Health

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Europe - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Sweden’s Healthcare Failures: A Warning to U.S.

September 3, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

David Hogberg of the National Policy Center has an interesting, in depth study of the mess that is Sweden’s single payer healthcare system from 2007 that is very relevant to today’s discussion of Obamacare because much of what Obama wants has already proving a failure in Sweden.

“The experience of Sweden demonstrates,” Hogberg says, “that when a nation adopts market-oriented reform for its health care system, the reforms will fail if the market is not permitted to work.”

Hogberg discusses some of the detailed changes that Sweden made to its system in the 1980s. These changes were made because costs were getting out of control and the government felt some market forces needed to be added to the system to help balance it. But the efforts were half measures that didn’t work.
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Sweden’s Healthcare Failures: A Warning to U.S.”

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

Ready For the Newest Obamacare Messaging?

September 2, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

ABC’s Jake Tapper has an interesting look inside the Obama messaging factory as it appears to be making plans to change its way of trying to sell Obamacare to the country. This change is in the offing because Obama is thus far losing the debate and they are all painfully aware of this in the White House.

Tapper has a revealing quote from former Senator Tom Daschle (D, SD) that presages the new, new way of selling the snake oil that is Obamacare.

“I think we have to do better at making this issue a moral imperative,” Daschle told the New York Times Magazine.

“I don’t think we’ve succeeded at that yet. I think the more we can bring everybody to an understanding about how this, in many respects, is the civil rights battle of the early part of this century — it’s a fight for the disabled, it’s a fight for the sick, it’s a fight for equal rights when it comes to health.”

So we’ve gone form calling it a “healthcare” plan, to calling it “insurance reform,” now, it seems, we are about to retool the debate into a “civil rights” issue.
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Ready For the Newest Obamacare Messaging?”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Warner Todd Huston

Obama to Offer His Own Plan?

September 2, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Marc Armbinder of The Atlantic is reporting that President Obama will be unveiling his own healthcare plan in the coming week as a way to kick start the debate back in his favor.

One of the easy digs against Obama until this time has been that he not only had nothing to do with the various plans floating around Congress (at least three bills thus far) and, worse, that he hasn’t seemed to really know what is in any of them.

Now Obama is about to offer his own plan. Some of it will be ideas already in play and others will be new.

He plans to list specific goals that any health insurance reform plan that arrives at his desk must achieve, according to Democratic strategists familiar with the plan. Some of these “goals” have already been agreed to, including new anti-discrimination restrictions on insurance companies. Others will be new, including the level of subsidies he expects to give the uninsured so they can buy into the system.

Obama will also specify a “pay for” mechanism he prefers, and will specify an income level below which he does not want to see taxed.

He will insist upon a mechanism to cut costs and increase competition among insurance companies — and perhaps will even specify a percentage rate — and he will say that his preferred mechanism remains a government-subsidized public health insurance option, but he will remain agnostic about whether the plan must include a robust public option. Officials won’t say whether the president intends to endorse a specific “trigger” mechanism if the competition mechanism fails, but they say he will make it clear that the final bill must contain language that increases competition.

But here are the real questions. So Obama has his own “new” plan to offer. So what? Does it have the force of law, has he found a few Congressmen or Senators to sign on, is it actual legislation of just his blather that has no force of law?
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Obama to Offer His Own Plan?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Frederick Meekins - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture

Healthcare Trickery & Scottish Wimpery: Headline Potpourri #6

September 2, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Frederick Meekins

With Obama seeming to withdraw the so-called “public option” from the healthcare reforms being considered by Congress, many will assume that the battle is now over. However, things may be more dangerous than ever before.

Up for consideration are so-called “healthcare cooperatives” that will attempt to blend aspects of public and private systems, no doubt with the care and responsiveness that homeowner associations have become renowned for. What is to prevent companies from eliminating their insurance programs and pushing their employees into these?

This is what Walmart-types are drooling for in the propaganda where they say they won’t be happy until everyone is insured. What they are really hoping for is the opportunity to drop the coverage of their own employees.

The Libyan responsible for the bombing of PAN AM Flight 103 has been set free. Since the terrorist is dieing of cancer, Scottish officials claim that he was released in compliance with the nation’s values.
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Healthcare Trickery & Scottish Wimpery: Headline Potpourri #6″

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama to Offer His Own Plan?

September 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Marc Armbinder of The Atlantic is reporting that President Obama will be unveiling his own healthcare plan in the coming week as a way to kick start the debate back in his favor.

One of the easy digs against Obama until this time has been that he not only had nothing to do with the various plans floating around Congress (at least three bills thus far) and, worse, that he hasn’t seemed to really know what is in any of them.

Now Obama is about to offer his own plan. Some of it will be ideas already in play and others will be new.
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Obama to Offer His Own Plan?”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

U.S. Government Killing Dialysis Patients

September 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Want an example of why government healthcare in the U.S. is a dangerous proposition? USA Today has a lengthy story on kidney dialysis and how new research is showing that having dialysis treatments more often seems to be keeping patients alive and healthy longer than the traditional thrice weekly treatments. The piece also sadly shows that the U.S. has higher rates of early death of dialysis patients than other western nations.

Why is that, you might wonder? It’s because Medicare won’t pay for more than three treatments a week so the national standard has become thrice weekly because that is what government will pay for. Not only that but government won’t pay for medical services ancillary to dialysis causing patients to succumb to other problems that often accompany or presage kidney failure.

Barry Straube, chief medical officer at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medcaid Services, says 25 million Americans have kidney disease, but Medicare benefits don’t kick in until patients are at the most advanced stage. Many patients with earlier-stage kidney disease aren’t treated for high blood pressure or diabetes, which cause two-thirds of kidney failures.

In other words, medical care is rationed by government to keep down costs based on a one-size-fits-all system. This rationing kills patients sooner than necessary and stifles life-saving innovation in treatment.
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U.S. Government Killing Dialysis Patients”

Anti-Americanism - Chicago - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Socialism - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Protest Representative Melissa Bean

September 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

(Illinois Representative Melissa Bean scheduled an appearance at the Lake Zurich Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Sept. 2. Unfortunately for her constituents this townhall meeting is not open to the public unless a $25 fee is paid for a ticket. The Tea Party Patriots in her district have scheduled a protest to impress upon this elected official that she should meet with her constituents without charging admission!)

Come out and join the protest of Melissa Bean this Wednesday. Rep. Bean is again selectively ducking her constituents. This healthcare event is by paid fee only in front of the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce.

She did finally schedule a tele-townhall but that also was a failure. It appeared she again selectively chose who she called and who got to ask a question. Why is Melissa Bean continuing to not talk to all the citizens of the 8th district.

Wednesday, September 2nd  
Lake Zurich Chamber of Commerce Breakfast  
Outside Concorde Banquets  
20922 Rand Road  
Kildeer, IL  
7:00 AM – 9:30 AM
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Protest Representative Melissa Bean”

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

A Patriot’s Reply to a Pro-Government Takeover of Healthcare Supporter’s Video

August 31, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is a fantastic video. Some half-informed, leftist made a video in support of Obama’s socialist takeover of our healthcare system and a great patriot found it and then took the time to reply point for point against this fool’s anti-capitalist, un-American talking points.

The original video was made by Andy Lubershane and called “Why We Need Government-Run Universal Socialized Health Insurance.” But patriot and smart guy Lee Doren saw it too and he felt that the lies, misconceptions, and half-truths were so thick that he just had to respond.

I only wish that the Patriot’s voice was a bit more distinguishable from the left-wit’s voice. The two fellows have a similar timer to their voices which makes it a tad confusing at times. If you aren’t listening closely, there are times when you miss the fact that one guy stopped talking and the next started. But, that is a mere quibble. This video does a great job to show why the healthcare socialist is basically lying with every one of his talking points.

In any case, Mr. Doren does a great job showing that the rhetoric used by the leftist is misleading and full of false dichotomies and misdirection. This video should be passed around.
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A Patriot’s Reply to a Pro-Government Takeover of Healthcare Supporter’s Video”

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

Feingold: About That Bill, Did I Say It’s Doomed? On Second Thought…

August 31, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week Senator Russ Feingold was heard to lament that there would be no Obamacare bill to vote on before Christmas. The liberal Feingold even said he wondered if there would ever be a bill at all because the divisions were so deep.

Well, only six days later, Senator Feingold is playing a different tune. Suddenly he’s quite upbeat and jubilant about the bill saying how he’ll work hard to get Obamacare passed and that he’s sure it’s all just over the horizon. Gone is the gloomy guss of a week ago and in is the happy Russ for this week. Suddenly the “no bill before Christmas, if ever” Russ is saying he’s sure it’ll come just before Christmas.

Check out these two quotes back-to-back:
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Feingold: About That Bill, Did I Say It’s Doomed? On Second Thought…”

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

Challenging the Status Quo

August 31, 2009 by

-By Frank Salvato

With the death of US Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) the Democrats lose their sixty-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. This will make the passing of Obama agenda legislation – specifically healthcare – more difficult until Massachusetts seats its next Junior Senator, who promises to be a Democrat. The loss of even one Democrat in the Senate is cause for concern for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) because he has a rogue element within his Democrat caucus, the Blue Dog Democrats. In Washington, it is all about counting the votes at any given moment on any piece of legislation. As they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows.

In the US House of Representatives the Democrats have a lock on the majority. According to the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, the congressional profile stands at: 256 Democrats, 178 Republicans, 0 Independents and 1 Vacancy. These numbers give the Democrats, as a party, a 78 vote majority in the House.

In the Senate, Democrats have a lock on a majority as well: Democrats number 57, Republicans have 40 seats, and Independents and Independent Democrats have one seat each.

In addition to the fact that it matters which party is in the majority, in both chambers of Congress, it also matters who the parties elect as their leaders.

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Challenging the Status Quo”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Religion - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Beware of Bitter, Old, Lefty, White Women With Dreadlocks

August 28, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

I haven’t seen so many lies, misconstructions, affectations, and guffaw-invoking absurdities in a single editorial in a major American newspaper for a very long time. In fact I thought it wasn’t possible to see so much foolishness in such a small space without satire being the ultimate goal. In the L.A. Times, however, Anne Lamott has succeeded in making a bigger fool of herself in one editorial than Maureen Dowd could hope to have achieved in a whole year’s worth of blather.

Lamott, an aging novelist that churns out those woefully indulgent tomes that forces readers to endure her darkest feelings and imagines that all of us are on the edge of our seats as she chronicles raising her child, fancies herself an expert on faith and grace. She seems to imagine that she defines it, what ever it is. Of course she was one of the most infested with Bush Derangement Syndrome and was quick to warm to her ersatz religious leader, Barack Hussein Obama. It seems to me that she’s spent her life looking for meaning anywhere and she thought she finally found paydirt with The One. She likes to use words like “grace” and “belief” a lot in her writing but like a true newagie, leftist she rarely talks about any actual religion except in the vaguest of terms. It does appear, though, that she had found a new religion in The One.

And now, with her piece in the Times, it seems she is on the verge of losing her religion… again.
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Beware of Bitter, Old, Lefty, White Women With Dreadlocks”

Abortion - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Health - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Despite Obama’s Claim, Obamacare WILL Fund Abortions

August 26, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama has accused opponents of abortion of “fabrication” when they say that Obamacare provides federal funds for abortions. He’s calling them liars despite the fact that FactCheck.org basically sides with abortion opponents claiming that the president’s polices will fund abortion.

So, who’s fabricating now, Mr. Obama?

On August 19, Obama made the assertion that federal funding for abortion is a “fabrication.”

You’ve heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion. Not true. This is all, these are all fabrications that have been put out there in order to discourage people from meeting what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation…

(Hear audio of Obama’s speech HERE.)

So what does FactCheck.org say of the president’s outrageous claim?
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Despite Obama’s Claim, Obamacare WILL Fund Abortions”

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

Publius Podcast

August 25, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Why do they let him get away with it? That is the question I ask this week on the Publius podcast. Why do they let President Obama lie repeatedly during his snake-oil sales pitch for healthcare?

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

Michael Kent Curtis: Just Another Sold-Out Leftist Professor

August 25, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Kent Curtis, the Donald Smith Professor of Constitutional and Public Law at Wake Forest University, has not only proven his ignorance of the facts, but he has also shown that truth does not matter a whit to him if it gets in the way of common liberal propaganda. He proved this in his blather in the Houston Chronicle on August 22.

Curtis, just another prosaic left-wing professor infesting an institute of higher learning, started his opinion piece off with an outright lie by claiming that “[O]rganized mobs recently have disrupted public meetings.” By this the lefty prof means the thousands of angry citizens that have shown their contempt for Democrat lawmakers at townhall meetings all across the country are not real. They are but dismissible false fronts for anti-Obamacare groups. This refrain is assumed by such as professor Curtis and his fellow leftists so that they can comfortably ignore the outrage against this socialist takeover of nearly 20% of our economy by Obama’s government bureaucrats. Consequently, this refrain of “organized protests” is the left’s talking point du jour.

But have you noticed that we haven’t seen any proof that the angry Americans that have taken the time out of their lives to confront their federal representatives at townhall meetings are not common citizens acting on their own initiative, but are merely “organized mobs”? Have you noticed that no proof of the purported “organized” nature of the protests has once been presented? Have you noticed that the left has not bothered to detail how these protests were organized, that they have not bothered to try and connect the dots? These leftists simply say it is true and then move on as if their case is self-evident.
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Michael Kent Curtis: Just Another Sold-Out Leftist Professor”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - Immigration/Immigrants - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Welfare

By His Own Statistics, Obama Wants Illegal Aliens Covered by Obamacare

August 25, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a July interview with Katie Couric, President Obama was asked if “his” plan would cover illegal aliens. He responded with a simple “no.”

To be sure there is language in House bill 3200 that says illegals aren’t covered.

Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.

But who cannot realize that all it will take is the next Congress to take out the red pen to strike out this little provision so that the government can then begin covering illegals? There is nothing at all keeping any subsequent Congress from doing so as no matter what this Congress does it cannot bind any future Congress.

Representative Lamar Alexander (R, Texas) has even said that, prohibiting language or no, there are so many loopholes in HR3200 that illeglas can easily find government funding for healthcare, anyway.
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By His Own Statistics, Obama Wants Illegal Aliens Covered by Obamacare”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Frank Salvato - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Uncategorized - Welfare

You Say You Want a Real Solution

August 25, 2009 by

-By Frank Salvato

As the debate over health care reform rages on – and despite the fact that the debate should be over how to provide true health care affordability to all, if in fact the goal of the “overhaul” is genuinely about the good of the downtrodden – we hear one retort from Progressives, Liberals and neo-Marxists, both in government and out: Where is your plan if you don’t like ours? Truth be told, there are several conservative and Republican crafted plans but Madam Pelosi and Mr. Reid won’t entertain them and the agenda-driven mainstream media won’t cover them. But one thing is evident, even to the intellectually challenged. If the goal is truly to provide health care affordability to every American citizen, there are ways to do it without the heavy hand of government.

Most honest Americans agree, our health care system – the system that provides medical service, i.e. doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc. – is the best in the world. It certainly does not need reform or government intervention. If you need proof it comes in the form of the richest and most powerful people in the world coming to the United States for treatment, especially when every other avenue of treatment has been exhausted. To fall prey to the notion that the “health care system is broken,” is to be gullible to a fault.

The cog that isn’t meshing correctly in the machine that includes patients, doctors, hospitals and insurance companies is the insurance company cog. Many in our country would like to see more affordable prices, inclusionary coverage for those of us with pre-existing conditions and security in knowing that if a catastrophic medical event happens to us we won’t be driven to the poor house by increased premiums of unfunded procedures. As our health care insurance system exists today, these desirable elements are not within reach of everyone. But by including a few simple provisions and/or pursuing a few sensible avenues, Americans can have affordable, functioning health care insurance for all without creating a government-run health care entity.
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You Say You Want a Real Solution”

Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Welfare

Some Interesting Admissions By WaPost’s Kurtz

August 24, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In his Washington Post column for August 25, Howard Kurtz sound exasperated, fed up with those moron Americans that dare to have an opinion against Obama’s socialist take over of the country’s healthcare system. Oh, and he felt the need to slam Governor Sarah Palin, too… but what’s new about that? What is unusual, though, is the admission that Kurtz thinks that the Old Media should influence public opinion instead of merely inform readers about the news.

Of course he led with a laugher that is hard to take seriously. His very first few words makes of him a laughing stock.

For once, mainstream journalists did not retreat to the studied neutrality of quoting dueling antagonists.

For once? For once? And, what’s with the claim of studied neutrality? He’s kidding, right? Does Kurtz really expect to be taken seriously with that first line?

Next he goes on to attack Palin for her “death panels” line.

They tried to perform last rites on the ludicrous claim about President Obama’s death panels, telling Sarah Palin, in effect, you’ve got to quit making things up.

But it didn’t matter. The story refused to die.

Well, it refuses to die because it is easy to believe that this president would be first to demand death panels. After all, he was always a consistent vote for infanticide and death panels for babies. Not only that, but we know that Obama has brought back the “death panels” for our military veterans, policies that were stopped by Bush. Palin is far more believable than Obama in this debate.

And now for Howie’s unusual admission.
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Some Interesting Admissions By WaPost’s Kurtz”

Barack Obama - Britain - Budget - Business - Canada - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Europe - Health - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

The Diminishing Returns of National Healthcare

August 24, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now even The New York Times is admitting that Obamacare means rationing and also means a cutting back of Medicare proving that fears of America’s elderly are “not entirely irrational.” The Times is admitting that the original guarantee that Medicare is forever and that the government won’t interfere between patient and doctor is fading fast.

Again, as we’ve said in the past, one of the chief ways we can judge if we should allow Obama and his Democrats succeed in forcing a government takeover of our healthcare is to look to see how government controlled healthcare works in other countries — or doesn’t, as the case may be. We’ve had many examples already of how badly nationalized healthcare works in England and Canada, and here are two more.

Let’s start with our northern neighbors who, it seems, flood across the border seemingly on a monthly basis to get their healthcare here in the U.S. because they can’t get it in a timely manner in their own country.
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The Diminishing Returns of National Healthcare”

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

Why Do They Let Obama Get Away With it?

August 24, 2009 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Supposed conservative talk show host, Michael Smerconish, let President Obama lie repeatedly in last week’s celebrated one-on-one interview. Obama laid his lies right out there and Smerconish didn’t say a word. But the talk radio host isn’t the only one to sit back and let this president get away with it. In fact, not a single soul has confronted President Obama on these out right lies that he’s made a staple of his snake-oil sales pitch for heatlhcare “reform.”

Early in the interview, Smerconish asked Obama about the fear many Americans have that deep down he really wants a single payer, socialist healthcare system, a government takeover of our healthcare. Here was the president’s reply.

Now, as far as health care goes, I’ve consistently said I would love the private marketplace to be handling this without any government intervention. The problem is it’s not working. What we’re seeing is about 14,000 folks lose their health insurance every single day. We are seeing health care inflation go up about twice as fast as regular inflation. Businesses are being crippled by it. Small businesses especially have almost no access to the marketplace because they’ve got no leverage with insurance companies.

So all we’ve said is let’s keep the private system intact, but let’s make sure that people who right now can’t get health insurance — about 46 million — that they’re able to buy into the market. And number two, let’s have some consumer protections to make sure that those of us who have health insurance don’t end up getting a bad deal because we didn’t read the fine print and we think that we have coverage; when we finally get sick and we need it, it turns out that we’re vulnerable because insurance companies aren’t operating in the interests of their customers.

Actually, the president lied several times here.
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Why Do They Let Obama Get Away With it?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Michael M. Bates - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Welfare

If ObamaCare Wins, Obama Loses

August 24, 2009 by

-By Michael M. Bates

“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” noted philosopher Yogi Berra is credited with saying. And so it is.

A liberal Democratic president has his heart set on pushing through a proposal strongly unpopular with most Americans. Enjoying substantial Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate, he intends to win.

So it was in September, 1977 when Jimmy Carter signed the Panama Canal treaties to relinquish United States control. An Associated Press opinion poll conducted that month found that only 29 percent of Americans favored the pact. A solid 50 percent opposed it and 21 percent expressed no opinion.

Just as Barack Obama is determined to shove a government health care program down the throats of his protesting countrymen, Carter did what was necessary to get the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties. He cajoled, he promised, he threatened. It worked.
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If ObamaCare Wins, Obama Loses”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - California - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Welfare

Obamacare: Quintessential Socialism

August 23, 2009 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

The overriding characteristic of President Obama’s National Socialist healthcare is forced equality of consumption, a major step in the direction of egalitarian distribution of income. Emphasis is upon the word forced.

As we see with the widespread town hall protests against the President’s proposed National Socialist healthcare proposals, people do not willingly surrender the fruits of many years’ labor to the government in the name of an undefined abstraction called the common good. Particularly is this true when it is liberal-progressive bureaucrats who decide arbitrarily what constitutes the common good.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed essay, Martin Feldstein, Harvard economics professor and former chairman of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisors, sums up Obamacare: it’s all about the raw power to decide who gets what treatment, while cramming everyone into identical little boxes in order to eliminate any efforts in the direction of individuality. And the bureaucratic mechanism for eliminating individuality is rationing medical care.
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Obamacare: Quintessential Socialism”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Free Speech - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Race - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture

All the President’s Bigoted Men

August 22, 2009 by

-By Selwyn Duke

When Barack Obama said that the Henry Louis Gates affair was a teaching moment, he spoke truly. But the key is ensuring that the right things are taught and the right people learn. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen.

There is no need to rehash the events of July 16 chapter and verse. We all know about how the Harvard professor flew into a rage of racial accusations and haughty posturing after Sergeant James Crowley appeared at his Cambridge home to investigate a report of a possible break-in. We’ve heard that Gates called Crowley a “racist” and said he was being targeted because “I’m a black man in America.” We know how Barack Obama stirred the pot, saying at a press conference that he didn’t know all the facts but then averring that the police “acted stupidly.” And we also know that it’s a foot-in-mouth moment Obama wishes he could do a Groundhog Day on, and that he fancies a beer a substitute for an apology.

Moreover, the obvious points have already been made. We know that the police were simply following procedure in requesting Gates’ identification and asking that he step outside his home. It has also been mentioned that, far from the police racially profiling the man, he and Obama applied that technique in assuming that the white police officer was bigoted and/or acting stupidly. And, in keeping with last point, some of the boldest commentators even have hinted that bigotry may lie in the hearts of Gates and Obama. Yet no one has thus far dared expose the pretense.
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All the President’s Bigoted Men”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Race - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton

Multi-Cultural Amorality in the White House

August 22, 2009 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Washington Post reports that President Obama aims to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Doing so will offend hundreds of millions of heterosexual married couples in order to please a minority of voters. If one looks only at homosexual couples, that minority is probably less than 1% of the population, particularly if one takes into account the lesser degree of stability in homosexual relationships than in heterosexual ones.

Politically, the President’s opposition to DOMA is probably motivated by his need to throw a sop to his liberal-progressive-socialist worshippers, who have been irritated or outraged by his failure to deliver on many of his campaign promises.
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Multi-Cultural Amorality in the White House”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Heritage Foundation - Video - Warner Todd Huston

Four Videos Serve as Dose of Reality on Obamacare

August 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Heritage Foundation has four excellent videos each taking on an injurious and troublesome aspect of Obamacare that are a must view for those looking for ammunition with which to shoot down the president’s policies.

Rather than debate the substance, the White House is in full campaign mode in order to label any opposition to its government-heavy health reform agenda as “misinformation” or “myths you’ve heard.” Case in point: The White House now has a taxpayer-funded Web site to “reality check” credible criticisms and arguments. Problem is the videos “debunking” each “myth” are low on facts. See our response below.

First up is a video addressing the many millions that will lose their health insurance quite despite what the president keeps telling us. Far from being able to keep our insurance “if we like it,” the truth is that 88 million will lose their policies whether they like it or not upon the passage of Obamacare.
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Four Videos Serve as Dose of Reality on Obamacare”

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

A Difference Without A Distinction

August 21, 2009 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel has simply changed the way he proposes to ration healthcare.

Dr. Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, is Special Adviser for Health Policy to Peter Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Sara Palin and others annoyed proponents of a National Socialist Healthcare scheme by noting the Dr. Emanuel has opined that rationing medical care is a necessity. In an effort to douse what has become a raging forest fire of disapproval, White House spinmeisters have concocted the following statement from Dr. Emanuel, quoted in the Washington Times:
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A Difference Without A Distinction”

Anti-Americanism - Communism - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Freedom - Gay Marriage - Gays - Health - History - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - Morals/Sex - Religion - Republicans - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston - Welfare - Western Civilization

Empty Cradles, Demographic Destiny and the Death of the West

August 21, 2009 by

-By Selwyn Duke

While the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding was good cinema, it was also a big fat Hollywood fiction. With Greece’s fertility rate of 1.36 children per woman — well below the replacement level of 2.1 — “big” is not a modifier demographers would associate with today’s Greek families. In fact, a more accurate film might be called My Big Fat Muslim Wedding.

Worse still, Greece is no anomaly. Long ago the cradle of Western civilization and more recently one of its backwaters, it’s now part of a phalanx of Western demographic failures. In fact, while it may seem counterintuitive to those weaned on the stuff of Malthusian nightmares, the West is facing a population implosion of historic proportions. And the statistics are staggering. As I wrote when reviewing the documentary Demographic Winter last year:

. . . the number of children in the world is already declining . . . . Birthrates are now below replacement level . . . in approximately 70 countries; in Western Europe, the figure is 1.38, and in northern Italy and parts of Spain it is below 1. As a result, Europe’s 65-year-olds now outnumber her 14-year-olds, and one German province had to close 220 schools in 2006. Children were present in 80 percent of U.S. households a century ago; that number is now 32 percent.

Although pondering demographic malaise conjures up the image of sterile Western swingers, note that this phenomenon is, in a measure, manifesting itself worldwide. Take Eastern Europe, for example. Russia, with its birthrate of 1.4 children per woman, is experiencing a population decrease of 700,000 a year. With an even lower birthrate of 1.22, some Lithuanian officials are concerned about the eventual disappearance of their population. And this is mirrored in other Eastern European nations; Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and the rest are all turning in similar numbers.
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Empty Cradles, Demographic Destiny and the Death of the West”

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

Dems Now to Go it Alone on Healthcare, Dumping Bi-Partisanship?

August 20, 2009 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Times is reporting that Congressional Democrats and the White House are now completely abandoning the claim that they want a bi-partisan healthcare “reform” bill thereby confirming conservative claims that no compromise is coming from the left with healthcare policies.

The spin from Democrats is that Republicans are at fault for the lack of bi-partisanship because if their “strident” stance against Obamacare.

Top Democrats said Tuesday that their go-it-alone view was being shaped by what they saw as Republicans’ purposely strident tone against health care legislation during this month’s Congressional recess, as well as remarks by leading Republicans that current proposals were flawed beyond repair.

Of course, the truth is that the GOP has not been included in any meaningful way since the beginning. Democrats have reached out to just the few Republicans that they think they can cajole to join their ideas, but there has been no effort at all to include GOP leaders in the healthcare debate.
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Dems Now to Go it Alone on Healthcare, Dumping Bi-Partisanship?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Assoc. Press Downplays Townhall Anger

August 19, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an August 17 piece on former DNC Chair Howard Dean’s appearance on a morning news show, the Associated Press did its best to downplay the high passions and anger showed by thousands of average citizens at townhall meetings across the country.

Dean was heard insisting that Obama not back down from including the “public option” in any healthcare bill, saying that such a feature is “indispensable” to its success at reforming our healthcare system. After the opening paragraphs, the AP characterized the possible removal of the public option by emphasizing Republicans and downplaying the outrage seen by citizens themselves.

Dean appeared on morning news shows Monday amid increasing indications the Obama White House is retreating from the public option in the face of vocal opposition from Republicans and some vocal participants at a town-hall-style meetings around the country.

“Some vocal participants at town-hall style meetings,” AP? Anyone watching the news accounts of the townhall meetings over the last three weeks will see far more than merely “some vocal participants” displaying their disagreement with Obamacare policies. The outrage being seen at these meetings has been the hottest news item around for weeks. There is far more than “some” vocal participants.
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Assoc. Press Downplays Townhall Anger”