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Monday, November 23, 2009
Burka Barbie
Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 8:08 AM
We've seen it all.

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Tags: Barbie



Monday, November 23, 2009
Outrage of the Day
Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 7:41 AM
The latest global warming scare video:








Sunday, November 22, 2009
McCain Tells Sr. Citizens To Cut Up Their AARP Cards
Posted by: Greg Hengler at 9:44 PM
McCain's bright moment on the Senate floor: Big H/T to Lee Habeeb.






Sunday, November 22, 2009
Talk About "Inconvenient" Fiscal Truths!
Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 5:40 PM
David Broder takes it to the Democrats, who are trying to sprinkle the stinking health care budget numbers with fairy dust and fantasy:

Perhaps the biggest of those [Democrat-sponsored budget] maneuvers was Reid's decision to postpone the start of subsidies to help the uninsured buy policies from mid-2013 to January 2014 -- long after taxes and fees levied by the bill would have begun.

Even with that change, there is plenty in the CBO report to suggest that the promised budget savings may not materialize. If you read deep enough, you will find that under the Senate bill, "federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010-2019 period" -- not decline. The gross increase would be almost $1 trillion -- $848 billion, to be exact, mainly to subsidize the uninsured. The net increase would be $160 billion.

And the net increase is that small -- yes, that "small" -- because Democrats are assuming that there will be $420 billion (that's half a trillion) in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health programs.

So the American public is left with two terrible options under ObamaCare: Either there are going to be unprecedented cuts to Medicare and other federal health programs -- or the program is going to be a budget buster on an unprecedented scale. 

What's more, note the Democrats' budget gimmickry: The $848 billion increase in federal health expenses -- from 2010-2019 -- is for a one-time starting period in which taxes and fees will have been collected for years longer than expenses have been paid out.  If the Democrats were willing to compare apples to apples -- not giving tax collection a "head start" but measuring after subsidies are being paid, as well  -- the cost would be far higher, over a trillion dollars. 

Yes, a trillion.  And it won't even cover all the uninsured.  I guess those costs will come the next time the Democrats have the White House and 60 Senate seats?






Sunday, November 22, 2009
Re: As the Senate Votes Tonight
Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 2:12 PM
Just to add my two cents to the post below by Townhall staff.  Make no mistake that last night's vote was a serious threat.  Every American that loves liberty -- and a strong US economy -- needs to make his or her voice heard.

But when considering the fact that, as noted below, "bills that get cloture votes are passed 98% of the time" -- keep in mind that this was simply a vote to begin debate, not to end it.  Most of the cloture votes we read about are votes to end debate.

Unless my memory as a former Senate aide fails me, most bills come to the floor by "unanimous consent" -- that is, no one raises an objection to opening debate on a bill, even if they plan to filibuster, i.e., raise an objection to ending debate and moving to a final vote.  Here, the Republicans did raise an objection even to beginning debate on the bill; that's a heartening sign that they intend to use every procedural maneuver at their disposal (and in the Senate, there are many).

Once there is final cloture on a  bill, that means the Senate can  move immediately to a final vote.  That didn't happen here (yet, at least), but because most cloture votes are to end debate, not begin it, that may be why such a high percentage of bills that survive cloture votes are passed. 

Tonight, some senators who presumably oppose the bill in its final form nonetheless voted to begin debate.  But at the end, it will be very hard for any senator to try to have it both ways, i.e., voting for final cloture (to let the bill go to a final vote) and then voting against the bill.  Voters will understand that a vote for final cloture (i.e., a vote to allow a vote) will be tantamount to voting for passage in a US Senate dominated so overwhelmingly by Democrats.




Sunday, November 22, 2009
Catholic Bishop Denies Communion for Pro-Choice Kennedy
Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 10:20 AM
Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island is telling local media in the state that Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has "forbidden" Kennedy from receiving holy communion during Catholic services because of his strong advocacy of abortion rights as a public figure:
“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. He declined to say when or how Bishop Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction. ...

In an October interview about the opposition of the nation’s bishops to any health-care overhaul that did not include a strict ban on federal subsidies for abortion, Kennedy called into question the “pro-life” credentials of the churchmen. Health care for millions of uninsured is at stake, he said. Bishop Tobin shot back with a sharply worded statement, noting that the bishops are staunch and longtime supporters of reforming the health-care system. He said, however, that the bishops will not support a health-care bill that fails to include a ban on taxpayer subsidy of the procedure.

The exchange, via open letters and interviews, has continued, with Bishop Tobin pointedly suggesting that “obstinate” opposition to church doctrine on abortion should cause a Catholic public official to reconsider his membership in the church.

On Friday, in response to questions from a reporter, Kennedy asserted that Bishop Tobin had told him not to receive Communion. But like the bishop, Kennedy withheld key details about their discussions.

Asked how he reacted as a Catholic, Kennedy would say only that he has “personal feelings of disappointment” about the matter, but he declined to elaborate.





Saturday, November 21, 2009
That's It.
Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 8:03 PM
The cloture vote is through.

Byrd was wheeled in in a chair. Landrieu sat near the clerk. You could barely hear her "aye." Lincoln sounded more confident. Lucky (or unlucky) Senate aids sat near the clerk as well. Specter mumbled his "aye." Vitter snorted no.

The motion was reported as "agreed to." Democrats broke out in applause. They were called to order.

Republicans cried in their beers.


Tags: health   care



Saturday, November 21, 2009
As The Senate Votes Tonight
Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 7:23 PM
Something to remember is that bills that get cloture votes are passed 98% of the time. Breaking filibuster on a cloture vote requires 2/3 of the Senate. Passing a bill requires a simple majority.

This is the biggest legislation that most Senators will ever see in their lifetime. Of course the impossible may be possible. But it's not likely.

Tags: cloture





Saturday, November 21, 2009
ObamaCare By the Numbers
Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 3:55 PM

5.5 million — Number of jobs that could be lost as a result of taxes on businesses that cannot afford to provide health insurance coverage, according to a model developed by Council of Economic Advisors Chair Christina Romer

$729.5 billion — Total new taxes on small businesses, individuals who cannot afford health coverage, and employers who cannot afford to provide coverage that meet federal bureaucrats’ standards

$1.055 trillion — New federal spending on expanded health insurance coverage over the next ten years, according to a Congressional Budget Office preliminary score of the bill

0.7% — Percentage of all that new spending occurring in the bill’s first three years-representing a debt and tax “time bomb” in the program’s later years set to explode on future generations

$88,200 — Definition of “low-income” family of four for purposes of health insurance subsidies

114 million — Number of individuals who could lose their current coverage under the bill’s government-run health plan, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group

43 — Entitlement programs the bill creates, expands, or extends-an increase from H.R. 3200

111 — Additional offices, bureaus, commissions, programs, and bureaucracies the bill creates over and above the entitlement expansions-more than double the number in H.R. 3200

3,425 — Uses of the word “shall,” representing new duties for bureaucrats and mandates on individuals, businesses, and States-also more than double the number in H.R. 3200

$60 billion — Loss sustained by taxpayers every year due to Medicare fraud, according to a recent 60 Minutes expose; the government-run health plan does not reform the ineffective anti-fraud statutes and procedures that have kept Medicare on the Government Accountability Office’s list of high-risk programs for two decades

Zero — Prohibitions on government programs like Medicare and Medicaid from using cost-effectiveness research to impose delays to or denials for access to life-saving treatments

$634 Billion — Amount that could be saved by denying individuals access to treatments that are not “cost-effective,” according to a report by the liberal Commonwealth Fund; Section 1160 of the bill gives bureaucrats in the Obama Administration virtual free rein to develop a new “high-value” reimbursement system for Medicare by May 2012

2017 — Year Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted-an entitlement crisis exacerbated by the bill, which according to the Congressional Budget Office will increase the federal budgetary commitment to health care by $598 billion in its first ten years alone

$2,500 — Promised savings for each American family from health reform, according to then-Senator Obama’s campaign pledge-savings which the Administration’s own actuaries have confirmed will not materialize, as the Pelosi health care bill would increase the growth of health care costs

Source: HRC






Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR): "I Will Vote In Support Of Cloture" To Begin Debate
Posted by: Greg Hengler at 3:00 PM
That's 2 for 2, although she doth protest Reid's dreaded Public Option. It ain't over but Obamacare rolls on...






Saturday, November 21, 2009
60 Vote Threshold Met; Things Not Looking Good For Republicans
Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 2:29 PM
Sen. Blanche Lincoln was the 60th Senator to say she'll vote in favor of cloture on the health care bill at 8pm. In other words, the Senate is giving their "ay" vote in favor of Obamacare tonight.

Lincoln and Mary Landrieu, the 59th vote, tried to insist that this was merely a referendum for beginning debate. Because the bill can be changed after cloture is invoked, they claimed that they weren't actually voting for the bill. Here's Landrieu:
I've decided that there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward, but much more work needs to be done.
In other words, Landrieu voted for cloture on the bill because of the bill's potential. But she's wrong. The ball has dropped. No matter what is cooked up after the sham "official debate" begins (after cloture is invoked) the basic framework of Obamacare is not waiting to be debated. Insurers are now going to be more rigorously regulated than ever before. "Exchange" marketplaces will be installed with a very poor likelihood for success. And the public option will be in the bill some way, some how — though exactly how is yet to be determined.

Other issues will be left for future, crucial 60-vote tests, like abortion coverage, business-based health insurance, and how much (read, not if, but how much) of a percentage Americans will see their taxes increased by this bill.
But the most controversial options, at this point, have received the blessing of our Senate Members.

What next?

Senators will break for recess, and then the sham "debate" session begins. The House bill that was already passed requires medium and large businesses to cover their employees or pay a fine; the Senate bill requires them to simply pay a fee if the business doesn't cover them. Either way, businesses have to pay.

Some form of the public-option — perhaps a watered-down form — is a part of both bills, no matter what happens from here on out.

After the details are hammered out, Senators will begin to see the results of their decision trickle out on campaign polls. More importantly, Americans will begin to see the effects of federal officials wielding influence over their personal health.





Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sen. Landrieu (D-LA) Votes "Yes" To Move Obamacare Forward
Posted by: Greg Hengler at 2:12 PM






Saturday, November 21, 2009
Today's Senate Health Care Debate
Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 1:33 PM
Sen. Landrieu made her floor speech earlier this afternoon and suggested she will be voting to proceed on the measure this evening.  This leaves just one moderate Dem to watch: Sen. Blanche Lincoln.  Reid will need Lincoln's vote tonight to proceed in passing the bill.  If you live in Arkansas, now is the time for action!

Meanwhile, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warns that Senators who vote for this measure will "have a lot of explaining to do":








Saturday, November 21, 2009
Absurdity of the Day
Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 1:18 PM
Today's absurdity comes from (surprise) the New York Times which claims that there's a "new consensus" in America that Obama's stimulus package was "a worthy step" and perhaps the country should be considering a second stimulus package.

That's funny.  The last poll I saw actually said that the majority actually prefers to halt spending from the first stimulus because it would be better for the economy...




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