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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UK says elderly are “wasting" too many bedrooms

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Source: Canada Free Press

In yet another outrageous piece of social engineering from the British government, pensioners will be encouraged to downsize to smaller properties allowing local government councils to rent their homes out as public housing and manage the tenancy.
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Federal Employee Gravy Train

Monday, January 30, 2012

Source: The Washington Times

Federal workers earn 16 percent more in total compensation — including wages and benefits — than comparable private-sector employees, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The key difference is in benefits, where federal workers average more than $20 per hour in compensation — 48 percent higher than the $13.60 in prorated hourly benefits in the private sector.
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Ind. Lawmakers: "Pee Test For Thee But Not For Me"

Friday, January 27, 2012

Source: Huffington Post

A member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers.
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America, arms-dealer to the world

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Source: Salon.com

Retired lieutenant colonel's take on the military-industrial complex: As a country, we seem to have a teenager’s fascination with military hardware, an addiction that’s driving us to bust our own national budgetary allowance. At the same time, we sell weapons the way teenage punks sell fireworks to younger kids: for profit and with little regard for how they might be used.
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Still Convinced Tax Increases Work?

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Source: CBSChicago.com

After largest tax increase in Illinois' history, the state still can't pay its bills. Only solution is to cut government spending says state comptroller.
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GOP Voters Split On Interventionism

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Source: The Washington Times

Nearly half of all Republican primary voters say it’s time the U.S. stops intervening in world affairs and focuses on domestic priorities instead, signaling a persistent rift that is playing out in the party’s presidential nomination battle.
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CNN Poll: Obama tied with Romney & Paul in November showdowns

Monday, January 16, 2012

Source: CNN

New CNN/ORC International Poll released Monday also indicates that Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas are running even with President Obama in possible showdown this November.
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Solid Majority Want ObamaCare Repealed

Monday, January 9, 2012

Source: Rasmussen Reports

Most voters still want to see the national health care law repealed and believe repeal of the controversial measure is likely.
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Obama Darling of the Military-Industrial Complex

Friday, January 13, 2012

Source: Raw Story

President Obama is leading the pack in donations from the defense industry: according to the Center for Responsive Politics, he’d taken in almost $112,000 from defense industry donors through December 2011, twice as much as Mitt Romney, the leading Republican recipient of defense-industry campaign contributions.
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How Much Abuse Will We Accept From Government?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Source: Huffington Post

Jail inmate dies after deputies directly sprayed him and fogged his cell with pepper spray at least 8 times. Deputies then put him into a restraining chair, a controversial device that binds inmates at both wrists, both ankles, and across the chest, and then sprayed him at least two more times after he had been strapped to the chair. He was also stripped naked, and outfitted with a "spit mask," a hood designed to prevent inmates from spitting on jail personnel, which kept the pepper spray in close proximity to his nose and mouth, ensuring he would continue to inhale it for the full six hours he was in the restraint chair.
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