Thursday, September 17, 2009
Epic post
Most of us agree calling the president a liar during his nationall televised speech is inappropriate. But how many agree it's ok for the president to lie to the nation during a speech?
Obama told us the right has been attacking his plan but offer no suggestions and have no plan of their own. He tells us the conservatives want to stand pat with the current healthcare system with no reform. He also told us he's looking forward to alternatives and is willing to sit down and discuss other Bi-patisan suggestions/options but has rebuffed them at every turn.
Yet there have been many bills put forward that have been ignored by both the left and the biased media. In many cases ther has been actions to supress them.
The GOP has proposed more than 30 health care reform bills in the house this year.
Some serious legislation addressing Portability, Pre-existing conditions, costs and other issues that trouble the American consumers.
How about HR 3400 that was proposed in July - The empowering Patients First Act or HR 2520 - The Patients Choice Act? HR 3217 and HR 3218 - The Health care Choice Act and the Improving Health Care for all Americans Act?
A search of the LexisNexis database of newspapers, magazines, TV programs and Major Blogs finds about 3,000 mentions of the major House Democratic bill HR 3200 that Obama supports, in the past six months. Those are just the stories that refer to the bill by it's House Number, there have been thousands more stories referring generally to the Democratic legislation.
A similar search found only 60 mentions of the GOP HR 3400 put forth by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia who heads the the GOP study committee. Another Republican bill, HR 2520 by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin only received 12 mentions in the same time period. The two others, HR 3217 and HR 3218 by Rep. John Shadegg only received 20 mentions.
The virtual media embargo on reporting Republican legislation has allowed democrats and their allies in the media to keep up the "Republicans have no plan" attack. Just hours after the presidents speech, for example, the DNC released a new commercial claiming that Republicans "REFUSE" to offer a plan to reform the healthcare system.
Talk about propagating LIES !
Just for the record, in case you want to check then out, these are the Republican Bills proposed, so far;
HR 77
HR 109
HR 198
HR 270
HR 321
HR 464
HR 502
HR 544
HR 917
HR 1086
HR 1118
HR 1441
HR 1458
HR 1468
HR 1658
HR 1891
HR 2520
HR 2607
HR 2692
HR 2784
HR 2785
HR 2786
HR 2787
HR 3141
HR 3217
HR 3218
HR 3356
HR 3372
HR 3400
HR 3438
HR 3478
Does this look like they are refusing to address the situation or are without suggestions?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sherrod Brown votes to continue to waste taxpayer dollars
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00281#state
This amendment would have stopped the use of stimulus money for “self-congratulatory signage” which allows the Federal government to “promote spending of taxpayers’ dollars on stimulus projects”; you’ve probably seen the signs along some of our local highways.
Senator Gregg stated that the cost of these signs could be between $6-20 million.
The final vote was 52 against this amendment; 45 for the amendment (2 did not vote—Senators from WVA).
Can you guess how our wonderful Senators voted?
Brown voted against, Voinovich voted for the amendment.
Question (which we intend to email Mr. Brown about): Why is it necessary to continue to waste taxpayer’s money on these signs?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Breaking: Senate votes to cut off federal funding for ACORN; Update: Child-Whoring Pimp Assistance 7 identified; Update: Brooklyn DA “taking a look”
Breaking: Senate votes to cut off federal funding for ACORN; Update: Child-Whoring Pimp Assistance 7 identified; Update: Brooklyn DA “taking a look”
posted at 6:03 pm on September 14, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced an amendment to the HUD and Transportation appropriation bill to strip ACORN of all federal funding. A week ago, Johanns wouldn’t have gotten the amendment to the floor. Today, however, after three straight days of BigGovernment.com’s video exposés of ACORN offices in Washington DC, New York City, and Baltimore offering assistance to pimping, tax evasion, and trafficking in underage Salvadorean girls, Johanns not only got his vote — but he got an impressive bipartisan showing. The Senate passed the Johanns amendment 83-7.
At the beginning of the vote, it appeared that Democrats might resist. Initially, a half-dozen Democrats cast votes in opposition to the amendment. A few more cast votes against it as the rest of the Senate voted, but the tide appeared to shift. More and more Democrats signed onto the amendment, and votes started changing. One male voice could be heard in the chamber saying, “I want to change my vote!” Among those who changed their votes: Tom Udall (D-NM), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Herb Kohl (D-WI).
I do not have the official roll call record of the vote yet, but three of the seven Democrats voting against the bill were Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roland Burris (D-IL), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). I’ll get the rest in a few minutes, but it’s worth repeating what Jim Geraghty said on the Twitter stream: “Who were the seven Child-Whoring Pimp Assistance Program defenders?”
The big question will be whether the House follows suit. Nancy Pelosi may not be inclined to let an amendment come to the floor, but James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles may not be done yet, either. A few more of these videos and even Pelosi will have little choice but to slam the door on ACORN. The big test will be whether the Johanns amendment survives a conference committee. This isn’t over yet.
Update: Thanks to Sean Hackbarth, we have the list of seven nays on the amendment so that the Child-Whoring Pimp Assitance 7 can be publicly identified:
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Roland Burris (D-IL)
- Robert Casey (D-PA)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
- Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
- Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
So can we assume that Illinois and Vermont are especially sympathetic to child-whoring pimp assistance?
Update (AP): Man, this house of cards is toppling fast:
Meanwhile, Jerry Schmetterer, director of public information for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, told FOXNews.com that officials will be “taking a look” into Brooklyn’s ACORN office.
“We are going to be taking a look at the situation,” Schmetterer said Monday.
A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said ACORN’S tax status as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization should also be probed.
“We’ve already seen the Census Bureau severe its tie with ACORN,” the spokesman, Kurt Bardella, told FOXNews.com. “Certainly, as an organization being subsidized by taxpayer dollars, their relationship with other government entities should be called into question, and whether or not it’s appropriate for them to receive taxpayer dollars.”
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Obama’s Health Care Speech: A Common Sense Rebuttal
Obama’s Health Care Speech: A Common Sense Rebuttal
by Dallas JenkinsMy posts on this site have been and usually will be about film-making as a Christian and conservative in Hollywood, but because President Obama’s speech the other night was more about theatre and performance than actual policy (speeches have zero to do with the crafting of legislation, which is done in war rooms by politicians who care nothing about rhetoric), I figured I would chime in.
Here are a few of the President’s statements with a response:
“If companies don’t do right by their workers and offer them insurance…”
This comment drives me insane. Why is offering health benefits “doing right,” but not offering them “doing wrong?” Isn’t the fact that the company even hired them in the first place “doing them right?” Employees know what they’re getting when they get a job, and if they demand health coverage as part of their employment, they can go work for someone else if their boss doesn’t offer it to them. Purchasing health coverage for your employees is extraordinarily expensive; sometimes simply hiring the person is all an employee can afford.
And, by the way, offering health care to employees wasn’t always the norm. But eventually it became part of a job offer–”Instead of paying you $60,000 and you paying $10K a year for your health coverage, I’ll pay you $50,000 a year and give you health coverage, and then you won’t be taxed for that $10K.” It’s a privilege, a bonus, a cool thing…it’s not a RIGHT, and not offering it isn’t necessarily “doing wrong.”
“We will require everyone to get health insurance, just like many states force you to have auto insurance.”
Wow. He has big stones to say something like this. For one thing, the reason you’re forced to have auto insurance is to cover OTHERS, not yourself. You’re driving a big dangerous machine, and if you injure someone with it, you better have a way to guarantee payment. For another, auto insurance can be purchased across state lines, so you have true competition. Finally, and most importantly, you’re not forced to drive a car! So if you don’t own a car, you don’t have to get auto insurance!
What a horrible metaphor.
One other thing about forcing people to have health insurance; this, like forcing insurance companies to cover all this preventative stuff, and forcing people to participate in it, is such a nanny state – big brother mentality. Sure, it’s smart for people to be more preventative, but do we want government forcing it on us? Is this freedom? What’s next? Forcing people to work out three times a week and banning sugar? They’re already banning the sale of trans-fats in California and New York and are trying to legally force restaurants to put calorie information on the friggin’ menu.
Forcing people to purchase health insurance is lunacy (not to mention possibly unconstitutional), especially considering one of his reasons–”because when someone goes to the emergency room without insurance, we all have to pay for it.” Why is that? Why can’t they get billed? Why shouldn’t they be expected to pay for the cost of being treated? And if they literally can’t afford it because they never got insurance (low cost, high-deductible insurance that covers only big emergencies, like with auto insurance), there are charities/churches/private groups. And if those are unable, then there are extreme and rare cases in which the state can provide a safety net (like with welfare). But that should be the last resort, not policy.
“According to the Congressional Budget Office, only 5% of Americans will sign up for the public option.”
Nice little stat there, except he left out two things: One, only 15% of Americans don’t have insurance anyway (notice how he lowered the number of uninsured in this speech from 45 million to “over 30 million,” because he realized that the 45 million figure included illegal immigrants?), so a better way to say it would have been, “one in three uninsured will sign up for the government option. Two, the Congressional Budget Office he quoted is the same group saying his plan will operate at a deficit, which he denies. So why does he trust the CBO for the stat above?
“Public universities don’t hurt private colleges, so public insurance won’t hurt private insurance” (paraphrase).
Hmm. Well, that’s partly true, except the difference is that there are thousands of different public universities to choose from, which means they compete with each other, whereas President Obama’s proposing one government plan. Also, most public universities are state run and funded, not nationally run and funded. And again…NO ONE’S FORCING ANYONE TO GO TO COLLEGE, whereas President Obama wants to force you to have insurance, so again, it’s a crappy metaphor.
“You shouldn’t be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition.”
Then why ever get insurance in the first place? Oh, never mind, he’s going to force you to do it. Forgot that part.
“It will be against the law for an insurance company to drop you just because you get sick.”
It already is. Let me repeat that. It already is. As long as you make timely payments, it’s against the law for an insurance company to simply drop you because you got sick.
To close, President Obama has been making some very interesting statements about Medicare. I’ve been attacking Medicare in health care debates for awhile. I’ve used it as an example of a poorly run government program that should scare us from wanting government to have a bigger role (along with FEMA, DMV, post office, etc.). And my liberal friends usually respond by defending Medicare, pointing out its high approval ratings and efficiency. Well, I appreciated President Obama tonight acknowledging that Medicare is a problem, because he said that one of the biggest ways the government option would be paid for is with the elimination of waste and fraud in Medicare.
Get that?
We’re going to pay for this new big government program by eliminating all the mess and mistakes from the other one. Yes, the other program has wasted HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, enough to nearly pay for this new program, but trust me…we’ll do this one better.
President Obama said something similar about the post office, another government program we on the right attack. He said, “Government competition hasn’t hurt FedEx and UPS; in fact, it’s the post office that usually has the problems.” Um…so this is supposed to give us confidence in your new government program?
Not all President Obama said was bad. And of course, the beginnings and ends of his speeches are always great, and I’m guessing support for him and the plan will go up in the next week based on this speech. But most likely it’ll return to earth in a couple weeks, and we’ll be back where we started.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September 11, 2001 - We'll never forget!
God Bless America
*In case you've never been here, the flag in the middle of this field marks the hallowed ground of Flight 93.
Sherrod Brown electronic town hall tonite 9/10 @ 6:30 pm
As health insurance reform is debated in Congress, U.S. Senator Brown wants to hear from you. In addition to forums on health insurance reform Senator Brown held in Ohio during August, Senator Brown will hold an electronic town hall TONIGHT, September 10, 2009 from 6:30pm to 7:15pm. This forum will allow Ohioans from all across the state to participate and ask questions of Senator Brown directly. Senator Brown will answer as many questions as time permits.
You will be able to ask Senator Brown questions about health insurance reform during the LIVE E-TOWN HALL by sending your questions to townhall@brown.senate.gov. You can also send questions in advance by sending to the same email address.
For more information on Sen. Brown's views on health insurance reform, please click here.
http://brown.senate.gov/issues_and_agenda/stories/share/?issue_id=f565635b-e37a-45d3-b15f-edf6b930bd1a
To view the Live E-Town Hall tonight at 6:30pm, please click here.
http://brown.senate.gov/live/
Dem's not wasting any time!
I just finished laying out my plan for health reform at a joint session of Congress. Now, I'm writing directly to you because what happens next is critical -- and I need your help.
Change this big will not happen because I ask for it. It can only come when the nation demands it. Congress knows where I stand. Now they need to hear from you.
Add your voice: Ask your representatives to support my plan for real health reform in 2009.
The heart of my plan is simple: bring stability and security to Americans who already have health insurance, guarantee affordable coverage for those who don't, and rein in the cost of health care.
Tonight, I offered a specific plan for how to make it happen. I incorporated the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans to create a plan that's bold, practical, and represents the broad consensus of the American people.
We've come closer to real health reform in the last few months than we have in the last 60 years. But those who profit from the status quo -- and those who put partisan advantage above all else -- will fight us every inch of the way.
We do not seek that fight, but we will not shrink from it. The stakes are too high to let scare tactics cloud the debate, or to allow partisan bickering to block the path. Your voice, right now, is essential.
See my full plan and call on your representatives to support it:
http://my.barackobama.com/SupportReform
Ours is not the first generation to understand the dire need for health reform. And I am not the first president to take up this cause, but Iam determined to be the last.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
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