July 21st, 2009
Dear Liberty Activist,
Last week, according
to The Hill, Congressman Mike Ross (AR-CD4), the Chairman of the
Blue Dog Health Care Task Force, claimed to have 10 House members on
Energy and Commerce committee that will block the bill if his group's
draft amendments are not accepted.
"Last time I checked, it took seven
Democrats to stop a bill in Energy and Commerce," he said.
Now, this is where the rubber meets the
road for the Blue Dogs. Seven of the Blue Dogs that sit on the Energy
and Commerce committee signed the letter on July 9th stating that they
would not support a health-care bill that was not deficit-neutral.
Well, it's not deficit-neutral. By a long
shot.
As ALG News noted last week, the
director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Douglas Elmendorf,
delivered devastating testimony that the government-run health care
proposal will not include "the fundamental changes that would be
necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a
significant amount."
"On the contrary," Elmendorf said, "the
legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for
health-care." Elmendorf testified that the cost curve of government
spending on health care is being raised above its current levels
instead of cut.
Here is the list of those 7 Blue Dogs that
signed the letter and sit on the Energy and Commerce committee, which
is expected to vote on the bill this week. These seven members, if they
vote with Republicans on the committee against the legislation, can
effectively block it.
Fortunately, today, a
markup session of the House Energy and Commerce committee was canceled
because of opposition by Blue Dog Democrats on the committee. They
are expected to meet with Barack Obama today as he lobbies them to
support the legislation. These seven members must be persuaded to save
the health care system from nationalization and ignore the thuggish
threats of Barack Obama:
|
Bart Gordon (TN-CD6)
Mike Ross (AR-CD4)
Jim Matheson (UT-CD2)
Charlie Melancon (LA-CD3)
John Barrow (GA-CD12)
Baron Hill (IN-CD9)
Zack Space (OH-CD18)
|
(202) 225-4231
(202) 225-3772
(202) 225-3011
(202) 225-4031
(202) 225-2823
(202) 225-5315
(202) 225-6265
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Please call your own representatives in
the House and in
the Senate before it's too late. Email them, too. You may not
believe they will listen, but do it anyway. One thing is for certain:
if the American people stay silent, this bill will certainly pass. The
switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.
Again, here
is the list of 40 Blue Dogs that signed the letter, along with
their Capitol Hill phone numbers.
In today's Liberty Action Report, Barack
Obama is the spin king, Dr. Larry Hunter explains why the health-care
plan is more fascist than socialist, it's time to stop the B(L)S, and a
new ALG feature: the Obama Appointment Watch!
Please send your letters to the editor at Robert@getliberty.org. We
publish all points of view! Today, Pat Segall writes, "I would
like you to know that I called every Blue Dog Dem that was on that list
at their DC office to express my dismay. I am also in the process of
making a couple hundred copies of that list you included in your last
email (showing all the phone numbers for all the DC guys) and will
distribute the same at the bnext tea party. Unfortunately we live in a
small town and would like to see that list distributed throughout the
US. Thanks for keeping me informed and I will continue to do my little
bit to help our cause."
Great idea, Pat! Everyone, give the list
out to your friends and neighbors! Again, here
is the list of 40 House Democrats that signed a letter in opposition to
ObamaCare if it was not "deficit-neutral." We need to remind them
of these six words, "make a promise, keep a promise."
For Liberty,
Robert Romano
ALG Senior News Editor
www.getliberty.org
Open Source & Copyright Free
Too
Hot Not to Note: The Spin King
It seems that even across the pond, Barack Obama's popularity
is dwindling.
The
Government Takeover of Everything Continues
You've got it all wrong. This plan is more fascist than
socialist!
Stop
Lying B(L)S!!!
Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics refuses to
show that America's Economic Knight, Barack Obama, has created jobs and
staved off more unemployment.
ALG
Research Appointment Watch
New! Americans for Limited Government's top-notch research
division highlights three Obama Nominees with colorful histories.
ALG Editors Note: The
following was first printed in Tribune Magazine based in Ireland.
It is rare that ALG News leads with a "Too Hot Not To Note," but this
one is too important for anyone to miss.
The Spin King
By Dave Hannigan
Imagine living
in a banana republic whose charismatic leader rushed through the
passing of a $787bn spending bill without giving his supporters or his
opponents any time to read the 1,000-plus page publication. It was a
matter of too much national urgency for him to permit any scrutiny, yet
five months later not much more than 10% of the money has been spent.
Of the cash that has been allocated, two-thirds has somehow ended up in
counties which voted for the charismatic leader in the last election.
What sort of tin-pot third-world country would allow such blatant
favouritism?
Welcome to the
America of President Barack Obama. On the ground, it's a little bit
different from the place you see on television or read about in giddy
newspaper dispatches detailing how we are all supposedly enthused and
excited by this historic administration. Tomorrow it will be six months
and a trillion dollars or so in increased spending since he entered the
Oval Office. What a short, strange trip it's been with a leader who's
so far evinced much more audacity than hope. How else to classify a man
who talks a way better game than he actually plays?
In February,
Obama boldly told us the stimulus bill that will doom future
generations of Americans to massive debt repayments would, in a
deliberately vague turn of phrase, "create or save" four million jobs.
With the catchphrase "Anybody seen a stimulus job" having become a
standing joke in delis and diners across the country since then, the
president now claims to have "saved or created" around 150,000 jobs.
Just another 3.85 million to go then.
At the time when
he was bullying the Houses of Congress, he also claimed this
legislation was desperately needed to prevent unemployment from going
past the dreaded 8% mark. Now that it's closing in fast on 10%, he has
the brass neck to try to tell us the stimulus is really working because
he has "already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to
those who have lost their jobs in this recession". Some logic at work
there.
Of course, many
took the spin at face value. As they have everything that's come out of
Obama's perfectly-formed mouth in the 18 months or so since he became
the presumptive Democratic candidate. The cult of personality runs so
deep by now that he has truly become the Teflon President. Nothing
sticks to this guy.
Nobody cares
that he can't speak in public without the use of a teleprompter that he
carries around the world with him like a baby's blanky, and routinely
mispronounces the names and titles of foreign leaders. Witness his
mangling of Russian president Medvedev's surname and his mixing up of
Vladimir Putin's past and present positions last week – his funniest
flubs since talking about a mysterious and previously unknown language
called Austrian or maybe the time he erroneously credited America with
the invention of the automobile. The same type of malapropisms for
which George W Bush was ceaselessly mocked now go largely unremarked.
Strange that.
But different
standards apply with this president. During a genuine national crisis
earlier this year, Obama still found time to fly to Los Angeles to go
on a television chat show and to make fun of the Special Olympics. What
harm? He looked so natural joshing on Jay Leno's couch. So smooth and
comfortable on camera. What a leader…
To continue reading this story click here.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1388
The
Government Takeover of Everything Continues
By Lawrence A. Hunter, Ph.D.
Much of the so-called "debate" over
ObamaCare is a diversion. In addition to the technocratic jargon and
minute market manipulations being talked about, the Obama
Administration is softening up the American public by propagandizing
them on the horrors of the current healthcare system. The president has
created an entire website that overwhelms people with ObamaTales of
Healthcare Terror.
The ObamaTales cast employers, insurance
companies, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals as the ogres in the
drama. It is essential, therefore, that once people get over the
powerful emotional reaction they will have from viewing the sad stories
depicted in the videos, they need to consider that the insurance
companies, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals portrayed as the bad
guys in the ObamaTales are the very entities Obama is presently cutting
a deal with behind the scenes to provide the backbone and
infrastructure of his government-run system.
"The president refuses to reveal his true
preferences for healthcare reform. Will it have a government option to
"compete" with private plans; will it have an individual or employer
mandate; will it have a rationing board disguised as a board of
standards and effectiveness; will it have strict criteria and mandates
on private health insurance? No matter what form ObamaCare ultimately
assumes after the Congress is finished with its sausage making, it is a
certainty that nationalized healthcare in America will have a
private-sector facade on it—true to the fascist model Republicans gave
us in the Medicare-Part-D prescription-drugs program for seniors—using
employers, private insurance companies, private hospitals and
pharmaceutical companies essentially as government contractors.
So, just as with the banks in the financial
bailout and just like the automotive bailout, nationalized healthcare
will end up being more fascist than socialist, a huge "public-private
partnership" where the government calls the shots, the private
contractors get the goodies, and American citizens pay the tab in
higher taxes, more public debt and rationed healthcare. If you think
the private companies and employers portrayed in the Obama's Terror
Tales are behaving badly now, just wait until they have the sanction of
the federal government behind their delays, denials and rationing of
care.
Evidence of the way this saga will end
abound. Earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
admitted the prime objective of healthcare reform is to get control of
insurance companies. He said, "The goal is to have a means and a
mechanism to keep the private insurers honest. The goal is
non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable."
Emanuel specifically mentioned a White
House willingness to move away from the "public option" favored by most
liberals and adopting instead a version of the fascist Republican model
used in Medicare Part D. Obama's chief of staff said that one of
several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is to adopt a
mechanism under which a public plan is put into effect only if the
marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. This is
precisely the trigger mechanism Republicans used when they created a
prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003.
Any part of such a deal between the federal government and big
insurance companies, of course, would have to entail a guarantee that
the insurance companies be sheltered from paying the costs of the plan
by shifting them onto healthcare consumers.
And guess who will pay? SENIORS FIRST. That
is why it was no coincidence that the $155 billion "cost-saving" deal
Obama struck with hospitals entails a decade's worth of reductions to
Medicare and charity-care payments for hospitals.
So there you have it: A stealth government
takeover of big insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies,
hospitals and even private employers along with more cuts to Medicare.
When the government and private industry go into partnership, it is
invariably the people who get kneecapped. The fascist healthcare system
being teed up in Washington will be no exception.
Dr. Lawrence Hunter is a contributing
writer to ALG News and President of the Social Security Institute
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1387
Stop
Lying B(L)S!!!
By Carter Clews
"I have to tell you, you know, it's
part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get
when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up
my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often." -- Chris Matthews,
"Reporter," MSNBC
I just saw a chart that made my blood boil.
And, if you're a fellow "Tingly," along with me and Chris Matthews, I
think it will make your blood boil, too.
Let me set this up for you first, so that
you can join me and Chrissy in stamping our feet, holding our breath,
and puffing out our cheeks until the rouge wears off!
Now, we all know how the mean nasties of
the world (and particularly former President George W. Bush) are always
out to get President Barack
(I-won't-say-his-middle-name-because-I-know-how-bad-they-want-me-to)
Obama. And they're always saying awful things about him every time he
throws a baseball like a girl, or becomes tongue-tied when his
teleprompter breaks (as if, who wouldn't?).
Well, this time the naysayers have just
gone too far. And I'm mad as hell. And I'm not going to take it anymore.
You know and I know that Barack
(I-w-s-h-m-n-b-I-k-h-b-t-w-m-t) Obama has singlehandedly rescued this
nation from the worst recession since the Great Depression, and before
that the Fall of Man. Despite all of the horrible messes George W. Bush
intentionally left him with just to make him look bad, Barack has –
just as he promised -- turned the entire country around in his first
100 days in office (or however long it has been that he and Michelle
have been jetting around the world posing for pictures and apologizing
for everything everyone else ever did).
Barack Iwshmnblkhbtwmt Obama promised to
put General Motors back on the road to success by firing its president
and letting government bureaucrats run the show and – presto -- last
month GM's sales fell by just 33.4%. He promised to end the decline in
home sales, and –whammo – home sales promptly fell 10.2% to a new
record low.
Imagine: all of that after only six months
in office. One can hardly know what to expect next!
And yet – and this is what really boils my
blood – and yet, despite all of that, some despicable naysayers at the
Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics have had the unmitigated
gall to publish some godawful employment figures obviously intended
just to make Iwshmnblkhbtwmt look bad. And, I'm really serious about
that.
You remember that when Barack ran, he said
he was going to create 5 million new jobs quicker than you can shake a
lamb's tail … or 2.5 million new jobs … or 500,000 new jobs – or, well,
whatever, there was going to be a bunch of them. So we could all shout
"hallelujah" and head back to the front office.
And now, right smack dab in the middle of
the greatest recovery since the Lord healed the 10 lepers, that bunch
of snakes over at the DOL BLS puts out one of the nastiest pieces of
chart work I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot of nasty charts since
I have the entire seven seasons of "House" on DVD). It pretends to show
what happened over the past year in the top 12 states that had the
greatest employment rate changes. Here it is, so brace yourself:
States with statistically significant
unemployment rate changes from May 2009 to June 2009, seasonally
adjusted
|
State
Arizona
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Iowa
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
New York
Texas
West Virginia
Wyoming
|
Rate for May 2009
8.2
10.3
9.6
7.8
5.7
8.2
14.1
8.8
8.2
7.1
8.4
5.0
|
Rate for June 2009
8.7
10.6
10.1
8.4
6.2
8.6
15.2
9.2
8.7
7.5
9.2
5.9
|
Rate Change
0.5
.3
.5
.6
.5
.4
1.1
.4
.5
.4
.8
.9
|
All right, I know you want to say it – so
I'm going to say it for you: what a lying, low-life, bunch of
sap-sucking scalawags those DOL BLS trailer-trash bean-counters are.
Why, they should just leave the "L" out of BLS. And I mean it!
How dare they try to tell us that right in
the middle of the Great Obama Recovery –which he promised us
lickety-split and ran up an immediate $1.8 trillion dollar deficit to
make sure it happened – employment in the top 12 states actually fell
instead of rose? Especially in Michigan. Don't those clowns at the
Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics think we know that General
Motors – where ObaMerlin worked his greatest magic -- is in Detroit,
and that Detroit is in Michigan?
So, yeah, sure, nice try D(umb) O(ld)
L(iars) at B(L)S. Next time you want to fool we Tinglies about the
great job Barack (Iwshmnblkhbtwmt) Obama is doing, you better get your
facts straight first. Why, the next thing you know, you'll be trying to
tell us that Barack's Obamacare isn't going to make the lame walk and
the blind see for less money than it costs to trim a toenail.
But, you better watch out, because Chrissy
and I have your number, and believe me, we're going to tell the world!
Carter Clews is the Executive Director
of ALG News.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1386
Nominees:
Zoi, Sunstein, and Valenzuela
Very little notice is being given in the
national media to the quality of the people President Obama is
appointing to run the federal bureaucracies. Here are three examples:
Cathy
Zoi, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy.
- In order to enforce her view of how
energy efficient your home should be Ms. Zoi advocates "swat teams," go
into neighborhoods and retrofit every single every single house and
every single business on main street.
- Ms. Zoi believes the earth's population
has ten years to mend its ways, or the earth will be in irreversible
decline, in others words "the end is near."
- Ms. Zoi was confirmed on June 19.
Cass
Sunstein, Nominee for Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs.
- This position is known in the government
as the Regulatory Czar. Government wide all regulations from the
executive branch must pass through this office.
- Mr. Sunstein thinks animals have the
same rights as people. He believes they ought to be able to go to court
to enforce these rights.
- People should be careful before evicting
a rat from their home in Mr. Sunsteins view. They may not have the
legal right to do so.
- Sunstein has a wide array of bizarre
views.
Arturo
Valenzuela, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for
Western Hemisphere Affairs.
- In this position Mr. Valenzuela will
oversee American foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere.
- Mr. Valenzuela has noted that in his
view Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's dictator "wasn't that bad … an hombre."
- He defended Chavez's destruction of a
free press.
- Mr. Valenzuela claims that violence is
not a major issue in Mexico.
These are just a sample of the people
President Obama is trying to place in positions of power within his
Administration. If you want more information on these three and many
others, please visit: http://www.getliberty.org/content.asp?pl=187&contentid=187
Next week we will examine three more. Those
who are interested in exclusive information on other nominees before it
reaches the public, please contact Don@getliberty.org
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1385
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