Health care reform advocates love to quote the World Health Organization report that claims the U.S. ranks 37th in the world in health care. That study is as Carl Bialik, the Wall Street Journal’s numbers guy, explains in today’s edition is nearly a decade old and relies on statistics that are even older or incomplete: […]
Archives for 2009
Democrats Lock Republicans Out of Committee Room
Most ethical Congress in history? Heh… From The Hill: Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present. Towns’ action came after repeated public ridicule from the leading Republican on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), over Towns’s failure […]
Jack and Squat: Obama Not Leading on Health Care Reform, Says Dem Congressman
From The Hill: President Barack Obama is falling short as Democrats’ leader in the fight for health reform, according to a freshman Dem lawmaker. Freshman Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) openly lamented the Obama administration’s calculated decision to let the House and Senate craft their own health bills, with the congressman blaming the president for the […]
Senate Finance Committee Approves Health Care Reform Bill
The Senate Finance Committee voted largely along party lines to approve committee chairman Max Baucus’s Health Care Reform Bill earlier today: A key U.S. Senate committee endorsed a sweeping healthcare overhaul on Tuesday, gaining the support of an influential Republican and delivering President Barack Obama a victory on his top domestic priority. The Democratic-controlled Senate […]
Weekend Briefing – Saturday, October 10, 2009
I’m going to be tied up with family all weekend but here’s a collection of must read links: CBO: Budget deficit hit record $1.4T in 2009 – Associated Press Proposals to create jobs add up to second stimulus – Associated Press A Nobel for Obama – New York Sun Barack Obama’s peace prize starts a […]
Obama to Accept Nobel Prize as ‘Call to Action’… DNC Says Republicans Siding with Terrorists
This day just keeps getting more and more surreal… First it was the news that Pres. Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, next was the news he’ll accept the award as a ‘Call to Action’: Saying he was “surprised and deeply humbled” by the decision of the Nobel Committee to award him the 2009 […]
Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize… For What?
I’m going to start off by saying Congratulations Mr. President… Although I’m not really sure what you’ve done to warrant such a prestigious award as the Nobel Peace Prize: President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world “hope for a better future” and striving for nuclear disarmament, in a […]
Harry Reid ‘Likely’ to Make Entire Health Bill an Amendment to Unrelated Tax Bill That House Passed in March
CNSNews.com is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry is ‘likely’ to use a tax bill passed by the House in March as shell for enacting the Senate health care bill: A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CNSNews.com that it is “likely” that Reid will use H.R. 1586—a bill passed by […]
Washington Times: Firefighters lose large U.S. grant to ACORN
From the the Washington Times: Nearly $1 million in Homeland Security funding typically earmarked for fire departments has been awarded to ACORN, despite a clear signal from Congress that it intends to cut off federal funding to the embattled group. The grant to ACORN’s Louisiana office became public on Oct. 2, less than three weeks […]
Nancy Pelosi: Value-Added Tax is “On the Table”
I’ve mentioned before that the Democrats were laying the groundwork for a European style Value Added Tax or VAT… I wish I could tell you I was wrong but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that a VAT tax is “on the table” during an appearance on the Charlie Rose show Monday night: A new value-added […]
Sarah Palin: Dollar’s Troubles Show Need for Energy Independence
Two days ago the British newspaper The Independent published a rather dubious report by Robert Fisk claiming that oil-producing Arab states along with China, Russia, Japan and France were conspiring on a plan to dump the dollar for oil trading, a move which would seriously weaken our currency and influence abroad. The Arab states named […]
Jack and Squat
Sometimes fact is funnier than fiction: Ouch.
Unemployment Climbs to 9.8%
If there’s a silver lining in the September Jobs report I can’t find it: U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, lifting the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, according to a government report on Friday that fueled fears the weak labor market could undermine economic recovery. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate […]
Rio Gets the Games, Chicago Eliminated in the First Round
From the Wall Street Journal: Rio De Janeiro will host 2016 Olympics, the International Olympic Committe announced, bringing the Olympic Games to South America for the first time and besting a Chicago bid that was strongly backed by President Obama. Rio won in the third round, after Chicago was eliminated in the first round and […]
Michael Yon: Don’t Kid Yourselves; we’re in Serious Trouble in Afghanistan
Michael Yon has spent more time in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other journalist. His dispatches from the front lines are required reading for anyone who wants to know what’s happening at the pointy end of the war on terror so when he say we’re in serious trouble you should pay attention: The Greatest Afghanistan […]