President Obama is Open to Taxing Healthcare Benefits
I have written about President Obama’s flip-flop in taxing people’s healthcare benefits before but he refuses to take the issue off of the table so I feel that this needs to be written about once again.
During the presidential campaign there was debate about healthcare reform. John McCain’s had the stupid idea of taxing helathcare benefits that millions of Americans receive to pay for healthcare for those who do not have healthcare. Even candidate Obama thought that this was a stupid idea.
Here is what was said in one of candidate Obama’s campaign ads:
McCain would make you pay taxes on your health benefits, taxing your health care for the first time ever, raising costs for employers who offer health care so your coverage could be reduced or dropped completely
And candidate Obama himself said the following:
As a result, many employers will drop their health care plans altogether,” Obama said. “And study after study has shown, that under the McCain plan, at least 20 million Americans will lose the insurance they rely on from their workplace
But wait, there’s more:
He called McCain’s plan “so radical, so out of touch with what you’re facing, and so out of line with our basic values
Candidate Obama called John McCain’s plan to tax a person’s healthcare benefits “radical” and out of line with basic Americans values. President Obama doesn’t see it in quite the same light as he is unwilling to remove that option from the table in the healthcare debate. He may be willing to accept John McCain’s “radical” tax now that it is being debated by Democrats.
Here is what President Obama had to say about the fact that there is talk about using John McCain’s idea of taxing healthcare benefits:
I don’t want to prejudge what they’re doing
He doesn’t want to prejudge? What the hell is that? Isn’t what he was doing during the campaign prejudging? It was alright to prejudge John McCain’s plan but now that Democrats are proposing the same plan it is not alright to prejudge them?
Don’t get me wrong, I am perfectly willing to prejudge the plan now and I was perfectly willing to prejudge the plan when it was John McCain’s idea. This plan sucks, pure and simple. Once again hard working, middle class families who are struggling to get by and provide for their families are going to be asked to foot the bill for those who do not provide for their own families.
As a candidate Obama claimed that his plan was better than McCain’s plan but the fact that he is willing to adopt McCain’s outrageous plan shows that that Obama never had a plan in the first place.
So many times in the past I have said that Democrats have never seen a tax they didn’t like and I offer Obama’s flip-flop on a tax that he was so critical of during the campaign as evidence.
I guess it wasn’t the tax on healthcare benefits that Obama found “radical” but rather who was proposing the tax.
The opening paragraph from this article sums up New Hampshire’s new budget fairly well.
Next month, smokers, campers, drivers and boaters will dig deeper into their pockets to pay for the services New Hampshire will provide citizens in an $11.5 billion budget passed Wednesday
In other words, everybody is going to get screwed again this year under this irresponsible governor. Or should I say “sacrifice?” That is the word that these out of control politicians like to throw around.
Included in, but not limited to, this year’s screwing is a 45 cent per pack tax increase on cigarettes, a “surcharge” on vehicle registrations, a 10% gambling winning tax, and a tax hike up to 9% on rooms and meals that will also include campsites. That’s right, if you go camping you will suddenly face an almost 10% increase in the cost of camping as the rooms tax will now apply to campgrounds. How absurd is that?
If you win on a scratch ticket you will pay a 10% tax, considering the fact that the money you spent on the ticket is state revenue taxing the winnings is double dipping by the state.
Here is what you will pay in addition to the registration fee that you already pay in New Hampshire:
0-5000 pounds: $30 surcharge
5001-10,000 pounds: $45 surcharge
10,000-26,000 pounds: $60 surcharge
26,001-73,280 pounds: $75 surcharge
And add another $15 if you have vanity plates.
The taxes just keep on coming in New Hampshire and judging from the comments left by residents on the Union Leader’s website it appears as though people may have finally had enough.
2010 could be shaping up to be a bell-weather election in this state. The governor may have finally pushed the envelope too far. It is time to take back our state.
146 Lawyers Sign a Letter Challenging Obama’s Claim That Fired Inspector General Gerald Walpin Was “Confused”
Today 146 lawyers signed a letter that claims that fired Inspector General Gerald Walpin was neither “confused” nor “disoriented”, a claim that President Obama made for his reason for firing Waspin as an inspector general.
It is beyond obvious to anyone who is following this story to come to any other conclusion than Obama fired Walpin for political reasons. Walpin uncovered fraud that was being committed by an Obama friend who worked for a favorite Obama organization– AmeriCorps, so he fired him.
Going beyond the illegality of the firing that broke the law that he co-sponsored as a senator, which I have covered extensively, there is the discriminatory reasons for firing a man that Obama considered to old to serve his country. The terms “confused” and “disoriented” were meant to imply that just because of Walpin’s age he must be senile. This is a reprehensible stereotype.
These lawyers are now coming to Walpin’s defense, claiming that he has never shown the symptoms that the president claimed he displayed.
We have known Mr. Walpin as a leading member of the New York Bar for many years,” said the letter. “Many of us have seen and heard him speak, including at this month’s meeting of the Second Circuit Judicial Conference and last week’s meeting of the Board of the Federal Bar Council
We have never seen Mr. Walpin to be ‘confused, disoriented [or] unable to answer questions,’” said the letter. “While none of us was present at the meeting referred to in Mr. Eisen’s letter, we can report only that such an allegation is totally inconsistent with our personal knowledge of Mr. Walpin who has always, through the present day, exhibited a quick mind and a command of the facts (whether we agree with him or not) and eloquence — essentially the opposite of someone who is ‘confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions.
The letter also includes a reminder that both sides of the aisle are represented in the letter, this wasn’t just a Republican effort.
We note that the singers of this letter include both Republicans and Democrats, voters for both President Obama and Senator McCain, and many who do not agree with Mr. Walpin’s personal political views. But all of us are unanimous in affirming Mr. Walpin’s integrity and competence
President Obama fired Gerald Walpin for political reasons and he did so without giving the required 30 notice and without providing the reasoning to congress behind the firing. When asked about his reasons for firing Walpin Obama proceeded to run a smear campaign against Walpin.
This issue appears to have staying power. I thought that it would just go away but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There is quite a bit of evidence that suggests that Obama acted improperly and as the evidence seems to mount every day we need to get to the bottom of this issue.
If the president is going to make it his policy to fire any inspector general that uncovers fraud in what Obama considers a politically correct organization we need to know. If Obama believes the “politics of personal destruction” is okay if the victim is getting too close to abuses of taxpayer money in the administration or with the administration’s friends we need to know.
Gerald Walpin uncovered abuse of taxpayer money and for that Obama fired him, this is unacceptable. We need an investigation RIGHT NOW!
The EPA had been given the right to regulate “greenhouse gasses” in a recent ruling opening up the door to expanded government, higher taxes, and more regulations for every single person in the United States. The situation looked hopeless but now the United States Chamber of Commerce is challenging the EPA’s ruling.
The Chamber of Commerce is claiming that the EPA only used the information that they wanted to in order to make their argument while ignoring data that would have disproved their findings. This is nothing new, this is how the global warming alarmists have always made their claims of impending world destruction and calamity.
We are not denying that CO2 [emissions] are rising, … [but] the EPA has to make the link between CO2 and health and welfare, and they haven’t made the link,” said William Kovacs, the Chamber’s senior vice president of environmental, technology and regulatory affairs. “There is no evidence that CO2 has an impact on health and welfare
The Chamber of Commerce is asking for a formal hearing to determine how the EPA came up with their findings. The chamber wants to be able to question EPA witnesses in front of a neutral arbitrator.
This seems only fair. We need to have the opposing view heard, the contradictory evidence must be at least weighed in the debate over carbon emissions. We can’t have the EPA using only certain information while ignoring other information in order to make their argument on something as important as this issue. We have to make sure there is debate on the issue and that the findings in this case were on the level.
The Chamber of Commerce has also asked for an extension to the 60 day review period that the EPA gave the public, claiming that it was not long enough to digest all of the information contained within.
There is still a glimmer of hope that we can stop this. If it is already too late to do anything about it at least the Chamber of Commerce may be able to show the dishonest and corrupt way that not only the EPA but all of the other alarmist groups have been framing their argument. Perhaps a hearing on the EPA will open the door to slow future legislation.
Cross posted on Grizzly Groundswell
According to this article the House of Representatives have reached a deal on the climate change legislation that clears the way for an upcoming vote on this disastrous bill.
Also according to the article the bill will probably win approval and move on to the senate. The House of Representatives is where we have to stop this bill. If it makes it to the senate then passage is a done deal. The only true conservatives that are left are in the house. Between conservative Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats we have to hope there are enough votes to kill this bill.
Now is the time to call, write, and email your representatives to voice your displeasure with this bill. We must be heard and we must be heard RIGHT NOW! Do not delay, make your voice be heard. NOW!
There are two other bills that combined with this bill will change our way of life for the worse– healthcare reform and immigration reform that includes amnesty for illegal aliens.
We may not be able to stop all three of these horrible bills but we have to stop as many as we can. Now is not the time to sit back and accept what the Democrat controlled congress is trying to ram down our throats. If we remain silent all is lost but if we let ourselves be heard perhaps we can make a difference.
Maybe it is already too late but we cannot afford to just lie down.
Call your representatives today, do not delay. It is the only chance that we have.
Maybe there is a chance that President Obama is not going to get away with firing Gerald Walpin after all. With the fired inspector general asking for a congressional hearing into his firing, and this Republican representative asking for the records of all of the conversations relating to Gerald Walpin between President Obama and the U.S. attorney whose district Walpin worked in perhaps something will happen after all.
Representative Darrell Issa wants all of the records released of the conversations Obama had before firing Gerald Walpin and Issa just happens to be the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Here is what he had to say about the “political courage” that Obama was reported to have shown while firing Gerald Walpin for uncovering abuse of taxpayer money:
“Gerald Walpin led an aggressive investigation of a political ally of President Obama that successfully recovered taxpayer dollars,” Issa said in a statement. “While firing an investigator who uncovered the abuse of funds by a political ally might be considered an act of ‘political courage’ in Chicago politics, for most Americans it raises troubling questions”
It most certainly does raise troubling questions. Is President Obama going to fire any government watchdog who uncovers fraud and waste by an organization with which he is aligned and considers a political ally? This is the change we can believe in?
The president broke the law that he was a co-sponsor of as a senator by firing Walpin without proper notice and I believe that he has angered congress, some Democrats included, by being so arrogant that he didn’t think he needed to give them the reason for the firing even though the law requires it. I don’t think that this is sitting well in congress, perhaps there will be action taken. Maybe his arrogance has finally caught up with him.
With Representative Issa asking for the conversation records from this incident it could put President Obama in a tight situation. If he refuses to release the records after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee it is going to look like he is hiding something.
Action needs to be taken, we need to know that nothing improper happened in the firing of Gerald Walpin. We deserve to know if the president’s policy will be to remove anyone who uncovers government waste and fraud. This man should have received a promotion but instead he was fired for uncovering what was an embarrassing stain on an ally of the president. We can not stand for this.
Last week I wrote about Harry Reid and his statement that we need “comprehensive immigration reform” that includes amnesty and a guest worker program as soon as possible. I focused that post on the amnesty aspect of the bill but it wasn’t until I read this article that I gave the “guest worker” program more thought. To me the guest worker aspect and the amnesty aspect go hand in hand. But that article got me thinking a little more closely about the “guest worker program.”
Every day Americans are losing their jobs as the policies put in place by the Obama administration deepen the recession. More and more Americans are looking for jobs that just aren’t there right now. Just that fact alone drives down the pay scale of the jobs that are available. More competition for fewer jobs leads to lower wages. Now factor in the “guests” that will be competing for those jobs.
It is bad enough that there are not enough jobs in the country for Americans but when you add Harry Reid’s guest worker program into the equation you exacerbate the problem even more. On top of there being less jobs for Americans you now will have illegal aliens competing for those same jobs.
The one thing that pissed me off almost more than anything else was when President Bush would say that illegal aliens are doing the work that Americans won’t do. I found that statement to be condescending, arrogant, and just plain wrong. When faced with the reality of feeding ones family I do not believe that there is any job that an American won’t do. And now that times are getting tougher the last thing an unemployed American needs is competition for a job from a person who broke the law to get here and does not belong here.
We should be arresting illegal aliens when they are found, punishing the companies who employ them, and ship them back where they belong. This will open up more jobs for Americans as the unemployment rate rises closer to 10% every day. Now more than ever it is not the time to reward the criminals that broke into this country.
Now is the time to take a stand for the American worker but with Harry Reid’s position that illegal aliens should be allowed to work in this country you have to wonder what side Harry Reid is on.
I don’t think that there is any right time to reward illegal aliens with a guest worker program but with the economy worsening and Americans looking for jobs at record rates now is the worse time to propose such a ludicrous idea as a guest worker program.
Gerald Walpin, the inspector general that President Obama fired because of his discovery that an Obama friend was misappropriating funds that were sent to one of Obama’s favorite programs, AmeriCorps, is asking for a congressional hearing into his firing.
I certainly don’t know the facts about any of the other IGs. But I don’t think you can find in the history of IGs such an administration attack on and terminating IGs before the last few weeks.
My firing has a chilling effect on other IGs,” he said. “The best way to handle that–aside from President Obama admitting that he made a mistake–is to have a congressional hearing so that all facts can be put out for the public to see
It has been fairly well established on this blog in previous posts that the president illegally fired Walpin without the 30 days notice that is required by law and it has also been established here that Obama also broke the law by not providing congress with the detailed reasons for the firing. Both of these violations were of a law that President Obama himself co-sponsored when he was a senator in Illinois. Evidently he thought that this law would only apply to President Bush and that he could just ignore the law.
Once the president began to feel heat for the firing of Walpin he proceeded to smear the man whose only crime was to find an abuse of funds that was being committed by an Obama friend. The president called Gerald Walpin old and senile. Not in those exact words, but the meaning was evident. That is not a reason for firing, that is an attack. So much for the “change” in Washington politics that Obama promised. This is just more of the same political games.
Apparently Gerald Walpin has taken great exceptionto his characterization by the president and rightfully so. Having no good reason to fire Gerald Walpin the president decided to smear him. This was a vicious, despicable, and discriminatory attack in my opinion.
The American people deserve a hearing into this matter, Gerald Walpin is right about that. We need to know if this president is willing to cover up abuses that are occurring with taxpayer money just because he approves of the program that is corrupt and doesn’t want any negative light shed on the accused agency. We also need to know that he isn’t willing to cover up abuses that his friends are engaged in. Both of those scenarios seem to be at work here.
The Democrat controlled congress want no part of this, and the media wants to see this go away so the chances of anything happening here are remote. But Gerald Walpin is refusing to go away quietly and if he keeps pushing the issue perhaps we will see some results. We deserve to know why the president fired a man who discovered fraud. If the firing wasn’t because of political reasons than the president has nothing to fear. If it was, we need to know the truth.
A Majority of Americans Do Not Want Healthcare Reform
According to a new poll a majority of Americans do not want healthcare reform. In fact there is less support for healthcare reform now than there was when President Clinton tried to nationalize the industry.
Healthcare reform seemed like a major issue during the campaign. Why then the change of heart in the American voters on this issue? Either healthcare reform was never a strong issue with the public and it was a trumped up issue by the media and the candidates or the cost of the reform has scared off many Americans. Those are the only two scenarios that I can come up with.
I believe that it is the soaring price-tag on healthcare, last estimated at $1.6 trillion, that is beginning to sour people on healthcare reform. Perhaps if this was one of the first agenda items that Obama tried to pass there would still be support for it but after watching the president throw trillions upon trillions of dollars out the window already, and with nothing to show for it, Americans are tiring of the spending.
Many people didn’t realize how much “free” healthcare was going to cost but now that there is an actual price-tag associated with healthcare people are beginning to get nervous. The money has to come from somewhere and taxpayers know where that money is going to come from.
