Archive » 2009 » July

My column today delves into the Byzantine world of the Democrats’ government-run health care takeover. I filed it before the latest CBO budget analysis assailing the costs of Obamacare — a predictable outcome which simply bolsters my point. I linked the other day to the incredible flow chart created by the GOP team at the [...]

A nightmare come true. Watch this new video from the Sam Adams Alliance:

Two more Obamacare items worth your attention this morning: 1) Investors’ Business Daily shines light on a provision in the Democrat takeover bill that will effectively kill off the market for individual insurance and funnel consumers into the “public option:” When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we [...]

“Centrist” Democrats in the House say they oppose the government health care takeover plans of their leaders and their president. They’re barking loudly, demanding major amendments to protect small businesses and taxpayers. But do the Blue Dogs have any bite? Or will they be bought off like many of them were on cap-and-trade and Porkulus [...]

What not to wear.

Well, this is one hurdle down on the road to socialized medicine. Time to ramp up the resistance, folks. The NYTimes is thrilled to report: Voting on strict party lines, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved a bill on Wednesday to revamp the nation’s health care system, as Democrats said that the [...]

Please take a moment to read about and watch the story of Irena Marie Peitz, daughter of reader Brian. Baby Irena was born on July 6, 2009 and passed away on July 10, 2009. Life is precious. Never forget: Untitled from Kateri Reyes on Vimeo.

Cable TV reporting shots fired/police chase near the Senate building in Washington, D.C. Fox News: Started at Union Station, Mercedes chased through streets.

If socialized medicine is good enough to force on American taxpayers, it’s good enough for Congress. I like this House resolution from Rep. John Fleming requiring lawmakers in Washington to enroll in any government-run health plan it decides to foist on the rest of us. Read and sign the petition supporting House Resolution 615 here: [...]

Photoshop credit: Leo Alberti Last week, I noted that Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk’s vote for cap-and-tax was a factor in the state GOP delegation refusing to endorse him for a Senate run. Guess he’s not getting the message: After much waffling, he has decided to launch his candidacy on July 20: ***Media Advisory*** Kirk to [...]

Jason at Shock and Blog points out Al Gore’s latest gaseous emission: Michelle, Heather Ewart, a reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Company, recently interviewed Al Gore. At one point, she asked Gore about a High Court case in England two years ago about his film “An Inconvenient Truth” being shown to public school students. In [...]

Photoshop credit: The People’s Cube The Democrats’ government health care takeover plans are flailing. What to do? What to do? Enlist every willing MSM lackey, of course. We had the All Barack Channel special. The Obamacare Theater production. And now a trifecta of dinosaur broadcast media interviews. Noel Sheppard reports: “All Three Nets To Interview [...]

My syndicated column below contrasts the Left’s “unease” over the evangelical Christian faith of NIH director-designate Francis Collins with its radio silence on the eco-zealotry of Obama science czar John Holdren. But first, some late-breaking developments: As Zombie notes, the White House has responded to rising blogosphere unease with Holdren’s cultish ideas by pooh-poohing Holdren’s [...]

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From the House GOP Conference Secretary’s office: Democrats Gag Debate on Failure to Follow House Rules (WASHINGTON, DC) – In an astonishing acceleration of the stifling of debate and transparency in the House, Democrats tonight voted to adjourn and gag the planned special orders speeches of U.S. Representatives John Carter (R-TX) and Steve King (R-IA). [...]

To the cronies go the spoils. So it was during the Bush administration. So it is during the Age of Hope and Change: Goldman Sachs Group Inc said quarterly earnings surged 33 percent on blowout trading results, trouncing expectations and putting the bank on pace for windfall bonuses that could draw more unwanted public scrutiny. [...]

Here is yesterday’s Senate roll call vote on Robert M. Groves, of Michigan, to be Director of the Census: (link) Here’s all you need to know. ACORN approves: *** Previous Census blogging.

Scroll for updates… We know the health care takeover tax hikes are coming. Just waiting for the Democrats to unveil the actual vehicle sometime today. CQ has the latest on desperate Democrat leadership efforts to resuscitate Obamacare: House Democrats will introduce their full healthcare reform bill Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday while [...]

Stacy McCain updates the story that the Obama administration wants to go away: “We’re not there yet,” one Democratic source on Capitol Hill said last week, when asked about the prospect for hearings on the Obama administration’s firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin. Congressional investigators are still conducting interviews in the case, so the [...]

Scroll down for liveblog and updates… Today, it’s the SCOTUS ceremonial dance with the Senate. Republicans will delicately challenge Sonia Somotmayor on racial preferences, Second Amendment rights, property rights, sovereignty issues, and her extracurricular speechifying. Democrats will bloviate about pet causes (“consumer-friendly” laws, the environment). Sonia the Wise will assuage skeptics with repeated insistences that [...]

Photoshop credit: David A Stein One of President Obama’s teleprompters met an untimely death today. R.I.P. I hear Sheila Jackson-Lee is working on a congressional resolution honoring TOTUS. The White House has not yet decided on an open- or closed-casket viewing. *** Flashback: Fun with TOTUS

Woo-hoo! Feel the Hope and Change: Nine months into the fiscal year, the federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time. The imbalance is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation, and already pressuring the value of the dollar. There’s also concern about trying to reverse the deficit — by reducing government [...]

Hmmm. Maybe the SEC investigation is catching up to car czar Steven “Chooch” Rattner. He’s leaving his post to “return to private life.” Reuters has the alert: Steven Rattner is leaving as the day-to-day head of the U.S. autos task force that oversaw bankruptcy at General Motors Corp and Chrysler Group, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner [...]

Reader Stanley e-mails that Wells Fargo is suing itself, and has hired two different law firms to do so. Details from Dow Jones columnist Al Lewis: You can’t expect a bank that is dumb enough to sue itself to know why it is suing itself. Yet I could not resist asking Wells Fargo Bank NA [...]

It’s working! It’s working! The city of Hoover will get $400,000 in federal stimulus money for a landscaping and beautification project at the Interstate 65 and U.S. 31 interchange, city officials learned this week. The project will be paid completely with federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to the Alabama Department [...]

On Friday, I spotlighted the devastating reporting on Obama “science czar” John Holdren posted at zombietime and featured it as the lead story all weekend. Refresher on Holdren’s eco-zealous views: • Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not; • The population at large could be sterilized by infertility [...]

As predicted and expected, the Senate Sotomayor hearing this morning has been marinated in rhetoric about “overcoming adversity.” (Plus two disruptions from protesters. Immediately quelled by Capitol police.) Sen. Feinstein praised Sotomayor’s “warmth.” (Did she take her temperature?) Sen. Kyl made a measured, comprehensive case challenging Sotomayor’s biases and prejudices on race and foreign law. [...]

Reuters reports that President Obama will announce his surgeon general pick at around 11:30am-ish this morning. Nope, it’s not Dr. Phil. She’s Dr. Regina Benjamin, an Alabama rural physician. Bio info: Benjamin was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and last [...]

“Unprecedented.”

Able to leap tall life obstacles in a single bound! It’s opening day of the Senate SCOTUS hearings on the Sonia Sotomayor nomination. We’ll get gavel-to-gavel coverage this morning on all major networks and CSPAN starting at 10am Eastern. The good news: At least we’ll be spared Joe Biden’s bloviations. That’s about the only positive [...]