Op-Eds and Editorials October '09

Battle Of Copenhagen

Originally Posted At The American Conservative
By Patrick J. Buchanan
October 16, 2009

Before President Obama even landed at Andrews Air Force Base, returning from his mission to Copenhagen to win the 2016 Olympic Games, Chicago had been voted off the island. Many shared the lamentation of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, “What has become of America, when Chicago can’t steal an election?”
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Illegal Health Reform

Originally Posted At The Washington Post
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey

President Obama has called for a serious and reasoned debate about his plans to overhaul the health-care system. Any such debate must include the question of whether it is constitutional for the federal government to adopt and implement the president's proposals. Consider one element known as the "individual mandate," which would require every American to have health insurance, if not through an employer then by individual purchase. This requirement would particularly affect young adults, who often choose to save the expense and go without coverage. Without the young to subsidize the old, a comprehensive national health system will not work. But can Congress require every American to buy health insurance?
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Bend The Revenue Curve
The other shoe on government-run healthcare just hit the floor with a resounding bang, a VALUE-ADDED TAX


Originally Posted At The Washington Post
By Henry J. Aaron and Isabel V. Sawhill
October 13, 2009

Anyone who thinks that health-care reform alone is going to close the massive current -- and even larger projected -- U.S. budget deficit is deluded. President Obama has pledged that health-care reform will not make matters worse. But that isn't good enough. There is no way to restore this nation to fiscal health without higher taxes -- for the middle class as well as for the rich. The only question is when. Those increases should be enacted now, phased in gradually after the recovery is well established, and tied to the increased spending that health-care reform will generate.
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The Baucus Bill Is A Tax Bill
Middle-class families would get hit with a double-digit increase in their marginal tax rate.

Originally Posted At The Wall Street Journal
By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
October 13, 2009

Remember when health-care reform was supposed to make life better for the middle class? That dream began to unravel this past summer when Congress proposed a bill that failed to include any competition-based reforms that would actually bend the curve of health-care costs. It fell apart completely when Democrats began papering over the gaping holes their plan would rip in the federal budget.
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Paying The Health Tax In Massachusetts
Be warned: Even people with good insurance will risk fines if mandatory insurance becomes the national law.

Originally Posted At The Wall Street Journal
By Wendy Williams
October 9, 2009

(Cape Cod, Mass.) My husband retired from IBM about a decade ago, and as we aren't old enough for Medicare we still buy our health insurance through the company. But IBM, with its typical courtesy, informed us recently that we will be fined by the state.
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Baucus' Hefty Bill
Heavy hit on middle class

Originally Posted At The New York Post
By Sally Pipes
October 9, 2009

So the Congressional Budget Office has produced the product that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and President Obama needed: a contorted acknowledgement that -- if taxes are hiked, Medicaid expanded and Medicare reimbursements slashed permanently by 25 percent -- Baucus' $829 billion bill will insure 29 million more people and produce a slight surplus over 10 years.
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The Greatest Show On Earth
Step right up: A new entitlement that cuts the deficit!

Originally Posted At The Wall Street Journal
October 9, 2009

Washington spent the week waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to roll in with its new cost estimates of the Senate health-care bill, and what a carnival. Behold: a new $829 billion entitlement that will subsidize insurance for tens of millions of people—and reduce deficits by $81 billion at the same time. In the next tent, see the mermaid and a two-headed cow.
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What We Would Have Told Obama
Though we weren't invited to the White House, here are better ideas to increase coverage for the uninsured.

Originally Posted At The Wall Street Journal
By Donald J. Palmisano, William G. Plested II & Daniel H. Johnson Jr.
October 4, 2009

We aren't among the doctors invited to a Rose Garden event today to "join the President in pushing for health insurance reform this year and [who] have offered their help and support," as a White House press release put it. It's unfortunate only supporters of the president's plans will be there. Mr. Obama has missed an opportunity to learn more about the real issues facing patients and doctors and to formulate a plan that truly puts patients in control with doctors as trusted advisers.
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A Real Employee Free Choice Act
Big business is fighting the most important health-care reform.

Originally Posted At The Wall Street Journal
By Matt Miller
October 1, 2009

As health reform legislation hurtles toward its finale, corporate America has rushed to the barricades to make sure that big business remains at the heart of the welfare state. The Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers are united in their belief that Sen. Ron Wyden's (D., Ore.) "free choice amendment" must be stopped.
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Recent News

Those Dastardly Republicans

Friday, May 18, 2012
Source: Politico
Congressional Republicans are back up to their old shenanigans on ObamaCare. Politico reveals that Republicans would try to replicate popular parts of Obama’s health care law if the Supreme Court overturns the law this summer.
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FDA Warns Doctors On Fosamax Side Effects

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Source: ABC News
The Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors to watch for fractures of the upper thigh bone in patients taking several popular drugs designed to prevent hip fractures and fight osteoprothesis.  The FDA warns that Fosamax and Boniva in particular, if taken unnecessarily or for too long, may actually be causing the bone fractures they are prescribed to prevent. Watch ABC News video.
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Senator Introduces Fugitive Taxpayer Act

Thursday, May 17, 2012
Source: ABC News
Exit Not An Option In Chuck Schumer's America.  New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced the Fugitive Taxpayer Act of 2012 to re-impose taxes on expatriates after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Proposal also would impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship and would bar such individuals from ever reentering the United States again.
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US War Machine Will Be Real Winner In Nov.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Source: Salon.com
Whether President Obama gets his second term or Romney enters the Oval Office, there’s a third candidate no one’s paying much attention to, and that candidate is guaranteed to be the one clear winner of election 2012: the U.S. military and our ever-surging national security state.
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Social Security Garnished for Student Loan Debts

Friday, May 11, 2012
Source: Truth-Out.org
According to the New York Federal Reserve, two million US seniors age 60 and over have student loan debt, on which they owe a collective $36.5 billion; and 11.2 percent of this debt is in default. 4.2 percent of all student loan debt is held by people over the age of 60, and that share grows with each passing year.
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Seniors vs. Military-Industrial Complex?

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Across the U.S. economy, anxiety is rising about the potential for widespread disruptions after the November election, when a lame-duck Congress will have barely two months to resolve a grinding standoff over taxes and spending.
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Americans Say Cut The War Machine, Now

Thursday, May 10, 2012
Source: Huffington Post
Two-thirds of Republicans and nine in 10 Democrats polled support making immediate cuts to the military across the board -- a position at odds with the leaderships of both political parties.
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Police Beat Mentally Ill Man To Death

Monday, May 7, 2012
Source: Raw Story
Video revealing the circumstances of how a mentally ill homeless man in Fullerton, Calif. died last July was finally published Monday, revealing a stunningly brutal police assault that left Kelly Thomas bleeding, broken and near death.
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President Obama Is Running Out of Jobs Excuses

Monday, May 7, 2012
The number of people with jobs declined for the second month in a row, falling by 169,000 in April after easing by 31,000 in March. This means that there were 200,000 fewer Americans with jobs in April than there were in February. Additionally, the percentage of working-age adults who either have jobs or are looking for work, fell to 63.6%, which is the lowest level since December 1981.
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Attack Of The Drones

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Source: Salon.com
In November 2010, a police lieutenant from Parma, Ohio, asked Vanguard Defense Industries if the Texas-based drone manufacturer could mount a “grenade launcher and/or 12-gauge shotgun” on its ShadowHawk drone for U.S. law enforcement agencies. The answer was yes.
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