Democrats may not hit health-care deadline
1. Congressional Democrats on Tuesday cast doubt on their chances of meeting the White House’s March 18 deadline for voting on a stalled healthcare overhaul, but said they are moving as fast as they can.
New Obama rules could prohibit fishing
2. The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.
Massa investigated for groping male staffers
3. Not long after Eric Massa joined Congress in January 2009, several male staff members began to feel uncomfortable with the sexually loaded language their boss routinely used, according to accounts relayed to the House ethics committee.
As the months passed, rumors began to circulate in Congress that the married New York Democrat had sexually propositioned young male staffers and interns in his office, allegations, according to two sources with knowledge of the inquiry, that included Massa groping at least two aides. In the second week of February, Massa’s deputy chief of staff contacted the office of Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer for help in dealing with the accusations.
From mighty industrial might to farmland for Detroit
4. Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.
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Last year Obama said that private and government health-care can coexist. To support his argument, he pointed to the US Post Office and FedEx. Let’s discuss this.
The Post Office announced that it was running a huge deficit and was exploring ways to keep it afloat. Some of the ideas being floated are to cut services to 5 days a week, reducing benefits to its employees, and increases rates. Is this what we can expect to happen with government run health-care; cutting services or in the case of health-care, not covering those things that are now covered by health-care; increasing premiums; and slashing the payments that doctors, nurses, and physicians receive for their work? I’m just asking. After all, Obama himself, used the comparison to support his case for government-run health-care.
Already, Obama has gone back on his word; the very word he gave in his address to Congress when Joe Wilson called him a liar. Obama stated that health-care would be paid for by those who paid their premiums. In the Senate bill being negotiated, there are a series of taxes that are being included. These taxes include an increase in the payroll tax. This is on top of the soon to expire Bush tax cuts that will see the average middle income tax increase by 7%. As a reminder, these were the Bush tax cuts:
In Obama’s budget, the President allowed for the expiring of these cuts while claiming that he “wasn’t increasing taxes on the middle class. In fact, Obama often touts his tax “cuts” he “gave” to the middle class that averaged around $400 per year. Again, the president has been a little loose with the truth. Those filing their 2009 taxes learned that this $400 was nothing more than a tax credit and would be deducted from their their 2009 return. In essence, you would have gotten the $400 back anyways.
The question should be asked, if Obama’s health-care bill will save money and increase services then why is he having to deceive and lie about its cost? Is his health-care program really going to cost us less? Let’s think about this. If Obama is promising me that his health-care plan will cost me less than my employer’s United Health-Care plan (I pay $138 a month), but he’s increasing my taxes by $302 per month how is this making sense? This health-care plan is not about reducing cost, if it was then we would have Tort Reform tied to any plan before the Congress, this is about the socialization of this country and that is why a majority of Americans are opposed to this legislation.
Let’s go back to the drawing board and develop a plan that covers pre-existing conditions, includes Tort Reform, rewards those who live a healthy life through diet and exercise, penalizes people like Obama who smoke, cuts fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare, and is run by the private sector.
Where to begin… when the President spoke to the American people and told them that the health-care bill making its way through Congress would be paid for by premiums– he lied. When he told the American people that the health-care bill would be deficit neutral– he lied (The Congressional Budget Office report says that it will add to the deficit in 2019). The President lied when he said he wouldn’t raise taxes to pay for the health-care plan on the middle class. The Senate bill includes a whole host of stealth taxes that specific targets the middle class and small businesses. Now word comes from an article in the Washington Times that illegals will be covered under the health-care proposal. He looks as if Congressman Joe Wilson was right all along, the President lied.
From the Washington Times: Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could receive health care coverage from their employers under the bills winding their way through Congress, despite President Obama’s explicit pledge that illegal immigrants would not benefit. The House bill mandates, and the Senate bill strongly encourages, businesses to extend health care coverage to all employees. But the bills do not have exemptions to screen out illegal immigrants, who usually obtain jobs by using false identities and are indistinguishable from legal workers. A rough estimate by the Center for Immigration Studies suggests that the practical effect of the mandates would be that about 1 million illegal immigrants could obtain health insurance coverage through their employers. Democrats who wrote the House bill said that employer coverage for illegal immigrants is not intentional, but rather the outcome of people breaking the law. “It’s possible an employee could deceive an employer with a fraudulent document, just as under current law, to gain employment, just as it’s possible for all sorts of criminal activity to occur, and why we have law enforcement,” said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, who wrote the final House bill. Republicans said that loopholes in the bill could allow coverage to just about any illegal immigrant who wants to cheat the system. “This is a complete cover-all-the-gaps federal health insurance for illegals, whether it be under Medicaid, the refundable tax credit or whether it be under their employers who would not be able to verify their employers unless we fix E-Verify,” said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee. How to deal with immigrants, both legal and illegal, remains one of the thorniest issues in the health care debate. In his address to a joint session of Congress in September, Mr. Obama specifically challenged Republicans who said his plans would extend coverage to illegal immigrants. “This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” Mr. Obama said. Continued…
From the Washington Times:
Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could receive health care coverage from their employers under the bills winding their way through Congress, despite President Obama’s explicit pledge that illegal immigrants would not benefit.
The House bill mandates, and the Senate bill strongly encourages, businesses to extend health care coverage to all employees. But the bills do not have exemptions to screen out illegal immigrants, who usually obtain jobs by using false identities and are indistinguishable from legal workers.
A rough estimate by the Center for Immigration Studies suggests that the practical effect of the mandates would be that about 1 million illegal immigrants could obtain health insurance coverage through their employers.
Democrats who wrote the House bill said that employer coverage for illegal immigrants is not intentional, but rather the outcome of people breaking the law.
“It’s possible an employee could deceive an employer with a fraudulent document, just as under current law, to gain employment, just as it’s possible for all sorts of criminal activity to occur, and why we have law enforcement,” said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, who wrote the final House bill.
Republicans said that loopholes in the bill could allow coverage to just about any illegal immigrant who wants to cheat the system.
“This is a complete cover-all-the-gaps federal health insurance for illegals, whether it be under Medicaid, the refundable tax credit or whether it be under their employers who would not be able to verify their employers unless we fix E-Verify,” said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee.
How to deal with immigrants, both legal and illegal, remains one of the thorniest issues in the health care debate. In his address to a joint session of Congress in September, Mr. Obama specifically challenged Republicans who said his plans would extend coverage to illegal immigrants.
“This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” Mr. Obama said. Continued…
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There’s been a lot of news while I’ve been “absent”. Let’s see, the Associated Press decided that they were actually going to do some investigative journalism and delved into the claims by the Obama administration that the Stimulus Bill save or created 30,000 jobs. Looks like those claims were WAY overestimated. The White House said it was an error and would correct it.
What else is new. Oh, the Health-care bill in the House. I don’t know about you, but I recall Obama saying that the health-care bill would be deficit neutral and wouldn’t raise taxes. I could be wrong, but I remember him say that it would be paid for by those purchasing premiums. Someone needs to remind Nancy Pelosi. I guess it’s not necessary, because the President promised not to sign any bill that didn’t do what he said. The President is a man of his word, right?
Well, well, well, after denying that they had any involvement in pressuring the National Endowment of the Arts to create propaganda for the White House, newly discovered emails say differently. This is a serious violation of the law. Given that this is a Democrat White House, I don’t expect much news on this subject.
Liberals continue in their attempt to intimidate those who oppose their ideology. The latest is a bullet that was shot at Lou Dobbs house nearly missing his wife. Watch out Glenn Beck.
Katie Couric might find a horse head in her bed. Her report last night accused the White House of forging economic numbers. But she’s not alone. Bloomberg’s Baum wrote that the “saved or created” jobs figures were a “fantasy“. Are this liberal women looking to be terminated? Wait until Rahm calls their bosses.
Well, that’s the news wrap up. Sorry for the delay, but when you look as good as I look lately with my workout body everyone wants a piece. Who am I to deny just a little bit of pleasure in these tough times.
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