Death Panel In Danger

The Independent Payment Advisory Board, better known as the "rationing board" or the "death panel" may see its own demise. Never being a part of the House Obamacare bill, IPAB has come under increasing bipartisan opposition. Under Obamacare IPAB would force savings in Medicare spending while the rest of the health care sector would pretty much run its course. When Obamacare proponents speak of "bending the cost curve" the only bending capabilities they have established are directed toward Medicare recipients. In short senior citizens are being honored with more than their share of sacrifice while many who have never paid a nickel into the system will benefit the most.

"The president’s new health care law already ended Medicare as we know it,” Paul Ryan said on the House floor this month, borrowing from the Democratic rhetoric on his plan. “It does two things: It raids Medicare; and it rations Medicare.”

For all the reported ineptitude of House Republicans, a growing number of House Democrats have called for the untimely death of the death panel.

"Abdicating this responsibility, whether to insurance companies or an unelected commission, would undermine our ability to represent the needs of the seniors and disabled in our communities,” Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), a prominent supporter of most of the reform law, wrote in a letter to colleagues in April.

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a prominent supporter of the law, is now actively lobbying for its repeal, too



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I'm a Colin Powell Republican not A Sarah Palin Republican

"I'm a Colin Powell Republican not A Sarah Palin Republican," says the new CEO of General Motors, Dan Akerson. Good! Sarah Palin would be embarrassed by Mr. Akerson's support. Mr. Akerson illustrates the danger of being nice to some people. After the American taxpayers have been good enough to to bail his failing company out of bankruptcy, breaking 200 years of property rights precedent in the process, it seems they have not done enough for General Motors. To "nudge" Americans into buying more efficient automobiles Mr. Akerson thinks it would be a grand idea to raise the gasoline tax by $1 per gallon. This at a time when Americans struggle to come up with enough money to keep their cars operating.

Oh, but it gets better. The US government still holds 500 million shares of GM stock and Mr. Akerson would be happy if the government would only dump the $12 billion worth a stock and gag down the loss since the relationship has become tiresome and he thinks the federal ownership is depressing the value of the stock. He will probably get his wish because the Obama is thought to be considering dumping its stock soon-at a loss to the taxpayers-because it has become a political liability. Maybe it always has been a political liability but as the elections near it is more acute.

If the public is confused about the debt repayment it maybe because it listens to the President too much. Mr. Obama's weekly radio address earned three Pinocchio's, denoting "Significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions" from the Washington Post's fact checker.

So How's That Stimulus Bill Working Out For You?

(click to enlarge)

This chart shows the predicted and actual unemployment rates. It was produced by former Obama administration economists Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein. Remember during the dark days of early 2009 we were told that if the stimulus bill was not passed the unemployment rate might go as high as 9%. At best the stimulus wasted $800 billion dollars but there is one, rather technical, study that makes the case the stimulus package actually cost jobs.

Go Girl!

As she prepares to enter the race in Iowa later this month, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has signed on high-profile political strategist Ed Rollins to run her presidential campaign. Rollins is big league! A heavy hitter. He ran Ronald Reagan's 1984 reelection landslide victory and more recently guided under funded, dark horse, Mike Huckabee, to a second place finish in the 2008 primary. Bachmann already has Brett O'Donnell on her staff. He is considered to be one of the best debating coaches in politics.

Another One Bites The Dust

Austan Goolsby, President Obama's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, announced that he will be returning to his teaching post at the University of Chicago this summer. Two other members of Obama's economic dream team, Larry Summers and Christina Romer, cut short their tenure at the White House to return to academia last year. All three economists have legitimate excuses for leaving the administration but one question why this White House can't keep good help. This leaves only Tim Geithner from the original brain trust.

Of Course It's The Woman's Fault

Who is partly to blame for Congressman Weiner's on going scandal? According to Chris Matthews it's the wife. Maybe it's because she's a Muslim. How the hell does this man keep a job?

Weiner: The Janet Reno defense

  Watching the Weiner news conference, it is difficult not to recall Janet Reno's Waco "defense."
 " I regret that happened. It was poor judgment on my part. I take complete responsibility for my actions.
  No, I'm not resigning."
  The only difference is that she didn't cry.
  Question not asked: So what does it mean to take responsibility then?

The weiner's stale but...

  Not completely cooked yet.
  Just as the Weiner roast was winding down, we learn new information and that more is coming.
  Smart talking, wise-cracking, phallic joking Congressman Weiner's crotch picture was tweeted from the same app that all his other tweets used, The Daily has learned.
  A scandal has erupted over the folks who exposed the Weiner and two supposedly underage girls who were involved in following Weiner. Were they direct messaged?
  The head of the DNC, looking into the camera blankly, says robotically it's a personal matter, he has to work it out for himself. This, as you can well imagine, is not what she said over lesser Republican indiscretions, including the guy who lost NY 26 because he sent a picture of his naked torso to some chick.
  Speaking of naked, The Other McCain complains that da guys around da web feel squeamish after covering weiners all week and therefore are posting sexy pictures of females on their blogs in response. It's called Rule 5.
  Breitbart has more and will release it this morning.
  Not exactly salivating over more weiners.
UPDATE: And there it is.

Dennnis Millers Thoughts On Sarah Palin

Priceless!

Indiana Could Lose $4.3 Billion

Indiana has drawn a line in the sand. Earlier this year Indiana passed legislation that would prohibit Planned Parenthood from providing any services to Medicaid recipients or, more accurately, receiving payment for said services. The Obama admistration has responded by threatening to withhold the entire federal share of Medicaid funding. The legislation was not part of Governor Mitch Daniels agenda but rather an idea long advocated by "right to life" state legislators who argue it's time to start standing up for principle. Other states that have long wanted to defund Planned Parenthood are watching to see if Indiana can buck the federal mandates and somehow keep Medicaid intact. If Indiana is successful Kansas and North Carolina will probably follow. The Obama administration must now decide if it is willing to cut off Medicaid to an entire state just to keep Planned Parenthood working.

Alice Rivilin, Director of the budget in the Clinton administration and a member of the Obama defect commission has taken the Republican position in the debt ceiling debate. Dr.Rivilin told CNN " There's no mystery about what we ought to do, we just need to get on with it," Rivilin, like Republicans, would only raise the debt limit if plans to cut long term spending were attached to the debt limit bill. She also cautioned against tax increases as part of the debt limit bill.

Tennessee has enacted legislation that make the reforms recently labeled as radical in Wisconsin seem almost trivial. Tennessee has eliminated collective bargaining for school teachers entirely. Under the new legislation if school board and unions agree on a position then “memorandums of understanding,” which replace the collective bargaining contract are adopted. Where there is no agreement the school board is allowed to set the terms unilaterally.

Take the challenge. Pew Research has a 11 question Political News IQ Quiz. Good luck!

California govt workers watch man die

  This is what happens when everything is scripted, when everything is regulated and when large government takes over the lives of everyone. No one can make a decision. No one can make a move without getting permission first. A long chain of deciders needs to be consulted before anything can be done and, of course,there's a long line of people waiting to hear what the deciders have determined, perhaps after endless meetings, consults, phone calls and emails.
  This time, it's the firemen who refused to go into waist deep water to save a drowning man. Read at the NY Post:

The fire department blamed budget cuts that ended sea-rescue training in 2009; department policy explicitly forbade them from saving Zack’s life. And so they followed the city’s corrupt order.

  This is the face of the nanny state. 

Administration's intrusion into businesses

A one man job wrecking crew goes on the rampage with executive orders meant to subvert Americans' rights and choices. Choice is great when it comes to ending babies' lives but not when it comes to anything else, apparently. And, once again, we must know everything about people so WE can decide who gets what from the government. H/T Verum Serum

Dean Warns Dems Sarah Palin Could Win

One wonders if Howard Dean should be taken seriously even when one agrees with him. The former governor, former DNC chairman, and former presidential candidate says yes, Sarah Palin could beat Barack Obama.
“I think she could win,” Dean told The Hill in an interview Friday. “She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.” While Dean would make Obama the odds on favorite to beat any Republican he warns Democrats that they dismiss Sarah Palin at their peril. Wall Street has suffered a nasty sell off in the last 5 weeks due in part to the poor performance of the US economy. As poor job numbers and further declines in the housing market have made investors skittish Washington Democrats are anything but sanguine.

“The prospect of economic growth getting up to a point and unemployment getting down to a point that is comfortable for an incumbent are declining by the month, and are now not very high at all,” said William Galston, a policy adviser in the Clinton White House and a veteran of Democratic presidential campaigns.

Essentially, key Democratic insiders are beginning to echo the same view veteran news man Brit Hume voiced a few weeks ago that if the election were held today any Republican candidate would win.

Does slurring your words mean you're impaired?

Wow. The video speaks for itself, I guess. She needs to appear more often on national news programs. It certainly won't help her cause.

Suicide doctor dies naturally

  Jack Kevorkian has died, big news on WJR today.
  Geoffrey Fieger, the left winger who represented Kevorkian, was "mourning" him today, saying, "I'll cry alone."
  In an interview on WJR, Fieger said Kevorkian was too "weak" to commit suicide, as he had helped many "clients" do.
  Hm. 
  Too bad.
  Guess he'll be 'splainin' himself to the Big Guy alone.

Palin envy rampant among Republican males

  So let me get this straight, Dick Morris, Charles Krauthammer, et al.
  By taking a big a$$ tour bus across the country, by occasionally appearing to remark on the historicity of some patriotic site, by commenting on other politicians, Sarah Palin is sucking the oxygen out of the room.
  She's pulling attention away from real candidates.
  She needs to get off the stage and let the real candidates, usually old white guys, try to suck some of that oxygen, because they're struggling to get the needed attention.
  Let's prop up some of those old white guys. Let's try to cleanse them of their prior liberality, love for carbon taxes and government health care.
  Riiiiight.
  Well, let's have a new name for that kind of attitude.
  Let's call it palin envy.
  If Palin were off the stage it wouldn't mean anybody's interested in those old white guys.
  And she has a right to breathe, ya know?
  What does that tell you about YOUR candidates if they can't get anybody to notice them because one chick's in the room?
  And if she's so stupid, why are people camping out in hopes of seeing her?
  And if she's so stupid, why is the stupid press following her every move like puppies in love, even while complaining that she won't tell them where she's going?
  Why are YOU ALL trying to muscle her out of the room?
  Why are you claiming she hasn't been specific enough about policy or educated enough?
  Althouse, quoting Rush, notes that the criticism is coming from establishment people:

So here you have Dr. Krauthammer, who was a speechwriter for Mondale who obviously at a point in his life thought Ronald Reagan was a total idiot, you know, probably not schooled.  So Rowan's theory is, analyzing the analysts, that Krauthammer sees Reagan in Palin.  Wasn't particularly enamored of Reagan. 

  Byron York has something to say about this over at The Washington Examiner:

One thing many viewers have probably missed in all the horse-race speculation is that Palin is perfectly willing to discuss her positions on key issues, if anyone wants to ask. In fact, in recent days, weeks, and months, we've seen a lot of policy commentary from the former Alaska governor.

  Let's be perfectly honest about what's going on here. 
  Y'all don't know how to get any traction because y'all are part of the past and you don't know how to adapt.
  The truth is we don't want your usual politician anymore.
  Look where it's gotten us. Trillions of dollars in debt. Politicians think they can do anything, like even tweeting pictures of private parts, accidentally or not. A country rocked with unemployment, high taxes, unrest and resentment toward anyone who actually makes more money than they do.
  So figure out how to play fair ball or get outta the way, old white boys.
  Your palin envy is showing. 
  And, Governor Palin, enjoy your vacation.

So $14 billion isn't real money anymore?

  President Obama is going to take a "victory lap" in Toledo over at the Chrysler plant.
  But it seems like a victory lap should entail, well, victory. 
  The taxpayers ("government") are losing almost 20% of their "loan" to the auto industry, yet this is being touted as "victory." Toledo Blade:

  The President's National Economic Council said the government will lose less than 20 percent of the $80 billion used to bail out the U.S. automobile industry, or about $14 billion. The report says the Treasury Department first thought the government would lose about 60 percent of the taxpayer funds.

  Not only that, but the "government" still owns shares in the auto industry. Again at The Blade (whose website has recently been revamped and looks pretty darn good these days):

Chrysler took $10.5 billion from the U.S. government to survive two years ago, and had repaid some of the money. Last week, it retired a $5.9 billion balance on the U.S. loans and $1.7 billion to the governments of Canada and Ontario. The U.S. Treasury still owns 6.6 percent of Chrysler, part of the original stake it got in exchange for the bailout.

The U.S. government still has a 33.3-percent ownership stake in GM and is hoping to recoup its $50 billion taxpayer investment. 

  Bush was roundly criticized for taking the premature "mission accomplished" victory lap, yet with GM still owned primarily by the taxpayers, the debt is certainly NOT repaid.
  From Politifact:

But as with Marchionne, Whitacre didn't tell the full story.  The Obama administration -- through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- committed approximately $52.4 billion to help right GM.

Only a fraction of that, $6.7 billion, was in the form of loans. Most of the government's GM investment was converted to an ownership stake in the New GM, the company that emerged from bankruptcy: $2.1 billion in preferred stock; and 60.8 percent of the company's common equity. The jury is still out on how much return the government will get on that investment.

  And over at Yahoo/AP, we see the headline: "Govt to lose $14 billion of auto bailout funds." 
  So it's pretty obvious that lies are being told about the money taxpayers "loaned" to the auto industry. All the money has NOT been repaid, and yet the administration and the auto industry, whose profit comes primarily from trucks and SUVs, are running around the country claiming it has.
  Maybe we've just gotten to the place where a billion dollars (or $14 billion) isn't real money anymore.
  God help us if that's true because it looks like we're printing even more money soon.

Showdown: Weiner vs. Palin

  What a difference between the treatment of Weinergate and Palin's bus tour.
  Weiner has now pretty much admitted he has taken some pictures like the one that was tweeted. 
  When asked if the pic was of his tweeter, he replied that he could not say with certitude. What does that mean? 
  If he were sure, he'd say no. He's not sure, therefore we can infer that pictures like it have been taken.
  The press is sorta giving up on actually defending him just now, until the truth comes out when they can circle the wagons and act like it's just about sex and therefore unimportant because it's a Democrat, and not about matters of national security and predatory behavior on the part of yet another politician, however liberal.
  Meanwhile Palin is off running around the country on a bus tour while the press complains that she's treating them like paparazzi and it's become quite a dangerous situation because they have to follow her in their cars, like puppy dogs waiting for dinner.
  So they have to resort to claiming her tour is illegal or something because she has a flag painted on the side of it and that ain't right because there are strict federal codes about using the flag for "profit."
  Um, maybe they haven't seen the hats, t-shirts, bags, potholders, neckties, key chains, car emblems, notepads, bookmarks, cd covers, drink stirrers, beach towels...need I go on?
  This video is particularly amusing and revealing.

  A bus versus a crotch photo.
  A flag versus a denial.
  Hm.

The Goldman Hedge

Goldman Sachs makes a good case for the Tea Party. While Goldman Sachs may not be the only double dealing firm on Wall Street it does it with more gusto and chutzpah than anyone else. In its latest round of influence buying Goldman hired former New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg and former Mitt Romney campaigner aide and Capitol Hill staffer, Joe Wall. On the Democratic side, Goldman hired former Obama White House administrator, Greg Craig and Barney Frank's top staffer, Michael Paese. Since the banking bailout of 2008 the top four US banks have gone from "too big to fail" to "way too big to fail"and to insure continued backing from the US Treasury in times of financial stress Goldman Sachs has put together a bipartisan defense. Oh would a Bachmann or Cain presidency upset Wall Street's game plan!

Up: food stamps and government limos

  Wow. 
  Director Blue has two charts that are absolutely stunning. One is the increase in the number of people using food stamps since Obama took office. The other is the increase in the number of limos, up 73%, the elite class has purchased for its use; that is, government employees.
  Read it here.
  Do they really think we won't notice?