Health

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democracy - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Now WE Will Pay for Unions Fancy Healthcare Packages

January 16, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As if there were ever any doubts, the unions bosses that descended upon the White House earlier in the week appear to have succeeded in getting their members excluded from the so-called Cadillac taxes on expensive healthcare packages.

The Obama administration, having been bought and paid for by unions, agreed to demands that unions be excluded from the onerous taxation that many of the rest of us will be forced to pay to float Obama’s budget busting Obamacare plans.

The unions pretended themselves to meet Obama in the middle by agreeing to put a time limit on this sweetheart deal. It was agreed that the unions would be exempt from these taxes for the next 18 years after which they’d then have to pay the tax like everyone else.

But, come on. Does anyone believe that 17 years from now that the unions would not be right back up at the White House demanding to have that 18 years extended or the tax exclusion made permanent? And does anyone believe that their demands would not be easily agreed to by pliant politicians looking for Big Labor’s giant political donations?

If anyone doubts that once Big Labor gets an exclusion it will never be rescinded, then they are not very bright!
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Now WE Will Pay for Unions Fancy Healthcare Packages”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Jobs - Liberals - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

…Yet Not ALL Unions Willing to Bend Over for Obamacare Tax Hike

January 11, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Yesterday I posted a story about how the two big public employees unions were looking the other way on Obamacare and helping Obama to pass his socialist take over of our healthcare system even though the plan would hike taxes on their very own members and would devastate their helathcare plans. Well, not all unions are willing to hurt their own membership merely for political reasons.

Of course, in the past we’ve posted stories (here, and here) pointing out that there are the several unions that are not bending over backwards just to hand Obama a political victory and today The New York Post reported on several New York unions that are just as unhappy as those that we’ve previously mentioned.
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…Yet Not ALL Unions Willing to Bend Over for Obamacare Tax Hike”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Jobs - Liberals - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions to Rake in $19 Billion Per Year From Obamacare

January 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Over at BigGovernment.com, Don Loos posited an excellent reason about why the big public employees unions are falling all over themselves to help Obama force Obamacare down America’s throats even though their members would lose their lavish healthcare plans as a result. The reason? $19 billion in likely dues money that these unions will get when helathcare is taken over by the federal government is the reason.

It is true that everyone in the country will be hurt by the current Obamacare policies, it is true that everyone will experience less healthcare coverage at higher costs, it is true that government will ration healthcare and the elderly and very young will find less access to healthcare, it is true that government will destroy the best healthcare in the world. But the bosses of Service Employee International Union (SEIU) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME), Andy Stern and Gerald McEntee, feel that the trade offs will be worth the loss.

… and to be sure neither Stern nor McEntee will lose their own Cadillac healthcare plans regardless.
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Unions to Rake in $19 Billion Per Year From Obamacare”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Health - Liberals - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Sen. Ben Nelson: Say, Maybe We Shudda Waited on Healthcare ‘Reform’

January 7, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every week we are seeing another Democrat deciding not to run for re-election or one that is switching parties to the GOP all due to the wild, left-wing overreach indulged in by the Obama Administration and its cohorts in Congress. Connecticut’s Senator Chris Dodd is only the latest heavy hitter Democrat that is looking for an “exit strategy,” if you will. And with all these pols looking to jump ship, the infamous 60th vote on healthcare, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, suddenly finds that bringing healthcare to a vote so soon was a bit of a mistake!

On Wednesday, Nelson, a master of the understatement, told the Fremont Tribune, “I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy.”

Right after that statement, Nelson pronounced the maiden voyage of the SS Titanic “a bit of a flub,” said that Amelia Earhart made a “miscalculation” in her flight plan, and decided that founding the city of Pompeii at the foot of a volcano was probably “misguided.” But he still thought that his 60th vote for Obamacare was a good one.

So much for his judgment!
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Sen. Ben Nelson: Say, Maybe We Shudda Waited on Healthcare ‘Reform’”

Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Health - Illinois - Republicans - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Med Marijuana Bill Supported by Some GOP Candidates

January 4, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s pass the dutchie for three GOP candidates for governor. The Chicago Tribune asked the candidates for Governor of all parties if they’d support an expansion of allowing marijuana use for medical purposes and surprisingly found that three Republican supported the idea. Unsurprisingly, all Democrats and the Green nut also agreed with the idea, some even going further saying that marijuana use should be open for everyone, medical or no.

The Trib notes that GOP candidates Jim Ryan, Adam Andrzejewski, and Dan Proft all support the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Those against are Bill Brady, Kirk Dillard, and Andy McKenna.

Naturally the Green nut, Rich Whitney, wants everyone to get high, and the two Democrats support medical use of the plant.

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Chicago - Communism - Constitution - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Illinois - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Rights - Socialism - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Chgo Sun-Times Says Healthcare is a Right

December 30, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It has come to this. A newspaper in one of America’s biggest cities has so sold out to extremists, left-wing ideology that it has throw logic, facts, and reality to the four winds in order to sell Obama’s socialist healthcare policies. In a recent editorial the Chicago Sun-Times has absurdly determined that healthcare is a “right.” Unfortunately for truth and reality, the Sun-Times is simply wrong.

As we all know, the Senate has been engaging in a debate on Obamacare. But back on June 16 before the lesser light of the Kennedy clan passed away, Senator Edward Kennedy included a bit of foolishness in a statement issued in his role as the Chairman of the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or the HELP committee.

In that statement we saw the assumption that is popular on the left and one the Sun-Times just echoed, but it is one that should give pause to any liberty loving American. (See pdf file)
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Chgo Sun-Times Says Healthcare is a Right”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Supreme Court - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Where Are You Frum, Anyway?

December 29, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Canadian David Frum is like the cross-eyed marksman, he can see the target but just can’t ever hit it. The self-styled conservative has been the Old Media’s leading conservative in attacking, well, other conservatives. Naturally his Dec. 25 piece on theweek.com is no exception. Not only does he attack other conservatives, as is his wont, he so badly misreads the Constitution and certain other facts in the healthcare debate, it makes one wonder if he’s muffing it all on purpose? He does, however, get one salient fact right: the U.S. has already so ignored the U.S. Constitution that this socialist Obamacare plan will likely be declared wholly constitutional.

Frum’s latest frumble asks the question whether or not Obamacare is constitutional? He determines that it is constitutional mainly because Congress and multiple Supreme Courts have already ignored the Constitution so often as to make it likely they will all do so again to OK the illicit intrusion into our lives that is Obamacare.

OK, with his basic premise Frum is right. It is likely that our out-of-control federal establishment will again warp the Constitution to cover yet another socialist abomination. But how he gets to this conclusion is so filled with missteps that it is laughable and further this lapse of sense does not make it actually constitutional. It just makes it a done deal.
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Where Are You Frum, Anyway?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

New Ad: Lefty Group Calls Obama a Liar

December 24, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A lefty Political Action Committee called Bold Progressives PAC is fed up with the political lies of … President Obama. They are chiefly upset at his lie that he never campaigned on the public option part of his socialist healthcare plan. Being good commies, Bold Progressives are a bit ticked off that Obama took a step back from his initial stated intention to torpedo any healthcare bill that didn’t have a public option included.

So, these folks got ticked enough to produce an ad calling Obama on his lies.

Now according to Politico, this Bold Progressives group is “One of the most aggressive defenders of the public option” and they’ve been pushing all sorts of extremist, left-wing ideas for a while now. This is no false flag operation. These guys are red through and through.
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New Ad: Lefty Group Calls Obama a Liar”

Budget - Chicago - Christmas - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Health - Illinois - Liberals - Senate - Society/Culture - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Idiot We Call Senator Makes Fool of Self

December 22, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Seat warmer Roland Burris, the doddering Illinois pol that bought his Senate seat from the criminal Governor that now sits awaiting to be sent to jail wanted to give the Senate some good cheer today during the socialist helathcare debate.

Burrie thought maybe a poem would help bring the Senate together in its hour of bickering…

… so much for the congeniality of the Senate, eh? This creep thought he’d use the Christmas spirit for partisan name calling and vitriol.

What a jerk.

But my friend Moe Lane had a better version that trades tit for tat…
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Idiot We Call Senator Makes Fool of Self”

Campaign Finance - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Illinois - Liberals - Republicans - Senate - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

The Lobbying Army in Congress for Healthcare

December 21, 2009 by

The Chicago Tribune has an excellent resource reporting the number of lobbyists that are involved in the healthcare debate as it winds through Congress.

For instance, did you know that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nev.) has 13 of his former staff members now working as lobbyists for the healthcare industry? Our own Senator, Dick Durbin (D, Ill.) who is also the Majority Whip, has 8 of his former staffers lobbying for the healthcare industry and GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has seen 5 of his staffers quit to lobby for healthcare.

The webpage is interactive and you can search by lawmaker and committee. You can also search by client and download all the data.

It is some very interesting info that you should check out.

The information was assembled by the Trib staff and the Medill News Service of the Northwestern University School of Journalism.

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Cokie Roberts Proves She is a Liar

December 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I am finding it increasingly impossible to discuss current politics without pointing out that Democrats and liberals are simply a pack of liars and “journalist” Cokie Roberts fits quite neatly into this category for what she said about the healthcare debate on ABC’s This Week Sunday morning talk show.

As Brent Baker of Newsbusters reported on December 20, Cokie Roberts was all aflutter over the “Christmas gift” that is the Senate healthcare bill. But her characterizing this anti-American piece of legislation as a “Christmas gift” isn’t the lie. After all, when you want America destroyed like Cokie obviously does, then this bill is, indeed, a sort of gift.

No, here is what made her out to be a liar.
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Cokie Roberts Proves She is a Liar”

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Health - History - Liberals - Media Bias - Military - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Professor: Say, Let’s Pardon a Domestic Terrorist

December 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

CUNY Graduate Center professor David S. Reynolds has an idea. He wants to pardon an American criminal that is a known murderer and fanatic and who led a life that was steadily radicalized by an extreme religious ideology. This domestic terrorist even went so far as to attempt to start a war inside the USA and advocated for American citizens to be killed in their homes for not seeing things his way.

No, Reynolds is not hoping to pardon Islamic terrorist Nidal Hasan, though being a professor of one of our wonderful universities it would not be surprising if he should. No, the domestic terrorist that Reynolds wants pardoned is abolitionist hero John Brown, he of pre-Civil War history.

For those that may not remember their civil war era history, John Brown tried to incite a slave insurrection in Virginia but ended up corralled in a firehouse at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. At the time, Harper’s Ferry housed a federal weapons arsenal that Brown hoped to use to arm his insurrectionists. His plan failed and he was eventually captured, tried, and hanged for his crimes by Virginia’s authorities in 1859.
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Professor: Say, Let’s Pardon a Domestic Terrorist”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Frank Salvato - Free Trade - Health - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

At This Point It’s About Defining the “Win”

December 20, 2009 by

-By Frank Salvato

Does anyone remember back to when the current healthcare reform initiative began? What were the goals? What were the reasons for the subject even being broached? Progressives and Democrats insisted that the healthcare system was broken because there were millions of people (figures varied, but averaged around 37 million) who were uninsured and that those who had health insurance were subject to continuously rising insurance premiums and diminished coverage. The goal, Progressives and Democrats said, was to provide every American with health insurance and lower healthcare costs for all…all by the end of President Obama’s first term.

Today, as we approach the end of President Obama’s first term, the House and Senate bills that are being presented to the American people fail – miserably – to achieve these two basics goals. Instead, they present as a wish list for special interest groups, establish an unnecessary and additional government bureaucracy and stand as testimony to the opportunistic ineptitude of today’s Progressive controlled Democrat Party. The only saving grace is that these bills will have to go through the reconciliation process before they are presented to President Obama for his signature, at which time the final product will become the law of the land…for now, at least.

Interesting in all of this is how the target goals have changed.

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At This Point It’s About Defining the “Win””

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Health - Liberals - President - SEIU - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Fugedaboutit: Healthcare Bill Not Socialist Enough for This Union

December 17, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is momentous news, harrowing news if you are a Democrat that wants Obamacare passed at all costs. The powerful and very rich Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is wavering in its until now stated support of Obamacare.

The Hill is reporting that the SEIU just backed out of an event promoting the Senate’s healthcare bill over “concerns” about the changes that have recently been made to get the support of Joe Lieberman and centrist Democrats.

Apparently the SEIU was going to attend a rah-rah session with the AARP, the liberal advocacy group Families USA, Consumers Union and the American Cancer Society Action Network but unexpectedly dumped out of the event on Wednesday.
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Fugedaboutit: Healthcare Bill Not Socialist Enough for This Union”

Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Illinois - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Republicans - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Govt Healthcare Will Give us ALL Pay Cuts

December 17, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Big Labor has, for the most part, fallen all over itself to help its patron President get his Obamacare policies passed in Congress spending millions to do so. If Obamacare should pass many millions will lose their healthcare and will be forced into government healthcare. According to the CBO at least 10 million will lose their insurance in short order. The CBO is likely lowballing the number, too.

That means many people that now have insurance through their employers will lose it and, thereby, lose some of their compensation and that brings up a major point that few people are talking about. I’ve mentioned it offhandedly in the past, but reader D. Harrison brought the issue before me in a recent email and I thought we should make it a point here.

Mr. Harrison wrote:
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Govt Healthcare Will Give us ALL Pay Cuts”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Communism - Congress - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Family - Free Trade - Freedom - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Illinois - Liberals - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

TAPROOT: Christmas Candidate Forum

December 14, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Tonight I attended the TAPROOT Christmas event and listened to 15 Republican state-wide and DuPage County candidates all of whom came to address those gathered at the Hilton in Lisle to hear them speak. From Gubernatorial candidates, Senate candidates, judges and local county folks to… is it right to say Lt. Gubernatorial candidates? If so, it sounds odd… anyway, it was a whirlwind session of candidates and a good time was had by all.

If it could be said that there was a theme of the day then it had to be jobs and the economy. Every candidate had something to say about the subject that weighs so heavily on all of us.

15 candidates is a lot of folks to hear from and each got about 5 or 10 minutes to lay out their case and then a few minutes for questions. We were pleased to hear from two candidates for governor and there were quite a lot of candidates for Lt. Governor, as well, three in all. Three Senate candidates appeared, two Comptroller candidates, one Sec. of State candidate, one Congressional candidate, two judges and a DuPage County commission candidate.

Appearing in order were:

I know, phew!
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TAPROOT: Christmas Candidate Forum”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - SEIU - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Again In DC Arguing Against ‘Cadillac Plan’ Tax

December 12, 2009 by

By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press reports the words of Lily Eskelsen, vice president of the National Education Association, who went to Washington D.C. to protest the so-called Cadillac healthcare plan tax currently in the Senate’s healthcare bill. “We should tax the millionaires, not teachers and bus drivers,” she told reporters.

This has been the constant refrain from Big Unions since Senator Max Baucus (D, Montana) included the taxing plan into his Senate version of Obamacare earlier this year. This 40 percent tax plan would kick in for any employee whose healthcare plan reaches $8,500 per year for individuals or $23,000 for families.

Of course, there is a fatal flaw in the Democrat’s assumptions of what this tax will do. As the AP reports, “The tax would raise some $150 billion over 10 years to help pay for the Democrats’ nearly $1 trillion health care bill.”
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Unions Again In DC Arguing Against ‘Cadillac Plan’ Tax”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Religion - Rights - Science - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - UN - Warner Todd Huston

ClimateGate and the UN: New Red Scare over Green Lies

December 8, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Believe it or not, the UN just whined that climategate is the Russian’s fault. It appears that the United Nation’s position is that the obvious cover-up of the false doctrine that is global warming perpetrated by global warming “scientists” is not the fault of the lying scientists, but that of the assumed “paid” Russian hacker that hacked the globaloney scientist’s emails and exposed the cover-up to the world. Convoluted reasoning, no?

Remember when you were a child and your Mother discovered through hearing about it from the neighbors that you were doing something you weren’t supposed to be doing? Remember how instead of taking responsibility for your actions you cried that it wasn’t right that someone narced on you? Well, that is the same sort of childish, facile reasoning that the UN has employed to explain away this climaegate scandal.

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), recently said that the hacked emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were obtained and hyped by Russia in order to “destroy public confidence” in the “science” of man-made global warming… or is it now “climate change”? It’s hard to keep up with their constant name changing as they look for more sellable rhetoric.

Just like that kid that’s mad at getting caught but can’t see that he is at fault in the first place, the UN is now trying to get everyone to consider this as “hackergate” instead of climategate. Various UN folks are in essence telling us not to look “here,” but to instead look “over there.”
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ClimateGate and the UN: New Red Scare over Green Lies”

Anti-Americanism - Chicago - Congress - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Health - Illinois - Immigration/Immigrants - Liberals - Republicans - Rights - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

The Illinois GOP Has Difficulty Talking Immigration

December 8, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent round of posts between Gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft and Chicago Examiner website columnist Robert Moon of Macon County, Illinois shows the difficulty of trying to discuss immigration in Illinois today. Passions are high and it is hard to get past all the suspicion imbued in it all.

It all began with a segment of a Chicago radio broadcast in which Dan Proft addressed some of the more demagogic treatments of the immigration problem and echoed the worry made by many Republicans that the more wild-eyed treatments of the immigration problem is bound to force the GOP into permanent minority status due to the rising number of voters with Hispanic background.

Unfortunately, this snippet seems to do Proft’s full stance on immigration a disservice because it does not explain his larger views, some of which might tend to belie the initial impression. Mr. Moon construed Proft’s stance to be one of the “open borders” variety simply because the excerpt of Proft’s radio commentary appeared on the La Raza website (La Raza is a racist organization dedicated to taking back parts of the American south and all the south west for Mexico).

Moon mentioned that Proft has had “several pro-amnesty rants” featured on the La Raza website. I have tried to find these “rants” but have not located any so I cannot speak to this claim. If anyone has any links to these “rants” I’d like to see them. But if there are none (other than the one example), this single fact would tend to make Moon’s claim problematic.
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The Illinois GOP Has Difficulty Talking Immigration”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Congress - Cook County - Economy/Finances - Elections - Health - Illinois - Jobs - Liberals - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

10th District, Robert Dold: Government Run Health Care is Bad Medicine‏

November 30, 2009 by

From the Dold campaign…

The end of 2009 is almost here, and as Election Day, February 2nd, quickly approaches, it is time to look forward to electing a new Congressional leader who will bring your concerns and ideas to Washington. I believe that healthcare, an issue at the forefront of our minds this election season, needs to be reformed the right way—without a government takeover.

The current Democrat-backed health care plan will increase government health expenditures by an estimated $1 trillion over a ten year period. While the consequences of the enormous bill will affect us on a national level, it will also make things worse for Illinois. A recent report released by the Illinois Policy Institute revealed the nationalized health care plan will lower economic growth by costing Illinois 169,000 jobs, impose $57 billion in costs for Illinois taxpayers to bear, and shrink our state’s economy by 5.1 percent.
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10th District, Robert Dold: Government Run Health Care is Bad Medicine‏”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - Senate - Society/Culture - Taxes - Vince Johnson

What Does ‘Flush’ Have to do With it?

November 27, 2009 by

-By Vince Johnson

I’ve spent four days in a state of deep confusion trying to comprehend the Senate version of the health bill which is now viewable on Internet. It is 2,079 pages of Senatorial gibberish such as you can see in 106 words from Page 1,760 as quoted below

“(2) PART B.—
(A) Section 1842(b)(3) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 1395u (b)(3)(B)) is amended—
(i) in subparagraph (B), in the flush language following clause (ii), by striking1761
‘‘close of the calendar year following the year in which such service is furnished (deeming any service furnished in the last 3 months of any calendar year to have been furnished in the succeeding calendar year)’’ and inserting ‘‘period ending 1 calendar year after the date of service’’; and (ii) by adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘In applying subparagraph (B), the Secretary may specify exceptions to the 1 calendar year period specified in such subparagraph.’’

The word “flush” appeared in the text and this made me curious. This web page has a feature where you can search the entire text for any word or phrase in the document and get the results in a split second. So I searched the word “flush” and discovered it appeared 9 times in the bill.

I wondered what 100 Senators meant by the word “flush” so I looked it up in the dictionary. I found 15 different definitions none of which gave me a clue regarding how the Senate might define the word “flush” in a bill devoted to health insurance. “Flush” has several meanings that make sense to me including the following: To blush; a good hand in poker, to be at the same level like “flush” with the counter top and of course, from those days when I was a kid when Mom would yell out “Don’t forget to flush it.”
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What Does ‘Flush’ Have to do With it?”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Illinois - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Policy Institute: What’s Getting Under Pelosi’s Skin?

November 24, 2009 by

What’s Getting Under Pelosi’s Skin? Our newest health care study, that’s what! “Adding Insult to Injury,” which we released yesterday, has already hit the national airwaves. Congressman Peter Roskam appeared on Fox News yesterday, citing our study’s findings that Illinois will lose 169,000 jobs (and the nation 3.8 million) if the current health care bill passes.

We discovered other unfortunate side effects of the plan, including economic shrinkage of 5.1% and a $4,418 price tag for each Illinoisan. You can watch our CEO’s remarks at yesterday’s Chicago press conference here.
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Illinois Policy Institute: What’s Getting Under Pelosi’s Skin?”

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Science - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Marriage Hating ‘Psychologist’ Calls Palin a ‘Special Liar’

November 22, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

An anti-Palin screed somehow ended up on Psychology Today’s website. I know, I know, it’s shocking that Psychology Today could sponsor something that is less science than it is PC, hatespeak against conservatives, what with psychology being so scientific and all — but, there you have it. Penned by one Bella DePaulo, the piece really has little worth as a work of science and is little but a political rant filled with name calling and hate for Governor Sarah Palin and anyone that might support her. In the piece Palin is termed a “special liar” by the writer and conservatives are painted as willfully ignorant, knuckle dragging troglodytes.

As I mentioned, DePaulo originally posted her political hit piece at the website of Psychology Today but has since moved the piece to the Huffington Post apparently because the PT website was getting slammed by complaints — and rightfully so.

I have to say the move to the HuffPo was a good one. After all, as little worth as the “science” of psychology offers the world, HuffPo offers even less so and that is precisely where this dreck of DePaulo’s belongs.
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Marriage Hating ‘Psychologist’ Calls Palin a ‘Special Liar’”

Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Health - John Armor - Liberals - Society/Culture

A ‘Death Panel’ Surfaces

November 22, 2009 by

-By John Armor

This week, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force announced its recommendation that women between the ages of 40 and 50 no longer receive routine mammograms to detect breast cancer at its earliest, and most curable stage. This was a near-total reversal of the same Task Force’s earlier recommendations, and contrary to the advice of the American Cancer Society and other authorities.

The Task Force did, of course, state its reasons for this radically different recommendation. They used computer modeling of three large studies of breast cancer, in Sweden, Britain, and the United States. According to that work, “For every 1,000 women screened beginning at age 40, the modeling suggested that just 0.7 deaths from breast cancer would be prevented while 480 women would get a false-positive result and 33 more would undergo unnecessary biopsies.”

The total cost of all mammograms of women of all ages is estimated as $5 billion per year, though the Task Force claimed that cost was not a factor in its decision-making. However, the very way they stated the basis of their recommendation suggests that claim is false. It is also one more example of the fact that the American media can totally miss a story which is right under their noses. There has been ample discussion of whether this recommendation makes sense. There is no discussion of how many preventable deaths will occur.

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A ‘Death Panel’ Surfaces”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - GOP - Health - Liberals - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senate Approves Motion to Proceed on Obamacare

November 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

With a 60 to 39 vote, the Senate has passed the motion to proceed to move on with the debate over Obamacare. Again, it is important to note that this is only a vote to begin the floor debate on the bill. It is not a vote to pass Obamacare.

In the Washington Examiner, Byron York has an excellent point when he asks, “why was it so hard for Democrats even to start the healthcare debate?”
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Senate Approves Motion to Proceed on Obamacare”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - President - SEIU - Society/Culture - State Government - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU Fixing the Vote in Fresno, Too

November 21, 2009 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few weeks ago we reported on how the Services Employees International Union was attempting to fix the vote in Sonoma County, California so that Sonoma’s in-home healthcare workers would end up with SEIU representation instead of NUHW representation.

Well, Sonoma wasn’t an isolated case. The SEIU used the same vote fixing tactics in Fresno County.

Andy Stern’s SEIU is playing hardball, using techniques that harken back to the mob-infested old days in order to win the game of representation. And THIS is the guy that President Obama is taking close counsel from? A goon. A thug. A mob-like hitman.

Its the Chicago Way, alright. From Chicago to Fresno and Sonoma Counties all the way to the White House. This president and his cronies are instituting mob action everywhere they go.
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SEIU Fixing the Vote in Fresno, Too”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Founders - Free Speech - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Marie Jon - President - Religion - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Western Civilization

Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong

November 20, 2009 by

-By Marie Jon

America is under siege from within. Our nation has undergone a bloodless coup that required no military action. It occurred one year ago this month, at the hands of liars, cheats, and thieves who — calling themselves “progressives” — deceived the electorate at the polls and defrauded the electoral process.

Our lives have been shaken and turned upside down and inside out as a result. “The Twilight Zone” has become a reality right here in the U.S.A. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet, blogosphere, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, the Utopian facade we’ve unwittingly accepted is being exposed for what it really is. It cannot stand the light of day, and it is crumbling as a result.

Facts and truths are being laid out before us regarding the current Marxist “coup.” Americans are growing more than just a tad concerned about President Barack Obama and his handpicked and unaccountable “Czars.” These elitists hold to un-American ideologies that are certainly not mainstream. One cannot reconcile the radical, leftist philosophies of Obama and his cohorts with the noble goals of our Founding Fathers. We who love the American ideal embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao. View: Does it Matter?

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Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Some Key Points in The Senate Healthcare Bill

November 19, 2009 by

Smoke and mirrors abound. Reid says we’re “saving” money, that Medicare is “saved” and that taxes aren’t being raised, but the truth argues against Reid’s obfuscations.

Some points according to the CBO and the Senate Republican Policy Committee:

  • Spending: The cost of the bill is $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation (2014-2023).
  • Taxes Increases: Taxes will go up $493.6 billion — nearly half a trillion dollars.
  • Medicare Cuts: Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion — another half a trillion dollars.
  • Government Plan: The bill includes a government run plan and provides states with the possibility of opting out of participating in that plan. According to CBO, the government run plan “would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.”
  • Employer Mandate: The bill will impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans.

Additional CBO Background:

  • The bill would bend the federal cost-curve up.
  • 24 million people would be left without insurance.
  • States will have to spend an additional $25 billion in Medicaid expenditures
  • Taxes on uninsured individuals will total $8 billion.
  • Taxes on employers from the “free-rider” penalty would total $28 billion.
  • 5 million Americans would lose their employer coverage.
  • Only 19 million people will get a subsidy to help them buy health insurance. None of the 162 million people with employer-based care will even be eligible for a subsidy.
  • The costs of the subsidies in the exchange would grow at 8 percent a year.
  • The tax on high value plans will quickly be applied to almost all plans. CBO expects the revenues from the Cadillac plan tax to grow at 10-15 percent per year outside the budget window.

(H/T John Goodman)

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Health - Liberals - President - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Harry Reid Wants to Vote on a Phantom Bill (Dem Dirty Tricks Edition)

November 19, 2009 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Either today or later this week, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) wants the Senate to vote on a “motion to proceed” on the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that it has barely been seen by anyone in the Senate. At least not as far as most Senators are concerned. Why is that? Because the bill has not been shown to them with sufficient time to study it, that’s why.

What Reid wants is for the Senate to vote to proceed on a bill that has not been seen, not read, not studied by the very Senators from whom he wants to force a vote. If this bill is so important, why isn’t it imperative that our Senators actually get to see the thing they are expected to vote on?

And that isn’t the worst of the unconscionable dirty tricks that Reid is playing with this “important” legislation. He’s also planning on a bait and switch tactic once he gets his vote to proceed.
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Harry Reid Wants to Vote on a Phantom Bill (Dem Dirty Tricks Edition)”