Russ Feingold admits that healthcare reform may be dead
While the left is attempting to marginalize the healthcare reform protesters the fact is that the protests are working. The American people are being heard from loud and clear and the American people do not agree with Obama’s plan to take over the healthcare industry.
Today Russ Feingold admitted that healthcare reform will not likely happen this year, he even admitted that it might not happen at all.
Nobody is going to bring a bill before Christmas, and maybe not even then, if this ever happens,” Feingold said. “The divisions are so deep. I never seen anything like that.
We’re headed in the direction of doing absolutely nothing, and I think that’s unfortunate
The fact is that many of these politicians are not going to risk their political future on a bill that a majority of the people do not want. They are having second thoughts and it is because of the protesters as well as all of the angry emails, phone calls, and letters that our representatives have received.
We are on the verge of stopping healthcare reform. We have many politician wavering on their support of this bill but we must keep up the fight and make sure that we sway enough of the politicians away from healthcare reform.
The tide is turning on this bill, we must keep fighting, the battle is not over until the bill is officially dead. If we stop now the healthcare bill proponents will have time to regroup. Keep calling and keep writing, WE WILL BE HEARD! We are on the virge of stopping this but the fight is not yet over.
The new crisis: 90,000 could die from the Swine Flu
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! We are all going to die! It is the end of the world! Repent now!
The Obama administration has based its whole agenda on one “crisis” after the other, from the economic “crisis” to the automaker “crisis” to the mortgage “crisis” to the healthcare “crisis” to the global warming “crisis” we are constantly being told that all of these “crisis can only be solved by government intervention.
The Obama administration believes that you should never let a good crisis go to waste, crisis allows you to implement things that you would not normally be able to implement. Rahm Emanuel has even admitted as much. So the Obama administration is trying to keep the people in a constant state of crisis and now there is a new “crisis.”
The Obama administration is now saying that half of the population could catch the flu and that 90,000 people could die from the flu, to be more exact the swine flu.
Does anybody else think that there is a link between the administration’s use of the new swine flu “crisis” and the healthcare “crisis?” Is the administration trying to cash in on this new swine flu “crisis” to try to influence the people to support healthcare reform and alleviate the healthcare “crisis?”
It is all to convenient to be a mere coincidence.
Obama administration to investigate the CIA for abuses
Today it became official. The Justice Department has named a special prosecutor to investigate the CIA for possible prisoner abuse under the Bush administration.
The administration realizes that this move could backfire and is controversial so they are distancing itself from Eric Holder’s decision. Eric Holder is claiming that this decision is his alone and this move is being portrayed as going against the will of the president. This is bullshit, this is a move that the president agrees with, he just doesn’t have the balls to say it publicly.
When Barack Obama nominated Eric Holder for Attorney General he had to have known that he was in favor of these investigations, didn’t he? He chose somebody who mirrored his own positions and now we are going to see the CIA investigated for trying to protest the American people. For the president and the Attorney General to claim that the president is not behind this move is disingenuous to say the least.
I personally welcome these investigations, anything that could possibly distract the administration from implementing the president’s radical agenda is fine with me, but I do find it quite telling who the Obama administration considers its enemies.
The Obama administration is compiling an enemies list that consists of CEO’s of large companies, the drug companies, the insurance companies, doctors, automakers, and everyday Americans that disagree with his policies. Meanwhile in addition to investigating the CIA for protecting the American people the Obama administration has remained mostly silent about the release of Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed, the man convicted in the Pan Am 103 bombing that killed 270 Americans, who returned home to the country which sponsored the attack to a heroes welcome. And the administration has released a GITMO detainee who was caught on the battlefield fighting against United States troops back to his home in Afghanistan.
We can see where his loyalties lie and we can see who he considers his enemies. Something is wrong with this picture.
Latest poll shows Harry Reid trailing by double digits
Harry Reid is in trouble. Big trouble. The Senate Majority Leader faces an uphill battle in his bid for re-election in 2010. Recent polls show him trailing one Republican challenger by 11 points and another by 5 points.
For a sitting senator these numbers are very troubling. Any time an incumbent faces unfavorablility ratings such as Harry Reid does it usually means trouble for the incumbent. Harry Reid is looked upon favorably by only 37% of his constituents. He could very well lose his re-election bid.
Because Harry Reid is one of the top Democrats in congress and is the leader of the majority party in the senate this could be a sign of things to come in the 2010 election. Reid’s favorability rating may give us a little insight into the apprehension that is growing towards Barack Obama’s radical leftist agenda.
If a prominent Democrats such as Harry Reid is in trouble it could be a sign that the Democrats in general are in trouble in 2010. The Democrats are trying to downplay the Tea Party protesters and the healthcare protesters but the truth is that people are turning on Barack Obama and his agenda. Barack Obama’s poll numbers reflect that as well.
People are beginning to wonder what the hell they were thinking last November and they are poised to take it out on any Democrat who faces re-election in 2010. The tide is turning and the Democrats should be very worried.
The people who are protesting are not just the fringe as the Democrats would have you believe. The protesters are voting Americans and while the left is trying to marginalize us we will be heard from in 2010.
The jig is up.
Ending cash for clunkers: New Hampshire dealers ask the buyers to pay for the rebates
Much like everything else that the government does the cash for clunkers program has become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape. The government did not have the money to pay the promised rebates– this problem was exacerbated when the cash for clunkers program proved more popular than the government though it would be– so the government had the auto dealers pay the cash for clunkers rebate money and promised them that the check would be in the mail and that they would be reimbursed.
Reimbursement has been slow in coming, the government still does not have the money and with the popularity of the program the government has to try to come up with the money sooner than it had expected. Dealerships that were already struggling are now finding themselves at an even bigger loss as they wait for the checks which may never come. This has led to hundreds of dealerships in New York and New Mexico (probably other states as well) to drop the cash for clunkers program altogether.
Many dealerships in New Hampshire have taken a different tactic when dealing with the notoriously slow and seemingly disinterested government’s handling of the rebate checks. Many New Hampshire dealerships, one of which is owed $500,000 by the government (what would happen to the dealer if it owed the government the same amount of money?) are making the buyers sign an agreement that if the government does not come up with the rebate money the buyer will be on the hook for the $4,500.
Needless to say, the people who couldn’t afford to buy a new vehicle without the rebate are not signing this agreement, they are walking away.
The cash for clunkers program was the one program in the stimulus bill that I will give credit to for actually doing some stimulating. The program got people out buying cars that they would not have bought without the program but the program was initially underfunded and it has continued to be mismanaged. The government miscalculated the popularity of the program and continues to withhold payment of the rebates even as the president heads to Martha’s Vineyard for a vacation.
Last week the government announced that the cash for clunkers program was going to end after this weekend. For the dealerships that have had to contend with this ill-run program the end just can’t come soon enough. Neither can the money they were promised.
Ted Kennedy wants to change Massachusetts succesion law (again) in order to save healthcare reform
While on paper the Democrats have a filibuster proof sixty votes in reality they only have fifty-eight votes when you take into account Senator Kennedy and Senator Byrd and their illnesses that prohibit them from voting. In reality they fall two votes shy of their sixty vote majority.
Because of this Senator Ted Kennedy, or more likely somebody writing for Ted Kennedy, has written a letter to the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, and other state leaders asking that the state change the law of senatorial succession from a special election to a gubernatorial appointment.
In this letter that has been attributed to Senator Kennedy he claims that it is vital to Massachusetts that “this Commonwealth have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election.” One has to ask if Senator Kennedy, or whoever wrote this letter, really believes that this is true. Massachusetts hasn’t had two votes since the senator took ill. If he truly believed what he, or whoever,wrote in this letter than wouldn’t it have been in the state’s best interest for the senator to have stepped down once his diagnosis was rendered? In reality Massachusetts hasn’t had two voices in many months. And evidently Senator Kennedy didn’t care or he would have resigned.
Senator Kennedy has not been active since his diagnosis, he should have stepped down once it became evident he would not be able to fulfil the obligations he was elected to fulfil if he truly was doing what he now claims is in the best interest of the state. His seat would have already been filled and Massachusetts would already have two votes.
But there is more to this story, in 2004 when it appeared that Massachusetts might lose a senate seat because John Kerry was running for president it was Ted Kennedy who led the charge to change the law from senatorial succession being a gubernatorial appointment to the state holding a special election. Ted Kennedy did not want Republican Governor Mitt Romney to be able to appoint John Kerry’s successor because the balance of the senate hung in the balance. He did not seem to care about a seamless transition that would assure Massachusetts two votes back then because he didn’t like the way he thought the second senator would vote. It wasn’t about having two votes, it was about having two votes that Ted Kennedy agreed with.
So Massachusetts legislators were able to change the law and take the gubernatorial appointment away from a Republican governor, now he wants to lead the charge to take the vote away from the people because he wants the Democrat governor (who even in Massachusetts has an approval rating under 30%) to be able to appoint his successor.
This is so transparent that I don’t believe that Governor Patrick will be foolish to go along with it. Even someone who is in over his head as deep as Deval Patrick is knows that this will be seen as exactly what it is– a blatant attempt at partisan politics that is so brazen that even supporters of this idea will be sure to shy away from it in fear of being outed as the hypocrites that Senator Kennedy has now proved to be.
Why would Senator Kennedy be so afraid to let the people vote for his replacement? Surely a Democrat will be elected to replace him in Massachusetts where Republicans should be put on the endangered species list. The fact is that he does not want to take any chance whatsoever that Barack Obama will lose a critical vote on an issue that is close to Ted Kennedy’s heart– nationalized healthcare.
This issue highlights perfectly exactly what is wrong with politics in this country today. These people do not give a damn what the voters want. They are so intent on advancing their agenda and holding on to power that they don’t want the people to have a vote. When it was good for the Democrat majority of Massachusetts to have a gubernatorial appointment for a senate replacement that is what Massachusetts had, when it was good for the Democrat majority in Massachusetts to have a special election that is what the state had. Now that it is beneficial for the Democrat majority in Massachusetts to have a gubernatorial appointment that is what is being proposed.
These people put their agenda ahead of the will of the people and that is wrong. There is nobody who can defend the actions of Senator Kennedy in 2004 when compared to what he is proposing now. His motives are clear, in what could quite possibly be his last act as a senator Ted Kennedy has decided to screw over the voters of the state in order to insure that the majority in the United States Senate will be unchanged. He has put the government ahead of his constituents.
Correct me if I am wrong but wasn’t the stimulus bill supposed to create or save jobs for ordinary Americans? That is the way that I remember the stimulus bill as being sold to a skeptical American people.
That is not what is happening, at least here in New Hampshire where the stimulus has accomplished nothing other than to save state employees from possibly facing layoffs. The stimulus bill is being credited with saving or creating 796 jobs in New Hampshire. But out of those 796 jobs only 96 of the jobs saved or created were in the public sector. 700 of the jobs that the stimulus has created or saved in New Hampshire have been state employees.
This is in no way stimulating to the average New Hampshire resident and it is in no way helping the New Hampshire economy. If you work for the state you are being protected but if you work in the private sector you have virtually been left behind. The results of this stimulus bill seem to run counter to what the stated goal of the stimulus was.
At least here in New Hampshire the stimulus bill was nothing but a state bailout.
400 New York dealers drop out of the Cash for Clunkers program
There is only one aspect to the president’s stimulus bill that I am willing to call a success and that is the cash for clunkers program. The cash for clunkers program did seem to get people out into the auto buying market. It stimulated the auto buying industry as people began to flock to dealerships to take advantage of the cash for clunkers welfare handout.
However now the only part of the stimulus bill that has shown any signs of success is facing administrative problems. The government has been slow in paying out the rebates that it has promised and because of this over 400 delaerships in New York have opted out of the cash strapped program. These dealerships simply can’t afford to pay for the government’s free handout.
The government just does not have the money that it has been spending but that has not stopped this administration from spending anyway. Because the government didn’t have the money to pay for the cash for clunkers program they asked the auto dealers to pay for the government rebates ahead of time and promised that they would reimburse the dealerships. One of the three biggest lies, the check is in the mail. The automakers are in such peril that they had no choice but to take the government at their word when they promised that the dealerships would be reimbursed.
Now the dealerships which were struggling before cash for clunkers are burdened with additional costs until the government gives them the money they promised them. In an attempt to help the auto dealers the government has put additional burdens and hardships on them.
This is just more proof that when the government sticks its nose in where it doesn’t belong things get more fucked up than they were before.
Next on the docket, healthcare. Doesn’t that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling?
Companies with ties to Obama will profit from healthcare reform
While he was a candidate Barack Obama promised to end politics as usual, he promised change, he promised to end the culture in Washington. But this was more than just a promise, this is what he based his whole campaign on. He swore that he would be the one to reform Washington.
48% of Americans knew that this was bullshit but unfortunately 52% bought into it. I don’t blame them, Washington needs to be changed and these people hoped that Barack Obama would be able to deliver it. Barack Obama went to Washington to change Washington, but Washington has changed him. Instead of the most open and honest administration in history, instead of the most transparent administration in history we are left with nothing but politics as usual.
We are now getting more proof that Obama is nothing but a non-trustworthy politician just like all of the others with the news that firms with ties to President Obama stand to make a fortune if the healthcare reform bill is passed.
President Barack Obama‘s push for a national health careoverhaul is providing a financial windfall in the election offseason to Democratic consulting firms that are closely connected to the president and two top advisers.Coalitions of interest groups running at least $24 million in pro-overhaul ads hired GMMB, which worked for Obama’s 2008 campaign and whose partners include a top Obamacampaign strategist. They also hired AKPD Message and Media, which was founded by David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama’s campaign and now to the White House. AKPD did work for Obama’s campaign, and Axelrod’s son Michael and Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe work there.
The firms were hired by Americans for Stable Quality Care and its predecessor, Healthy Economy Now. Each was formed by a coalition of interests with big stakes in health care policy, including the drug maker lobby PhRMA, the American Medical Association, the Service Employees International Union and Families USA, which calls itself “The Voice for Health Care Consumers.”
We now know why the president has healthcare reform as one of his top issues. He and two of his top advisers have close ties to firms that stand to profit by this legislation. I am not naive, I expect this kind of bullshit from our elected officials but this man ran his whole campaign on the promise that he was a different kind of politician, his Chicago ties not withstanding. So these new revelations make him a hypocrite of astronomical proportions. I am not surprised about this but I wonder how manyof his supporters are beginning to realize that this man played them for fools. The American people should feel as if they have been had, because they have been had. Barack Obama is no better than any other two bit politician.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
AARP losing membership over support of healthcare reform
The AARP has come out in favor of the president’s healthcare reform bill and because of this they are hemorrhaging members. In the last six weeks the AARP has lost 60,000 members due to their support of the healthcare reform bill. Considering that the AARP has millions of members and that they have added more member during the same time period that they lost this may not seem like a big deal but it does give us another angle to examine in this debate.
While most of the attention has been paid to the “public option” and what Sarah Palin dubbed the “death panels” (a term that was ill advised but a concern that many people have when it comes to the inevitable rationing of healthcare to the elderly) what has not been discussed much is the fact that Obama’s plan calls for the funding of Medicare to be cut in order to help pay for the healthcare reform plan.
While I am not against not only cutting funding to Medicare, I am for eliminating it, as well as Medicaid, the fact is that the elderly are not going to go along with cutting benefits that they have been receiving in the interest of passing healthcare reform. This is yet another group of people who have a problem with part of the healthcare reform bill.
This is just another problem that Obama faces as he attempts to pass his reform bill and if enough elderly people voice their opposition to this bill Obama would be wise to listen to them. The elderly is the one group that can always be counted on to vote in a large percentage, if he cuts some of the funding to their benefits he can rest assured that they will be heading to the polls next year and they will not be supporting him.
Obama is facing many hurdles with this bill and this could be the latest problem he has to deal with. More and more people are opposing healthcare reform and Obama will have to decide between doing what the majority of the people want and doing what his far left supporters want.
