David Freddoso

Raid on ACORN HQ in New Orleans

Apparently reacting to reports of workers removing documents from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has executed a search warrant on the premises today. According to local news sources, computer hard drives and payroll records are being seized for analysis. The investigation pertains to a decade-old embezzlement case that came to light only last year. Dale Rathke, brother of the organization's founder, had stolen $1 million from an ACORN affiliate that he ran. (The Attorney General recently asserted in an affidavit that the embezzlement reached $5 million.) When the theft was...

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On spending, Congress apparently has no priorities

Thanks to a 36-to-62 vote in the Senate today, the National Science Foundation will continue funding studies like this one, which concluded that congressmen can boost their approval ratings by holding Internet town halls. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., proposed an amendment banning the use of NSF funds for such political science studies. Nine Republicans voted to preserve the funding. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., was among those voting against it. You can see how your senators voted on Coburn's amendment here. The vote highlights the total lack of prioritization in federal spending. One would expect National Science Foundation money to go towardy...well, science. If this kind of flimsy study (it...

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David Freddoso: Obama's ideas are losers for other Dems

When the White House spin-doctors say President Obama did not lose in this week's elections, they are right. It was not Obama who lost big, nor was it his campaign model that went down to defeat. The big loser on Tuesday night was Obama's policy platform. Tuesday's races did not demonstrate deep dissatisfaction with the president as much as they confirmed the shallow nature of his victory last year. Election 2008 was a triumph of personality and an understandable reaction to eight years of George W. Bush. Election 2009 was a test of whether other people can market Obama's ideas. In Virginia, Democrat Creigh Deeds did not run an Obama-style campaign, but he did run on Obama's ideas....

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Here's a shocker for you

The American Association of Retired Persons is endorsing the 2,000 page House health care bill....

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So crazy it just might work

Rep. Darrell Issa writes today in Politico that with their new health care bill, House Democrats are combining all of the failed health insurance reform experiments in Massachusetts, Tennessee, New York and Kentucky, in the hopes that they will suddenly work if combined on a national scale. - Tennessee's TennCare program made millions eligible for cheap or free insurance run under a complicated state managed-care program. Although it was intended to cover the poor, the uninsured and the uninsurable, it created a "crowd-out" phenomenon by prompting many employers to drop their insurance coverage and save money, knowing that their employees could enroll. Even worse,...

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Stimulus saves nine out of every five jobs

I've always believed that President Obama will take credit for saving 2 million jobs as long as there are 2 million jobs left in the United States. But his jobs report apparently goes beyong this, the Associated Press reports, taking credit for saving jobs that really don't exist. WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there. The Georgia nonprofit's inflated job count is among persisting errors in the government's latest effort to measure the effect of the $787 billion stimulus plan despite White House...

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Even Jersey has a limit

The Associated Press projects that, for the first time in a decade, a Republican has won statewide in New Jersey. It took a perfect storm of corruption, deficits, and a lack of true job creation to bring about such a change, but it has happened. The Republican Governor's Association, which lustily promoted Christie's candidacy from early on, released a statement from its chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour: “Chris Christie secured a major victory for the Republican Party tonight. Defeating a deep-pocketed incumbent in a Democratic state like New Jersey is a tremendous accomplishment and signals the beginning of the GOP’s comeback.” What else to watch: Upstate New...

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UPDATE: Deeds proves you can't win by insulting voters' intelligence

Republicans Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, and Ken Cuccinelli are the winners for the night in the Old Dominion for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, respectively. Expect the margins to be very wide. The post-mortem for the top race is fairly straightforward, and I don't expect that I'll be the only one to write it. Democrat Creigh Deeds ran an entire race with McDonnell's 20-year-old master's thesis as his main and his best issue. He nearly framed himself in his advertising as a one-issue canddiate: Creigh Deeds, Abortion Champion. He apparently believed that there were enough Planned Parenthood employees in the Commonwealth to put him over the top. (If you want a fair...

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Few lasting lessons from NY-23

Whether they win or lose today's election, Republicans will argue in vain against a news media eager to portray the party as intolerant of moderates. But here is an apt analogy for helping liberal reporters overcome their myopia and understand what's really going on: What if today's race had been in Georgia, and Democratic party leaders there had chosen Zell Miller as their candidate in some smoke-filled back room? Mainstream, rank-and-file Democrats would rebel at having such a nominee -- and rightly so. They would object that his issue positions are all conservative. They would argue that he had become the ally of Sean Hannity and conservative Republican leaders, and retains scarcely...

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At first, GOP expected no endorsement from Scozzafava

When Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race for Congress in New York's 23rd District, she issued what sounded like a conciliatory statement making peace with her party's base: I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my Party will emerge stronger and our District and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations. The following day, she endorsed the Democrat in the race against Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party nominee now backed by the RNC. Her action was in direct conflict with her statement. According to a GOP source, a Hoffman...

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Geithner 'burned billions' on CIT

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is directly to blame for taxpayers' loss of $2.3 billion in the CIT bailout, says professor William Black of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and a former federal bank regulator. "We put ourselves on the hook in a completely inept way where we lose first. We lose entirely as the taxpayers." Black specifically faults Geithner for negotiating an arrangement in which CIT can repay its senior creditors 70 cents on the dollar in bankruptcy, but taxpayers are completely left out in the cold for their investment. When Geithner pumped taxpayers' money into CIT this summer, "it's like he burned billions of dollars again in...

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The Republicans' odds for tomorrow

The GOP is counting on a few wins tomorrow after four years of losing. And futures market traders seem to favor them. At the Intrade futures market, they sell contracts that depend on election outcomes. If a candidate wins, his contract pays $100. If he loses, it becomes worthless. In the weeks leading up to an election, contracts are bought and sold between market participants, and the going price offers an indication of how the market views the race. In 2004, Intrade participants correctly predicted every state's presidential outcome. In 2008, they predicted them all correctly except for Indiana, which they gave to McCain, and Missouri, which finished as a coin-toss. Based on traders'...

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California Republican tries to sweeten the deal in NY-23

Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. is now promising upstate New Yorkers that he will give Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman a seat on the Armed Services committee if he wins tomorrow's special election in New York's 23rd District. The district features Fort Drum, a massive installation in the far northern region of New York state, about half-way between Syracuse and Ottawa, Canada. McKeon became the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services committee just after after the resignation of Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., who was appointed Secretary of the Army. Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens are fighting for McHugh's old seat. McKeon's statement, delivered by the National Republican...

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Americans sour on U.S.-Muslim relations

A new Rasmussen poll shows that only 16 percent of likely voters expect American relations with Muslims to improve. That is down sharply from the 28 percent optimism right after President Obama's speech to the Islamic world from Cairo five months ago. At that time, only 21 percent expected U.S.-Islamic relations to worsen, but now 33 percent expect it. Rasmussen notes: The president's outreach effort to the global Islamic community was one of the primary reasons cited for his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Further evidence that one can win a Nobel Prize by talking a good game....

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'I crash my car, you crash yours...'

Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. writes a fundraising pitch on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: David -- "I got mine, you get yours" seems to be the creed by which today's Republican Party operates. And, it is this Republican Party that has opposed every initiative, every policy and every program President Obama has proposed since assuming office in January. And he writes it as if it were a bad thing....

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Friday's tax-funded presentation

You might be interested to hear what happened at yesterday's Capitol Hill presentation of the political science study you paid for -- the one promoted as a way of helping your congressman boost his approval rating by up to 18 points using Internet town halls. The study, funded in part by the National Science Founation and conducted by a non-profit called the Congressional Management Foundation, drew mostly unremarkable conclusions. It found that Internet town halls are easy to hold and increase political participation. Most importantly, it found that they make voters more likely to agree with, like, and vote for their members after they participate in one. In fact, the final report...

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Obama's 'demonstration projects' exclude malpractice laws that work

President Obama promised in his September 9 address to a joint session of Congress that he would include "demonstration projects" on malpractice liability in his health reform bill. The projects were supposed to encourage states reform their medical malpractice laws in order to curb health care costs. Unfortunately, two measures that have been proven to work are specifically excluded from the program contained in House Democrats' new health care bill, unveiled yesterday. On pages 1431-1433, the House bill provides financial incentives for states to implement malpractice reform laws, with the amounts for each state left up to Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human...

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'My Congressman is Nuts dot com'

For those following the extremely entertaining career of first term Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., a seasoned Republican campaigner sends along the following: Central Floridians today announced the launch of MyCongressmanIsNuts.com as a more appropriate alternative to CongressmanwithGuts.com. MyCongressmanisNuts.com was formed due to outrage and embarrassment within Central Florida over Alan Grayson’s liberal positions and childish approach in Washington, D.C. Alan Grayson’s recent self indulgent behavior has paralyzed his ability to serve as an advocate for the citizens of Central Florida. He has alienated every Republican, as well as reasonable Democrats, by proclaiming...

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Tax funding for study on how congressmen can approve their ratings

The polls are unanimous: Americans are fed up with Congress. Fortunately, members and staff on Capitol Hill who want to know why you're upset, and how they can make you like them more, will receive a presentation tomorrow afternoon of a study by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF). Their headline: New CMF Study Finds That Internet Town Hall Meetings Increase Constituent Trust, Perception of Lawmakers Approval Ratings Jump by 18% Average One other thing: You are paying for this presentation. You paid for the study being presented.Are you upset now? The National Science Foundation gave a grant of $161,522 for CMF to produce the study, which examined congressional Internet...

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Intrusive government is the FDA's oyster

How much damage can government do, how much fun can it destroy, and how much freedom can it take away in the name of public health and safety? We might find out in April 2011, when a new Food and Drug Administration rule on Gulf of Mexico oysters goes into effect. In order to prevent an extremely rare disease that affects 30 American oyster-eaters each year, the FDA will require that Gulf oysters harvested between April and October of every year be put through expensive processes that destroy their flavor and essentially preclude their being served raw. Vibro Vulnificus is a deadly but extremely rare bacterial infection that affects oysters in warm waters. It kills about 15 Gulf...

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David Freddoso: These docs want to help - but will bureaucrats let them?

Stan Brock just wants to help. The former co-star of "Wild Kingdom" wants to deliver free medical, dental and vision care to the poor. Whereas most politicians talk about "bending the cost curve" in health care, Brock simply wants to break it - to provide care free of charge, at the hands of unpaid volunteer doctors and dentists using donated equipment. Brock's group, Remote Area Medical, wants to bring its services to Washington, and soon. He wants his volunteer eye doctors to grind new glasses on the spot for those having trouble seeing. He wants his dentists to pull rotten teeth and perform root canals in badly neglected mouths. He wants to give checkups and HIV tests to the...

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Democrats skip out on Countrywide vote

Faced with a promised vote to subpoena documents on Countrywide Financial's "Friends of Angelo" program, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee fled a scheduled 2 p.m. markup today. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the Ranking Republican on the Oversight Committee, had promised to call for a vote at today's markup on whether to subpoena documents involved in the program that gave sweetheart mortgages to at least four Democratic government officials, including two senators. According to the Wall Street Journal, the program might have also benefitted the chairman of House Oversight, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. Even if it had been ruled out of Order, Issa's motion would have...

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David Freddoso: Hungry like the trial lawyer

They'll be shooting gray wolves in Idaho this weekend. Citizens there eagerly purchased 14,500 tags for each to kill a quota of just over 200 wolves. The hunters know all about the wolf's overpopulation, and they also know they might never get such a chance again. Environmental groups and their $600-an-hour lawyers have been working around the clock to prevent this and all future hunts. To add insult to their injury, the eager hunters in the West are not just battling the environmentalists. They have also been paying their nemesis' legal bills. As taxpayers, they must under the Endangered Species Act pay for the environmentalists' battle to infest their lands and mountains with as many as...

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Already healthy? Baucus bill insures you for two years -- for only $200.

The health insurance reform bill that passed out of committee yesterday does not include the public option, which insurers rightly insist will put them out of business with its dramatic underpayments to doctors and hospitals. So absent that provision, what could be so wrong with the bill from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that America's health insurers started dumping on it this week, even though they stand to reap huge profits from most of President Obama's other reforms? Insurers love the idea of compelling people to buy their product or else pay a fine. But the fine in Baucus's bill is so small that it creates a loophole. In 2013, when it takes effect, you could easily game the system...

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Birther leader Orly Taitz slapped with $20,000 fine

Thanks to her "frivolous arguments and disrespectful personal attacks" in court, the lawyer who leads the so-called "birther" movement has been slapped with a hefty fine today for abusing her privileges as a lawyer. In levying sanctions and a $20,000 fine against attorney Orly Taitz, Judge Clay Land wrote that Taitz's most recent court filing, meant to defend herself against sanctions, "is breathtaking in its arrogance and borders on delusional." Taitz had brought suit on behalf of two members of the military who did not want to be deployed under a supposedly illegitimate president. The purpose of the cases, as she made clear in several press conferences,...

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Malpractice from Manhattan

The Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy has released a new primer on medical malpractice reform that is worth a read if you haven't been following the issue. The report argues that tort reform would indeed take a bite out of medical costs, against the arguments advanced by the trial lawyers' main lobbying group. That case was better made by last week's Congressional Budget Office analysis, which estimates a $54 billion reduction in government medical costs over ten years. Although lawsuit reform will by no means solve the problem of medical costs, it is a relatively painless part of the solution, representing the low-hanging fruit in the process of "bending the cost...

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CBO: Save $54 billion on health care by cutting out the lawyers

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has produced a report on the savings that the government could reap if relatively painless tort reform provisions are included in the health insurance reform bill before Congress. And the results would be encouraging, if there were any chance of these provisions becoming law. The list of reforms that CBO considered includes: - A reform of "joint and several liability." This means that instead of putting one "deep-pocketed" defendant on the hook for everything, each defendant would pay only his fair share according to his liability. - A $250,000 cap on non-economic damages. - A cap on punitive...

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Next: Help Obama win the Heisman Trophy!

From a reader: I just went to this link and, in the "Type your nominee here!" field, entered "Barack Obama." The winner of this Nissan-sponsored promotion will actually receive one official vote for the Heisman award as sort of the people's choice. You can actually go back and vote once each day between now and the Heisman award in December....

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Nobel runners-up to Obama

This morning, Lawrence O'Donnell defended the award of the Nobel Peace prize to President Obama on the grounds that there was no one else noteworthy who deserved the prize anyway. To aid him in his future appearences, here are two nominees who have actually put something on the line to create "hope" and "change" for people who really need it. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested and beaten for his peaceful political resistance to the brutal dictatorship of Robert Mugabe. But his persistence has brought about small steps toward a free and open Zimbabwean society. The pro-democracy, AIDS and environmental advocacy of Chinese dissident Hu Jia...

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Axelrod cannot explain Obama's Nobel Prize

In 2007, a 97-year-old Polish woman named Irena Sendler was nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. During World War II, she saved 2500 Jewish children from the Nazis through a network that hid them from the Nazis with Polish families and in Catholic churches and convents. For her activities, Sendler was arrested and tortured, her arms and legs broken. She would have been executed but for a well-placed bribe that won her release. After the war, she was also persecuted by the Polish Communists. That year's Nobel Peace prize went not to Sendler but to Al Gore, a serial self-promoter who personally contributes as much to global warming as many small American cities. This is why the...

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Oh, no, Mr. Deeds!

A new survey for the Washington Post released last night contains some bad news for Democrat Creigh Deeds: A clear downward trend for his chances of victory in next month's gubernatorial election. The bottom line is a nine-point lead for Republican Bob McDonnell -- 53 to 44 percent. Deeds has lost four points since the Post last polled, while McDonnell gained two points. This trend could augur an election-day repudiation of Deeds's "abortion strategy," which appears to have had diminishing returns and may even have created a backlash. For the last month, Deeds has advertised heavily seeking to portray McDonnell as a fundamentalist for his pro-life views, based on a college...

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Poll: Again, no second stimulus, please.

Even after the first stimulus package's failure to turn around America's unemployment situation, voters have still had about as much stimulus as they can take, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports. Among the 1,000 likely voters surveyed, 62 percent oppose the idea of a second stimulus package. This number is largely unchanged from July, when 60 percent opposed a second stimulus package. Only 36 percent believe that the current $787 billion stimulus package has helped the economy, whereas 28 percent believe it has had no effect and 28 percent believe it has actually hurt the economy. Interestingly, this represents an all-time-high for public confidence in the stimulus package...

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'Do you know who I am?' Mixed martial arts edition

"Do you know who I am? I will kill you and rape your family," Junie Browning shouted to nurses in Henderson, Nevada as they treated him for a drug overdose. Browning, once a disturbed and anxious star on the reality show Ultimate Fighter 8, physically attacked three nurses at St. Rose's hospital, according to police....

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David Freddoso: ACORN official points fingers, avoids blame

ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis has a message for everyone: It's not her fault. As the leader of the embattled, taxpayer-funded group conducts what she calls her "set-the-record-straight" tour, Lewis admits vaguely to problems with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. But she papers over what little she's done to fix them, and she blames outside forces for nearly everything. Take for example, ACORN's million-dollar embezzlement scandal. An employee stole from ACORN nearly a decade ago and top ACORN officials, including the embezzler's brother, hid the theft from ACORN's directors until it was finally made public last year. (The accepted figure...

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Angles on Rangel -- the final vote (updated)

House Democrats have successfully killed a privileged resolution by Rep. John Carter, R-Tex., which called for the removal of an alleged tax evader from the House's top tax post, pending an ethics investigation. The vote on whether to oust Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. as chairman of Ways and Means fell largely along party lines, with a final tally of 246-153, with 19 members voting "present" and 14 not voting. The final vote is here. The House buried the resolution by shuffling it off to the Ethics Committee. Rangel is faced with several ethics problems. He failed to report hundreds of thousands in assets on his required Congressional disclosure forms, and also failed to report...

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'FIGHT REAGAN': ACORN's non-partisanship

A reader sends in an oldie but goodie, from...

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ACORN CEO has a heavy case of denial

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis had a message for everyone this morning: It's not her fault. As the leader of the embattled, taxpayer-funded group conducts what she calls her “set-the-record-straight” tour, Lewis points an awful lot of fingers outward, and shows a surprising lack of public penitence. In her morning presser at the National Press Club, Lewis made much of her efforts to fix ACORN after the million-dollar embezzlement scandal that rocked the organization last year. "I don't think it's fair to judge me," she says, “as I'm cleaning up after a previous administration.” But she hasn't purged the organization of the people who hid the embezzlement...

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This week only: Get your money back from Arlen Specter

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is closing the door on Republican donors who want their campaign contributions back after his party switch. His website announces a new October 15 expiration date for his promise to return the money of those who want their money back. Meanwhile, the Club for Growth announces that it has sent notices to 6,000 Specter donors, inviting them to seek refunds from the former Republican-turned-Democrat and providing them with a sample letter to send to Specter's campaign. Perhaps the two events are just a coincidence....

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Claim: ACORN theft was five times previously thought

ACORN was embroiled in scandal last year when it was revealed that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from an ACORN affiliate years earlier. According to news reports, a handful of ACORN officials covered up the embezzlement, keeping the information even from some of the group's directors, in order to prevent an episode embarrassing to the group's left-wing mission. But Louisiana's Attorney General is now alleging a theft of ACORN funds five times as great. A new subpoena, granted on Friday by Louisiana's 19th Judicial District, asserts that ACORN insiders have known for nearly a year that $5 million was embezzled, based on their own...

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Trial lawyers find a fund-raising bogey-man

It may be a phantom provision that no one expects to pass, but the American Association for Justice is raging over tort reform possibly making its way into President Obama's health care bill. In recent days, the group sent three urgent fundraising emails to members. But why are they fighting such a battle against a provision that no one believes will become law? One AAJ email, which asks for contributions and for members to contact their senators, asserts that "[l]iability restrictions will remain in play during the committee hearings and when a bill is on the floor of the Senate. The issue is not going away on its own. We urge you to help out. This is not a...

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Americans more pro-life than ever -- but what about Bob McDonnell?

A new poll from the Pew Research Center indicates that support for legalized abortion on demand has hit an all-time low since Pew began asking the question in 1987. Only 47 percent of those surveyed said that abortion should be "legal in all or most cases." Forty-five percent said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Moreover, 76 percent support parental consent requirements for minor girls seeking abortions. People on both sides of the broader debate over legalized abortion embrace that position, including 71 percent of pro-choice respondents. This is interesting in its own right, but it could also provide some post-election commentary on the Virginia governor's...

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Senate Finance Committee dumps Obama's tax promise

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, which is considering President Obama's health insurance reform plan, has voted down an amendment which provides that "no tax, fee or penalty imposed by this legislation shall be applied to any individual earning less than $200,000 per year or any couple earning less than $250,000 per year.” You might recall that President Obama promised no tax increases whatsoever, of any kind, on earners making less than those amounts. But don't bet on him to veto this bill. The committee vote on the amendment, proposed by Republicans Mike Crapo (Idaho) and Pat Roberts (Kan.), was 11 in favor, and 12 against. All Republicans and one Democrat voted...

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Yes, Toomey can win.

At the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP's camaign arm, the bean-counters and strategists claim that former Rep. Pat Toomey, the presumptive Republican nominee for Senate next year in Pennsylvania, runs very well in the House districts where they are expecting competitive races. They believe he will be an asset on the top of the ticket. And as it turns out, he could win statewide, as well -- as some of us have been saying for months. Another poll from Quinnipiac confirms that former Toomey is a real contender in the Keystone State's 2010 Senate race. His chances are only enhanced by the fact that he might face an opportunistic opponent who switched parties in...

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David Freddoso: Big green machine feeds off you

Lawmakers have made it abundantly clear to bailed-out banks and automakers that federal money comes with strings attached. New rules on executive compensation are only the tip of the iceberg for TARP-funded banks. For bailed out automakers, Congress has inserted itself into decisions about plant closings and dealerships. The President of the United States even fired GM's CEO. But environmental groups face few such restrictions, which is how they can victimize the taxpayer two- or even three-fold. They freely sue dozens of federal government agencies even as they take federal money. Sometimes they take the money and spend equivalent amounts lobbying Congress to restrict consumers'...

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Amid new ACORN scandals, lawsuit revives an old one

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed two Freedom of Information lawsuits, one of which could re-open the strange case of alleged embezzlement in which ACORN's founder and former chief organizer kept an embezzlement scandal "in the family." Ten years ago, Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled nearly $950,000 from the ACORN affiliate that he headed, Citizen's Consulting Incorporated. When the theft was discovered, his brother Wade and a handful of other ACORN officials kept the matter secret not only from authorities but even from members of ACORN's board. According to The New York Times, they treated the money that Dale stole as...

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Senators preserve path to expand govt abortion funding

Does ObamaCare mean that the government subsidizes abortions, or doesn't it? And if it doesn't, then why did senators just vote down an amendment to the bill that bars the government from paying for abortions under the proposed new health insurance framework, except under the rare circumstances already permitted under current law? President Obama has unequivocally promised that his reforms will not create new government funding for abortion. But FactCheck.org has looked askance at Obama's promise on this all along. They note that the bill, as written in the House, at least, will indeed subsidize coverage of abortions, creating a more liberal funding regime than what currently exists. The...

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Voters: Let us read the bill.

As Michael Barone has noted, a new Rasmussen poll indicates that 83 percent of voters want legislation to be posted online for the public to read before it receives a vote. Only 6 percent oppose the idea. There is already a resolution to change House rules in order to require such transparency, proposed by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. The resolution would require that legislation be available online for the public for 72 hours before the House considers it. Walden started a discharge petition last week in order to bring it to the House floor over the objections of the House Democratic leadership. The petition has 180 signatures as of today. Among the signers are Democratic Reps. Dan Boren,...

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New poll: ObamaCare less popular than ever

Rasmussen Reports has a poll out today showing opposition to President Obama's health plan at 56 percent, and support at 41 percent. That's the lowest level of support so far this year. Some will argue that Rasmussen polls to the right of other firms (this might also be because most others have been polling "adults" on the subject instead of "likely voters"), but the trend matters no matter where the numbers are. The continuing decline of health care reform presents brand new problems for Obama as he tries to push a bill through the Congress. The strength of opposition among senior citizens should be particularly frightening for him and the members of Congress whom...

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Under Clinton, Medicare providers still had free speech

At the behest of Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Obama administration has barred insurers from communicating with their customers about the damage that Baucus's health reform bill could do to their Medicare Advantage plans. The decision was announced by one of Baucus's former staffers, who is now acting director of an agency within the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). But despite Baucus's pique over the insurers' mailers, no such ban on private Medicare providers' political speech existed in the past. In a 1997 letter sent by one of President Clinton's Medicare officials, insurers were told they could freely inform their Medicare customers about...

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Barney Frank, D-Mass: Time to de-fund ACORN

Just as the IRS cut its ties to ACORN, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., released a statement regarding the Sept. 17 House vote to defund ACORN, in which he did not participate. Frank's tenor in the statement that follows is certainly different from the one he adopted in May, when Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn. attempted to de-fund the group. At that time, Frank took the position that a mere indictment was not sufficient grounds for withholding funds. A number of factors, one of which in particular is my own fault, have contributed to my position on ACORN being unclear. My biggest error was to sign a letter to the Congressional Research Service which I had not...

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Can you keep your doctor under ObamaCare? The new flow-chart says...

Will you be able to keep your doctor under President Obama's health care reforms? Republican staff at the Congressional Joint Economic Committee have put together this flow chart, based on Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus's bill, to answer the question. If you find it a bit complicated, that's what happens when legislation is hundreds of pages long -- to say nothing of the House Democrats' thousand-page bill. Speaking of which, thanks to 12-11 vote on the Senate Finance Committee earlier today, there may be no Internet copy of whatever bill receives a vote until...well, until after it's received a vote. Despite having months to compare, and no real rush to pass the health care bill,...

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Trial lawyers watch as a new financial regulator is born

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made its case this morning to several reporters against House Democrats' bill to re-vamp federal regulation of the financial industry. The bill, HR 3126, would establish a new regulatory agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would consolidate some regulatory functions while splitting others apart -- it's the financial equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security. The bill is very complicated and contains many moving parts. Some of the Chamber's opposition is broadly based on the problems it could create in the credit market. Some opposition is based on more parochial concerns by various industries -- for example, the bill could lay...

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Need a job? ACORN is hiring!

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), under fire for its employees' widespread alleged misconduct on tape, has placed an ad in the Washington Post for a new social media coordinator. Duties include: - Helping to create or upgrade a presence for Bertha Lewis, ACORNs Chief Organizer, on various social media, including: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. - Establishing a presence for ACORNs campaigns for example campaigns to stop foreclosures and to fight for immigrants rights on various social networking websites. - Developing new and innovative methods for the use of social networking technologies, including video, to enhance community...

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Big Green is a profitable enterprise

"Do you have a minute to save the planet?" Perhaps you've been asked this question recently on some Washington sidewalk by a young twenty-something. But where do you suppose the money goes if you accept his sales-pitch and make a financial pledge to his organization or one like it? One possible destination for your cash: huge salaries for top environmental non-profit executives. The chart below lists only the top beneficiaries of the Green non-profit culture. Among the honorable mentions is former Clerk of the House Jeffrey Trandahl, who made a mere $270,000 at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2007. For the purpose of comparison, Fred Smith of the pro-business...

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Updated/Corrected: Art$ groups learn the Chicago Way

Is the Obama administration corrupting the arts by funneling money to arts groups and then not-so-subtly asking them for political work in return? Big Hollywood Blog first ran late last month with the story of the August 10 National Endowment for the Arts conference call in which White House and NEA officials urged artists to create political pieces promoting health care themes. On paper, the conference call had been led by a government outsider, but that outsider stated during the call that it had been organized at the request of the Obama NEA and the White House. The call, itself a scandal, is just one sign of a dangerous trend -- the Chicago-ization of government in Washington, D.C....

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Here's your 'demonstration project,' Mr. President -- it's called Mississippi

Since passing tort reform in 2004, Mississippi has seen the number of medical malpractice claims plummet by 91 percent from its peak. The state's largest medical liability insurer dropped its premiums by 42 percent, and has offered an additional 20 percent rebate each year since tort reform went into effect. That is the story that Mississippi's Republican, governor, Haley Barbour, offered on Friday, speaking at the Heritage Foundation. He also made an observation about President Obama's decision to offer only token "demonstration projects" on lawsuit abuse rather than address it meaningfully in his health care reform proposal. "It's mysterious to me that the...

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More walls close in on ACORN -- a new $548,000 tax lien

The Pelican Institute's Steve Beatty reports that the federal government just filed a new $548,000 lien against ACORN for unpaid payroll taxes. This comes at the same time as Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell investigates the group for unpaid state payroll taxes. According to Beatty, his adds to the existing tax debt of more than $1 million....

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Will ObamaCare cover abortions? Despite a promise, it's still unclear.

In his health care speech last week, President Obama was emphatic: "[O]ne more misunderstanding I want to clear up," he said. "Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." But the White House remains hesitant to commit to legislative language equally explicit, and pro-life groups are still concerned. Dr. Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life met with White House officials yesterday, including Melody Barnes, Obama's domestic policy director. She reports back her disappointment with the result. "Ms. Barnes reiterated the President's statement about opposing abortion funding in his...

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U.S. Chamber speaks out on malpractice reform 'demonstration projects'

The Chamber of Commerce has offered a statement regarding the tort reform "demonstration projects" that President Obama promised during his address to Congress last week. “While we are encouraged that the Obama Administration has made medical liability reform part of their overall health care package, the $25 million state grant program announced today amounts to about 1-40,000th of one percent of the cost of a one trillion dollar health care bill. “Studies have shown that meaningful medical malpractice reform can save from $120 billion to as much as $500 billion over a decade. But a small medical liability grant program will not be effective, and...

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House votes to cut off funding, but 75 stand by ACORN

The House of Representatives just voted overwhelmingly to de-fund ACORN, 345-75. The vote came on a Republican motion to recommit the educational loan bill. As a result, the anti-ACORN provision made it into the House-passed bill. Below are the names of all 75 congressmen who voted to preserve ACORN's stream of funding. The biggest surprises on the list: Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., and the two Democrats from West Virginia, Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall. Notable for not voting: Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a staunch defender of ACORN. ACORN's defenders: Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. Robert Brady D-Pa. Corrine Brown, D-Fla. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. Mike Capuano,...

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9/12 Protestors absolutely right to compain about Metro

D.C. liberals apparently find it incongruous that 9/12 protestors were upset about Metro's performance last weekend. After all, they argue, how can you say you're against paying for big government and then complain when all that big government you were forced to pay for ends up being a lemon? Umm...actually, that complaint makes perfect sense. I don't know how Metro did on Saturday -- I only rode the train twice that day, very, very early and then well after dark. But if the 9/12 protestors are upset about the system's performance, they have every right to complain. As federal taxpayers, they have poured billions into a system they usually don't even get to use (most of them being from...

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White House defends czars, House to create yet another panel

This morning, the Obama administration is defending its "czars" online -- among other things, claiming there are no "czars" as such and also telling Republicans, "Bush did the czar thing, too!" Partisan bickering aside, if the real issue is the proliferation of low-profile functionaries who direct executive policy, dozens of whom are not confirmed by the Senate, then it's something in which both parties should be interested -- then, now, and in the future. Along those lines, House Democrats will today pass a bill that creates a brand new federal government panel on "Green Schools." "The Advisory Council on Green, High-Performing Public...

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House Republicans keep pushing on ACORN

At 11:45 this morning, House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, will make a television pitch for HR 3571, the Defund ACORN Act, to remove all federal contracts and agreements between the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and the federal government. In the meantime, his office is highlighting six votes that Democrats have taken, in committee and on the floor, to preserve federal funding for the organization. Democrats have defended the group's ability to receive funds from the federal mortgage bailout, the stimulus package, and two appropriations bills. ACORN employees in several cities were recently caught on tape abetting in what they were forthrightly told was...

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Jimmy Carter's racist campaign of 1970

Former President Jimmy Carter has created a stir today by alleging that those protesting and opposing President Obama's health care bill -- by some measures, up to 55 percent of the country -- are doing so because they cannot accept the idea of a black man in the White House. As The New York Times put it: He lamented the tone of disrespect toward the current president, adding: “Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care. It’s deeper than that.” Setting aside the much greater disrespect shown by the Left at nearly every moment of former President George W. Bush's presidency, it is not...

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House Rebukes Wilson

This afternoon, 240 members of the House -- 233 Democrats and 7 Republicans -- voted to scold Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for his outburst during President Obama's address last Wednesday. Twelve Democrats and 167 Republicans voted against rebuking Wilson, and five Democrats voted "present." Update: Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., explained his "no" vote in these terms: “I spoke to three reporters after the President’s speech – none of them knew what bill the President was talking about during his speech. If the President was talking about the House bill, then Rep. Wilson’s comment was accurate, though...

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Sen. Rockefeller: I will not vote for Baucus bill

"There is no way in its present form that I will vote for it." That's what Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., says of the health care reform plan currently sef forth by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Without a government-run public option insurance plan, Rockefeller said, he cannot support the health care reform bill. Rockefeller's statement, made in the middle of a conference call with the liberal Campaign for America's Future just moments ago, demonstrates just how complex a task Democratic leaders face. Tweak it one way, and you lose moderate Democrats. Tweak it another way, and you lose liberal Democrats like Rockefeller. Even worse, a failure to pass any bill...

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DC Metro ridership high on 9/12

Just how big was the September 12 protest march? It's hard to say. The estimate of "tens of thousands" is pretty conservative, given what I saw when I was down on the Hill that day. Talk of "millions," on the other hand, seems quite outlandish. One objective measure that could offer some perspective is the Metro ridership number for Saturday. Although they are often sparing with other information (such as their employees' compensation), Metro posts the figures for daily rail riders (and for bus riders, with a month delay). For September 12, there were 437,624 riders. That doesn't come close to Inauguration Day's 1.12 million riders, or even the 631,000 riders for...

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Senate de-funds ACORN, but seven stand by them

The Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip ACORN of funding in the Transportation/Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. After ACORN workers were caught on tape in three cities allegedly abetting what they believed was a fraudulent mortgage and sex-trafficking scheme, only seven senators were willing to stand by them: - Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. - Roland Burris, D-Ill. - Dick Durbin, D-Ill. - Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. - Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. - Bob Casey, D-Pa. - Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. Not voting were Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. The key now is to see whether Democrats try to strip out this provision...

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Afternoon must reads -- Woe is me, Charlie Rangel!

Asked about his alleged financial improprieties, Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. says that "it's totally unfair for the New York Post to send investigators to my family's" four rent-controlled apartments "and to do that type of thing," Glenn Thrush reports. Lynn Sweet finds a fairly important whopper in President Obama's health care address. The strange death of Democratic former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's fundraiser, Chris Kelly, just before his eight-year prison sentence was to begin. At the end of the piece, the disgraced former governor offers a quote that proves he was indeed able to sink to a new low. Senator David Vitter, R-La., wants to de-fund ACORN....

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Evening reads: Public unions smell blood with California bankruptcy bill

The communications director for the National Endowment for the Arts might have lost his job over the artists-in-politics flap. With their new bankruptcy bill, public sector labor unions find yet another way to suck the last drops of blood from California's municipal governments. For sending information in South Africa, the old technology is better. Obama's health plan will increase Medicare prescription drug premiums by 20 percent. The Cook Political Report declares a tossup in Nevada for next year's re-election battle by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D....

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Obama's statement that 14,000 lose their insurance daily is ridiculous

I referred earlier the incongruity of President Obama's statement that 14,000 people lose their insurance daily, but I fear that I understated the case for just how ridiculous it is. Not only does it mean that 15 million more people would be uninsured by the time his bill goes into effect in 2013, but it would also mean that nearly every one of the 46 million uninsured persons in America today -- a number which includes illegal immigrants, Medicaid-eligible persons, and wealthy people who refuse coverage -- became uninsured in the last nine years. In other words, every single uninsured person in America appears to have lost their insurance under the administration of George W. Bush....

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Trial lawyers versus the Supreme Court

A ruptured catheter. A fraudster beaten in jail. A shady cable deal. A powerful phone company. An tire-maker who might have discriminated. Between the five, there is only one thing in common: Each was recently the subject of a Supreme Court case that trial lawyers are now working to overturn. This might be the first time anyone has tried to overturn five Supreme Court cases in a single Congress. It is a testament to just how much money the Roberts court is costing plaintiff's lawyers, and how powerful the industry believes itself to be in Democrat-controlled Washington. For the trial lawyers, ably represented by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), now is the time to act on...

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Obama's speech was full of chronic deceptions

During his health care speech last night, President Obama incorrectly guaranteed that no public money would go toward abortion, and that illegal immigrants could not get coverage under his plan. He cannot make either promise, based on the existing legislation. Obama also made the deeply misleading promise that "not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan." Of course it won't. That's because the Medicare Trust Fund is already running an operating deficit and will do so indefinitely, according to last year's report from its trustees. Every single dime of the fund, plus some, is going to pay Medicare claims, leaving nothing for any other purpose. It's...

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Study: Malpractice lawyer ads skyrocket

In 2004, personal injury lawyers spent $3.8 million on television ads like this one to attract clients for medical malpractice contingency lawsuits. In 2005, they spent ten times that amount: $38 million. As of September 1, 2009, they had already spent $46 million, and they will have spent about $62 million on such ads by year's end. The numbers come from a study released today by the Chamber of Commerce, based on a study of the ads run by more than 560 network affiliates and major independent stations nationwide. Given the trend so far this year, medical malpractice lawyers are expected to run 166,000 such spots in markets nationwide. Medical malpractice law has been a growth...

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McDonnell: 'I'm not holding my breath for a Washington Post endorsement'

More of Bob McDonnell's interview with our editorial board this week. In this audio clip, McDonnell again criticizes the Post's coverage of the race, with one of his aides chiming in to suggest that his editorial board meeting with that newspaper might come later rather than sooner. McDonnell suggests that Creigh Deeds, whose yard signs in the primary election included the newspaper's logo, was planning to use the same signs again in late October. McDonnell also compares the Post coverage with an editorial earlier in the year that praised his performance as Attorney General....

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Audio: McDonnell discusses Deeds, ribs the Washington Post

Former Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell, a candidate for governor of Virginia, gave his take on opponent Creigh Deeds' success in the Democratic primary, and the Washington Post's coverage of his controversial Master's thesis. Of Terry McAuliffe: "His negatives were always higher than his positives. I almost started rooting for him in the last month, because anybody who's got negatives as high as he did, I thought would probably be a good target." Of Brian Moran: "Brian moved so far left during the course of the primary, to try to attract base voters in the Democratic party, that I think even the more activist Democrats thought there's no way this guy could win....

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Afternoon Must-Reads: Mass. lawmaker's booze-run

In Washington: Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, tries to save the Obama presidency with a deal on health care. New jobless claims came in above expectations. Job losses came in far above expectations. Vice President Joe Biden says the $787 billion stimulus is exceeding expectations. President Obama's Green Czar, Van Jones, signed a "9/11 Truther" statement in 2004. U.S. officials punish Honduras for expelling a president who violated its constitution. Fifty-one percent of likely voters say Congress is too liberal. Outside the Beltway: Massachusetts state Rep. Michael Rodrigues, D, a member of the state House Ways and Means Committee, voted for an increase to the state's sales...

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In 16 years, docs evolve from 'professionals' to tonsil-thieves

Just a thought on health care. Here is a quote from President Clinton's address to Congress in 1993, ahead of his administration's push to reform health care: “We're blessed with the best health care professionals on Earth, the finest health care institutions, the best medical research, the most sophisticated technology. My mother is a nurse. I grew up around hospitals. Doctors and nurses were the first professional people I ever knew or learned to look up to. They are what is right with this health care system.” Contrast that with President Obama's approach in his last health care press conference: “The doctor may look at the reimbursement system and...

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Obama has it exactly backwards on health costs

Last night's (extremely civil) debate between the two Pennsylvania Senate challengers, former Republican Rep. Pat Toomey and Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, also featured the e-mail fact checks and press releases that have become typical of political debates. The Toomey camp sent out one detailed release on the issue of whether the public option insurance plan will pay Medicare rates to providers. Sestak said erroneously that the rates would be negotiated. According to HR 3200, the bill that Sestak voted for, the rates are Medicare rates for the first three years of the public option's operation. It seems like an obscure, insider's issue, but the release raises a much broader...

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McDonnell: 'I've changed, but not my central thesis'

The Examiner's editorial board spoke yesterday with former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor. After a wide-ranging discussion on various issues in the race, we asked McDonnell about the recent controversy regarding his master's thesis from 1989. Although it has not put a dent in his poll numbers yet, the Washington Post has been working hard to make the issue central to the campaign. When we asked McDonnell exactly how he has changed in the 20 years since he wrote the 70-page document, he offered a very lengthy answer. Although he disavowed some of the more incendiary assertions he had made in the thesis, he also stuck to his guns regarding...

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Strike three for White House on Internet information

President Obama's White House does not exactly have a stellar record when it comes to personal information and the Internet. In less than one month, the president's new media team has come under fire for asking citizens to report "fishy e-mails" about Obama's health care reform plan and for e-mail messages from David Axelrod that somehow went to people who did not sign up for them. So when the Executive Office of the President seeks a contractor to archive the usernames and possibly other data from social network users, it is certainly worth asking them why. We did. We have not heard back from the White House yet. The National Legal and Policy Center's Ken Boehm has written...

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Lunchtime must-reads

On the Hill: - Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., was in favor of the public option health insurance plan before she came out against it yesterday. - The AFL-CIO wants to tax stock trades -- which ultimately means you'll get less out of your 401(k). - Republicans lead on the generic Congressional ballot by seven points. - Former Republican Rep. Pat Toomey and Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, both gunning for Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter's seat, will debate health care tonight at 6:15 pm in Allentown. Specter, who has been debating himself on the issue for several months, was not invited. - Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., continues to heap up...

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Bad polls? MoveOn blames the media.

Conservatives are usually the first to complain about the media's ideological bias -- and their narrative on the topic is very strong. Witness, for example, the way the media embraced Barack Obama's presidential campaign; his self-created autobiographical description as a high-minded reformer. Another example: as the health care debate progresses, reporters and news anchors from every major network fall all over themselves to explain away "misconceptions" about President Obama's health insurance reform plan. I often wonder how Bush's Social Security reform plans of 2005 would have fared if the media had run nightly segments pouncing on the disinformation spread about it. But...

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ACORN quick to collect from feds, but slow to pay taxes

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is perhaps best known for its volunteers' habit of signing up fake voters. This has resulted in numerous state investigations and convictions of ACORN members for voter fraud activities. But the group is also a tax scofflaw to the tune of more than $1 million, according to documents unearthed by another Louisiana-based non-profit, the Pelican Institute. Pelican researcher Steve Beatty has come across dozens of outstanding and released tax liens against ACORN and ACORN affiliates, headquartered at two addresses in New Orleans. Although some of the liens have been paid, Beatty found that several are still outstanding,...

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We'll Read the Bill: Four reasons there's no level playing field for the public option

You may have heard some opponents of ObamaCare discuss how a government-run public option health insurance plan will drive private insurers out of business. On the other hand, the same folks tend to argue that government generally offers services inferior to and less efficient than those offered by the public sector. The two claims, taken at face value, appear to be contradictory. But a look at what goes into the health care bill offers some needed context. In fact, there are more than a dozen specific factors that might allow the government-run plan to price itself artificially below market. Here are four of them: (1) Reimbursement of Providers Section 223 of the House Democrats'...

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FEC okays 'friendly reminder' from Club for Growth about Specter

By a vote of four to two, the Federal Election Commission decided today that the Club for Growth is within its legal rights to contact Sen. Arlen Specter’s donors in an effort to have them request refunds. The draft advisory opinion of the FEC can be accessed here. The Club had asked for the advisory opinion because it wants to mail people who contributed to Specter's re-election campaign before his April party switch. The mailings will remind donors that Specter offered refunds to those who request them. “Upon request, I will return campaign contributions contributed during this cycle," Specter said in a press release the day he switched from Republican to Democrat this...

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Read the CRS report on ObamaCare's treatment of illegal immigrants

Mark Tapscott noted yesterday that a new Congressional Research Service report is being discussed by Republican members of Congress. It says essentially that notwithstanding all the rhetoric to the contrary (including, most recently, that of Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.), there is really nothing in the House health reform bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting subsidies from the federal government for their insurance premiums under the plan. Because CRS reports are generally hard to come by, The Examiner has obtained a copy for your reading pleasure. In its subsection on health insurance subsidies (known as "affordability credits"), HR 3200 does state, "Nothing in...

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Still no health bill to read

Do you wonder whether your Congressman is telling the truth when he says ObamaCare won't put taxpayers' money toward abortions? (FactCheck.org says it might.) Or when he says that it won't give illegal immigrants health insurance subsidies courtesy of the taxpayer? You might think you could figure it out by looking for a current copy of the Democrats' health care bill. Unfortunately for you, no such copy exists. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted on a final version of HR 3200, the health insurance reform bill sought by President Obama, on July 31. About 50 amendments were added to the bill that had been published earlier in July. Nearly a month later, there is still no copy...

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Government conference spending gone wild!

Remember the last time your boss gave you the week off with pay and $1,800 to attend a training conference in another city? You don't? You're obviously working for the wrong company. The federal government does this for its employees every year. And you're paying for it. You may have read recently about the Social Security Administration's big boondoggle in Arizona. The administration, whose solvency is in dire condition, spent about $770,000 in early July to send, put up, and dazzle 675 of its managers with a multimedia presentation at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. The three-day conference included private dance recitals, paid motivational speakers, and an optional,...

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UPDATED2: No, Obama's VA did NOT pull so-called 'Death Book' from website

UPDATE: Earlier today, I noted that the "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet had apparently been removed from the VA site. The Department of Veterans' Affairs was kind enough to get back to me several hours after I called, in order to clarify what happened today on their website. Spokeswoman Katie Roberts informs me that although the "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet was removed this morning from the URL I had linked to, there has been no policy change by VA. The document removed this morning had simply been hosted in the wrong place all along, on a regional part of the VA website. Links to that document should have pointed to the same document on a different part of va....

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Why the Post Office will never make money (and a lesson for health insurance)

Consider this letter, sent Friday by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. to the Postmaster General. Dear Postmaster General Potter: I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the recent announcement that the United States Postal Service (USPS) is considering closing 37 post offices in Pennsylvania. I am well aware of the financial challenges that the USPS faces, and I am committed to working with the Postal Service to overcome these challenges while preserving jobs and the services on which thousands of Pennsylvanians depend.... Casey's letter could be viewed as either a kind offer of help or a threat. Either way, it represents a non-market pressure on the business dealings of...

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'Did we mention that our health expert doesn't think you're a person?'

This morning, CNN's American Morning tried to explain health-care rationing. Their guest? Princeton ethicist Peter Singer. The network failed to mention anything about Singer's extremely controversial background as a euthanasia advocate who defines "person" in such a way as to exclude newborn infants and others -- such as elderly dementia patients -- who lack self-awareness and the ability to make plans. The network promised a response to The Examiner''s inquiries, but finally offered a "no comment" this afternoon. "Killing a defective infant," Singer has written, "is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Sometimes it is not wrong at...

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Obama's 'Wither on the vine' moment

The White House recently floated a trial balloon when Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said that a government-run "public option" in health care was not essential to President Obama's reform. The response from liberals, who view the public option as a critical step toward a non-profit and perhaps government-run health insurance system, was ferocious. It was so negative that now the White House is backing the public option once again. Today, the Washington Post writes that Obama's White House is shocked that the public option is such a big deal for the Left. This is not the way the President's campaign team treated the issue, though. In September 2007,...

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Memories of working for Robert Novak

There I was, 27 years-old and still working my first job in Washington. And I was staring down Robert David Sanders Novak. "Writing an editorial," he told me, "is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. It gives you this a nice, warm feeling, and no one notices." I wasn't a source -- I was a job applicant. This was Novak's way of counseling a young, conservative writer to stick to factual reporting as much as possible, to avoid becoming a career commentator. After asking me a series of questions -- all of which surely violated some federal employment law ("Do you plan on getting married soon? What are your politics?") -- Novak hired me as his assistant....

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Robert Novak, RIP

Novak, my old boss and dear friend, passed away this morning....

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Enough Obama on TV

You probably saw the part about voters saying they want to repeal the stimulus, and the part about how they oppose President Obama's health plan. But here is something from that recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll that you might have missed. Note especially the change in answer among independents since March. What does this mean for President Obama's recent attempts to save health care reform by making the case himself in...

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No new fishy emails, but Cornyn wonders about the old ones

Mike Allen writes at Politico that the White House has disabled the flag@whitehouse.gov e-mail address, the destination for reports on "fishy e-mails" about the president's health care bill. But the White House is still accepting tips on "disinformation" about President Obama's health care plan, through the White House website. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., who had originally voiced concerns that the White House was using flag@whitehouse.gov to collect information on political enemies, is not satisfied with this development, spokesman Kevin McLaughlin tells The Examiner. "He's wondering what they're going to do with the information they've already collected...

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Ross: 'I might not support the health care bill I voted for'

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a leader of the moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats, held a town hall meeting in Arkadelphia on Friday over the issue of health care. Local coverage pegged attendance at between 700 and 800, with partisans on both sides in attendance. Of the town halls held so far, this one was particularly interesting, and not just because Ross was such a central figure in the health care debate prior to the August recess. Most interesting was Ross's use of an excuse that I'd anticipated but which, especially in his case, makes no sense. He pleaded that he had yet to endorse any particular bill; that there was no final bill yet; that he would still make up his mind as to...

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New Poll: 54% say better to pass no health bill

Allies of President Obama have paid his two favorite advertising firms $12 million to push his health care plan. But they'll probably need a lot more money than that. A new poll from Rasmussen Reports shows that 54 percent of Americans would rather see Congress pass no health care bill this year. Only 35 percent believe that passage of the bill being developed in Congress bill would be better than passing no bill at all. Two key cross-tabs: First, only 60 percent of Democrats prefer passage of the congressional plan, whereas only 23 percent of independents felt the same way. Second, middle income voters -- people making between $40,000 to $75,000 per year, are the most strongly opposed....

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Trial lawyers seek return on contributions to Senate Democrats

In February, just two months before he became a Democrat, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania made a passionate plea for a special tax break for plaintiffs' trial lawyers. His bill, S 437, would allow trial lawyers to deduct immediately on their taxes up-front expenses they incur when investing in contingency lawsuits. The tax break is reportedly worth $1.6 billion to trial lawyers. If Specter’s amendment passes, this single provision would more than repay the legal industry for its roughly $762 million in political contributions to Democrats...

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UPDATE: White House offers no explanation for Hitler costume claim

White House spokesman Bill Burton's statement on television earlier today that people are showing up at health care town halls dressed up as Hitler was outlandish enough that I had to call the White House and ask if there is anything to substantiate it. As of this evening, the White House has offered no explanation for this bizarre claim....

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Don't blame conservatives for LaRouche's Obama=Hitler signs

Seton Motley of NewsBusters has the full story on the news networks (CNN, MSNBC, NBC) that failed to distinguish Obama's conservative critics from the far-left supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. It is the LaRouche supporters whose signs compare President Obama to Adolf Hitler, as anyone could have figured out with a bit of research. In other "Hitler" news, White House spokesman Bill Burton claimed in an interview this morning that people are showing up at health care town halls "dressed up as...

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Obama stimulates his friends' art groups

Our editorial of today discusses the many regrettable and forgettable arts groups that are receiving small stimulus grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, such as the producers of timeless classics like "Perverts Put Out" and "What's Under That Skirt?" What is less commonly known is the connection that several of these groups have to President Obama's 2008 campaign. Leaders of at least seven of the fortunate, newly stimulated and NEA-subsidized art groups also happened to serve on the Arts Policy Committee of the Obama campaign last year. Among them is Obama's law school classmate, Nancy McCullough, whose California Lawyers for the Arts received a...

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On health care, Obama's facts don't add up

Today's town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. offers a perfect example of why Obama is faring poorly in the polls with his efforts to convince Americans on his health care plan. He keeps making promises he cannot keep (such as "You'll be able to keep the coverage you have") and saying things that do not appear to be true (such as his assurances that the plan will not increase the deficit). Asked about the possibility of his health care plan leading ultimately to a single-payer system, President Obama said, "I have not said that I was a single payer supporter." Considering that he was caught on tape in 2003 stating, "I happen to be a proponent of a single...

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Clunker program remains opaque

"We are forbidden from releasing any government files that contain personally identifying information," said Ray Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is the Department of Transportation's explanation for why it will not release detailed data on the Cash-for-Clunkers program. The government has been selective about the data it releases. At various intervals, the department has released top-ten lists for cars traded in and purchased under the program. It has also released a complete breakdown of purchase information by brand. But DOT has not released information on the makes of trade-ins -- data which would clarify, for example, whether...

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'Do you know who I am?' -- Ice hockey edition

When you hear the words "Do you know who I am," it's usually a bad sign. It sure was yesterday in Buffalo, where Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane allegedly beat a cabbie for not having the proper change and stole his money back. As the cabbie recounted: "The guys said, 'Do you know who I am?' I said, 'I don't know who you are, just pay.' So, one guy pays, and the other guy grabs me by the throat, Patrick Kane. He turned out to be a hockey player. I don't know who they...

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"Do You Know Who I Am?", UK edition

When you hear the words "Do you know who I am," it's usually a bad sign. The Examiner brings you the latest in "do-you-know-who-I-am" news for the weekend: drugs, a robbery, a sausage roll, and a knife fight: Regular customer Mark Oliver was invited in to Fresh Bake in Southchurch Drive, Clifton, early one morning because he wanted something to eat. With an accomplice, Oliver picked up a drink to go with his sausage roll and was told by the owner it would cost him £1.20. Oliver, high on drink and drugs, was abusive and declared: "Do you know who I am?" What followed was a harrowing 45-minute ordeal for the owner....

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SEIU boss denounces 'terrorist tactics' of the Right, day after alleged SEIU assault on conservative

Dennis Rivera, health care chairman of the Service Employees International Union, denounced "radical fringe right-wingers" this afternoon for using "terrorist tactics" to thwart the discussion of health care reform. His remarks came one day after SEIU members allegedly assaulted a conservative protestor outside a town hall meeting in St. Louis County, Mo. The end of the attack and its aftermath were caught on tape. "These are the times to clearly speak out in a civilized way, and tell them we won't be prevented by these terrorist tactics from participating in these town hall meetings," Rivera told to thousands of SEIU members on a conference call this...

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Could this become 'Mortgage-gate?'

Why has Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., resisted an investigation of Countrywide Financial's sweetheart loans to members of Congress? The Wall Street Journal provides one possible clue: A powerful House Democrat who has turned down a Republican's call to subpoena records of a mortgage program at Countrywide Financial Corp. received two home loans from the lender... The loans were made to Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. The panel's ranking Republican, California Rep. Darrell Issa, has been pushing to have the committee subpoena mortgage records showing who received loans through Countrywide's VIP program -- operated under...

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Or is Cash-4-Clunkers driving Detroit SUV and truck sales?

Given the sparse information the government has released so far on the Cash-for-Clunkers program, I wondered yesterday whether it is purging Detroit models from the road. But an independent analysis suggests today that the government's numbers are simply misleading. They treat two-wheel and four-wheel drive models of the same vehicles as separate automobiles, thus making SUV and truck sales under Cash-for-Clunkers appear artificially low. The analysis was compiled by Edmunds.com based on data taken directly from auto dealers. It puts the Ford Escape SUV at number one, and includes in the top ten purchases the Chevy Silverado truck and the Ford F-150. The Department of Transportation,...

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Town hall violence -- by Obama supporters

President Obama recently e-mailed followers to attend local town halls, and his deputy chief of staff promised to "punch back twice as hard" in the health care debate. Neither of them probably expected their backers to "get in the faces" of their opponents quite this much. Or to punch anyone -- not literally, anyway. In Saint Louis, the Post-Dispatch reports that Kenneth Gladney, a conservative activist, was distributing Gadsden Flags at a town hall meeting for Rep. Russell Carnahan, D-Mo., when he was allegedly beaten by a group of Obama supporters. One of them reportedly flung racial epithets at him (he is black). Gladney ended up in the Emergency Room, and six...

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On health care, Obama tries winning by whining

A new poll from CNN shows that "[l]ess than a quarter of Americans with private health insurance think that [President] Obama's proposals would help them personally. Most people on Medicare and Medicaid also don't think that the Obama plan will help them," either. A new poll from Quinnipiac finds that 41 percent believe Obama's plan will hurt the quality of health care in the United States, and 14 percent believe it will make no difference. Only 39 percent believe it will improve the quality of health care. Similar, disappointing numbers for ObamaCare are cropping up in several polls -- by NPR, by Rasmussen, and by Gallup. Despite this, the White House is whining about the...

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New poll: Put the brakes on Cash 4 Clunkers

The federal government's Cash for Clunkers program is often referred to as "wildly popular." And it probably is "wildly popular" for those receiving free money at everyone else's expense. But you might be surprised to learn that most Americans think the Cash for Clunkers program is a lemon that should be crushed like an old Chevy Blazer that gets 12 miles to the gallon. Fifty-four percent of the public oppose Congress's move to put more money into the program, according to a new poll by Rasmussen, and only 33 percent support it....

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Is Cash-4-Clunkers purging Detroit vehicles from America's roads?

You've probably heard that Detroit vehicles are faring well in the cars-for-clunkers program. But that appearance may be entirely the result of the Department of Transportation's selective release of data. Here are the new top-ten lists for the Cash-for-Clunkers program as of last night. Among the 184,304 purchases so far, here are the top ten purchased cars: 1. Toyota Corolla 2. Ford Focus FWD 3. Honda Civic 4. Toyota Prius 5. Toyota Camry 6. Hyundai Elantra 7. Ford Escape FWD 8. Dodge Caliber 9. Honda Fit 10. Chevrolet Cobalt Note that six of the ten, and four of the top five, are Japanese models. Now, here are the top ten trade-in "clunkers": 1. Ford Explorer 4WD 2....

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U.S. may be walking back support for Zelaya

The State Department has sent a letter to Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., regarding the administration's policy toward Honduras. They appear to be walking back President Obama's quick condemnation of President Manuel Zelaya's ouster. From the State Department's letter: "The events of June 28 were preceded by a political conflict between President Zelaya and the other institutions of Honduras' government. We energetically condemn the actions of June 28. We also recognize that President Zelaya's insistence on undertaking provocative actions contributed to the polarization of Honduran society and led to a confrontation that unleashed the events that led to his removal. For this reason, our...

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Free money still popular in Indiana; Obama's policies, not so much.

The South Bend Tribune reports that President Barack Obama, on his swing through Northern Indiana, just pledged $39 million in electric car grants to the Navistar company during a speech at the company's RV plant. The paper describes the scene thus: The president received a standing ovation from the crowd when he announced the federal stimulus money. But less than half the crowd stood up when the president started talking about his other initiatives, including health insurance reform. A new Quinnipiac poll finds that 72% of voters don't believe in Obama's promise to reform health care without increasing the deficit, and also that they disapprove of Obama's handling of health care by...

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Hopefully, there's more than corn in Indiana

Today, President Obama will be in Northern Indiana, near my hometown. He is visiting Elkhart, home of the RV Hall of Fame and a wrecked recreational vehicle industry. Will the crowd be “all ears,” or will Obama be questioned appropriately about the promises he made there just weeks after his inauguration? Elkhart has become a symbol of Obama's economic policy for many people because of the attention he has paid the town. MSNBC has a regular feature it refers to as “The Elkhart Project” because of the economic promises Obama made there while promoting his economic stimulus package. Obama was in Elkhart on February 9 when he promised that his stimulus package had...

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Did Secretary LaHood lie to Congress? (Updated with better audio)

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member on the Government Oversight Committee, has written White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel requesting information about whether Emanuel coordinated a political multi-agency response to Republican criticisms of the stimulus. Specifically, the question is whether he put four cabinet secretaries up to writing bullying letters to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, R. The letters asked whether Arizona wanted its stimulus funds cut off, shortly after Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., suggested repealing the stimulus package. In this Politico story by Jonathan Martin, two administration officials have confirmed Emanuel's involvement in demanding that the secretaries...

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AP: Obama's Transportation Dept. promotes cash-for-clunkers with selective release of data

Also on the transparency front, AP reports that the Obama administration refuses to release the full data on the cash-for-clunkers program. Without the full information (which would not be hard to release -- an agency spokesman says they "don't have enough time" to give out the numbers) no one can verify any of the very optimistic-sounding claims by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood about how much the program is improving fuel efficiency in America's auto fleet or how much it is benefiting American auto manufacturers. AP has been trying to get the numbers since last week. LaHood, the news service reports, "promotes the fact that the Ford Focus so far is at the top of the...

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Does this Congress have transparency problem?

Our editorial today questions the delay in posting the the House health care bill -- the one which passed committee on Friday and which will receive a vote on the House floor after the August recess. After all, how are we supposed to discuss what's in the bill during the August recess if we cannot even refer to a canonical text? The same problem exists in the Senate, where the committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) passed its health care bill on July 15. We still don't have a copy of that text, and this has been a source of consternation for Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, the ranking Republican on the committee. Enzi penned a letter last Wednesday to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.,...

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Birthers give Obama a birthday present

Dr. Orly Taitz, one of the lawyers tying up various courtrooms with half-baked theories about President Obama's citizenship, made an appearance on MSNBC yesterday afternoon that I feel confident is the worst television appearance I've ever seen. Her paranoid behavior began with anticipatory accusations that the hosts would not give her enough time to speak. It only went downhill from there, culminating in her threat later in the segment that Tamryn Hall will be removed from television. If this spectacle disabuses even one birther of the fantasy that Obama is anything but a natural-born American, then the attention was probably worth it. Unfortunately, it also works to the president's...

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Birthers? Why didn't the Truthers get all this attention?

Twenty-eight percent of Republicans believe President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States, and 30 percent are "not sure," according to this poll. But before liberals begin to smirk, here's a poll from 2007, in which 35 percent of Democrats said that President Bush knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks, and 26 percent were not sure. So if 58 percent of Republicans are living in a delusional fantasy world because they are out of power, then 61 percent of Democrats were doing the same thing until just recently (perhaps they still are). It's a clean, apples-to-apples comparison with a clear lesson: People get a bit kooky when they're out of power,...

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Reid's short memory: Obama created that deadline

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., washed his hands yesterday of the August deadline that everyone has been talking about for passing a health care reform bill. In fact, he even blamed the media for creating it. "You folks have created a deadline, we haven't, Reid said. So who set the deadline? President Obama did, of course. "This window between now and the August recess, I think, is going to be the make-or-break period," Obama said two months ago, on June 2. "This is the time where we've got to get this done."...

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Lobbyist: Sneak trial-lawyer tax break through Congress

"You cannot have a stand alone bill to help lawyers … so we have to tuck it into something." This is the sort of thing lobbyists usually keep private when they discuss legislation in Congress. But according to Legal Newsline, Washington's top lobbyist for trial lawyers said it in a public forum while discussing a billion-dollar tax break she wants Congress to pass on behalf of her industry. Linda Lipsen, senior vice president of public affairs for the American Association of Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), was in San Francisco addressing a group of trial lawyers at an AAJ conference when she outlined this strategy of attaching the tax...

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Ignorant bloggers go nuts over Michele Bachmann

What happens when bloggers who don't understand Congress try to write about Congress? This kind of post. And this kind. And this kind (whose author at least had the half-decency to sort-of apologize). This week, the House considered a resolution lauding the 50th anniversary of the admission of Hawaii as a state. After the the routine speeches in favor (there was no opposition), Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., yielded back the last seconds of time for debate. The Speaker pro-tem called for a voice vote on passage, which is also routine. And Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., who happened to be holding the floor for the Republican side, objected to the vote because of the absence of a quorum...

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Tom Harkin wants a secret ballot, but not for employees

Alexander Bolton of The Hill reports today that Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has a way of retaliating against Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., for his failure to toe the line on health care reform. “Every two years the caucus could have a secret ballot on whether a chairman should continue, yes or no,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “If the ‘no’s win, [the chairman’s] out. “I’ve heard it talked about before,” he added. Tom Harkin, champion of Card Check, knows all about secret ballots ....

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Two opposite approaches to health insurance

By the August recess, President Obama will have his health care plan more or less drawn up in the versions that come out of committees in each house of Congress. Tomorrow, the conservative Republican Study Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., will officially bring its health bill to the floor as well. Although there is no chance it will pass, it offers a striking contrast with the Democrats' bill in its approach to the same problem: how do you get more Americans insured? Democrats' solution to the problem has been to expand Medicaid, impose a myriad of new regulations on insurers, and abolish the individual insurance market. In the meantime, they hope that this huge front-end...

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August won't be kind to ObamaCare

The debate over health care, a reporter friend on Capitol Hill remarked to me today, is no longer about the minority of Americans who lack health insurance. Rather, it has become a debate "driven by the concerns of the 85-plus percent who have insurance and are worried about what 'reform' would to do them." That is the underlying problem Democrats face right now, reflected in this NPR poll. It shows a 47 percent plurality of Americans in opposition to the health care reform plan in Congress, versus 42 percent in favor. (Note how NPR buries this lede in the fourth paragraph.) Today's deal between Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and the moderate Democrats on his Energy and Commerce...

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We'll Read the Bill: What will happen to my individual health coverage?

Most insured Americans get their health coverage through an employer. But a minority of about 6 to 8 percent -- mostly the self-employed, students, and others who lack a generous employee benefits package -- carry individual policies. Individual plans tend to cost more. Although they lack the tax deductability of the group market, they do have the advantage of portability. Affordable, high-deductible plans can usually be found and paired with Health Savings Accounts, for some tax advantages, and the self-employed often have no other choice. So what happens to people with individual policies after ObamaCare begins? It depends. In the Senate Democrats' bill, individual policyholders can...

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Self-Immolation Week at the White House

That blue pill the president keeps bringing up -- is it an anti-depressant that leads to thoughts of political suicide? And are they all taking it at the White House this week? Consider: The Gates controversy. President Obama now realizes that he made a huge mistake by saying police officers in Cambridge, Mass., acted "stupidly" in arresting Professor Henry Gates. After his embarrassing, rambling, non-apology apology, the White House set up a Thursday meeting between Gates and the arresting officer, Sgt. Jim Crowley. Politico's Mike Allen writes: "The White House was anxious to resolve the issue so it would quit dominating the news." Which is why they are stretching...

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Will this be Waterloo? It could depend on what the definition of 'score-able' is.

Comments from President Obama's budget director may signal a complicated parliamentary showdown over health care in the Senate later this year. At stake is whether the White House needs 60 or only 50 votes in the Senate to pass its reform of the nation's health insurance system. And the Senate Parliamentarian, an unelected, non-partisan official who is already considered a crucial figure in the health care debate, could find himself with even more questions to tackle than originally expected. A letter from the Congressional Budget Office on Saturday dashed White House hopes of easily covering the trillion-dollar cost of its health care reform package. The president's proposed...

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Bunning is out

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., has finally announced that he will not run for re-election. His poor fundraising totals this year, and the fact that he already encouraged another Republican to enter the race, make the announcement no surprise. But Bunning has tested the patience of his allies all year by maintaining an air of uncertainty over his future plans. Over the last several months, Bunning has been generous in blaming various Republican Party figures for driving him out of politics, including his fellow Kentuckian, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn, R-Tex. His statement today continues that trend: "Over the...

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Obama's Transportation Secretary gives a straight answer -- the seventh time he's asked

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had to be asked the same question seven times in Friday's House Budget Committee hearing before he would finally give a straight answer. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., was grilling LaHood about a letter he had sent Arizona's governor, after an Arizona Republican senator questioned the effectiveness of the stimulus package. The letter was widely viewed as a political threat in retaliation for criticism of the stimulus. On July 12, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., had suggested in a television interview that the stimulus should be cancelled, with the remaining unspent funds returned to the Treasury. LaHood, a former Republican member of Congress who joined Obama's...

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Will ObamaCare euthanize granny? No.

A breathless e-mail is circulating the Internet about ObamaCare's attempt to badger senior citizens into offing themselves. Here is an example: On Page 425 of Obama's health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier." As with many Internet rumors, this is not true. But it does have elements of truth to it. The House Democrats' health care bill does not compel counseling sessions. It does authorize Medicare to pay for one end-of-life care consultation every five years. Despite what some of the...

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UPDATED: Big drugmakers' secret D.C. meeting

Top pharmaceutical executives are meeting in secret -- or as their spokesman tells The Examiner, "in private" -- today in the basement of the historic Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. Whatever they are discussing, the public is not invited. The Examiner had received a tip that PhRMA, the trade group representing drug companies, was quietly holding a conference today of top executives from its 29 member-companies to discuss President Obama's health care proposals. After The Examiner first reported the meeting today, PhRMA spokesman Ken Johnson said that the meeting was "private, not secret," and that it was actually just the regular monthly meeting of...

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Take the red pill, Mr. President

"If there's a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that's going to make you well?" -- President Obama In last night's press conference, President Obama seemed to be reliving that famous scene from The Matrix. The main character is offered a choice between a red pill that makes him see reality for what it is, and a blue pill that allows him to continue living in a pleasant world of illusions. Last night, President Obama appeared to have taken the blue pill before his press conference. How else could he convince himself, the Congressional Budget Office's numbers notwithstanding,...

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Uninsured? ObamaCare says pay up. Or, you can move to Guam.

How will ObamaCare affect you? It isn't easy for most Americans to find answers. House Democrats won't even commit to reading the bill they proposed. President Obama admits that he doesn't know what's in it . Luckily, we're here to read it for you. We'll Read the Bill, Part II: The Individual Mandate You might have heard of the new surtax on high-income earners under the House Democrats' version of ObamaCare. You might have even heard of the taxes on employers who don't cover their employees. But you might not have heard yet about the tax that will be imposed on you if you remain uninsured. Think of it as a "stick motivator," as opposed to the "carrot motivators"...

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We'll Read the Bill, Part I: ObamaCare's Employer Mandate

How will ObamaCare affect you? Not in some broad political sense, but in a narrow sense -- how will it affect you as an employer, as a patient? It hasn't been easy for most Americans to find answers. House Democrats won't even commit to reading the bill they proposed. President Obama admits that he doesn't know what's in it. Luckily, we're here to read it for you. Today's feature of Health Care Reform is the mandate on employers to provide insurance for employees. What does it mean for your employer, and what does it mean for you? The House Democrats' bill (text here) requires all employers with annual payroll greater than $250,000 (all but the tiniest businesses) either to pay a...

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Switch to Public Option attracts Pelosi-backed businesses

Three companies in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her husband are heavily invested say they might switch their employees to a government-run Public Option plan if President Obama's health care reform passes Congress. The Public Option is a proposed government-run insurance company that Obama, Pelosi, and most Democrats want to create as part of health care reform. It would receive a large start-up investment from taxpayers and likely pay low Medicare rates to doctors and hospitals, allowing it to undercut private insurers with low premiums. A Lewin Group study found that as many as 131 million Americans would move or be shifted involuntarily into such a plan if it is...

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Durbin: DC tops in abortion because its residents are black (UPDATE: Audio included)

In a committee markup last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that residents of the District of Columbia have a disproportionately large number of abortions because D.C. is disproportionately African-American. In our nation's capital, 41 percent of all pregnancies end in abortion, twice the national average given by the Guttmacher Institute. Democrats in Congress are pushing to legalize taxpayer funding for non-lifesaving abortions in DC, which is currently prohibited by federal law and opposed by most Americans. Audio of Durbin's comments is here The issue arose last Thursday when the Senate Appropriations Committee took up the bill that funds the federal district. Sen. Sam...

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Obama's Science Czar: Traditional family is obsolete, punish large families

President Obama's Science Czar, John Holdren, took a controversial and amoral approach to the science of population by recommending mass compulsory sterilization and even forced abortion (and/or forced marriages) under certain circumstances. His 1977 tome, Ecoscience, which he co-authored with Paul and Anne Ehrlich, also displays a revealing disregard for the institution of the traditional human family. Holdren and the Ehrlichs write: Radical changes in family structure and relationships are inevitable, whether population control is instituted or not. Inaction, attended by a steady deterioration in living conditions for the poor majority, will bring changes everywhere that no one...

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Obama's science czar suggested compulsory abortion, sterilization

Internet reports are now circulating that Obama's Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, penned a 1977 book that approved of and recommended compulsory sterilization and even abortion in some cases, as part of a government population control regime. Given the general unreliability of Internet quotations, I wanted to go straight to this now-rare text and make sure the reports were both accurate and kept Holdren's writings in context. Generally speaking, they are, and they do. The Holdren book, titled Ecoscience and co-authored with Malthus enthusiasts Paul and Anne Ehrlich, weighs in at more than 1,000 pages. Of greatest importance to its discussion of how...

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About those 'cowardly' traffic-camera evaders

Leave it to D.C. authorities to complain and denounce a tool that helps drivers behave more safely. You may have seen this story in The Examiner last week about computer applications like PhantomAlert, designed for GPS devices (and in testing for the i-Phone), and Trapster, which to identify speed traps and traffic cameras. These programs cause your GPS or i-Phone to beep when you approach one of these fiscal hazards, warning you to slow down. Most drivers in D.C. know where at least a few of the speed cameras are. There's one on Michigan Avenue near Catholic University, for example. The one on I-395, south of New York Avenue, causes drivers to slam on their brakes even when there's no...

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New car czar is a union man

After just five months on the job, President Obama's "Car Czar," Steven Rattner, is quitting. An administration official gives Politico this terse explanation: “He determined that this was the right decision for him and his family at this time." His replacement, a six-figure official with the Steelworkers' Union named Ron Bloom, is already waiting in the wings. It sounds like a firing, but if the GM and Chrysler deals turn out poorly, Rattner will probably be happy he's already gone. Bloom's relevant experience appears to be negotiating for unions with troubled companies, and so it would be useful to know his approach. Thanks to an old Time magazine collection...

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In Maine, good intentions paved the road to health-care Hell

A large part of the discussion on health care in Washington has revolved around the so-called public option – a government-run health insurance plan that would increase coverage and compete with private insurers to “keep them honest.” President Obama has said he wants a public option. It is a key element in the health care reform plan presented recently by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. But there's been surprisingly little discussion about the experiment that the State of Maine has conducted with a public option over the last five years. Before acting on health care reform, federal legislators would do well to look at a recently released paper by the Maine Heritage Policy...

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Is $18M too much for a website?

Is $9.5 million too much to pay to create a website that tracks government stimulus spending in detail? How about an additional $8.5 million to maintain that site after its creation, through January 2014? The Recovery Accountability and Transparency board, which is tasked with tracking federal stimulus funding through the Recovery.gov website, does not think that too steep a price. Spokesman Ed Pound, told me earlier today that Recovery 2.0 will be a highly functional website well worth the $18 million contract the government has awarded Smartronix for its development, and he rejected any suggestion...

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Updated: Hoyer-linked firm wins $18M Recovery.gov contract

ABC reports this morning that the Maryland firm Smartronix has won what seems like an enormous $18 million contract to re-design the Recovery.gov website. Approximately $9.5 million would be spent by January in order to make "Recovery 2.0" out of the site that is supposed to track the spending of federal stimulus funds in detail. Smartronix, a medium-sized Maryland-based firm (over 500 employees) founded in 1995, boasts a large number of government clients, mostly military. The company appears to have just one important political connection: according to FEC records, Smartronix president, Mohammed Javaid, vice president Alan Parris, and partner John Parris have together given...

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Obama's shaky record on Russian relations

Given recent events in North Korea, and Iran's advances with missile technology and its determination to become a nuclear power, one must rank missile defense among the most important military investments the United States makes today. One must therefore also be concerned that the fate of missile defense rests in the hands of a man who campaigned on a promise to scuttle it; a man who earlier in life, while attending school at Columbia, wrote fondly of a then-popular movement for unilateral disarmament in the face of an ominous Soviet threat; a president who has already cut funding for missile defense this year, even as far more dubious government ventures have become flush with federal...

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Palin's resignation

I am inclined to believe Andrea Mitchell's reporting from yesterday afternoon -- that Sarah Palin is out of politics for good. That's the only reasonable explanation for what she's done. It is very difficult to accept the notion that this is being done to further some long-term strategy. If Palin is resigning because of the pressure that public life and the endless, frivolous complaints have put on her and her family, that's respectable. If she's stepping down to avoid an impending scandal, then it's understandable. If Sarah Palin thinks she can quit less than three years into her governorship in order to run for president, that's just crazy. Whatever other benefits this move brings,...

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Hondurans take their term limits very seriously

This excellent piece by Francisco Toro at The New Republic provides some very important context that most of the media has missed regarding the situation in Honduras. The most important thing you probably haven't heard on CNN: Article 42 of the Honduran Constitution specifically makes “inciting, promoting, or supporting the continuation or re-election of the President of the Republic” one of six crimes for which one can lose Honduran citizenship. That provision is specifically named later as one of the so-called "cast-in-stone" provisions that cannot be changed "en ningún caso" -- under any circumstance (see Article 374). Honduran presidents can...

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Get ready to lose your private insurance

Susan makes note below of Sen. Dodd's presentation of the new and improved Senate Obama-care plan. It includes a so-called "public option" for government-run insurance, and it also requires that employers either provide coverage or pay a $750-per-year fee to the government for each non-covered employee. To put things into perspective, the average American employer pays $5,800 per year from his own pocket for each employee covered by a company health plan, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. So let's say I have 100 employees who make $50,000 on average. Health insurance costs are a problem for me, but I care enough about my employees (and about keeping them) that I'm not...

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Niger, Honduras and Iran

As our editorial of today argues, there was a very strong rule-of-law case for the removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya defied his nation's Supreme Court and Congress in an attempt to give himself an illegal extra term in office. He fired the top military official who refused to help him break the law. In return, he was arrested and exiled. Based on a resignation letter (which Zelaya now claims he did not write), Congress chose a new president to serve until Zelaya's term ends, after November's elections (which will go on as scheduled). But the Obama administration has joined the UN and the world in denouncing the "coup" and demanding Zelaya's unconditional...

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Got 60? Who Cares?

Al Franken's victory brings Democrats' number in the Senate to 60, and has everyone thinking about how they can now defeat potential Republican filibusters against cap-and-trade and health reform. But why go through all the trouble of getting 60 when you can do just as much with 50? The process of budget reconciliation is extremely complicated. The part that most Washington-watchers understand is that bills passed under it cannot be filibustered in the Senate -- they require only a simple majority. The purpose of reconciliation, supposedly, is to adjust federal spending and revenue levels. But this is nearly always a pretext. The original idea behind reconciliation in the 1970s was to...

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Brace yourself for higher taxes

Yesterday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs squirmed under repeated questioning about whether he would reaffirm President Obama's critical campaign promise not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year. President Obama had said in September, 2008: "I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." This pledge has already been broken, at least with respect to federal tobacco taxes. But the White House has, until very recently, maintained the fiction that the promise is still in effect...

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Monica Conyers' Best Hits

In case you haven't been following the news from the Motor City, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. is experiencing a continuing headache. His wife, Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers (D), has resigned from the Detroit City Council effective next week. On Friday, she pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for supporting a $1.2 billion city sanitation contract for the company Synagro Technologies. In addition to losing her position, she faces up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison at sentencing. Before the bribery scandal, Conyers was best known for participating in a 2005 bar fight, and for disrespecting her colleagues in debate and allegedly...

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On the House floor

By all appearances, the House is about to vote on a very long bill of which it has no completed official copy. Texas Republican Reps. Joe Barton and Louie Gohmert have just asked the chair whether there exists a complete, updated copy of the Waxman-Markey carbon-cap bill. "If a bill for which there is no copy were to actually pass this body," Barton asked, "could the bill without a copy be sent to the Senate for its consideration?" Through a series of parliamentary inquiries, the Republicans learned that the 300-plus page managers' amendment, added to the bill last night in the House Rules Committee, has not even been been integrated with the official copy of the...

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How the Left's charitable activists manipulate grants data

There is a crisis in philanthropy today. At least, that's what the National Council for Responsible Philanthropy (NCRP) wants you to believe. America's foundations, they say, give only 33.2 percent of their grant money to non-profits that serve those most in need. This has supposedly caused a widespread outcry and demands for change in the halls of Congress. But if you missed the riots in the streets and the chants of “Down with the Foundations,” it is because they are imaginary. And so is this supposed “crisis” in foundation giving, a study released earlier this month strongly suggests. Previously, The Examiner reported how the liberal NCRP and its...

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Liberal non-profits launch big money grab

Imagine that the president comes knocking at your door. He informs you that when you took a mortgage interest deduction from your taxes last year, you received a federal subsidy. As a consequence, you have to now meet new federal demands – renovating a kitchen, for example, would require union labor. The upstairs den would have to become a living room. A group of liberal activists is trying to do just that to charitable organizations. The National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy (NCRP) outlined its plan in a March report called “Criteria for Philanthropy at its Best,” penned by a former staffer for the left-wing non-profit group Media Matters for America....

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House conservatives' un-wish list

In an age when new federal programs and “czars” seem to spring up every day, the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House is fighting the trend. With support from taxpayer groups, the conservative group of House members announced today formation of a permanent “Sunset Caucus.” whose aim, as RSC Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., put it, is “reining in the overgrowth in Washington that is threatening every American taxpayer.” Each of the caucus's 47 members is tasked with adopting one government program and championing its abolition by proposing legislation and discussing it as much as possible in public appearances. Among their top...

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