Politics of the Left

Key Democrat suggests party moderates 'brain dead'

Moderate Blue Dog Democrats "just want to cause trouble," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who heads the health subcommittee on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

"They're for the most part, I hate to say, brain dead, but they're just looking to raise money from insurance companies and promote a right-wing agenda that is not really very useful in this whole process," Stark told reporters on a conference call.

This dismissive attitude exhibited by Rep. Stark seems to be a common attribute of leftists towards people that disagree with them.

Technorati Tags: Blue Dog Democrats,  Leftist Democrat

The leftist media is at it again

First it was Iraq.  Now it’s Afghanistan.

Obama facing hard choices on Afghanistan war plans

WASHINGTON – As public support for the war in Afghanistan erodes…

Since when did public support start waning?  When Obama’s handmaidens in the media said so?

I really believe the mainstream media—the A.P. and the three broadcast outlets plus their affiliates on cable—amount to a fifth column.

Technorati Tags: Fifth column,  isolationists,  mainstream media,  Obama

Still more climate change fearmongering

Beetles, wildfire: Double threat in warming world

The warmers are at it again.  Where to begin.  Bark beetles killing conifers.  Fires in the dead conifers.  Permafrost thawing. And…and, oh the CO2 emissions.   The world as we know it is ending.  Woe is us.

Or is it?

There is no evidence that the beetle infestation would not have happened anyway.  Nevertheless, why should we get wee weed  about it?  Once the firs and spruce have burned off, aspen and birch will take over.

Is that so bad?

To the warmers, it’s irrelevant because it doesn’t coincide with their world view.

And it has less to do with the environment than you might guess.

Technorati Tags: Global warming,  permafrost,  bark beetle

More climate change fearmongering

In hot water: World sets ocean temperature record

WASHINGTON — Steve Kramer spent an hour and a half swimming in the ocean this week — in Maine.

The water temperature was 72 degrees — more like Ocean City, Md., this time of year. And Ocean City's water temp hit 88 degrees, toasty even by Miami Beach standards.

This is bad news?

The U.N. gloom-and-doomers have be predicting the Arctic ice melt will cut off the Gulf current and plunge Europe into another ice age.

It didn't happen.

So, take a deep breath, ignore the doomers and enjoy the swimming.

Tags: Climate Change

If you like your healthcare plan…

…you can keep your healthcare plan.  So says the President.  For the purposes of H. R. 32oo as introduced in the House, these plans are defined as grandfathered plans (Sec. 102(a)).

So, this means the Feds are not going to take over health care in this Country.  Or, does it really?

Section 102(a)(1)—LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT—has the provision in (A) that no new enrollments in such plans shall be made after the AAHC Act becomes law.

Further down, Section 102(c)—LIMITATION ON INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE—subsection (1) has the provision that individual coverage may only be issued through the Federal Health Insurance Exchange.

The effect of limitation on new enrollments will be the pool of insured under those plans will shrink because of attrition due to a variety of reasons.  Eventually, those plans will become infeasible to maintain due to costs to the insured.  And, because of 102(c)(1), there will be no place to go except to Federally defined plans.

So, it is true:  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.

What is not being said is your plan will eventually wither away and there will be no recourse but to go into the Federal defined plans.

Slick, huh?

Technorati Tags: H. R. 3200,  Health Care Reform

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Ezekiel Emanuel: Caught with pants down

Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm's brother, fights death panel health care smears

Heh.  I suppose the Left’s smears are America’s truth-telling.  Here is what’s being written:

WASHINGTON -- Ezekiel Emanuel is a noted oncologist, bioethicist, older brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, an Obama administration health policy adviser -- and the target of smears by Sarah Palin and other critics of Democratic health care legislation. He's now fighting back.

Emanuel is no "Dr. Death," though he has published a lot on end-of-life issues. He is an opponent of legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Contrary to the article, no one is accusing him of advocating pulling the plug on the very young or the old.

Ezekiel Emanuel is the brother of Obama chief-of-staff, Rahm (can you spell cronyism?).

His protestations should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. His record is clear: He is the author of an article published in The Lancet, explaining how healthcare should be rationed amongst the population in the event of a national emergency (e.g., a Federal budget shortfall?).

My take on Dr. Emanuel’s proposal is this:  The lives of the very young and of the elderly would not be considered valuable enough to have public funds expended on them. Euthanasia is not a part of the plan.

Instead, the government-run healthcare system would simply deny these people benefits leaving you on your own.  Indeed, the President, at a recent town hall, in effect said the same:  If my grandmother was in need I would pay out of my own pocket.

This is a very noble sentiment and I am sure most of us would do the same.

But, more to the point, after paying into a system for all our working lives, can we accept that unelected persons will be deciding who will get benefits and who won’t? Especially if the likes of Dr. Zeke has a hand in it?

Technorati Tags: Ezekiel Emanuel,  death Panels

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Chicago machine politics on display

Palin stands by 'death panel' claim on health bill

The Chicago Machine (AKA, the Obama administration), along with their minions in the mainstream press, are attacking on all fronts:

WASHINGTON — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin refused to retreat from her debunked claim that a proposed health care overhaul would create "death panels," as the growing furor over end-of-life consultations forced a key group of senators to abandon the idea in their bill.

Debunked claim?  More like, they retracted the end-of-life provision.  And, with good reason.

The public, along with Gov. Palin, were reacting to the ‘end of life’ consultation in H. R. 3200.

So, what is this ‘consultation?’  Who knows for sure because the legislation will most likely be ‘silent’ on the content.

But, because of the lack of specificity, it will be up to the ‘Health Care Benefits Advisory Council’ to define.  And, given that Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel—brother of Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel—is in a position to influence the Council, the result cannot be good for the young and the elderly in the winter of their life.

Dr. Emanuel is the author of ‘Complete Lives System’ published in The Lancet (registration required).  The thrust of his proposal is that a scarce commodity—such as healtcare in a national emergency—should not be squandered on the very young or the elderly.  Nice, right?

Referring to the Health Benefits Advisory Council as a ‘Death Panel’ probably is a little more sensational than it needs to be.

Nevertheless, Gov. Palin’s characterization is not off the mark.  There is reason to be concerned, especially if you are very young or elderly, because the sum and substance of the ‘consultation’ would be ‘we are withdrawing benefits because you are (very young|old).’

It’s a cruel world out there.  And, our President is not helping.

Technorati Tags: Health care reform,  Obama,  Death Panels,  H.R. 3200,  Palin

This is getting tiresome

Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat

Once again the global-warming fearmongers are at work.  This time it’s about the unusual melt of the Arctic ice:

Global average temperatures rose 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degree Celsius) in the past century, but Arctic temperatures rose twice as much or even faster, almost certainly in good part because of manmade greenhouse gases, researchers say.

Yeah.  Right.

The northwest passage through the Arctic has been ice-free three times during the twentieth century:  1903—1905, 1940—1942 and 1944; well before the period claimed to have had an upswing in manmade greenhouse gas emissions.

As anyone whose been paying attention knows, this year’s Arctic warming was due to an unusual static configuration of the jet stream which funneled tropical heat along the west continental coast all the way to the Arctic.

Ice cap melt caused by human activities?  Humbug!

Technorati Tags: climate change,  Arctic ice cap,  IPCC,  COP15,  Copenhagen 2009

ABC News: Objectivity?

In the case of the main stream media, truth depends on whose ox is being gored.  One man’s vox populi is another’s organized protest.

Charles Gibson on ABC News tonight:

The House of Representatives are already back in their districts on summer recess; most holding town hall meetings to find out what’s on their voters minds.  And, what they are hearing is criticism over health care reform.  And, some of that criticism appears to be orchestrated causing the White House to push back.

The operative phrase is appears to be orchestrated.

Of course, the President, being a disciple of Saul Alinsky, knows the action is in the reaction.  Except, this time, he is doing the reacting.

I don’t know if someone took a page out of Obama’s own community organizer's manual but this has the feel of a true grass roots revolt.  It’s as if the Nation suddenly discovered Obama the President is not the same Obama the orator they elected. 

ABC News?  There is no objective reason for them to categorize these town-hall revolts as being orchestrated. But, such comments are par for the course; ABC News—NBC and CBS included—being water-carriers for the Leftist Establishment.

Update:  A poisonous attitude has spread throughout the White House.   Messages from the White House asking for addresses of fishy emails.   Citizens at town-hall meetings referred to as mobs.   This Greta Van Susteren clip explains...

Technorati Tags: health care reform,  Saul Alinsky,  ABC News,  Citizens are mobs