Hyscience

November 20, 2009

Louisiana Purchased by Reid

Apparently, Harry Reid's $100 million bribe to Louisiana is paying off.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said Friday night that sheâ€™s â€œleaning towardsâ€� voting to start debate on the health care bill â€" which would leave Democrats just a single vote shy of clearing a critical test for the reform package on Saturday.

Posted by Abdul at 6:11 PM| Comments

Obama Breaking the no middle class tax increase pledge (again)

Reminding us of Barack Obama's pledge that he made repeatedly: "You will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime" - Keith Hennesey details Obama's violations of his No new middle-class taxes" pledge.

H/t - Tom Maguire

Posted by Abdul at 5:55 PM| Comments

Gallop: Obama approval drops below 50%

The latest Gallup Daily tracking results show that only 49% of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, putting him below the majority approval level in a Gallop poll for the first time in his presidency. As Gallop points out, of the post-World War II presidents, Obama now is the fourth fastest to drop below the majority approval level, doing so in his 10th month on the job.

In comparison, Rasmussen has Obama's approval at just 47%. It's becoming more and more apparent that "Hope and Change" isn't selling anymore; America wants substance, freedom, and liberty, and just might be waking up and realizing what Obama's radical agenda means to our nation's way of life and our future.

Posted by Abdul at 2:41 PM| Comments

Democrats Buying Health Care Votes

Apparently, the most Transparent Administration Ever and The Most Ethical Congress ever are busy with payoffs and last-minute backroom deals, as Demcare heads for the first test vote tomorrow.

In addition to the top five Demcare bribes that are listed at the above link, it will be interesting to watch for Demcare bribes/offers for the votes of Democrat Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska; Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas; and Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Posted by Richard at 11:35 AM| Comments

AG Holder's True Motive

Mona Charen suggests that Holder is using KSM to put the CIA and the Bush administration on trial, and for this purpose the Obama administration is willing to sacrifice logic, justice, national security, and honor.

I find this to be no revelation, for anyone that thinks otherwise is living in la la land amidst unicorns and daisies, and overdosing on Obama Kool-Aid.

Posted by Richard at 11:16 AM| Comments

Bending the Cost Curve, or Not

Clearly, it's a "Not."

As Megan McArdle points out:

[...] ... according to the CBO, the savings achieved by Subtitle A, the main delivery system reform part of the bill, are trivial--not really distinguishable from zero, when you consider the uncertainties inherent in the estimates.

What passes for delivery reform consists mostly of slashing reimbursement rates to providers, and then putting Medicare Advantage on the same plan. There are two problems with this. The first is that there's no reason to believe that providers will find ways to efficiently provide care at the new, lower rates, rather than just stop serving Medicare patients. That was the core point of the recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services--and though a lot of bloggers developed sudden suspicions about the integrity of government reports, in fact, this pretty much jibes with the warnings that Doug Elmendorf has been issuing, and also, reality. There are already shortages of geriatricians which can be substantially attributed to the fact that Medicare has ensured it is one of the lowest-paid specialties. When the guy who oversees your provider payments says that your new payment scheme is probably going to lead to providers dropping out of your program, you need to take that seriously.

The second is that the treatment cuts--and any further cuts recommended by the cost effectiveness commission--can be undone by Congress. Not only can, but almost certainly will. There's some attempt to get around this by forcing Congress to do only an up or down vote on the recommendations. By bundling the really unpopular stuff with other reforms, the hope is that they'll be able to push them through.

Unfortunately, the commission's recommendations do not save much in any one year, which means it's not actually going to be all that difficult to vote "no" in any one year--and by the time it actually is hard to vote "no", we'll face the same problem we have with the Sustainable Growth Rate cuts for physicians--the cuts needed are so big that it has become impossible to vote "yes", because the providers can't deliver those kinds of cost savings.

Read it all ...

Jennifer Rubin sums up the reality that Americans are faced with; there's really nothing in sight that will influence the cost of health care, because the Democrats refuse to address two issues:

tort reform (with the ensuing problem of defensive medicine and unneeded procedures) and expanding markets (e.g., interstate sales, changing tax treatment of individually purchased plans).

What we are doing here is spending gobs of money, raising hundreds of billions in taxes, slashing Medicare payments, and empowering government bureaucrats to influence health-care treatment all in the name of expanding coverage. It isn't remotely what Obama promised, and it's not what voters seem to want. But we may get it anyway.

Take home message: It's a big NOT on bending the cost curve - and if any current versions of Obamacare are approved - count on rationed care, expanded entitlements, all Americans being made dependent on government-approved insurance plans, tax-payer funded abortions, and stifling additional national debt.

Posted by Richard at 9:25 AM| Comments

Sickening Insult to Injury

26 years after the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, families are stymied again in their attempts for restitution, this time by the Obama administration that is going to court to try to block payments from Iranian assets that the families' lawyers want seized. In what amounts to nothing less than a sickeningly disgusting effort to appease the Islamist regime, the administration is contending that it would jeopardize sensitive negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and establish a potentially damaging precedent.

It seems as though the Obama administration will never learn that its naive appeasement of the Islamic regime is perceived only as a weakness, and this latest shafting of Americans (in addition to the stimulus, bailouts, foreign policy weaknesses, troop dithering, and corporate takeovers) will accomplish nothing more than cause further grief to the families that lost love ones in the attack on the Marine barracks.

Posted by Richard at 8:53 AM| Comments

A Convincing Case That Hasan Is An Islamic Terrorist

Daniel Pipes, a well known authority on the Middle East and Islamic issues, lays out a clear and convincing case for Major Nidal Hasan being nothing less than an Islamic terrorist, and that his motivation for murdering and wounding the soldiers at Ft Hood was indeed, an act of jihad. This, despite continuing attempts by our government to whitewash the Islamist's jihad.

Unbiased readers need only to read the evidence themselves, and they'll find it hard to arrive at any other conclusion.

H/t - The Patriot Room

Posted by Richard at 8:10 AM| Comments

He Didn't Even Come Close to Making the Honor Roll

Michael Laprarie has prepared a "dollars and cents" report card on Obama's stimulus, and saying that Barary didn't make the honor roll is a an understatement.

Looks to me to be somewhere between a D and an F.

Posted by Richard at 7:43 AM| Comments

Cartoon: Obama Greets Foriegn Leaders

Chip Bok chronicles Obama's trip abroad...

More Chip Bok cartoons here.

Posted by Richard at 7:32 AM| Comments

New Incredible Video: LA Acorn Busted

Via Big Government, these devastating videos show Lavelle Stewart, of ACORN in South Central Los Angeles, telling Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe that she thinks they have to hook up with "someone who's on that international sex business level," that "14 and 15 year olds been traveling overseas for years," that she can do independent research for Giles and O'Keefe, and that she has had meetings with Porn magnate Larry Flynt. As for laundering the sex money into O'Keefe's faux political campaign, Lavelle says, "there are ways, people do it all the time. Yeah there are ways, especially out here in California":

Lest readers forget, American taxpayer dollars are going to ACORN for this kind of crap and ACORN is essentially the organized crime wing of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Andrew Breitbart has a clear message for Attorney General Eric Holder:

I want you to know that we have more tapes, it's not just ACORN, and we're going to hold out until the next election cycle, or else if you want to do a clean investigation, we will give you the rest of what we have, we will comply with you, we will give you the documentation we have from countless ACORN whistleblowers who want to come forward but are fearful of this organization and the retribution that they fear that this is a dangerous organization. So if you get into an investigation, we will give you the tapes; if you don't give us the tapes, we will revisit these tapes come election time.

Related: LA Times Columnist Uncritically Quoted Star of Latest ACORN Video (Yet another case of the lame-stream-media covering up for Democrats' causes.)

Posted by Richard at 6:31 AM| Comments

On 'Calling Iran's bluff'

Alan Caruba's interesting take that the Israelis and much of the rest of the world are getting ready to call the Iranian ayatollah's bluff in the hope they can avoid a military response to Iran's nuclear quest and the threat it represents, is well worth the read. However, his premise necessitates a much higher faith in Barack Obama making timely and proper decisions than I'm willing to give him credit for. The rest of the world would have to be willing to act while our president continued to "dither."

Besides, expecting Barack Hussein Obama to act against a Muslim nation is like asking a kid to hate ice cream - it's simply against his nature.

Posted by Richard at 6:10 AM| Comments

Reid's 'deformed' health care reform plan

As the NY Post makes crystal clear, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's touting of his unveiled health care bill as having a Congressional Budget Office analysis suggesting it would cost $849 billion over 10 years - is in fact, three times that figure. All gimmicks aside, the 10-year cost of actual implementation of the Reid bill is a staggering $2.5 trillion. In other words, only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years.

As the Post also points out, there's little wonder that the new Quinnipiac Poll shows that Americans disapprove of that plan by 51 percent to 35 percent -- with independents opposed by 2-to-1. However, the big questions are whether or not the Senate is listening and will Americans make their voices heard in time to stop the Dems deformation of our health care.

Posted by Richard at 5:48 AM| Comments

November 19, 2009

$100 million

That's how much Harry Reid is willing to pay Democrat Mary Landrieu for her health care vote:

[...] On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for "certain states recovering from a major disaster."

The section spends two pages defining which "states" would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that "during the preceding 7 fiscal years" have been declared a "major disaster area."

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)

Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana's Mary Landrieu.

How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.

And who provides the dough? You and me, of course.

Posted by Abdul at 8:12 PM| Comments

Was the Hasan investigation 'diverted into suspension'?

AJStrata has a post up on the curious coincidence that after the Obama administration came into office it was not long before the ongoing investigation into Major Nidal Hasan was prematurely ended. Given AG Holder's June 4 statement on protecting American Muslims (and lets not forget his law firm's history of defending terrorists), Barack Obama's well known history with Islam, and the emerging connection of dots that AJ points to, it seems logical to at least entertain the suspicion that this high profile threat was purposefully shunted to the wrong arm of the Army and shut down by the FBI, and that the action such action could only have been directed by the White House and its AG.

Posted by Richard at 5:28 PM| Comments

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) faces political suicide on vote for Obamacare

If this is any indication of what the Blue Dogs are facing with a yes vote on Obamacare, Harry is guaranteeing the Dems will be falling on their swords.

Posted by Richard at 5:09 PM| Comments

Army shuts down criticism of Dear Leader

An Army official has actually come out and uttered the words that the U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, because it fears the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.

Apparently, the era of Obama has brought with it the loss of Americans' right to express their constitutional guaranteed free speech.

Posted by Richard at 4:37 PM| Comments

Fox Poll: Obama approval tanks to 46%

A just-out Fox News poll of 900 registered voters shows that President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low of 46 percent, with an equal number -- 46 percent -- disapproving of the job he's doing. And what should be a message to Congress, twice as many Americans disapprove (63 percent) as approve (26 percent) of the job Congress is doing.

Posted by Richard at 3:35 PM| Comments

Henry Waxman Admits Current Health Care Bill Is A Trojan Horse

While not exactly his words, he essentially admits that the health care bill is a trojan horse for complete government control over America's health care. Dan Riehl has the video and commentary.

Posted by Richard at 2:57 PM| Comments

Poll: Public Disapproves of ObamaCare 51-35; Disapproves of Obama's Handling of Issue, 53-41

More polling results that should "take a lot of the wind out of Obama's sails," if he actually give a damn what America thinks about his policies and plans for goverment to control their lives.

Posted by Richard at 2:45 PM| Comments

Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll: Dear Leader at -14 again

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday, November 19:

... 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.

Looking at the credibility of Obama's stimulus, the results are even worse:

By a 3-to-1 margin, voters believe that tax cuts will create more jobs than additional government stimulus spending. Most also believe that canceling the rest of the stimulus spending will create more jobs than spending the money that's been approved. On both topics, the Political Class disagrees.

Adding to this bad news for the White House, Rasmussen finds that Republicans continue to hold a six-percentage point lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Change? It's looking more and more like Americans are unhappy with the change Mr. HopeyChangey has brought them (or should we say is forcing upon them).

Posted by Richard at 9:42 AM| Comments

Harry Reid's Bill

Harry Reid's version of Obamacare, crafted behind closed doors, has been posted at Republican.Senate.Gov. As Phillip Klein notes in his HarryCare is a Rotten Deal, Americans who bother to actually delve into the 2,074-page piece of legislationre are likely to recoil at its massive cost, encroachment on individual liberty, and unprecedented expansion of federal government power.

As for CBO's preliminary scoring of Reid's HC bill, note here in the source doc. that the front years are with no expenses but plenty of revenue - they tax us immediately but don't provide anything until 2013. Note all the new taxes and fines against Americans. Finally, note that the "savings" is less than the $200 billion they are doing outside this bill in the "doc fix." Simply put, the numbers are the result of fuzzy math to "make the numbers dance" to Reid's tune.

As Ryan Thompson quips, "94% of Americans forced onto the government dole and $127 billion deficit reduction at the same time? Color me VERY skeptical. This doesn't pass the smell test."

Posted by Richard at 9:00 AM| Comments

November 18, 2009

Lindsey Graham Destroys Holder On Reading Osama Bin Laden Miranda Rights

If you want to understand one of the reasons why AG Holder's decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in civilian court is reckless and irresponsible, watch Senator Lindsey Graham destroy Attorney General Eric Holder's arguments on Miranda rights on Osama bin Laden. Graham is dead-on target; Holder is evasive, has only weak excuses, and is unable to offer a coherent rationale for his decision. Clearly, the more closely the Obama administration's decision is examined, the worse it looks.

Posted by Abdul at 4:36 PM| Comments

'Health care reform' flunks out of Harvard Medical school

The dean of Harvard Medical School gives the health-reform debate a failing grade:

Speeches and news reports can lead you to believe that proposed congressional legislation would tackle the problems of cost, access and quality. But that's not true. The various bills do deal with access by expanding Medicaid and mandating subsidized insurance at substantial cost--and thus addresses an important social goal. However, there are no provisions to substantively control the growth of costs or raise the quality of care. So the overall effort will fail to qualify as reform.

Some damned good suggestions for a "cure," here.

Posted by Richard at 12:36 PM| Comments

Holder's KSM decision

As Scott and Paul Mirengoff note, via Hot Air, Eric Holder spends a lot of time in which he claims to explain the decision, and says nothing at all about how he reached it.

The take home message is simple: Holder can't provide an other than egregious explanation for his choosing to try KSM in civilian court because there is no acceptable explanation. It's entirely political.

Posted by Richard at 12:26 PM| Comments

No kidding

This is laughably rich.

Earl Devaney, the man in charge at Recovery.org, says he can't back up the numbers coming from Recovery.gov. In a response to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Devaney says that he cannot certify any of the jobs data published by the government.

Can't blame Devaney though. After all, how does one go about certifying numbers from the fake formulation of jobs "created or saved" that have no basis of reality!

Posted by Richard at 11:00 AM| Comments

Required viewing for Al Gore fans

Further evidence that Al Gore is a loon and that there is a good reason for his poor grades in college!

Via NewsBusters:

For several years as uneducated sycophants in the media gushed and fawned over every utterance from former Vice President Al Gore, NewsBusters has informed readers of just how absurd the junk science he's peddling really is.

Last Thursday, NBC "Tonight Show" viewers got a perfect example of how the Nobel Laureate basically makes things up, and that his poor grades in college were quite an indicator of just how little he understands about science.

So egregious was his departure from reality that the following clip should be mandatory viewing for all his fans in the media who seem to be just as scientifically-challenged.

A partial transcript and additional commentary on the outlandishness of Gore's claim is available here (If the temperature anywhere inside the earth was "several million degrees," we'd be a star.)

Posted by Richard at 10:49 AM| Comments

Marie Jon: Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong

Marie Jon pulls no punches in writing what more and more Americans are becoming increasingly aware - that America is under siege from within:

Our nation has undergone a bloodless coup that required no military action. It occurred one year ago this month, at the hands of liars, cheats, and thieves who -- calling themselves "progressives" -- deceived the electorate at the polls and defrauded the electoral process.

Our lives have been shaken and turned upside down and inside out as a result. "The Twilight Zone" has become a reality right here in the U.S.A. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet, blogosphere, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, the utopian facade we've unwittingly accepted is being exposed for what it really is. It cannot stand the light of day, and it is crumbling as a result.

Facts and truths are being laid out before us regarding the current Marxist "coup." Americans are growing more than just a tad concerned about President Barack Obama and his handpicked and unaccountable "Czars." These elitists hold to un-American ideologies that are certainly not mainstream. One cannot reconcile the radical, leftist philosophies of Obama and his cohorts with the noble goals of our Founding Fathers. We who love the American ideal embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao. View: Does it Matter?

The electorate sees a failing economy -- and can see through the president's left-leaning, extreme social and political agenda. The president's goals are being rejected and with good reason. Most people see themselves as more conservative than liberal. Recent elections that took place in two key states where Democrat incumbents reigned, New Jersey and Virginia, were a good indication of the mood of the electorate. The Republicans won both elections. In New York, the Conservative Party candidate almost won in a very close race.

Marxism on the march

Obama's shameful and debasing vision for our country does not sit well with the American people. It is designed to assault and attack family values and our nation's Judeo-Christian foundations.

Take the time to continue reading ...

To help put Marie's points in perspective, one need only take a look at the Top 7 Marxist Communist Policies Being Implemented By Obama Today. As is pointed out at the link, these policies are virtually identical to these were implemented by:

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in 1917 Russia
Josip Broz Tito in 1945 Yugoslavia
Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) in 1949 China
Fidel Castro in 1959 Cuba
Hugo Chavez in 1999 Venezuela

And they are now being implemented by Barack Hussein Obama in 2009 United States of America.

Posted by Richard at 10:13 AM| Comments