized basis, was $59,867. If the government had simply used the funds awarded so far to pay for a year’s worth of labor, that would have paid for 2.6mn jobs! And now Neal Boortz reports that the government has some money left over from the $700 billion bank bailout. "There is something like $259 billion in the fund plus another $70 billion that has been repaid by the banks. So now the debate remains ... what should be done with the "extra" money?

"Tax cheat Tim Geithner wants to keep money in the program to provide "headroom" for "additional flexibility to Treasury in its efforts to stabilize the economy and build the foundation for long-term economic growth." Politicians, like Barney Frank, are just itching to get their hands on the money to be used for entitlement program. Slobbering Barney, for example, wants to use the dividends earned through interest owed by banks to go toward affordable housing programs .. read: welfare. [Isn't this just the kind of help - getting those who can't afford it to "own" a home - that got us into trouble with mortgages in the first place?]

But the answer here should be really simple, folks. Give the money back to the taxpayers. This is not the government's money. It is not money that was willingly donated to Timothy Geithner's piggy bank. This is money that has been seized by the government from you, the taxpayers. How hard is this?" [I will predict that this is to become a slush fund, from which bribes for the right vote on healthcare, for instance, and paybacks to those who got BO elected (such as unions), will come.]

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took his GOP-blasting rhetoric to a new level Monday, comparing Republicans who oppose health care reform to lawmakers who clung to the institution of slavery more than a century ago. [Just for your information, that would have been the DEMOCRATS who clung to the institution of slavery.....] It was Sen. Strom Thurmond, then a Democrat, who unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and it was Republicans who led the charge against slavery.
"That is extremely offensive," Orrin Hatch told Fox News. "It's language that should never be used, never be used. ... Those days are not here now." [ And heaven knows we should well remember a teary eyed Nancy Pelosi just several months ago chastising those who foment hatred by their speech. Where is Nancy now? Oh, yes, that would be only those rascal conservatives who are simply stating their beliefs, not name calling.]
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I have heard that December 15 has been chosen for the next Tea Party - Patriot - (oh, the government says they are possible terrorists) gathering in Washington, DC, for the purpose of letting the Congress know that we want small government and do not want socialized medicine, back-breaking national debt, or cap and trade....among other things.
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WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee approved legislation Wednesday aimed at forcing college football to switch to a playoff system to determine its national champion, over the objections of some lawmakers who said Congress has meatier targets to tackle. [Some will quibble with this legislation because they think Congress should be spending it's time on really important matters. I will add that I don't think Congress has a right to stick it's nose in college athletics' business.] The bill, which faces steep odds, would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision game as a national championship unless it results from a playoff. The measure passed by voice vote in a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee. The bill, which faces steep odds, would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision game as a national championship unless it results from a playoff. The measure passed by voice vote in a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee. [I can only assume that Congress thinks they have the right to control this issue because we fans travel across state lines to see games. Another reason is that because universities take federal money, the feds have power over their every move.]

Acorn Funding and the EPA

The American Spectator notes that "Congress -- and possibly Citigroup -- may be gearing up to start funding the organized crime syndicate ACORN again. The current federal funding ban expires Dec. 18. On Tuesday evening the House Appropriations Committee rejected on a party line vote of 9 to 5 an amendment offered by Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) that would have blocked federal funding of the radical advocacy group. The amendment was needed because the Obama administration thumbed its nose at a provision in spending legislation that banned ACORN funding until the end of next week.

In a ruling revealed late last month by the Justice Department the Obama administration invented a loophole allowing the government to continue funding the president's friends at ACORN. Through the magic of legal interpretation, the language forbidding funding the group was transformed by Acting Assistant Attorney General David J. Barron into a requirement not "to refuse payment on binding contractual obligations that predate" the original funding ban."

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According to its October 2009 quarterly finance report, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign has one outstanding debt: $995,500 owed to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, LLC, which is run by Democratic pollster Mark Penn. According to The Hill today, the same firm received a $2.8 million stimulus subcontract "for media services and outreach to help prepare 'unready' households for the DTV transition" -- a contract that Republican Senators contend was "pure waste." This news is from the Washington Examiner.

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From Byron York come comments regarding :"The Billionaires Behind the Hate" is the title of a new report published by the Center for American Progress, which is the liberal think tank run by John Podesta, the former Clinton chief of staff who also ran the Obama transition and serves as an outside adviser to the Obama White House. The supposedly hateful billionaires in the article's title are brothers Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, one of the nation's largest conglomerates. And what do they hate? The "progressive agenda." The Kochs, according to Podesta's group, are "responsible for a vicious attack campaign aimed directly at obstructing and killing progressive reform." First, they opposed the stimulus, financing "television and radio ads deriding the recovery package as simply 'pork' spending." Imagine that! Then, through the group Americans for Prosperity, they helped organize some of the first "Tea Party" protests.

From there, it was on to stopping environmental cap-and-trade legislation, and health care reform.

[One must assume here that The Center for American Progress, George Soros and Michael Moore, among others, traffic in "love" only - not a far left, Progressive, big government control, America as she is-hating agenda.] If you are looking for a sign that the White House, having gone through Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Glenn Beck, and others, is flailing around in the search for new enemies to blame for its troubles, you can't do better than the new Center for American Progress report.
[Now that we have been introduced to a fine company, I wonder how many of us would like to boost their sales by knowing just what products they make? If you are one, you can find them at http://www.worldofkoch.com/ I plan to enrich them, myself! Just to get you started, here are some of the products: Vanity Fair, Brawney, Angel Soft, Quilted Northern, Sparkle, Dixie cups and Stainmaster carpet care. It occurs to me that most of these products are made to assist in cleaning up "messes", and we sure have one in Washington!]
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Politico reports that: In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections. “We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday.
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Fox News reports that a top White House economic official warned:

“If you don’t pass this legislation, then … the EPA is going to have to regulate in this area. And it is not going to be able to regulate on a market-based way, so it’s going to have to regulate in a command-and-control way, which will probably generate even more uncertainty.”

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The New York Times points out: Senate Democrats have provided few details about their latest health care proposal, but this much seems clear: Anyone who wants to buy the same health benefits as members of Congress, or to buy coverage through Medicare, should be prepared to fork over a large chunk of cash.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, a family of four earning $54,000 in 2016, when the health legislation is fully in effect, would be eligible for a subsidy of $10,100 to help defray the cost of insurance under the health legislation being debated by the Senate. By then, one of the most popular federal plans, a nationwide Blue Cross and Blue Shield policy, is projected to cost more than $20,000. Senate Democrats have been careful to say that their proposal is not intended to offer exactly the same benefits that members of Congress have.

Senators from rural states voiced deep reservations on Thursday about the Medicare buy-in plan, which they said would hurt hospitals, doctors and other health care providers back home.

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A New York Post Editorial points out: The Democrats' sweeping health-care plans may bankrupt the nation, but every American will be insured. Except for 24 million of 'em. No kidding: The Congressional Budget Office figures that by 2019, long after the new programs kick in, the reforms will trim the ranks of the uninsured by just 57 percent -- leaving another 43 percent, or 24 million residents, without coverage.

[Let's not forget that for the 3 or 4 years we will be waiting for this new plan to actually begin, we will all be paying premiums for it during that time, because it obviously needs a running start financially. Do you believe we can trust our government to actually put the money in a "lock box"? The Plan" has a curious starting date, chosen very well by Democrats - just prior to the next Presidential election...]