The requirement that everyone buy health insurance -- a central element to President Obama's health care plan -- is flatly unconstitutional, legal experts argue.
"At the heart of this plan is an unprecedented imposition on individual liberty," constitutional attorney David Rivkin told FOX News.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Bisa Williams traveled to the Havana, Cuba for talks on restoring postal service between the two countries, but officials now say she also held additional talks in western Cuba about the status of the US Interest Section in Cuba and migration, among other topics.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will unveil a bill Wednesday that aims to make deep cuts in U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions in the near and long term while setting a limit on the cost of carbon allowances, according to several sources and a close-to-final version of the bill obtained by The Washington Post.
The bill, which is still being revised, would make it easier for businesses to compensate for their carbon pollution by expanding the available pool of domestic offsets by 40 percent compared with the House-passed climate bill authored by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). It does not specify how pollution allowances would be allocated, which is sure to be a key battle as the bill moves forward.
An audit of the government program in five large states found about 65,000 instances of beneficiaries improperly obtaining potentially addictive drugs at a cost of about $65 million during 2006 and 2007 — including thousands of prescriptions written for dead patients or by people posing as doctors.
Every member of Congress should be ashamed of themselves. How the hell do these people sleep at night?!
FIX WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM WE HAVE, YOU IDIOTS!
Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion.
The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants — with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more.
There’s $15.8 million for salaries for the Senate Appropriations Committee — plus an extra $950,000 for the committee’s administrative expenses.
Sorry. If you want to hurl your fruitcup, read more.:-(
Hi lol! I was gone almost all day yesterday - the day from hell - and I come back to see a HELEN THOMAS THREAD?. Not to mention I have exactly 168 emails in my inbox. WHUT? Jorline promised to post her mayo recipe and I have to go look for it. I was going to post on that thread, but comments are closed, so I'll say it here.
JORLINE YOU ROCK GREAT NAME FOR THE BOOK FORUM.
lol, re: the GAO report you cited. You are in Philly, right? There was a reporter for a Philly newspaper who won the Pulitzer for reporting on what was then called 'croakers'. These were docs who prescribed opiates and other drugs to street thugs and billed Medicare. I don't remember the reporter's name.
I made my software development bones on that story. I worked in the Pennsylvania Auditor General's office and they needed to go to the Gov with data - but their data was so incoherent they couldn't give a report.
Should be interesting times at the book club next week. Sarah Palin's "Rogue" is #1 at Barnes & Noble, # 6 at Amazon and moving up. Amazon just reduced their pre-release price to match B&N. I get a feeling B&N won't be able to hide this one on the back shelf.
Atilla, I thank you for the kudos but unfortunately that post was by a poster much more erudite than myself. I usually just mooch fruitcup and bask in the reflected glory of others.
lol, just got the bids on having my roof redone, the best comes in around 5K. Can't really snivel though, that baby held up Erin, Opa, Ivan and Dennis - no wonder it's starting to weep a little.
Yeah, Florida is another story, and my roof problem is...just plain stupid. talloldman hired this guy to repair the stucco on the chimney and the doofus removed the flashing!
/yes, that WAS the last time he was allowed to hire a contractor, funny you should ask. ;-)
You just know that the NWS is watching the computer to make sure it doesn't randomly spit out "Oprah" or "Michelle" for hurricane names for the next 4 years.
I call up the Examiner web page from time to time, just to see what a news newspaper looks like. I want opinions - I'll go to Huffington thank you very much.
My parents lived in Ocala for awhile, then moved to Dothan Alabama. They never got over their love for Florida. Ever. Every October they rented a condo at Panama City Beach and partied for a solid month.
They were in their '80s.
Until we had to evac them because of Opal. We never let them go back.
ATH - the funny part for me was during Ivan and Dennis. When Ivan hit I was in southern Greece on a motorcycle tour. Kept up on things at little internet cafes. When Dennis hit I was in western Canada on a motorcycle tour. When Katrina started warming up 2 of my neighbors seriously asked me if I was going to be out of town on a motorcycle tour.
My handy household hint: When using a razor blade to scrape paint off a window, do not ram it into your thumb. Wife gave me the "I love you but you're stupid" look and sent me to the doc. Three stitches.
Well, if you feel that way ATH, I won't regale you with snippets of my tours in Italy, or Greece, or Austria, or the Swiss Alps, or - can you sense that I'm a retired batchelor?
Here's a hint I got from dating a housepainter: Take Panhandler's screwdriver and a hammer and punch some holes around the interior part of the lip of the can. Allows the paint to drip back into the can instead of over the rim.
/of course, that was a long time ago, when there was metal cans! ;-)
The problem with allowing my husband to hire contractors is he scouts the neighborhood to see who is getting what done and by whom. Then he hires that person on the spot - WITHOUT SEEING THE FINISHED JOB!
I finally caught on right before we were going to replace our concrete walkway. I saved myself a lot of heartache! ;-)
President Barack Obama made a "public option" his centerpiece not because it's the answer to what's broken in the U.S. system, but because it's a halfway house to a single-payer setup that liberal Democrats have always wanted. Team Obama also knew the public is concerned about rising costs, so they jammed together a hooey-filled argument that the public option was somehow the solution to rising costs.
The public is not as dumb as it's made out to be, and Mr. Obama's public option died a bipartisan death yesterday in the Senate Finance Committee. What's left is a package of "reforms" that are mere trite extensions of what we've been doing for decades. That is, piling up mandates on private insurers and then lying that this somehow isn't driving up the cost of health insurance; piling up subsidies for health consumption and then lying that this somehow isn't responsible for runaway health-care spending.
The end of the article explains what was perhaps the real motivation behind this whole mess:
In Canada, where health care is largely government controlled, 61% of health-care workers are unionized. In the U.S., it's only 11%. Democrats are bent on changing that and the bills floating around Capitol Hill are rife with provisions to replicate the Missouri scheme nationally.
Mr. Obama's health-care thinking always lacked the bite of real "reform." He never claimed he was a wonk. He claimed he was a political mobilizer. He meant it.
Government by unions. Just what we need, or just what Obama and the Democrats need to keep the money going into their pockets.
The thing that amazes me about the whole Obamamania is the way that a corrupt product of the most craven political machine in America -- truly the only remnant of the kind of political Boss-ism that dominated politics at the turn of the 20th century -- has been repackaged as some kind of symbol of "new" and "different" politics.
It's like a successful marketing campaign to sell "commercial grade" meat as health food.
"Be the first on your block to vote for Hope and Change" Sometimes I get the feeling that research will reveal the Obama campaign hired the same outfit that came up with the Xtendz commercials.
Help yourselves!
HAPPY WEDNESDAY, EVERYBODY!
ReplyDelete(Thank goodness we don't have to look at Helen's punim anymore!)
Ho-ho! It's about time!
ReplyDeleteHealth Care Mandate Sparks Constitutional Debate
The requirement that everyone buy health insurance -- a central element to President Obama's health care plan -- is flatly unconstitutional, legal experts argue.
"At the heart of this plan is an unprecedented imposition on individual liberty," constitutional attorney David Rivkin told FOX News.
Heads are exploding in Miami...US and Cuba Held Unannounced Talks
ReplyDeleteDeputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Bisa Williams traveled to the Havana, Cuba for talks on restoring postal service between the two countries, but officials now say she also held additional talks in western Cuba about the status of the US Interest Section in Cuba and migration, among other topics.
Ruh roh! They're sneaking one by us...AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteSenators Ready a Bill on Greenhouse Gases
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will unveil a bill Wednesday that aims to make deep cuts in U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions in the near and long term while setting a limit on the cost of carbon allowances, according to several sources and a close-to-final version of the bill obtained by The Washington Post.
The bill, which is still being revised, would make it easier for businesses to compensate for their carbon pollution by expanding the available pool of domestic offsets by 40 percent compared with the House-passed climate bill authored by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). It does not specify how pollution allowances would be allocated, which is sure to be a key battle as the bill moves forward.
Duh!
ReplyDeleteGAO report: Millions in fraud, drug abuse clogs Medicaid
An audit of the government program in five large states found about 65,000 instances of beneficiaries improperly obtaining potentially addictive drugs at a cost of about $65 million during 2006 and 2007 — including thousands of prescriptions written for dead patients or by people posing as doctors.
Every member of Congress should be ashamed of themselves. How the hell do these people sleep at night?!
FIX WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM WE HAVE, YOU IDIOTS!
He's not really the president...he only plays one on TV.
ReplyDeleteGood morning littleoldlady. Just you around at the moment? Thanks for the fruitcup.
ReplyDeleteThey've got a lot of nerve, Part 2:
ReplyDeleteIn tight times, Hill loosens its belt"
Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion.
The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants — with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more.
There’s $15.8 million for salaries for the Senate Appropriations Committee — plus an extra $950,000 for the committee’s administrative expenses.
Sorry. If you want to hurl your fruitcup, read more.:-(
Hiya Phil! :-)
ReplyDeleteYup. Nobody here but us chickens! ;-)
Hi lol! I was gone almost all day yesterday - the day from hell - and I come back to see a HELEN THOMAS THREAD?. Not to mention I have exactly 168 emails in my inbox. WHUT? Jorline promised to post her mayo recipe and I have to go look for it. I was going to post on that thread, but comments are closed, so I'll say it here.
ReplyDeleteJORLINE YOU ROCK GREAT NAME FOR THE BOOK FORUM.
lol, re: the GAO report you cited. You are in Philly, right? There was a reporter for a Philly newspaper who won the Pulitzer for reporting on what was then called 'croakers'. These were docs who prescribed opiates and other drugs to street thugs and billed Medicare. I don't remember the reporter's name.
I made my software development bones on that story. I worked in the Pennsylvania Auditor General's office and they needed to go to the Gov with data - but their data was so incoherent they couldn't give a report.
I organized the data.
This is an old, old, story, unfortunately.
Oh, did I forget to say: Honey is in the house
Good morning Honey. Nice picture. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, it's good to get back to a normal approach to the day. TNKS for the fruitcup lol.
ReplyDeleteHiya Honey! :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember the series (in the Inquirer, probably).
PANHANDLER !!! :-)
ReplyDeleteSorry Phil, forgot to credit you for the avatar.
ReplyDeleteWHAT? It wasn't me, honest - I was in the library, with Colonel Mustard, Yeah - that's the ticket
ReplyDeletePanhandler, good to see you. I will take credit where due man. Just seeing that picture makes me smile though. Glad you held on to it.
ReplyDeletePANHANDLER!1
ReplyDeleteOh, my heavens1
*blush*
lol, I read the article at your link. Actually, I don't have a lot of problems with those expenditures. The buildings on the Hill REALLY need repairs.
The one odditiy: $30,000 for foreign receptions.
That is very, very, odd. I might have to look into that one.
Should be interesting times at the book club next week. Sarah Palin's "Rogue" is #1 at Barnes & Noble, # 6 at Amazon and moving up. Amazon just reduced their pre-release price to match B&N. I get a feeling B&N won't be able to hide this one on the back shelf.
ReplyDeleteheh
ReplyDeleteRacism on the rise
*ahem*
PH
ReplyDeleteYes, but we can't buy Palin's book because it was ghostwritten by a racist.
Get. With. The. Program.
This place! Gotta love it!
ReplyDelete/except for blogspot :-/
HOney,
ReplyDeleteYeah well...my roof needs repairing, too. But there's something called "not having the money for it at the moment!"
Atilla, I thank you for the kudos but unfortunately that post was by a poster much more erudite than myself. I usually just mooch fruitcup and bask in the reflected glory of others.
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDelete(in the Inquirer, probably).
yeah, it was the Inquirer, and now that I think about it, it was probably the paper and not the reporter who got the Pulitzer.
Did I just write "that post was by a poster" and use the word erudite in the same sentence?
ReplyDeleteFACEPALM
*passes panhandler a coffee* Don't worry about it, mornings are usually rough on the writing skills.
ReplyDeleteI stopped "taking" (yeah, I'm old! ;-) The Inquirer last year. I told them when they get rid of Tony Auth and Trudy Rubin I may rethink my decision.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, out of the ashes, a group has restored the name of a legendary Philadelphia newspaper:
The Bulletin. And guess what? It's conservative!
lol, just got the bids on having my roof redone, the best comes in around 5K. Can't really snivel though, that baby held up Erin, Opa, Ivan and Dennis - no wonder it's starting to weep a little.
ReplyDeleteMore coffee Phil - Opal!
ReplyDeletePanhandler,
ReplyDeleteYeah, Florida is another story, and my roof problem is...just plain stupid. talloldman hired this guy to repair the stucco on the chimney and the doofus removed the flashing!
/yes, that WAS the last time he was allowed to hire a contractor, funny you should ask. ;-)
You just know that the NWS is watching the computer to make sure it doesn't randomly spit out "Oprah" or "Michelle" for hurricane names for the next 4 years.
ReplyDeletelol - Dad had a monster, fully equipped tool box for around the house, Mom used a broken butcher knife and a bent screwdriver and got it done quicker.
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeletere: The Bulletin.
Not just because I am fond of bullets, but we should really add that to our blogroll.
And here is the local Wash DC equivalent
The Washington Examiner
I call up the Examiner web page from time to time, just to see what a news newspaper looks like. I want opinions - I'll go to Huffington thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteYeah, what I've learned to fix around here, out of necessity, could fill...two maybe three seasons of a sitcom! ;-)
ReplyDeletePH
ReplyDeleteMy parents lived in Ocala for awhile, then moved to Dothan Alabama. They never got over their love for Florida. Ever. Every October they rented a condo at Panama City Beach and partied for a solid month.
They were in their '80s.
Until we had to evac them because of Opal. We never let them go back.
ATH - the funny part for me was during Ivan and Dennis. When Ivan hit I was in southern Greece on a motorcycle tour. Kept up on things at little internet cafes. When Dennis hit I was in western Canada on a motorcycle tour. When Katrina started warming up 2 of my neighbors seriously asked me if I was going to be out of town on a motorcycle tour.
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeletecould fill...two maybe three seasons of a sitcom! ;-)
We should have a DIY forum. srsly.
Like my first contribution would be
DO NOT PUT POTATO PEELS IN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL.
Took 3 days in the dead of winter to fix that fuck up.
PH
ReplyDeleteSouthern Greece. Motorcycle tour.
hookay. I hate you enuff already, go away.
Potato peels! LOL! My cousin's husband would only show up to our annual Chanukah party because he knew he'd get to fix my garbage disposal.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got a new one installed he stopped coming! ;-)
Morning all. Panhandler, that sounds like a great way to deal with hurricanes: Be out of town.
ReplyDeletePOTATOE PEELS
ReplyDeleteNor lots of cooked rice
MY contribution- Just because a kitchen utensil has a Bakelite handle, that does not mean you can leave it in the oven.
ReplyDeleteMolly is just PESTERING me. I don't know what she wants. bbiab.
ReplyDeleteUNcooked rice is even worse!
ReplyDeleteJIM! :-)
My handy household hint: When using a razor blade to scrape paint off a window, do not ram it into your thumb. Wife gave me the "I love you but you're stupid" look and sent me to the doc. Three stitches.
ReplyDeleteBladeholder at Home Depot, $1.98
ReplyDeleteWife giving you the "I love you but you're stupid look"? PRICELESS!
Well, if you feel that way ATH, I won't regale you with snippets of my tours in Italy, or Greece, or Austria, or the Swiss Alps, or - can you sense that I'm a retired batchelor?
ReplyDeleteFood. Big surprise there. She's a beagle.
ReplyDeleteOk, my handy hint:
Hire somebody else.
Dead tree papers are in. Be back later.
(I'm thru 80 of the 168 emails.) gah
JiV - when prying the lid off of a paint can use a screwdriver NOT a file - small puncture wound, no wife to give me "The Look" though.
ReplyDeletelol, perhaps you should refer AtH to the start of this conversation - tom hired somebody else.
ReplyDeleteHere's a hint I got from dating a housepainter: Take Panhandler's screwdriver and a hammer and punch some holes around the interior part of the lip of the can. Allows the paint to drip back into the can instead of over the rim.
ReplyDelete/of course, that was a long time ago, when there was metal cans! ;-)
The problem with allowing my husband to hire contractors is he scouts the neighborhood to see who is getting what done and by whom. Then he hires that person on the spot - WITHOUT SEEING THE FINISHED JOB!
ReplyDeleteI finally caught on right before we were going to replace our concrete walkway. I saved myself a lot of heartache! ;-)
Well, off to work. See you folks in a little while
ReplyDeleteSee ya Phil.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading the newspaper I recommended above. ;-)
The Bulletin.
Good morning, all. Dark and chilly in Chambodia -- currently 49 degrees.
ReplyDeleteOpposing Obama Care -- racist!
ReplyDeleteBuying Palin's book -- racist!
Thinking -- racist!
They are really growing desperate, aren't they? It's all they have left.
Our home remodeleing continues. Bathroom vanity top was installed yesterday as were new windows on back porch.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll be done by Christmas.
Lucius! :-)
ReplyDelete'Morning. It's 57° here. I thought you were South of me (Philadelphia)?
Lucius, are you guys drying out? Are the reservoirs back upto normal levels now?
ReplyDeleteSunny and cool here on the Gulf. 62 going up to 82 today. Lordy, I'm channeling realwest -
ReplyDeleteIt's 50 here this morning. Thermal inversion? Localized globull warming? Hot air from Philly politicians?
ReplyDeleteA good analysis of the Health care debacle in today's WSJ. The opening line itself is priceless: Someday this country will have a health-care debate that's not abject in its idiocy.
ReplyDeletePresident Barack Obama made a "public option" his centerpiece not because it's the answer to what's broken in the U.S. system, but because it's a halfway house to a single-payer setup that liberal Democrats have always wanted. Team Obama also knew the public is concerned about rising costs, so they jammed together a hooey-filled argument that the public option was somehow the solution to rising costs.
The public is not as dumb as it's made out to be, and Mr. Obama's public option died a bipartisan death yesterday in the Senate Finance Committee. What's left is a package of "reforms" that are mere trite extensions of what we've been doing for decades. That is, piling up mandates on private insurers and then lying that this somehow isn't driving up the cost of health insurance; piling up subsidies for health consumption and then lying that this somehow isn't responsible for runaway health-care spending.
The end of the article explains what was perhaps the real motivation behind this whole mess:
In Canada, where health care is largely government controlled, 61% of health-care workers are unionized. In the U.S., it's only 11%. Democrats are bent on changing that and the bills floating around Capitol Hill are rife with provisions to replicate the Missouri scheme nationally.
Mr. Obama's health-care thinking always lacked the bite of real "reform." He never claimed he was a wonk. He claimed he was a political mobilizer. He meant it.
Government by unions. Just what we need, or just what Obama and the Democrats need to keep the money going into their pockets.
Hot air from Philly politicians?
ReplyDeleteThat must be it! ;-)
accuweather and weatherdotcom have the same temp.
/...hmmmm
I'm in Atlanta -- it hasn't rained in a couple of days, but the ground is still pretty soggy. Any rain at this point and it would flood immediately.
ReplyDeleteAs for the lakes, it's hard to tell -- the Corps of Engineers loves draining them just because they can.
The thing that amazes me about the whole Obamamania is the way that a corrupt product of the most craven political machine in America -- truly the only remnant of the kind of political Boss-ism that dominated politics at the turn of the 20th century -- has been repackaged as some kind of symbol of "new" and "different" politics.
ReplyDeleteIt's like a successful marketing campaign to sell "commercial grade" meat as health food.
That's exactly what it was - a marketing campaign!
ReplyDeletealthough a marketing campaign with a twist -- if you didn't buy the product, you're a racist!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see the guys hawking tampons or FDS try that angle.
That was part of the message, Lucius. The "buyer" of the product was a better person than the non-buyer.
ReplyDeleteStandard fare in advertising.
"Be the first on your block to vote for Hope and Change" Sometimes I get the feeling that research will reveal the Obama campaign hired the same outfit that came up with the Xtendz commercials.
ReplyDelete'Morning, everybody!
ReplyDelete*Flexes fingers* - it's cool out there this morning!
Here's the usual, and an apfelstrudel from my late grandmother's recipe.
Have a great day, and I sincerely hope to catch up with you later!
I'm off to oppress the masses and despoil the environment. Stay safe y'all.
ReplyDeleteSTRUDEL!!! YAY! Thanks maudgonne! :-)
ReplyDeleteSee ya, Jim! :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, I made it to work in one piece. And I have come to the conclusion that some people choose not to listen to directions.
ReplyDelete/generally they are also a**holes as well.
Were they trying to run you over, Phil?
ReplyDeleteNo littleoldlady, I am talking about co-workers. :)
ReplyDelete/drivers are general idiots normally, I take that into account.
//*slowly hides drivers lisecene*
Yes I know my printer is low on ink --- you don't need to keep telling me.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when the computer starts nagging me.
Time to go to work. Later, all.
ReplyDeleteWell...this is somewhat encouraging:
ReplyDelete(58% of) Americans Still Say Local Solutions Better for Economy Than G-20
Bye, Lucius! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is killer weather for me. PRE-rain. My head keeps hitting the keyboard... :-(
ReplyDelete