Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Election 2012, Law, The Constitution | Tags: Eric Holder, Fast and Furious, Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), financial expert, suggests that President Obama should “just declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional.” She thinks Obama should use the 14th Amendment, which states that “The validity of the public debt of the United States…shall not be questioned.” There’s a lot that gets lost with that little ellipsis, but she wants the nasty Republicans who want spending cuts in exchange for another debt ceiling hike to stop interfering.
She also was irate about the Congressional Oversight Committee holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. She denied that Operation Fast and Furious is the real cause of the investigation and contempt charge:
These very same people who are holding him in contempt are part of a nationwide scheme to suppress the vote. It is connected. It’s clear as can be. It’s not only to monopolize his time, it’s to undermine his name.
These folks want a plutocracy where instead of the choice of the many the checks of the very few determine the outcomes of elections.
Lets see. The Republicans want voters to prove they who they claim to be by showing a picture ID, which you have to show to register to vote, or to get into the Justice Department, or any other government building, or to attend Obama Rallies.
Democrats financed the “Secretary of State Project” to try to elect Democrat Secretaries of State in every state, since they were in charge of elections and counting the votes. And all those ACORN people who went to jail across the country for vote fraud sure weren’t Republicans.
This person is the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives in the United States of America. Isn’t that amazing. Vote Fraud is a real and widespread problem.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Global Warming, Humor, Junk Science, News, Politics | Tags: Election 2012, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich
Alas, the supposedly “brilliant”, Newt “Our country must take action to address climate change” Gingrich, ever in search of more attention, has thrown his overly-large hat into the Republican primary ring.
I want him out. ASAP.
To that end, I want to remind everyone (and their mother) how willingly this tool cooperated with Satan’s concubine herself to push the falsehood that is man-made global warming; and worse, that we need to DO something about it. (Can you tell I’m still hacked-off about it?)
He has lent what credibility he had and, by proxy, the conservative name to Democrats’ thinly-veiled attempt to grab power over every conceivable facet of the economy, destroying the American way of life and delivering the socialist “Utopia” they so long for.
What’s not to love?
This shameless act of populist pandering at the expense of everything conservatives stand for should automatically and unequivocally disqualify Newt (real name Rebecca?) from not only running for the Republican nomination, but from calling himself a Republican or conservative to begin with. Don’t get me wrong! I believe in a big Republican tent, but there are certain core principles that are uttely unacceptable and non-negotiable — government control over every facet of life being foremost among them. Which is precisely what the “global warming” fraud exists to bring about.
So, he’s got to go.
I think the image is a good start, but Newt & Nancy need a clever campaign slogan. Perhaps a twist on something they say in the video? Or on the meaningless, asinine campaign slogan he’s already chosen– one which is also already identified with Obama. It’s up to you! We’re aiming for short, sweet, and devastatingly snarky.
Batters up!
Update (via Doug Powers): Newt now claims the commercial for Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection was not an endorsement of liberal ideas, but a debate…or something.
Related: Our friend ZeusisWatching has similar thoughts on Newts chances, and makes some good points.
Filed under: Foreign Policy, Islam, Middle East | Tags: Bashar Assad, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Obama, Syria
In Syria, the Assad regime made a fateful decision this week. They used their army —even including tanks —to kill civilians protesting peacefully. Bashar Assad made the decision that it was better to kill hundreds of unarmed Syrian citizens than to risk the fall of his regime. This is the man whom Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton thought was a peaceful reformer. As Elliott Abrams says:
In Syria and Lebanon, there is confusion about the American position. Many believe we are Assad well-wishers, and certainly Obama’s policy for 2009 and 2010 lent credence to that view. Now, the administration is coy: It talks of new sanctions but does not impose them yet. It talks of U.N. action but it is the U.K. and France that introduce the resolution, not the United States. It will not recall the U.S. ambassador who was so foolishly dispatched to Damascus late last year.
Two weeks ago, al Jazeera turned against Assad and is doing what it did in Egypt — broadcasting whatever it can get its hands on about the brutality of the regime and the courage of the protesters. The Amir of Qatar owns the station.
Syria is closely allied with Shia Iran, and with Hamas and Hezbollah, but the Syrian population is 74 percent Sunni. If the Alawite regime were to fall, it would be widely interpreted as a step toward the fall of the ayatollahs, so what happens in Syria is hugely important for American interests in the region. The president is, um, testing the wind, thinking about sanctions. He could recall our ambassador. He could pressure Turkey very hard to distance itself from the regime. He did say that Mubarak and Quaddafi must step down, he hasn’t even suggested that Bashar should.
He did issue a travelers’ warning.
Filed under: Humor, Politics | Tags: Jimmy Kimmel, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi
It never gets old.
Filed under: Election 2010, News, Politics, Progressivism | Tags: Congress, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker John Boehner
Oh frabjous day! Callooh Callay!
The most unpopular Speaker, from the most unpopular congress EVER is Speaker no more!
But while Americans kicked her out of the Speaker’s office, Democrats are poised to re-elect her today as their new minority leader. In other words, the American people threw Democrats out of power in the biggest electoral ass-kicking in 75 years , and Democrats response is to flip the American people the bird. They have nothing but contempt for the American people. And they have absolutely no intention of changing anything about their agenda, they will only fight harder and dirtier. After so-called “moderate” Democrats bore the brunt of their losses in November, the Democrat party is now far more radical and more extremist than ever. The only thing they have any intention of changing is the “tone” of their propaganda and lies.
Meet the new face of Congressional Dems — same as the very old, very unpopular face.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy | Tags: Creating Jobs, Nancy Pelosi, President Obama
Nancy Pelosi made this claim again today, that unemployment benefits are the best way of creating jobs. President Obama said essentially the same thing — that unemployment benefits will be spent right away. Since the unemployed are hard-up, they will spend their benefits immediately, and then that money will s-l-o-w-l-y circulate through the economy creating “multiplier effects” which Christina Romer pegged at somewhere over 1.5% — to which some other economist said — obviously, all you have to do is dump $1 trillion into the economy, and you will get $1.5 trillion back. You don’t even have to do anything else, just keep dumping money into the economy and — oh wait!!! That’s what we have been doing.
Consumer demand is a consequence, not a cause, of economic growth.
I have an idea. If we can just get President Obama to stop destroying jobs, I’d bet things would pick up right away. The moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico cost something over 32,000 jobs, some rigs have left the Gulf, and although the moratorium is over, new drilling permits are not being issued — even for shallow water wells which have had no safety problems at all. When Congress banned incandescent lightbulbs, to please GE, the incandescent factories closed permanently, and twisty bulbs now come from China.
The administration has subsidized several electric battery factories, but there is a glut of batteries, and no market. When you hike the minimum wage, you raise the unemployment rate. Mandating health insurance shuts down small businesses. Raising the cost of energy kills jobs, and requiring the use of renewable energy raises the cost of energy. Denying permits to the coal industry (Obama said he would bankrupt Coal) kills jobs. Defunding the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository kills jobs. And bashing business, particularly small business as represented by America’s Chambers of Commerce doesn’t help. I could go on, but you get the idea.
Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Health Care, Politics, Progressivism, Taxes | Tags: Debunking Liberal Lies, Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare, Repeal
Democrats, in their arrogance, thought that they could change the way our economy works. “We have to pass the bill,” said Nancy Pelosi,” so we can find out what’s in it.” We are slowly finding out. Those studying the bill explore the incentives and the consequences of the provisions, and are learning that what was claimed for the bill is far from accurate, and the impact on businesses and individuals is far worse.
—If you like your present coverage, you can keep it, Obama said. Nope. The Public Option is alive and well, but hidden. The U.S Office of Personnel Management has new responsibilities, establishing and running two entirely new government health insurance programs to compete directly with private insurance. The OPM will have to power to set profit margin premiums and terms of coverage. It is a place-holder for the Public Option.
—It was, President Obama said, to cost less than one trillion dollars. The Congressional Budget Office has added $115 billion to their estimates, which puts it well over a trillion, and the so-called “Doc-fix” would add $287 billion if Democrats had not put it in a separate bill to avoid its being added to the cost. (The Doc-fix puts back the money that they cut from Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals in an attempt to make ObamaCare look better —and yes, it was just a scam). Keep in mind that it is a very rare government program indeed that costs less than estimated. The only one I know of is Bush’s Medicare Drug Program.
—The bill will cram 32 million newly insured into already overcrowded emergency rooms.
—Doctors in Texas are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates of 100-200 a year.
—Obama has consistently said that “Health insurers won’t be able to drop your coverage just because you get sick.” It has been illegal since 1997 under the Health, Income Portability and Accounting Act for an insurer to drop coverage because someone gets sick. Even before that, the practice almost never happened. Rescissions happen when an insurer cancels a policy and returns premiums to policy holders. This almost always happens because the insurance application was fraudulent. Rescissions are very rare, and only happen in the individual market which is 10% of the private insurance market. They occur in less than 4/10 of one percent of the time. Even then there is an appeals process both internally and outside the insurance company, and there are state regulators whose job is to correct insurance companies if they are wrong.
HHS Sec. Sebelius accused Wellpoint of targeting thousands of women after a breast cancer diagnosis. Obama repeated the charge. Wellpoint pointed out that they paid in full for over 200,000 cases of breast cancer, and rescinded 4 policies for fraudulent applications.
—New high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will increase health-care spending by $311 billion.
—Those with pre-existing conditions who have been sacrificing to pay for insurance in their state high-risk pools — playing by the rules, and paying 1 1/2 – 2 times the normal cost — would have to drop their insurance and wait six months to get ObamaCare.
—The State of Indiana has said that the new law could cost the state an additional $3.6 billion. Louisiana has passed a law that the federal government cannot force the state to make their citizens buy coverage, as have 19 other states so far.
—Seven more states have joined Florida in the lawsuit against the federal government — a total of 20 to date — alleging that it is unconstitutional for the government to force individuals to buy health insurance under penalty of fines and prison. The suit has been joined by the National Federation of Independent Businesses on behalf of their 350,000 members.
—Extending dependent coverage to ‘children’ up to age 26 on their parents’ policies means that family premiums will rise by 1 % in 2012, and an additional $3,380 for each dependent.
—AT&T and Verizon pegged ObamaCare losses to them at $ 1 billion each. They indicated that they might have to dump retirees and employee health-care altogether. Other large companies have expressed similar doubts.
—The White Castle chain has said that one provision of ObamaCare will cut the chain’s income in half, and jeopardize future hiring and employment.
—Healthy individuals could save $3,000 annually be dropping coverage, paying fines, and waiting until they get sick to buy coverage. A family of four could save $8,000. This is happening in Massachusetts.
—The requirement that insurers charge everyone of a given age the same premium, regardless of their health status will effectively deny care to sick Americans who are content with their current coverage. If healthy people cost $5,000 to insure, and sick people cost $25,000 — forcing insurers to charge everyone the same premium turns every sick person into a $15,000 liability.
— The United States has been home to most of the important medical advances made over the past forty years. In some fields, America contributes more important innovations than all other nations combined.
Obama could have come up with a law making care better, more affordable and more secure through a bottom-up process of innovation. Instead he extended the world’s most expensive health care system to 32 million more people. And he did so in a way that could “dump” more sick Americans than ever before.
This is a deeply flawed and damaging bill that cries out for repeal.
Filed under: Humor, News of the Weird, Politics, Progressivism | Tags: Capitol File Cover, Nancy Pelosi, Retouched
Do we all have friends whose communications mostly consist of emailed jokes? I know I do. Here’s one I got today from an old friend:
A 54 year-old woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.
While on the operating table, she had a near-death experience. Seeing God, she asked “Is my time up?”
God said, “No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live.”
Upon recovery from her heart attack, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy-tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color and brighten her teeth! Since she had so many good years ahead of her, she figured that she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was hit and killed by an ambulance.
Arriving in front of God, she demanded: “I thought you said I had another 43 years? Why didn’t you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance”?”
God replied: “I didn’t recognize you!”
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economy, Law | Tags: Culture War, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi
There were the shower heads, the low-flush toilets, and upcoming before we know it, will be the mandate to use only CFL (twisty) light bulbs. The latter is ostensibly to save energy, but the only reason to save energy is because of the government’s refusal to drill for oil or natural gas, and its war on coal all in the name of stopping a non-existent global warming and keeping CO2, a natural plant fertilizer, out of the atmosphere which is actually short of CO2.
Liberals are control freaks. They want to remove all annoyances from life — not things that annoy us, like government over-regulation, but things that annoy them. Mayor Bloomberg of New York and now Governor Schwarzenegger of California have banned trans-fats. The only problem is that there is no evidence whatsoever that trans-fats are harmful to anyone.
It’s time to shape up the American population. Attacks on fast food of any kind will continue. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains a little section requiring restaurants to disclose calorie counts on their menu boards. Envision Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and Waxman and the others all sitting around a table in a backroom trying to decide just what to do about American obesity. Obviously they don’t often patronize fast food restaurants and have never seen the menu boards behind the counter.
Seems so simple. Just add nutritional information for each item on the menu. Picking a can at random from my pantry shelf, you have: Calories, Calories from fat. Total fat, Saturated fat, Trans fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Total carbohydrates, Fiber, Sugars, and Protein, and then there are vitamins A and C, Calcium and Iron. On the back of my can, it takes up a space of about 1″ x 2″, and includes teeny tiny type. On a behind-the-counter menu board it all has to be easy to read from a distance. Details, details!
Can you spell l-i-t-i-g-a-t-i-o-n ? Does publishing caloric information constitute advertising? So you run up against the truth in advertising rules. Suppliers change frequently, does that mean doing the whole thing over? Can you take the supplier’s word for the information, or do you have to have each item tested yourself? When all these extra costs are added, can you still churn out innovative menu items? If you cannot raise the price of the food, where do you put the extra costs?
Democrats have no grasp of consequences. Actions always have consequences, and the consequences have consequences. Would anyone read the calories on the menu board? If they read them would that change their behavior? And what business is it of the government anyway. This is a huge bomb of mass economic destruction on an economy in the throes of a semi-permanent depression.
Ed Morrissey of Hot Air talked the federal menu mandate over with a vice president of Davanni’s pizza chain in the Twin Cities. More lost jobs, reduced choices for customers, money that might have funded more jobs wasted, because political elites fail to understand that Americans are perfectly capable of seeking out such information for themselves.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Health Care, Statism, Taxes | Tags: Democrat Corruption, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi was quite clear. The Health Care bill would create 400,000 jobs. She also said that we’d have to wait till we passed it to find out what’s in it. She was, at least dimly, aware that the voters are concerned about jobs.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “This, of course, was a health bill. But it was also a jobs bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared, “It will create millions of jobs and strengthen our economic security by keeping America competitive and igniting innovation and entrepreneurship.” If we ever needed proof that Democrats do not understand how jobs are created, there it is, laid out for all to see.
The 2006 law that created the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit also authorized payment of a 28% federal subsidy, up to $1330 per retiree, tax-free, to each company for each retiree who took part in a company drug plan. Because of that subsidy, the retirees did not participate in the Part D prescription drug plan and saved the government some money. The subsidy was also tax-deductible.
The health care bill repeals that credit, which raises corporate tax bills and lowers after-tax income. Companies must immediately announce the write-downs . Consulting firm Towers Watson anticipates write-downs of approximately $14 billion. Reduced profits and retained earnings may mean fewer jobs.
A levy on the production of medical devices is meant to help pay for health care. Starting in 2013, an excise tax of 2.3% of the sales of taxable medical devices will be imposed. The tax is estimated to raise about $2 billion a year. Congress supposedly believed that the health care bill would expand the market for medical devices through the individual mandate thereby increasing revenue to the medical device companies. The real reason is that Democrats were desperate for revenue so that the bill would be scored as reducing federal budget deficits — something it could not do without some budget gimmicks.
The medical device industry exported more than $31 billion of devices in 2008 to such markets as Japan, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany. And the U.S. also imports devices. The hit on the industry is estimated to be about $20 billion.
Zoll Medical Corporation in Massachusetts, a maker of defibrillators, had a 2009 profit of $9.5 million. They estimate their tax at $5 million to $10 million a year. They employ 1800 people, 1600 in the United States. They will have to change — raise prices, but the government is demanding that they cut costs — or shift jobs to lower cost countries. Manufacturers can close plants in this country and relocate offshore. Medtronic has announced that it may lay off workers as a direct consequence of the bill.
Taxes and mandates and fees all have consequences. There are a lot of job losses resulting from the consequences of the health care bill. Unfortunately Nancy Pelosi’s “millions of jobs” and “economic security” just aren’t in it.
Filed under: Economy, Health Care, Law, Taxes | Tags: Democrat Lies/Dirty Tricks, Harry Reid, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder, Nancy Pelosi
That’s the question asked on the Heritage Foundation’s blog. The Senate health-care bill got the unions on board by exempting union workers from the proposed 40-percent excise tax on “Cadillac” plans — those worth more than $8,000 a year for individuals.
It is not yet clear what the White House’s new strategy to pass health care will be in the wake of Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts senate race. Democrats, from their public utterances, are dismissing it as angry white men, angry stupid people, and badly misled people who don’t know what’s good for them. The very definition of denial. What they say in private remains unknown.
But according to Federal News Radio, can’t have federal employees left out of the earlier compromise. Just to make sure that the definition of a “Cadillac” plan for federal employees is fair, dental and vision insurance would not be counted towards the taxable cost of a policy. This, of course, includes Members of Congress who blithely exempt themselves from anything unpleasant.
This is such stupid public policy that it boggles the mind. They probably think we won’t notice. They really do think we’re stupid, you know.
