Posts Tagged ‘obamacare’

More on epic fail obamacare

March 19, 2010

It’s been a busy week to say the least. So this is a bit of playing catch up. The steamroller approach being taken by epic fail obama and his minions  shows the utter disdain that the Lairds have for we, the unwashed. Don’t be fooled! While obamacare is at the forefront it is far from the only thing that is going to be force fed to you, the people of America.

“‘We allow the insurance industry to run wild in this country,’ President Obama declared [last] Monday. ‘We can’t have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people.’ Yet Obama’s plan to tame health insurers would boost their business, protect them from competition and guarantee their profits, all at the expense of consumers and taxpayers. It is therefore not surprising that the insurance companies, while they object to the president’s rhetoric and quibble over some of the details, are happy to be domesticated. … As he himself notes, ‘They’re going to have 30 million new customers,’ thanks to the government’s mandates and subsidies. To distract us from the favor he is doing for insurers, Obama claims to be getting tough with them by demanding that they take all comers and charge them all the same rates, without regard to health. While abolishing risk-based pricing contradicts a basic principle of the insurance business, the industry has to weigh the loss of that freedom against the gain of government-guaranteed revenue. Despite his talk about reining in ‘excessive’ premium hikes, Obama’s plan commits him to keeping insurers financially sound so they can provide the coverage he is promising. … In essence, then, Obama’s plan would use money forcibly extracted from taxpayers and policyholders to keep insurers healthy.” –columnist Jacob Sullum

SOURCE


“For Congress to guarantee a right to health care, or any other good or service, whether a person can afford it or not, it must diminish someone else’s rights, namely their rights to their earnings. The reason is that Congress has no resources of its very own. Moreover, there is no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy giving them those resources. The fact that government has no resources of its very own forces one to recognize that in order for government to give one American citizen a dollar, it must first, through intimidation, threats and coercion, confiscate that dollar from some other American. If one person has a right to something he did not earn, of necessity it requires that another person not have a right to something that he did earn. To argue that people have a right that imposes obligations on another is an absurd concept. A better term for new-fangled rights to health care, decent housing and food is wishes. If we called them wishes, I would be in agreement with most other Americans for I, too, wish that everyone had adequate health care, decent housing and nutritious meals. However, if we called them human wishes, instead of human rights, there would be confusion and cognitive dissonance. The average American would cringe at the thought of government punishing one person because he refused to be pressed into making someone else’s wish come true. None of my argument is to argue against charity. Reaching into one’s own pockets to assist his fellow man in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into someone else’s pockets to do so is despicable and deserves condemnation.” –economist Walter E. Williams

same source

House Vote On Anti-gun ObamaCare‏

March 18, 2010

House Vote On Anti-gun ObamaCare Scheduled For This Weekend!

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org

ACTION: The anti-gun health care issue may very well be decided this week.  Even if you have already called, faxed or e-mailed your congressman, it is imperative that you do so one last time.  Please see contact information and suggested letter/talking points below.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

This is gun owners’ last shot (so to speak) at saving the country from the worst piece of legislation that we’ve seen in years.

Make no mistake about it:  The pivotal vote in the House will be — directly or indirectly — on whether to adopt the corrupt and discredited Senate ObamaCare bill verbatim.  And the votes are being corralled by Obama and Pelosi through a new round of bribes, threats, and corruption.

Consider what has been implanted in the bill which will be voted on in the House this week.

1. Restrictions upon gun owners. The Senate-passed version would allow the ATF to troll your confidential medical records in order to take guns away from potentially tens of millions of Americans.  The “individual mandate” (in Sections 1501 and 1502) will make it impossible for you to keep private, medical information out of the government-controlled medical database that was created in last year’s stimulus bill.

2. Bribes, bribes, bribes. The bill your Representative will be voting on still contains virtually all of the bribes that made the Senate version such a disgusting spectacle.  This includes:

* Mary Landrieu’s $300,000,000 “Louisiana Purchase;”

* A broadened version of the nauseating “Cornhusker Kickback” to get Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson’s vote;

* The roughly $10 BILLION (with a “b”) bribe to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for clinics which could well be run by ACORN and Planned Parenthood;

* The $100 million Connecticut “Hospital Handout” bribe to corrupt Senator Chris Dodd; and

* The $300 million Libby, Montana, asbestos bribe.

3. Unconstitutional mandates. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill to be voted on this week would increase the cost of private insurance by 10-13% over what it would be if Congress did nothing — and require, under penalty of imprisonment, that you buy it.

4. Corrupt procedures. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) plan to ram this bill through the Congress and onto the President’s desk using cheat schemes called “reconciliation” and “self-executing rules.”   This is nothing other than a slimy attempt to ignore the will of the people, who according to the latest polls, overwhelmingly oppose this legislation:

* Under “reconciliation,” any language qualifying for special Senate procedures had to have been reported out of committee by October 15, 2009.  As of March 15, 2010, the language was still not available, even though the House Budget Committee voted to approve the non-existent draft.

* Under the Senate rules, these special procedures can be used only to reduce the deficit.  Once you discount the accounting tricks and fraud that Reid and Pelosi are employing, ObamaCare would INCREASE the deficit by half a trillion dollars over the first ten years.

* Despite Obama’s lies, “reconciliation” has never been used for non-budgetary issues which do not reduce the deficit.

* Now, House Rules Committee Chairman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) is proposing a plan (which has been approved by Pelosi) to “deem” ObamaCare passed without having the House vote on it.  Read more about this plan at http://tinyurl.com/yk7s5a4 .

According to news reports, the phones are ringing off the hook on Capitol Hill.  Estimates as to how close Pelosi is to delivering the votes vary widely.  But Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who opposes the bill on grounds that it would allow for taxpayer funding of abortions, says he thinks Pelosi is about 16 votes away.

Please take action now!

WHERE DOES YOUR REPRESENTATIVE STAND ON HEALTH CARE? You can go to two URLs to get the latest updates on where your Representative stands.  Please see:

* http://tinyurl.com/ya3oulz

* http://tinyurl.com/y99ccy7

CONTACT INFO:

Phone:  toll-free at 877-762-8762 or 800-965-4701; or call the regular number at 202-225-3121

E-mail: Visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send a pre-written message to your Representative.


—– Pre-written letter and talking points —–

Dear Representative:

I am writing you with one final plea to vote against the Senate’s corrupt and bribe-laden ObamaCare bill.

Despite the fact that the Senate tried to allay gun owners’ concerns, the Senate bill would still allow the ATF to troll the confidential medical records in order to take guns away from potentially tens of millions of Americans.  This is because the “individual mandate” in Sections 1501 and 1502 of the Senate-passed bill would make it impossible for people to keep private, medical information out of the government-controlled medical database that was created by the stimulus bill.

The process that put together this Senate bill has been marked with bribes (such as the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, etc.), by unconstitutional mandates and by corrupt procedures.  As to corruption, any rules vote on your part which “deems” ObamaCare as passed will be held in the greatest contempt by your constituents.

You represent my state, not the “state of Nancy Pelosi.”  Americans overwhelmingly oppose this legislation.  Please — please listen to your constituents and vote against ObamaCare.

Sincerely,

Lo Tech solutions

March 17, 2010

Well, I really cannot say “it’s back.” It never left, and the way that things are going, it never will. Epic Fail obama, as usual, is using smoke and mirrors. But pay no attention to that man that is always on the television screen in front of a teleprompter.

While we are all focused upon Epic fail obamacare the usual suspects are hard at work pursuing other ways of destroying America. Yes, putting the break (no that is no misspell ) to the Salinsky type of attack on the U.S. economy and personal freedom that is obamacare there are indeed many other things going on.

One that in all honesty I simply refuse to dump into the impostor in chief’s lap is the porous border. No POTUS has done squat about that since Eisenhower. Read about this latest royal screw up regarding illegal immigration HERE.

I have a very low technology solution (H/T Texas Fred) for this never ending invasion. Militarize the border, it is as simple as that. Shoot a few drug and gun runners and in short order things will change…

The obamanation of the American way

March 16, 2010

Lots going on today from what I have been reading, and most of it is not good. The Democrats are resorting to dirty tricks in order to force feed their socialist dreams to all of us.

WASHINGTON—Democrats defended plans to push massive health care legislation through the House without a direct vote and Republicans assailed the strategy Tuesday, as both parties fenced ferociously over the health overhaul end game.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that no final decision had been made on the complex parliamentary strategy, which would allow House Democrats to pass the Senate’s health care legislation without voting on the bill itself. Instead House members, who dislike the Senate bill, would vote on a rule for debate that would deem the bill passed once a smaller package of fixes also had passed.

On the other hand though at least some people are taking this battle straight to the mules mouth.
Read about that HERE

House Democrats Being Bribed & Coerced to Vote for the Senate’s Corrupt ObamaCare Bill… Verbatim!

March 11, 2010

One

Big

Ass

Mistake

America

Gun Owners of America
8001 Forbes Place Suite 102
Springfield VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Remember the Senate’s anti-gun ObamaCare bill that was crammed full of billions of dollar of bribes:

*  The Cornhusker Kickback?

*  $300,000,000 of bribes to Louisiana’s Senator Mary Landrieu?

*  A new hospital in Connecticut for morally challenged Senator Chris Dodd?

*  Roughly ten billion in community health centers to buy off Vermont’s Bernie Sanders?

*  An exemption of Bill Nelson’s Florida constituents from the Medicare Advantage cuts applicable to everyone else?

*  A threat to take away Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman’s committee chairmanship unless he falls into line?

And, lest we forget, remember the Senate ObamaCare bill which still allows the ATF to troll a health/gun database in order to take away firearms from tens of millions of Americans?

Well, that’s the bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now trying to cram down the throats of conservative House Democrats, who are being told they have to pass this bill that is filled with bribes and corruption — WITHOUT A SINGLE CHANGE.

Not a single bribe will come out of the bill which Pelosi and Obama are now DEMANDING that the House pass by March 18.

Sure, there will be a companion package — dubbed “ObamaCare Helper” — which will be “passed” by the House at the same time.

But once ObamaCare is passed, what motivation do either Obama or Senate Democrats have to pass a clean-up bill for House Democratic suckers once they’ve gotten the trillion dollar Senate bill they want?

So — how does Pelosi get the votes for ObamaCare Helper?  Answer:  More bribes, threats and corruption.

ACTION: Write your representative one final time.  Tell him to oppose the Senate-passed ObamaCare bill that is full of bribes and corruption.  Remind him that, once Obama and Senate Democrats have gotten what they want, there is no incentive to ignore the Senate rules in order to bail out House Democratic suckers.  You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://gunowners.org/activism.htm to send a pre-written message.

—–Pre-written letter —–

Dear Representative:

The Senate’s anti-gun ObamaCare bill is crammed full of billions of dollar of bribes:

*  The Cornhusker Kickback.

*  $300,000,000 of bribes to Louisiana’s Senator Mary Landrieu.

*  A new hospital in Connecticut for morally challenged Senator Chris Dodd.

*  Roughly ten billion in community health centers to buy off Vermont’s Bernie Sanders.

*  An exemption of Bill Nelson’s Florida constituents from the Medicare Advantage cuts applicable to everyone else.

*  A threat to take away Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman’s committee chairmanship unless he falls into line.

And, of course, the Senate ObamaCare bill still allows the ATF to troll a health/gun database in order to take away firearms from tens of millions of Americans.

Well, now, you are being told you have to pass this bill that is filled with bribes and corruption — and to pass it WITHOUT A SINGLE CHANGE.

Not a single bribe will come out of the bill which Pelosi and Obama are now DEMANDING that the House pass by March 18.

Sure, there will be a companion package — dubbed “ObamaCare Helper” — which will be “passed” by the House at the same time.

But once ObamaCare is passed, what motivation do either Obama or Senate Democrats have to pass a clean-up bill for House Democratic suckers once they’ve gotten the trillion dollar Senate bill they want?

We understand that Pelosi will now attempt to shower you with bribes and threats. But believe me, your political career is more important than any bribe Pelosi can offer you.

Please, resist the bribes and extortion from Pelosi.  Vote against the bribe-filled Senate bill and against the bribe-filled ObamaCare Helper bill.

Sincerely,

Just say no to epic fail obamacare

March 11, 2010

Code Red, Red Alert,

OPERATION URGENT CARE

Many Blue Dogs are saying that Speaker Pelosi will have the votes before or by next Thursday and they are saying this very confidently.  The important thing to note is that as soon as Speaker Pelosi thinks she has the votes, she will immediately call for the vote on the House Floor.  That means it the vote could come as early as tomorrow, or it could be later.


Dear Fellow Tea Party Patriots,

National Coordinator Jenny Beth Martin just got off the phone with 2 reliable sources in Washington DC who have told us that the Blue Dog Democrats are caving on health care and will be voting for it.  Many Blue Dogs are saying that Speaker Pelosi will have the votes before or by next Thursday and they are saying this very confidently.  The important thing to note is that as soon as Speaker Pelosi thinks she has the votes, she will immediately call for the vote on the House Floor.  That means it the vote could come as early as tomorrow, or it could be later.

It is up to each and every one of us to stop this health care bill.  Over 60% of Americans do NOT want this bill yet that does not matter to the Democrats in Congress.  Sen. Coburn said on Tea Party Patriots’ Hot Tea Radio program today, that current polling shows 48% of Americans want the entire health care bill scrapped and to start over.  Only 25% of Americans even want this bill, and polling shows jobs is the top priority for Americans and health care reform ranks well down the list at number six.  Yet Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat leadership in the House and the Senate are prepared to shove this bill down our throats, regardless of what the American people want.

We cannot let our liberty go without fighting for it with everything we have.  In the battle to prevent the government from taking over our health care, Tea Party Patriots across the country have left no stone unturned.  Right now we must keep the pressure up!!! The Blue Dog Democrats must feel as much pressure from the “Tea Party folks” as they are feeling from Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat House Leadership.

The absolute most effective thing that you can do is to go to the office of the Congressmen who are on the fence and still undecided on this government takeover of health care bill.  Let the Undecided Congressmen see the live faces of the people who do not want this health care bill shoved down our throats.  Make them look in your eyes.

In addition to the action items emailed late last night, we need you right now to plan an event and have car loads of people visiting the local district offices in a constant stream this week.

Here is how to do it:
  1. Check our site to see when other events are currently planned in your area to protest government take over of health care. You can see this by going to teapartypatriots.org, click on Tea Parties. Then click on your state and then click on Events.  Make a mental note of when events are currently planned.
  2. Now plan a visit to the targeted Congressmen in your state who are still undecided in their office tomorrow, Friday, over the weekend, and/or each day next week.  Plan an event that does not conflict with the time, date, and place of a currently planned event. For instance if one is planned at noon tomorrow, then plan on for 3:00 tomorrow.  We need as much constant pressure as possible.
  3. Login to teapartypatriots.org and list your event on our website. After logging in, click on My Account. Then click on Add Event.  Fill out the pertinent information.  Click Submit. We will have people approving events every couple of hours and you will get an email as soon as it is approved.
  4. Email all of your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors an invitation to the event you are planning.  Each of us has a unique circle of influence that no one else has. Use that circle of influence to contact the people within it and tell them how important this vote is. Tell them why you are taking time away from your family, work, and other normal activities to plan an event and ask them to attend.
Create an event for it on Facebook as well.  You can do this by click logging into facebook.com. On the left hand side, click on Events. Then click Create an Event and follow the directions on the site. Once your event is created, invite your friends on Facebook to attend as well.

You can do this too. We are here to help you.   If you have never planned a tea party event before and need help you can email tppatriotssupport@gmail.com. We will have several people monitoring this email address throughout the day so that someone will reply to you in a timely manner. (Jenny Beth Martin’s email inbox is overflowing and she is not keeping up with email as well as she would like.)

Next week, we need absolutely as many people as can possibly go to DC to be in DC visiting the Congressional offices.  If you are in the Congressional office in DC, it is much more difficult for the Congressmen to ignore you and they get to see the feedback first hand rather than filter through their staff.  If it is a stretch on your budget and a sacrifice for you to make the visit, remember that that an office visit next week, will be less expensive than the increased taxes this bill cause over the next 10 years.

H/T Lisa at Getdaclue see sidebar.

Full newsletter HERE for a list of targeted congrescritters, and others.


State of the Nation: Just a quick round up

March 10, 2010

You don’t say: “I have thus far failed, and our world has thus fair failed to respond adequately to this crisis.” –Algore on his efforts to educate the world about climate change

Unsolicited advice: “I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff. I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement. I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that’s been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp. And I will help you get done what the American people sent you there to do.” –from an open letter to BO from crockumentarian Michael Moore

Useful idiot: “Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it. … [T]ruly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.” –actor Sean Penn on his buddy Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan dictator (No wonder they get along so well!)

In need of remedial history: “Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?” –actor Tom Hanks promoting his upcoming HBO miniseries “The Pacific”

Somehow not comforting: “Believe me, if we were charting this administration as a political exercise, the first thing we would have done would not have been a massive recovery act, stabilizing the banks and helping to keep the auto companies from collapsing. Those would not even be the first hundred things he would want to do.” –White House adviser David Axelrod

Delusions from a parallel universe: “Campaign promises are about getting elected; once there, they are quickly forgotten. Courage is not a word you hear very often in discussions about politics. Not Barack Obama. Whether or not you support or even understand his health care plan — and the polls suggest that right now most Americans don’t — you must admit this: Obama is a man who does everything humanly possible to keep his promises. He promised health care reform, and he is risking his presidency to deliver it. If that’s not courage, what is?” –political commentator Susan Estrich (Try blind ideology.)

Oh no! “Now that we have finally arrived at the do-or-die moment for Obama’s signature issue, we face the alarming prospect that his presidency could be toast if he doesn’t make good on a year’s worth of false starts. And it won’t even be the opposition’s fault. If too many Democrats in the House defect, health care will be dead.” –New York Times columnist Frank Rich

Propaganda FAIL: “John Patrick Bedell, whom authorities identified as the gunman in the Pentagon shooting on Thursday, appears to have been a right-wing extremist with virulent antigovernment feelings.” –Christian Science Monitor staff writer Peter Grier (Oops, Bedell was a registered Democrat and an anti-Bush 9/11 “truther.”)

Rather racist: “One, part of the undertow in the coming election is going to be President Obama’s leadership. And the Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument. ‘Listen he just hasn’t been, look at the health care bill. It was his number one priority. It took him forever to get it through and he had to compromise it to death.’ And a version of, ‘Listen he’s a nice person, he’s very articulate’ — this is what’s been used against him — ‘but he couldn’t sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.'” –HDNet’s Dan Rather trying to put words in Republicans’ mouths

“The more we come to rely on government, the fewer freedoms we will enjoy. Government will start dictating what we can own, eat and drive, how much of our money they will let us keep, how we run our businesses, how many — if any — guns we can own, and what we may and may not say. Oh, wait! They are already doing that. To preserve freedom we must fight for it.” –columnist Cal Thomas

“True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or those considered to be natural or human rights, exist simultaneously among people. That means exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another.” –economist Walter E. Williams

“With their backs to the wall, Democratic leaders are preparing a complicated plan to pass their national health care bill. Standing in the way are Democrats who oppose the bill, whether on principle or out of fear that voting for a wildly unpopular measure will spell defeat for them in November. If you think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is going to let them off easy, allowing them to kill the party’s top policy priority in more than a generation — well, that’s not gonna happen. Democrats who are considering voting against the bill are about to experience arm-twisting, threats, and pressure like they’ve never experienced.” –columnist Byron York

“In my entire career, I have never been as confounded as I am over President Obama and the Democratic leadership’s obsession with a piece of legislation that not one major national poll has shown to be popular. … So I have to ask, why are the president and the leaders of Congress willing to see their entire party and a multitude of other policy proposals go down in flames over something that the public can’t stand? … Folks, this is nothing more than a power grab. It’s an effort to take one of the most essential elements of every person’s life — their health — and put it under the control of government.” –columnist Matt Towery

“The president cannot show us he is looking out for our interests and our future by forcing a quick, partisan vote on an issue that will impact not only this time but generations to come. This is especially true since he was so adamant in his opposition to using this very parliamentary measure in governance during his campaign. And he cannot show us that he is listening when polls show that only 35-40 percent of Americans support this bill.” –radio talk-show host Michael Reagan

Now All We Have Left Is Change: “Closure of Hope Plant to Cost 50-60 Jobs” –Associated Press

We Blame Global Warming: “Obama Turns Up Heat for Health Care Overhaul Plan” –Associated Press

Wide Ends, Poor Hardest Hit: “Obesity Hits New York’s Poor Neighborhoods Hardest” –Reuters

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “Subprime Mortgage Crisis Hits Whorehouses” –Human Events

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Gore Still Hot on His Doomsday Rhetoric” –Boston Globe

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

SOURCE

Makes you wonder what people have been smoking…

When Reconciliation Doesn’t Mean Getting Along

March 5, 2010
The Tel-O-Prompter of the United States

Reconciliation is still the buzzword on Capitol Hill as Democrat “leaders” Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi try to figure out how to ram ObamaCare down our throats. Not that they see it that way; as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer put it, “That’s not ramming something through with a majority. It is doing what democracy calls for.” Well, this isn’t a democracy, it’s a republic: and the Founders set it up that way for a reason.

Accompanied by his teleprompter, Barack Obama began a renewed push for a vote on the health care bill by Easter when he met a group of people wearing lab coats in the Rose Garden on Wednesday (and he accused Rep. Eric Cantor of using a “prop” by bringing the 2,400-page bill itself to last week’s health care summit). Obama claimed that “new and improved” legislation “incorporates the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans.” As we said Tuesday, however, the problem isn’t whether the bill is “bipartisan.” A few Republican ideas sprinkled in won’t fix it. The problem, at its core, is that a plan for Congress to take over one-sixth of the U.S. economy is unconstitutional.

In the face of all evidence, the teleprompter continued, “I don’t believe we should give government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats more control over health care in America.” Huh? Giving government bureaucrats control over health care in America is precisely what Obama is proposing to do.

For all the talk about reconciliation in the Senate, the House vote may be the more important one. The Associated Press reports, “The House passed health overhaul legislation by a narrow 220-215 vote in November, but since then several Democrats have defected or left the House. To avoid a filibuster in the Senate that Democrats can’t defeat, Obama is now pushing the House to approve the Senate’s version of the bill, along with a package of changes to fix elements of the Senate bill that House Democrats don’t like, including a special Medicaid deal for Nebraska and a tax on high-value insurance plans that is opposed by organized labor.”

If Pelosi is able to strong-arm the Senate bill through the House with a bare majority, Senate reconciliation becomes moot. With three vacancies, Democrats need just 217 votes for passage, and there are a handful of Democrats who voted “no” in November who now say they’re undecided. On the other hand, 12 pro-life Democrats, led by Bart Stupak of Michigan, say they’re prepared to switch sides and scuttle ObamaCare if sufficient protections against abortion funding aren’t put in place. The Senate bill doesn’t meet their benchmark.

Never underestimate this president’s lack of shame, though — or his penchant for Chicago-style politics. For example, Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) voted against ObamaCare in November, but he is now “undecided.” So on Wednesday, Obama nominated Jim’s brother Scott to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Offering jobs for playing the White House way is nothing new, and Scott Matheson is, to be fair, a well-credentialed nominee. However, even the appearance of selling judgeships for health care votes would give pause to a more honorable president.

As for leftist sentiment, perhaps MSNBC host Ed Schultz best summed it up this week, saying, “[S]mall government has never gotten anybody any health care.”

“The Republicans have a choice,” Schultz declared. “Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. … We have people in need and they need to be helped.”

Memo to Ed: If government would get out of the way, those people might be able to help themselves, as our Founders intended. Democrats aren’t about to let that happen because it really isn’t about helping those in need.

SOURCE

obamacare: Fatal Attraction?

March 5, 2010

Remember that scene from the movie Fatal Attraction?  The crazed, psycho-bitch Glenn Close is drowned in the bathtub and we all have this sigh of relief – she’s dead, it’s over, we’re saved.  And then she pops up, knife in hand, ready to kill again. Didn’t you feel that same sigh of relief when Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts – Obama Care is dead, it’s over, we’re saved.  But now popping up from the bathtub is Reconciliation. Glenn Close with a butcher knife looks tame by comparison.

Here’s a fun, six-question Health Care Reform survey on Facebook.  Check the results when you are done.

Must Attend Events: What are you up to on March 10? I hope you can join us at these two very important events. The first is the Taxpayer Day at the Capitol. From noon to 1pm on the west steps of our State Capitol, we at the Independence Institute will be joined by other taxpayers to show the legislature we — the taxpayers of Colorado — are the most important special interest group!

The second event followed on the heels of Taxpayer Day is our Health Care Policy roundtable discussion co-hosted with the Heartland Institute. This will take place from 2 to 5 PM at the Denver Public Library downtown. You can RSVP online here or call us at 303.279.6536 to register for any event, anytime.

The Audacity to Ignore Results: Obama likes to believe that he’s the audacious type. And what could be more audacious than facing quantifiable clear results in one state and ignoring them completely? In this Wall Street Journal piece, the devastation of Massachusetts’ Romney Care is revealed: “…average Massachusetts insurance premiums are now the highest in the nation. Since 2006, they’ve climbed at an annual rate of 30% in the individual market. Small business costs have increased by 5.8%. Per capita health spending in Massachusetts is now 27% higher than the national average, and 15% higher even after adjusting for local wages and academic research grants. The growth rate is faster too.” And what does our audacious president think about this mess? He wants to take the incredible Massachusetts health care failure and apply it to the entire United States! It’s the health care “big dig!”

Why are We Always Stuck in Traffic?? Senior fellow Randal O’Toole presented on the future of transportation in Colorado just last week. If you were not able to make the event, you can watch it all here on this YouTube playlist. Randal presents devastating facts against “high-speed” rail, RTD’s vision, and the overbudget and underfunded FasTracks debacle. With these critiques come Randal’s suggestions on what ought to be done to reduce congestion, reduce pollution, and get us where we need to be going faster.

A 2nd Look at 21st Century Learning: Speaking of events you may have missed, check out this YouTube video playlist from our February 11 event with guest speaker Randy DeHoff from the State Board of Education. See what 21st Century Learning is, how it fits into Colorado’s new academic standards and future assessments, and whether it’s a passing fad or the wave of the future.

Transparency Update: The Denver Post editorial board has joined the transparency party we’ve been having the past couple years! To that, we say “Welcome!” I wrote a blog entry about the Post‘s investigations into our three biggest school district’s spending habits. Even the Post can’t overlook spending thousands upon thousands on Starbucks, pizza, and trips to Vegas.

Also regularly check out our Colorado Spending Transparency (COST) blog, where transparency czarina Amy Oliver-Cooke keeps us updated on how state and local government spends your money.

Must See TV: We’re about a third of the way through the 2010 Colorado legislative session: Does your wallet feel lighter yet? On this Friday’s Independent Thinking, reporters Ed Sealover from the Denver Business Journal and Eli Stokols from Fox 31 News join me to discuss the legislative session thus far. If you are a Colorado politics junkie, be sure to tune in and get your political fix from the reporters who cover the Capitol. That’s this Friday at 8:30 PM on KBDI Channel 12, Denver.

Must Hear Podcast: House Bill 1330 would create an “all-payer health claims database” in Colorado. Bill supporters claim government can reduce health care costs through “transparent public reporting of health care information.” In fact, the bill is a transparency Trojan Horse. It will make your most personal actions transparent to government officials, officials who have no business keeping track of what kind of health care you buy or what you pay for it. Health Care Policy Center Director Linda Gorman sits down with Transparency Czarina Amy Oliver to discuss this privacy-smashing bit of legislation. Give a listen here.

Perspective: In this week’s op-ed, Linda Gorman reveals the privacy nightmare in House Bill 1330: The Transparency Trojan Horse. Just because a piece of legislation has the word “transparency” in it does not mean it is actually promotes transparency. Unfortunately, the word has been co-opted recently to mean the government spying on us citizens, not the other way around.

Until next week…

Straight on

Jon Caldara

Obama Threatening to Pass Anti-gun Health Care by Cheating

February 26, 2010

He’s like a playground bully — on steroids!

According to a recent poll, only 23% of the American people want Congress to pass the anti-gun ObamaCare bill.

And the President’s response to this?  He believes Americans are just too stupid to understand what geniuses like him, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid are trying to do for us.

So what is Obama’s current plan?

Cheat.

ObamaCare is already the product of fraud, secrecy, bribery, and corruption.  But Obama is preparing to ratchet up this corruption to a whole new level.

In 1974, Congress created a special process for balancing the budget.  Senators could reduce the deficit with a simple 51 votes in the Senate, rather than getting the 60 needed votes to stop a filibuster.  Under the rules, this process — called “reconciliation” — can ONLY be used for balancing the budget.

To repeat, it cannot be used for anything other than reducing the deficit. By contrast, ObamaCare would INCREASE the deficit by at least $500 BILLION.

So what does Obama do (with the help of crooked accountants at the Congressional Budget Office)?

He lies.

He fraudulently pretends the anti-gun ObamaCare legislation would reduce the deficit.  And he does this by hiding costs and pretending he’s going to make cuts he never intends to fully implement ($465 billion in Medicare cuts).

And he intends to use this fraud scheme to cram ObamaCare down the throats of the American people against their will.

Americans don’t want the increased taxes and gun control that have been injected into the bill.  Remember, Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to claim his legislation fixed the problems that Gun Owners of America had with this legislation.

But in reality, the bill still allows the ATF to troll a health/gun database in order to take away firearms from tens of millions of Americans.

ACTION: Please contact your two senators and your representative.  Tell them that using the budget-balancing “reconciliation” process to pass ObamaCare is nothing but cheating.

You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center to send a pre-written message to your legislators.

—– Pre-written letter —–

Dear

ObamaCare is already the product of fraud, secrecy, bribery, and corruption.  But Obama is preparing to ratchet up this corruption to a whole new level.

In 1974, Congress created a special process for balancing the budget — with a simple 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60 needed to stop a filibuster.  Under the rules, this process — called “reconciliation” — can ONLY be used for reducing the deficit.

To repeat, it cannot be used for anything other than reducing the deficit. By contrast, ObamaCare would INCREASE the deficit by at least $500 BILLION.

So what does Obama do (with the help of crooked congressional accountants at the Congressional Budget Office)?  He lies.  He fraudulently pretends ObamaCare would reduce the deficit.  And he does this by hiding costs (the $247 billion “doc fix”) and pretending he’s going to make cuts he never intends to fully implement ($465 billion in Medicare cuts).

This “reconciliation” scheme is nothing more than a fraud on the American people, who, according to every recent poll, oppose ObamaCare by overwhelming majorities.

Understand this:  I strongly object to this “cheat scheme.”

Majority Leader Harry Reid has tried to claim his legislation fixed the anti-gun problems in ObamaCare.  But in reality, it will still allow the ATF to troll a health/gun database in order to take away firearms from tens of millions of Americans.

Please oppose the use of “reconciliation” to pass ObamaCare.

Sincerely,

SOURCE