The Kings Largess

Obama is relishing his role as anointed saviour for the Democrats. Now come this story of his largess, otherwise known as vote buying to the rational sector.

WASHINGTON — President Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize a second $250 stimulus check to be sent early next year to an estimated 57 million Social Security recipients, veterans and people with disabilities.

In effect, the payment would be in lieu of a cost-of-living increase for Social Security beneficiaries next year. The White House request, and receptive statements from Congressional Democratic leaders, anticipated an announcement on Thursday from the Social Security Administration that there would be no cost-of-living adjustment for 2010 because the inflation rate has been negative as the recession has driven down prices.

By contrast, a year ago the cost of living adjustment was 5.8 percent, reflecting strong inflation and high energy prices.

White House officials put the cost of the checks at $13 billion. The first $250 checks went out in May as part of the $787 billion two-year stimulus package. As with that package, the officials said Mr. Obama would not ask Congress to offset the cost with other savings because the checks were intended to stimulate the economy, and budget cuts or tax increases would defeat that.

The money would go to all Social Security beneficiaries, regardless of their income, as well as disabled veterans, those eligible for railroad retirement payments and people who receive federal and state government pensions instead of Social Security.

This is a blatant attempt on his part to buy votes. With soaring deficits and out of control spending from Congress, the fact that he would even think of spending more money is mind boggling.Then again, nothing this man does surprises me any more. His complete lack of understanding about the economy and spending is monumental. He and his cohorts in Congress see a rough time ahead, as we he get into the 2010 elections. Here's a chance to target likely voters and buy some votes, which they'll likely need. The fact that we, and our kids, shall have to pay for his vote buying scheme only adds to the issue. Maybe he could use some of his Nobel money to fund this? Naw. Bet that never occurs to him.

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Obama, Stimulus, Libertarian, Voting

Rushing To Disaster

So, both houses of Congress are set to vote on their "stimulus" package. Too bad they're going to vote on something that none of them have freakin' bothered to read! Or will have the time to read.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted on Thursday that none of his Senate colleagues would "have the chance" to read the entire final version of the $790-billion stimulus bill before the bill comes up for a final vote in Congress.

“No, I don’t think anyone will have the chance to [read the entire bill],” Lautenberg told CNSNews.com.

The final bill, crafted by a House-Senate conference committee, was posted on the Website of the House Appropriations Committe late Thurday in two PDF files.

The first PDF was 424 pages long and the second PDF was 575 pages long, making the total bill 999 pages long. The House is expected to vote on this 999-page bill Friday, and the Senate either later Friday or Saturday. [Editor's note: The first PDF, as posted on the House Appropriations Committee website as of 8:20 AM Friday morning, had grown by 72 pages to 496 pages, increasing the length of the total document to 1,071 pages.]

Of the several senators that CNSNews.com interviewed on Thursday, only Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) claimed to have read the entire bill--and he was speaking of the preliminary version that had been approved by the Senate, not the final 999-page version that the House-Senate conference committee was still haggling over on Thursday afternoon.

When CNSNews.com asked members of both parties on Capitol Hill on Thursday whether they had read the full, final bill, not one member could say, "Yes."

Why the rush? Well, as is being reported by Drudge, it's all because of Nacy Pelosi and a planned Europe junket to Italy and other parts, so she can receive an award from the Italians.

Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the "stimulus" bill must be urgently voted on today -- because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe!

Culberson made the charge on Houston's KSEV radio.

Pelosi is hoping to lead a delegation to Europe; there's a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group.

Calls to Pelosi's spokesman went unreturned.

In the rushing, Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the $790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote.

They, those people who are going to rush to vote on this measure, are going to throw us into the fire of debt for political gain. It's not like this "stimulus" is going to actually work. Quite the opposite, in fact. This will do more damage to our economy than doing nothing would. Even though it is unlikely to work in any substantive way, give your Congressional "representatives" a call or an email on this. Demand that they not vote until the bill has been read and understood. And then vote no. We, and our children cannot afford this bill.

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News, Politics, Stimulus, Obama, Libertarian

Government Health Care Is Here

Well, the Senate has passed Obama's spending bill, along with the tons of pork. It won't do any good, in the short or long term, but that's seemingly neither here nor there. Hidden amongst the hundreds of unread pages in this disaster is something much worse than all that spending. The politicians and Obama have managed to place a national health care scheme into this bill (.pdf). One in which the government, (not you and your physician) will determine what therapy you should receive. Thousands of people will be sentenced to death by the governments health "care" Tsar and their bureaucracy.

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.

New Penalties

Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)

The worlds best health care system just became a thing of the past, unless people can somehow persuade their politicians to yank this abomination from the bill, which the Senate and House will have to agree to. Do not expect Indiana's Evan Bayh to object to this, (he voted yes). He's a strong proponent of bigger, more intrusive government, like Mr. Obama. "Universal health care" is here.

Don't get sick in the future. Unless you want some government employee deciding your health care options for you.

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News, Stimulus, Universal Health Care, Obama