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