Scroll down for the article about a provision in the Senate bill making it unrepealable by any future Congress.
The biggest news this week was of course the Senate passing their version of the health care bill. First they overcame the 60-vote supermajority required to end debate on the bill by buying off weak senators like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu. Even Joe Lieberman voted to end debate, which again just goes to show that at the end of the day, Democrats are still liberal. There are no conservative Democrats. Though it eventually passed with a majority in the Senate, the bills still have to go to committee to be reconciled. There is some hope though, in that the House Democrats are unlikely to vote for the reconciled bill unless it contains an abortion provision, while the Senate will have a tough time keeping Senators in line unless the abortion provision is absent.
Some quick thoughts (and quotes from others):
1. Obama said in his speech about the health care bill cutting the deficit. The only way it cuts the deficit is by paying for taxes for 10 years but only receiving the supposed benefits for 6. So in the 10 years after that, will it continue to cut the deficit? Of course that is unrealistic anyways. Harry Reid would not let anyone see the bill, and the Congressional Budget Office has to score the bill made on assumptions. If the assumptions are faulty (usually are, and in this case most definitely so), the score on the bill will be faulty.
2. In the same speech Obama said the tax cuts are responsible for buying things we can't pay for, meaning tax cuts result in fewer dollars coming into the Treasury. Of course, tax cuts increased revenue to the government (the Laffer curve), so what is Obama talking about? The Democrats always love to bring this up before they are about to hike taxes. Then we will hear media stories of how experts are shocked that revenues to the government didn't increase as much as expected (very short term it will almost always increase). As it comes to paying for things, Obama is projected to spend more in his first year than all of Bush's eight years combined.
3. Harry Reid said in his Senate speech that 2 Americans die every 10 minutes because of our broken system. But the bill wouldn't go into effect until 2014, meaning it is okay with Democrats to supposedly let 420,840 people die because of our health care system (12 per hour x 24 hours x 365 days x 4 years) until the bill finally goes into effect. Which, as we all know, the government will be able to prevent death with their vast knowledge of business and the marketplace.
4. Most politicians have zero expertise in fixing anything or even running a business. Yet in areas like global warming, we are told we must trust the experts (experts meaning only those who agree with Democrats). By that logic, we should not trust them to do anything, correct? Their only expertise is politics.
5. Also we keep being told (by Harry Reid mostly) that we will simply love the Senate health care bill, yet he would not let us see the bill. If we would love it, why not let us see the wonderful bill and end all opposition to it?
6. We were also told when government was deciding the pay of bailout companies that of course it would not mean the government could do that to anyone else. Well, in the Senate bill that we could finally see after they voted on it, it turns out the government was going to regulate the pay for CEOs of insurance companies. Do we live in the Soviet Union or the United States?
7. Thomas Sowell: "Global warming" hysteria is only the latest in this long line of notions, whose main argument is that there is no argument, because it is "science."
MUST READ
* What should outrage everyone about the Senate bill is that part of it is unrepealable by this Congress or any future Congress. Again, Soviet Union or the United States?
* We are so foolish for not realizing that government can just pass a law and all will be fixed. So, as the author here points out, why not just make poverty against the law?
* Remember this when you hear about moderate or conservative Democrats.
What Media Bias?
* I always love posting these. The Media Research Center's awards for media bias.
* Wonder if this, a Democrat changing parties, will get as much coverage as if the reverse were true.
Experts Stunned Again
* GDP gets revised downward. I don't like bad news, but this surely can't come as a shock every time.
Silly Liberals
* Another hate crimes hoaxer pleads guilty.
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
The Weekly Enlightenment
The big uproar the past couple of weeks is the Henry Louis Gates issue. Basically Gates (who is black) came home and couldn't get into his house so he forced it open. A passerby called police thinking it was a break-in, and Gates became belligerent. He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. President Obama, acknowledging he didn't have all the facts, nonetheless condemned the police, saying they acted stupidly. Gates turned it into a racial issue since the arresting officer was white. The other two officers, one black and one Hispanic, back up the white officer's story. For one thing, it is something Obama should never have been involved in. Second, since he didn't have all the facts he shouldn't have said anything. Third, even with the beer at the White House, Obama still didn't apologize. Why not? He was obviously wrong in speaking out prematurely, but even more wrong not owning up to it. He tried to switch gears saying it is a teachable moment about race. No it wasn't. It was about trying to exploit a situation he had no business saying anything on in the first place. This prompted Brit Hume of Fox News to comment, "This president who travels the world apologizing for his country couldn't quite apologize for himself."
Some media outlets saying recession is over (unemployment is still going up and other economic indictors aren't looking as good, but for argument's sake). Then can't we cancel the stimulus money that hasn't yet been spent? I've heard as low as 6% of the stimulus has been spent. Then we should also put to rest the notion that somehow the government can spend its way out of the recession. Not that we didn't know that already, with Japan's stagflation and that we couldn't spend our way out of the Great Depression, but fine. Sometimes we have to repeat history a few times to finally get the picture.
Great point on redstate.com - Lasik and plastic surgery are getting cheaper, and they're the ones where free market conditions actually apply.
MUST READ
* Dodd and Conrad got sweetheart deals . Didn't Democrats say they were going to have the most ethical Congress in history? And where is the Democratic leadership demanding they step down? Would this stand if these were Republican senators?
* We are finally having a discussion on race (though we've been talking about it for decades), but now Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are silent. Why?
* This is scary. How does Obama propose to do that? Have a bureaucrat in every doctor's office? Obviously the conclusion is inevitable. If doctors will get penalized for not being able to treat bad patients, why would they take on bad patients at all? It is the exact same thing as doctors opting out of taking Medicare patients.
* Obama keeps saying his opponents are playing the politics of fear, but that is exactly what Obama is doing. When he's not blaming Bush.
* This has to give one confidence if government is going to run health care.
Health Care
* 5 freedoms you will lose under the current plan in Congress.
* Remember this when liberals hold up Medicare as a great example of something the government can do right.
Silly Liberals
* The House Judiciary chairman sees no point in actually reading the bill before voting on it. Interesting. Perhaps the bill is too complex then.
Silly Republicans, Kind Of
* The Obama birth certificate argument for many is that they hope he wasn't a US citizen by birth, and therefore wouldn't be eligible for the Presidency. That's why I haven't covered it. Not that it isn't important, but just that we have bigger fish to fry. My issue with it was that Obama promised to be open (unlike Bush) and bring in change, both of which are not true. It's about honesty. One other problem is that liberal bloggers try to perpetuate it and make it seem as if it is a bigger deal than it actually is.
What Global Warming?
* It was always a farce that there was a consensus. Yet, it is still nice to see things like this.
Miscellaneous
* Hatred of Israel is from a misunderstanding of economics. Ignorance is an expensive commodity.
Some media outlets saying recession is over (unemployment is still going up and other economic indictors aren't looking as good, but for argument's sake). Then can't we cancel the stimulus money that hasn't yet been spent? I've heard as low as 6% of the stimulus has been spent. Then we should also put to rest the notion that somehow the government can spend its way out of the recession. Not that we didn't know that already, with Japan's stagflation and that we couldn't spend our way out of the Great Depression, but fine. Sometimes we have to repeat history a few times to finally get the picture.
Great point on redstate.com - Lasik and plastic surgery are getting cheaper, and they're the ones where free market conditions actually apply.
MUST READ
* Dodd and Conrad got sweetheart deals . Didn't Democrats say they were going to have the most ethical Congress in history? And where is the Democratic leadership demanding they step down? Would this stand if these were Republican senators?
* We are finally having a discussion on race (though we've been talking about it for decades), but now Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are silent. Why?
* This is scary. How does Obama propose to do that? Have a bureaucrat in every doctor's office? Obviously the conclusion is inevitable. If doctors will get penalized for not being able to treat bad patients, why would they take on bad patients at all? It is the exact same thing as doctors opting out of taking Medicare patients.
* Obama keeps saying his opponents are playing the politics of fear, but that is exactly what Obama is doing. When he's not blaming Bush.
* This has to give one confidence if government is going to run health care.
Health Care
* 5 freedoms you will lose under the current plan in Congress.
* Remember this when liberals hold up Medicare as a great example of something the government can do right.
Silly Liberals
* The House Judiciary chairman sees no point in actually reading the bill before voting on it. Interesting. Perhaps the bill is too complex then.
Silly Republicans, Kind Of
* The Obama birth certificate argument for many is that they hope he wasn't a US citizen by birth, and therefore wouldn't be eligible for the Presidency. That's why I haven't covered it. Not that it isn't important, but just that we have bigger fish to fry. My issue with it was that Obama promised to be open (unlike Bush) and bring in change, both of which are not true. It's about honesty. One other problem is that liberal bloggers try to perpetuate it and make it seem as if it is a bigger deal than it actually is.
What Global Warming?
* It was always a farce that there was a consensus. Yet, it is still nice to see things like this.
Miscellaneous
* Hatred of Israel is from a misunderstanding of economics. Ignorance is an expensive commodity.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The Weekly Enlightenment
Happy 4th of July! Iraq and Afghanistan have taken the backseat as of late, given the domestic policies Obama is pushing, but we should always remember those who fight for us. Many have given the ultimate sacrifice and deserve our utmost gratitude and support as they continue to fight for us. Many times it seems we only honor them on holidays, which is very unfortunate. May God watch over them, and may God continue to bless the United States.
This week seemed a bit slower as far as news was concerned. My favorite comment of the entire week came from Rush Limbaugh. He said the two most meaningless words in the Obama administration are "Obama said". They do seem to be pretty unreliable. Even now, though Obama said the unemployment rate wouldn't creep beyond 8% if we passed the stimulus, the unemployment rate is 9.5%. Instead of making one think perhaps their policies aren't working, Biden came out saying they underestimated how bad the economic situation was. Seems like another veiled attempt at blaming Bush.
Health Care
* Obama pretends that costs have been rising for no good reason. Of course there is a lot more advancement, especially in technology, which is expensive. It is also funny when they say the free market has failed, when government intervention has never been worse. Let's reform it!
* Massachusetts is not a good model to copy.
* A great article about the horrors of Canadian and British health care.
Silly Liberals
* No surprise, but Obama's townhalls are staged. Worse yet, one of the participants was given a pass from the White House. Is there no level Obama won't stoop to?
* 50 reasons to stop the Waxman-Markey bill.
What Global Warming?
* The EPA tried to suppress a skeptical report regarding the science of global warming. Strange. I thought Obama was going to be a friend to science. And naturally, the U.S. media ignores it.
* Remember that the plan from Democrats has always been higher prices.
* Remember this when Al Gore and the like claim a consensus.
Iraq
* Well, the Iraqi military is taking over major cities. Naturally Obama is trying to take credit for it, as are many Democrats, though they opposed Bush every step of the way.
Around the World
* It was Zelaya, not the military, that was attempting a coup. Too bad our media won't report the details.
This week seemed a bit slower as far as news was concerned. My favorite comment of the entire week came from Rush Limbaugh. He said the two most meaningless words in the Obama administration are "Obama said". They do seem to be pretty unreliable. Even now, though Obama said the unemployment rate wouldn't creep beyond 8% if we passed the stimulus, the unemployment rate is 9.5%. Instead of making one think perhaps their policies aren't working, Biden came out saying they underestimated how bad the economic situation was. Seems like another veiled attempt at blaming Bush.
Health Care
* Obama pretends that costs have been rising for no good reason. Of course there is a lot more advancement, especially in technology, which is expensive. It is also funny when they say the free market has failed, when government intervention has never been worse. Let's reform it!
* Massachusetts is not a good model to copy.
* A great article about the horrors of Canadian and British health care.
Silly Liberals
* No surprise, but Obama's townhalls are staged. Worse yet, one of the participants was given a pass from the White House. Is there no level Obama won't stoop to?
* 50 reasons to stop the Waxman-Markey bill.
What Global Warming?
* The EPA tried to suppress a skeptical report regarding the science of global warming. Strange. I thought Obama was going to be a friend to science. And naturally, the U.S. media ignores it.
* Remember that the plan from Democrats has always been higher prices.
* Remember this when Al Gore and the like claim a consensus.
Iraq
* Well, the Iraqi military is taking over major cities. Naturally Obama is trying to take credit for it, as are many Democrats, though they opposed Bush every step of the way.
Around the World
* It was Zelaya, not the military, that was attempting a coup. Too bad our media won't report the details.
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