Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Obama is an arrogant, un-Presidential so and so….

Does Obama’s arrogance and condescension know no bounds?

He says: “Republicans….they just do as their told”

It is like experiencing fingernails on a chalkboard to watch, but just experience ”un-presidentialness” (is that a word?) of your President!

Support the Valour IT Project

We've supported Soldiers' Angels Project Valour ITproject in the past, but haven't posted on it yet this year. It's a wonderful cause, described succinctly by Soldiers' Angels:

Project Valour-IT helps provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technology to support Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries. Items supplied include: Voice-controlled Laptops, Wii Video Game Systems and Personal GPS.

The campaign goes through November 11; so far, over $50,000 has been raised. It features friendly competition among the military services.

Cassandra of Villainous Company asked us to support the Marine team this year. It was a hard request to turn down, given that her husband is a Marine currently serving in Afghanistan. So, to help an eminently worthwhile cause, just click on the graphic below:

'Principled' GOP candidate would have won #ny23

A pro-life group that backed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman says the Democratic special election victory in New York's 23rd Congressional District is actually a win for motivated conservative activists.

The Top Ten Reasons the Baucus Healthcare Plan is Bad for America

1. No bill and no transparency. The Baucus “bill” is no bill at all but a 300 page outline and summary of what a bill would look like. The actual bill will contain over 1,000 pages and is yet to be completed. Democrats have voted down an amendment to make it available for 72 hours before a vote, so when it is brought to the Senate floor for a vote, no senator will have read it.

2. Higher spending. The Baucus “summary” is a big spending bill rather than health care legislation. The cost has been estimated at $829 billion over ten years (and will surely go much higher), and the legislation would raise taxes on everybody, including the middle class. The Congressional Budget Office says it would leave 25 million people uninsured.


3. Higher taxes. The Baucus summary includes at least $327 billion in new taxes -- a tax on high-cost insurance plans ($210 billion), penalties for not having insurance ($27 billion), and “indirect offsets” (whatever they are -- $83 billion). State taxes will surely rise as costs are fobbed off on state governments in the form of more Medicaid spending.

4. Higher health insurance premiums. According to an independent study done by an actuary and the Council for Affordable Health Insurance: Health insurance rates will almost double for most American families who buy their own policies if Congress passes universal coverage, guaranteed issue and modified community rating! These are all main features in both versions of the Senate bill. On top of this families will be fined $759-$1,500 if they do not buy insurance, even if they cannot afford it.

5. Hidden Employer Mandate. The Baucus summary includes an employer mandate -- watered-down, but still there. There is no specific requirement for employers to provide insurance, but any employer who fails to do so would have to pay the cost of all subsidies that the government provides his workers to help them pay for insurance on their own, up to $400 per worker. Since it will ultimately be the employee who pays the cost of the mandate, through reduced compensation or reduced employment, the government will be giving the worker a subsidy with one hand and taking it back with the other.

6. Tax Dollars for Abortion. Current federal law protects American taxpayers from paying for abortions as part of the health benefits given to federal employees -- not one of the insurance plans offered includes abortion coverage. To maintain the “status quo” on abortion any health care bill would have to explicitly prevent federal dollars from being used for elective abortions. Provisions that would have done that were defeated by all five committees that have handled health care reform bills this year.

7. Big cuts in Medicare Advantage. The Baucus summary cuts payments to the Medicare Advantage program. In response, many insurers may stop participating in the program while others could increase the premiums they charge seniors. Millions of seniors (the bulk will be lower-income elderly and minorities) will be forced off their current plan and back into traditional Medicare.

8. No more Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The bills that each committee has approved in the Senate and House would eliminate HSAs as an affordable health insurance option for Americans. The government would determine what each health insurance plan looks like, and after all the requirements, mandates, and regulations, the high-deductible health plans that accompany tax-free HSAs would not qualify as an acceptable health insurance product.

9. Invades Patients’ Privacy. The Baucus summary would eliminate patients’ rights to health privacy and a patient’s right to control sensitive health information in electronic systems. Every American would be required to have an electronic health record by 2014 and all electronic health records will be data mined without legal and ethical informed consent.

10. Ignores Tort Reform. Despite the fact that medical malpractice litigation adds billions of dollars to health care bills and results in billions (some estimate as much as $100 billion) being spent on defensive medicine, the Baucus summary makes no attempt to fix this curse on our system.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Do Tax Cuts Cost the Government Money?

Whenever tax cuts are discussed in Washington, the media and most politicians use the phrase, “cost to government.” “How much will this tax cut cost the government?” we are asked, as though some crime is being contemplated when we consider reducing taxes. The American people have every right to fund the federal government at whatever level they deem acceptable, and if they choose – through their elected representatives – to reduce that funding level, they are not somehow injuring the government. If Congresses passes a new law that results in you paying $1000 less in taxes next year, have you taken something from the government that rightfully belongs to it? Or has the government simply taken less from you?

You don’t cost the government money, the government costs you money!

Of course it’s reasonable to demand that politicians cut spending when they cut taxes. That’s the definition of real fiscal conservatism: government should not take too much from the private economy in taxes, but neither should it spend too much and run up deficits. That’s why I vote against the wasteful appropriations bills that relentlessly increase federal spending year after year.

I reject the notion that tax cuts harm the economy. The economy suffers when government takes money from your paycheck that you otherwise would spend, save, or invest. Taxes never create prosperity. Private-sector innovation and productivity are the engines that drive our economy, regardless of what politicians tell us.

Tax reduction is my first priority in Congress. The reality is that most working Americans lose about half of their incomes to federal, state, and local taxes. “Tax Freedom Day,” representing the portion of the year you must work to pay for government at all levels, is roughly June 1st for most Americans. Imagine all of your hard work this year between January and the end of May going to the government!

One tax in particular should be eliminated as soon as possible – the tax on Social Security benefits. Those benefits were never taxed between the 1930s and 1984. Treating them as taxable income represents nothing more than a trick to reduce Social Security benefits by stealth. I supported legislation that successfully repealed a 1993 tax increase on benefits, and my own bill, HR 180, would go further and eliminate all taxes on Social Security. Our seniors paid taxes throughout their working lives to fund the Social Security system, and it is immoral to tax them again on their benefits.

Various other taxes also must be reduced. Capital gains taxes are terribly counterproductive, punishing those who save and invest. Payroll taxes impose a tremendous compliance burden on businesses, especially smaller entrepreneurs who cannot hire an accounting department. Federal gas taxes should be slashed to provide taxpayers relief at the pump. Most importantly, federal spending must be dramatically reduced so that all Americans can go back to working for themselves instead of working to pay their taxes.

by Ron Paul

EDITORIALS: Sad Hill News

EDITORIALS: American Issues Project

EDITORIALS: American Thinker

EDITORIALS: Conservative Dialysis

EDITORIALS: Defund & Disobey

EDITORIALS: DickMorris.com

EDITORIALS: Firm Foundation

EDITORIALS: Investor's Business Daily - Editorial RSS

EDITORIALS: John Goodman's Health Policy Blog

EDITORIALS: Obama Lies

EDITORIALS: Onenewsnow.com Front Page Stories

EDITORIALS: Power Line

EDITORIALS: RedState

EDITORIALS: Sharp Right Turn

EDITORIALS: The Cloakroom Blog

EDITORIALS: The Front Page

EDITORIALS: The Next Right

EDITORIALS: The Patriot Room

EDITORIALS: TownHall Latest columns

EDITORIALS: Vocal Minority

EDITORIALS: Webloggin

ECONOMICS: Agora Financial's The 5 Min. Forecast

ECONOMICS: Capital Commerce

ECONOMICS: Capitalism Magazine (CapMag.com)

ECONOMICS: CARPE DIEM

ECONOMICS: NCPA | Daily Policy Digest

ECONOMICS: RealClearMarkets

ECONOMICS: WSJ.com: Real Time Economics

NEWS: NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias

NEWS: Newsmax - Inside Cover

NEWS: Resistnet.com

NEWS (SATIRE): ONN Front Page Stories

TRACKING: The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises