Obamacare Daily Round-Up 09-11 & 12

Today's Obamacare Daily Round-Up is a combination of yesterday's and today's as I shut down in memorial of Sept. 11th. Obviously, I'm back and here goes.

From Forbes, "Obama's Health Care Plan: Put Up And Shut Up"

Given the lack of coverage we are seeing on today's TEA Party protest, this headline is unsurprising, "Democrats stifle Republican health care plans."

CATO translated Obama's speech. Obama’s Health Care Speech in Plain English

For O, It's 'My Way or the Highway' David Limbaugh's Take on the Speech.

Medicare Is No Model for Health Reform. Many doctors refuse Medicare patients because payments are so low. From the Wall Street Journal.

Also from WSJ - The President's Tort Two-Step Special-interests and the health-care status quo

Health care faces some big legislative bottlenecks. God Willing!

Obama's savings' won't pay for health plan, experts say

Shouting truth to power pays off! Rep. Wilson Outburst Leads Senate Dems to Close Loophole in Health Reform Bill. It's paying of for Wilson too, S.C.'s Wilson Rakes In $750,000 in Less Than 48 Hours; Opponent Tops $1 Million

From The Washington Post - Wrong Map For Health Reform

Talking points from The Washington Examiner titled "Obama's top five tax fibs in Wednesday evening speech."

Obama says he address this concern about illegal immigrants getting free Obamacare on the backs of US taxpayers. But do you trust him to actually do it?

The Town Halls of August. They're here, they're conservative, get used to it.

Details Still Lacking On Obama Proposal. White House Unclear on How Some Far-Reaching Goals Would Be Met.

VIDEO: Would ObamaCare Cover Sticker-Shock Treatment? From Hit & Run over at Reason. Gotta love those libertarians!

Also from the good folks at Reason, No American Should Have to Choose Between Health Insurance and Getting Drunk.


Mark Steyn's take on Where Is Obama’s ‘Center’? Look at his Rolodex and then figure out just where such a man would estimate it to be

Tevi Troy has two pieces on Obamacare from National Review. First, Waste, Fraud, and Yadda Yadda Yadda and second, More on Med Mal Reform. Both are well linked and quick reads.

Micheal Gerson over at the Washington Post points out that democrats are great recyclers of worn-out and failed ideas in his op-ed titled, "Where's the Party of Ideas?" He claims republicans are the party of anger but then he hasn't visited Shout First to read about many, many anti-big-government ideas that ARE out there that could solve our healthcare issues WITHOUT converting 1/8th of the US economy into a socialist regime.

47% Now Favor Health Care Reform Plan, 49% Oppose It will be interesting to see if that Rasmussen pool changes after today's TEA Protest.

This could work (copied from NRO - The Corner. I can't figure out how to link to them.) By Rich Lowry via a reader's email.

Another Trigger Idea
Via e-mail:
Subject: What about giving the Republicans everything they want on HC Reform...

…and then have a trigger for the public option if it doesn’t work? Seems fair to me…

They could include the following:

-Modify tax policy to eliminate the disincentives for individual purchase of health insurance and health care.

-Eliminate regulatory barriers that prevent small businesses from cooperatively pooling and self-insuring their health risks by liberalizing the rules that govern voluntary health care purchasing cooperatives.

-Eliminate laws that prevent interstate purchase of health insurance by individuals and businesses.

-Eliminate rules that prevent individuals and group purchasers from tailoring health insurance plans to their needs, including federal and state benefit mandates and community rating requirements.

-Eliminate artificial restrictions on the supply of health care services and products, such as the over regulation of drugs and medical devices, as well as state and federal restrictions on who may provide medical services and how they must be delivered.

-Improve the availability of provider and procedure-specific cost and quality data for use by individual health consumers.

-Reform the jackpot malpractice liability system that delivers windfall punitive damage awards to small numbers of injured patients while it raises malpractice insurance costs for doctors and incentivizes the practice of defensive medicine.

An Obama Speech in 13 Easy Steps. Don’t be overly bedazzled by Obama’s rhetorical prowess.

Viewership to last night’s address was down 38.6%

Good Advice, if only Obama and Congress would listen.


From The Hill - Obama sets stage for using budget maneuver to pass health reform

Heal for America

In for a penny, in for a Trillion. After Obamacare, the Cap and Tax Bill, the Stimulus, Amnesty for illegals, this is coming at us, from The Wall Street Journal - The Quietest Trillion. Congratulations. You're about to own $100 billion a year in student loans.

More 9/12 TEA Party Protest

The crowd knows CNN is NOT on their side. ‘Go Home!’: DC Crowd Drowns Out CNN Reporter During Live Report The crowd starts with "Tell. The. Truth.", probably because CNN doesn't address the TEA Protest or its concerns but stands in front of the crowd and talks about Rep. Wilson. WTF?



On the spot Video Interview here from townhall.com.

Steve Green (VodkaPundit) is on-the-scene here and updating regularly.

Clips of Lee Doran's speech today at the TEA Party protest!
First Clips of My Speech on the Capitol in front 100,000+


From MyWayNews - Thousands march to US Capitol to protest spending

The Washington Post has one major headline up on their website about the tens of thousands of people marching through their front yard AND they make it only available if you sign up. It's like they want to go out of business.



GOP embraces conservative groups’ protest

GOP Sees Protest As an Opportunity I think the real question here is why doesn't the Mainstream Media see this as an opportunity to DO THIER JOB?

Conservatives From Across the Country Arrive in Washington for Tea Party

Thousands flood downtown to protest spending



MSNBC Tries to bury the news AND willfully mis-identify this protest with this headline, "Thousands of Anti-Obama Protestors March in D.C." It's not anti-Obama, it's anti-tax. It's the economy, Stupid.

Tea Party Express Arrives for 'March on Washington' to Protest Government Spending

Thousands pack downtown D.C. to protest spending



Thousands pack D.C. to protest spending, taxes

Tea Party Rally Sparks Dispute Over Potential Turnout



Activists to protest government spending in D.C.

At least the New York Times acknowledges that this isn't a party affiliation thing but an anti-tax protest in this article titled, "Thousands Rally in Capital to Protest Big Government."

CNN is burying the TEA Party on their website or putting up unfavorable video here.

Update on the Washington TEA Party

You go guys!

Right on Washington: A Call for Good Policy and Fiscal Sanity

About my husband - prep for today's rally. Intellectual Ammunition for the Tea Parties

Wow, the DC crowd builds

House Dems Bracing For Huge Turnout At Glenn Beck/Tea Party Gathering It's obnoxious that the left is STILL trying to demonize decent Americans protesting vast government over-reach with their attempt to associate the TEA Party with Glenn Beck - their demon-de-jour. Pathetic and insulting. Three observations before I go out the door.

Tea’d Off in The Capitol 9/12/09

Dotting the I's and crossing the Tea's

TEA PARTY ROCKS

Right now the Trafficland camera for Washington DC is showing a HUGE mass of people. As one tweet has gone out saying "I've never seen a this large a protest filled with job holders."

Keep up the fight!

In Remembrance

As a gesture of respect, I will not be blogging (or on twitter or facebook) tomorrow, September 11th.

Think of it as a moment of silence for the innocent victims of that day.

9/11 has not lost its significance for me.

May God bless America and bring peace to all those who suffered at the hands of evil terrorists. Amen

Tell Me Something I Don't Know

From the UK's Telegraph comes this "shocker"...
Organic food is a waste of money As much as I supported Whole Foods CEO Mackey, I did not buy organic food there for pretty much the reasons below.

The organic brands at Tesco, Waitrose and Asda scored worse than each supermarket’s basic, standard and premium ranges. Only at Sainsbury’s did organic food not come bottom, and that was only because its Basics range is so bad. Hard though it may be to believe, Asda’s standard range scored higher than Waitrose’s organic range. [snip]

The idea that organic food is worth more because it is healthier is totally bogus. Only last month the Food Standards Agency, the unbiased government agency set up to protect the public’s health, published a report concluding that organic food has no greater nutritional value than conventional produce.

The idea that organic food is better for the environment is also questionable. Organic milk, for example, generates more carbon dioxide emissions than standard milk and uses significantly more land.

Read the whole thing.

Bipartisan Rhetoric, Far-Left Reform

(Michael G. Franc of National Review had this article up at NRO which I thought was worth repeating.)

The soaring rhetoric certainly was there. And there were countless conservative-sounding references: How many times did he deploy words like "choice" and "competition" and "incentives" and "bargaining?" And there was even the Reaganesque riff where the president paid homage to our "self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government."

Conservatives, moreover, would raise few if any qualms with how the president defined the challenge, or even how he characterized the goals he seeks to achieve. ("It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don't. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government.")

But a yawning gap remains between the president's pleasing rhetoric and the hard reality of what still lurks within those thousands of pages of legislative text. I found it significant that at no point in his speech did he acknowledge that the resistance and anger on display in the August town halls and in numerous public opinion polls was authentic, legitimate, and warranted a serious response. His rhetoric on that score
was nothing short of insulting: August was a "partisan spectacle" fueled by "scare tactics." Too many Americans were "dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise." Oh, and the opponents of his plan "used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points."

Nor did the president demand that congressional leaders jettison all those committee-approved bills and start anew. There was no sense that, if given a chance to go back to square one and do things over, he or his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill would gratefully do so. In fact, there was some odd gloating, given the sorry condition of the health reform effort. Four congressional committees, he boasted, have made
unprecedented strides toward a final bill and, besides, there is 80 percent agreement on all the big issues.

No humility. No acknowledgment that perhaps, in their zeal to accomplish all these worthy goals, he and Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Waxman and Majority Leader Reid might have overreached and now need to recalibrate so that the debate reflects where mainstream Americans really are on these issues.

All in all, a lost opportunity to be a leader for all of America.

Could This Bring Down Holder?

Inquiry opened into New Black Panther case.
Since the Office of Professional Responsibility reports directly to the Attorney General, they will probably make a fall-guy out of somebody else but Holder's reprehensible handling of this clear case of voter intimidation must be investigated. I pray this inquiry will expose Holder's DoJ to sunlight.

A Real Education Outrage

Protesting parents ignored by the media.

President Obama's speech to students this week got plenty of attention, and many conservatives looked foolish by fretting about "indoctrination." They would have done far more good joining those who protested on Tuesday against the President's decision to shut down a school voucher program for 1,700 low-income kids in Washington, D.C.

"It's fundamentally wrong for this Administration not to listen to the voices of citizens in this city," said Kevin Chavous, the former D.C. Council member who organized the protest of parents and kids ignored by most media. Mr. Chavous, a Democrat, is upset that the White House and Democrats in Congress have conspired to shut down the program even though the government's own evaluation demonstrates improved test scores.

Read the whole think in the Wall Street Journal here.

ACORN "Pros" Updated

Shock Undercover Video Shows ACORN Workers Advising ‘Pimp’ & ‘Prostitute’ to Avoid Law. Complete with videos.

Transcript here.

Videos: ACORN advising on tax evasion for pimps and prostitutes? From HotAir.com

ACORN Outdoes Itself. ACORN helps set up a supposed brothel. From The Wall Street Journal.

Obamacare Daily Round-Up 09-10 Updated

This will be, obviously, a big round-up today. Personally, I was not impressed by Obama refering to oppossition to socializing 1/8th of the US economy as "bickering" and thought he brought zero clarity to the details of this bad, bad legislation. But that's just me. Read below and decide for yourself.

WHIP COUNT: DEMS LACK THE VOTES

Obama disapproval on health care up to 52 percent CNN Poll: Double-digit post-speech jump for Obama plan - but how relable is the "jump" when CNN polled only 427 American voters and the "sample of speech-watchers in this poll was 45 percent Democratic and 18 percent Republican."? Rasmussen has 44% Favor President’s Health Care Plan, 53% Oppose with an interesting healthcare poll here.

78% Say All Americans Should Be Able To Buy The Health Insurance That Congress Has.

From AP: Obama uses iffy math on deficit pledge

Does Obama think Americans are so gullible? From The Washington Examiner

Talking Cure, Again

Read the Union Health-Care Label. Get ready for Detroit-style labor relations in our hospitals. From The Wall Street Journal.

If You Only Read One White Paper On Health Care Today, Make It This One

Obama's Big Speech: Triangulation + Airbrushed Orszagism. From Slate.

Obama: Time for 'bickering' is over on health care

IRONY ALERT - Biden says congressman's outburst was embarrassing. That's rich coming from Biden.

That outburst is getting a lot of play. A short note on the Wilson outburst And Sure, he was a rude jerk. But Rep. Joe Wilson has a point. More discussion here and here. And democrats do not exactly have a history of politeness and really shouldn't point fingers.


Obama's Big Political Gamble. Red-state Democrats are being asked to risk their seats.

All sizzle, no substance

Is A.M.A. Support for Health Reform a Bad Sign? From the New York Times (!)

What's Wrong with Obama's Health Care Speech

GOP leader: Obama 'thumbed his nose at the American people;' speech 'remarkable in its arrogance'

Glimpse of our future, not if it is happening now. Drug Control Becomes Speech Control. A federal prosecutor tries to silence a pain treatment activist.

Obama's $900B health plan: Mandatory insurance, public option

Analysis from The Hill Obama speech to Congress unlikely to be game changer

The Unhealthy Politics of Deja Vu. Since Liberals and Progressives only have socialism to lean on, all their ideas are tired recycling of old and often failed policies. Obamacare is turning into Hilarycare all over again.

Obama's Speech: Did It Help Him? An excellent analysis by Power Line

A Telling but Not Moving Speech

Obamacare won't cover illegal immigrants? Yes it will, says Congressional Research Service

Obama's Lies Matter, Too

Obama's doubly impossible claim

Key terms in the health-care debate

His numbers are dropping again.


Obama won't take on the trial lawyers

Mr. Obama's Prescriptions

Stop Thinking Insurance. How to implement health care reform that cuts costs and improves care.

It's Still the Economy, Stupid This could be America's greatest failed presidency

But not much truth to health talk

The dedicated healthcare blog here from National Review.

Reason.tv on Health Care: Get Some!

Where's the Paying Customer? Health care reform isn't serious until the patient is at the center of the picture.

Obamacare Speech

Here is the full transcript of Obama's speech (before he's even finished reading it).

I listened to him talk while reading along - I felt like Obama's teleprompter.

He talks about competition but he isn't providing any real competition - it's all still down to private insurers vs. the government.

The Alabama example is particularly telling - there would be MORE competition in Alabama if there were interstate trafficking for healthcare insurance policies. DUH.

Sen. Warner Needs To Read The Constitution

Proving that all these things he mentions are Un-Constitutional, Sen. Warner puts his foot down his own throat. From Eyeblast.tv.

In response, John Taylor (President, Tertium Quids) had the following letter response...

Senator Warner:

The U.S. Constitution is a document of both enumerated and unenumerated rights of the citizens, but delegated, enumerated, and therefore limited powers of government. The IX Amendment states plainly that the people retain rights that are not enumerated in the Constitution. However, the X Amendment states plainly enough that powers of government not expressly delegated to the national government are reserved for the state governments or for the people themselves.

We don't need the government's permission to have a telephone because our rights go far beyond those few that are expressly mentioned in the Constitution. However, if the Constitution does not expressly enumerate a power that would allow government to nationalized health care, then the only way a congressman can vote to do that is to violate both the Constitution as well as his oath of office.

If you would like to begin familiarizing yourself with the U.S. Constitution, may I suggest, given your present level of knowledge, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the U.S. Constitution by Timothy Harper, or U.S. Constitution for Dummies by Michael Arnheim, or The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution by Kevin R.C. Gutzman.

No need to thank me. Just trying to help you avoid further embarrassing gaps in your knowledge. Harvard, huh?
John
John Taylor
President
Tertium Quids

Here's Hoping For Change

ACORN turns in Fla. workers on voter fraud charges. From AP.

I wonder what they'll find in the ACORN offices in the other 49 states?

Save The Earth - No More Humans

'Contraception cheapest way to combat climate change' From the UK's Telegraph.

Contraception is almost five times cheaper as a means of preventing climate change than conventional green technologies, according to research by the London School of Economics.

Why are environmentalists so pessimistic? I believe that with some counselling and real effort on both sides, the earth and human beings can get along.

Caught On Tape

I just love it when we get video on our Congressional Representatives. Don't you? Whether it is a democrat or a republican, calling out bad behavior is worth it. Congratulations KCAL9! And thank you Breitbart.tv.

Open Borders

Terrific. Our borders will lay open as terrorists are emboldened by weak foreign policies and our economy is suffering under the worst recession ever.

That's hope and change.

Read all about it in this article from CNSNews.com titled, "The U.S. Won’t Secure a Single Additional Mile of Border in 2010."

Abercrombie & Fitch Mistreat Disabled Girl

Charming story about Abercrombie & Fitch treating a girl with Autism like a reject.

Four years after Abercrombie & Fitch refused to let a teenager help her autistic sister try on clothes at its Mall of America store, state officials have fined the company $115,264 for discriminating against a disabled person.

The hefty penalty from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights pleased the Maxson family of Apple Valley, which was forced to push hard for satisfaction after the retailing giant refused to apologize for the incident and even questioned whether the girl was disabled. The fine was levied in June but made public this month.

Here is the full story.

Unions and Card Check

That is what's next after we get the Obamacare cram down. The further erosion of democracy by card check - the elimination of the secret ballot for Union votes.

As reported here "White House, Trumka Agree: Card Check Priority After Health Care" at HumanEvents.com

Sssh. Hope and Change is a Secret

Advocates for more open government who had hoped that the Obama administration would be less secretive than its predecessor say it is continuing to use executive privilege to block lawsuits over allegations of past abuses in the fight against terrorism.

A new report from OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of anti-secrecy groups, criticized the Obama administration's interpretation of the so-called "state secrets privilege." Under it, the Justice Department has argued that courts must dismiss national security cases challenging wiretapping and the transport of suspected terrorists to CIA and foreign jails, where they claim they were tortured.

Obama's not keeping his transparency promises as this report here from the Washington Times indicates.

Is The Media Ignoring Certain Books?

Unmentionable: Best-Selling Conservative Books and the Networks that Ignore Them.

Well, in our experience, I'd say yes since no one bothered to review my husband's book which is available here.

Good Intentions Take Us to Hell

Ron Bailey over at Reason askes "Is Government Action Worse than Global Warming?
Why policy nihilism may be the only rational response to climate change."

We don't even fully understand the function of sun spots, high atmosphere clouds, or the ocean's carbon sequestering ability but the environmentalists insist we destroy our way of life "just in case."

No thanks. You go ahead and live in huts. I like technology.

Not My Girl Scout

The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in the effort to combat hurricanes, pandemics, terror attacks and other disasters.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a campaign Tuesday to entice the blue, brown and green-clad multitudes to be even more prepared, with the promise of a new patch if they pitch in.

I am, admittedly a tad protective of my children. But I do not believe I am unreasonable when I say my Girl Scout daughter is NOT going to be helping "combat a terror attack".

US Girl Scouts prepare for war, pestilence. What the heck?!?

What is DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano suggesting? Surely, she means the older high school Girl Scouts because I see no reason why my elementary school-aged child should be helping out during a pandemic. That's an adult's job. Sure we will pitch in, we are a charitable family. But putting my children in harm's way during a disaster is never going to happen.

Up is The New Down

The "Sure, If You Consider The NY Times A Conservative Web Site" post over at JustOneMinute.com is an excellent dissection of the idea that the New York Times is an unbiased news source.

In addition, Bowden might have reflected on whether journalism was murdered or committed suicide - if right-wing bloggers were digging for dirt on Sotomayor (or Van Jones) it was partly because they were utterly confident that no one in the MSM was doing so.

Raising Standards Would Help

What the Public Thinks of Public Schools. High-school graduation rates are lower today than in 1970. To paraphrase my favorite Edmund Burke quote, A lowering of standards leads to a softening of minds.