Obama log

Secretary Clinton’s Message on Pakistan Day

2010-03-23T07:54:00.000+02:00

U.S. pays tribute to people of Pakistan as they celebrate Pakistan’s national day.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/03/138530.htm

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Pakistan as you mark your National Day on March 23rd. Almost seventy years ago, men who would become the Founding Fathers of Pakistan met in Lahore and helped shape the birth of your nation.

Pakistan is close to my heart, and I have been privileged to make five visits over the years. And I have seen firsthand how special your country is — rich with history and culture, blessed with natural beauty, and home to people of unforgettable warmth and strength.

This week I am honored to welcome Foreign Minister Qureshi and other Pakistani officials to Washington for our first Ministerial-level U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. The United States is supporting Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen democratic institutions, foster economic development, expand opportunity, and defeat the extremist groups who threaten Pakistan, the region, and even our own country. Our broad partnership is based on mutual respect and mutual interest, and this dialogue will be an opportunity to forge even closer ties between our nations.

Today, your country is suffering from terrorism and your security forces and civilians are making great sacrifices to fight extremists. The people of the United States will stand by and support Pakistani efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous future. We wish you a happy Pakistan Day.

[Via http://ykhan.wordpress.com]

U.S. Bishops' final plea to Congressmen: Do not pass pro-abortion ...

SECRETARY DUNCAN RELEASES APPLICATION FOR $650 MILLION TO SUPPORT INNOVATION

2010-03-21T15:57:00.000+02:00

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Communications & Outreach, Press Office

400 Maryland Ave., S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20202

Contact: Sandra Abrevaya

(202) 401‐1576 or press@ed.gov

SECRETARY DUNCAN RELEASES APPLICATION FOR $650 MILLION TO SUPPORT INNOVATION

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced the Department of Education’s final priorities and the grant application for the $650 million Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). The fund, which is part of the historic $5 billion investment in school reform in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will support the development of pathbreaking new ideas, the validation of approaches that have demonstrated promise, and the scale‐up of the nation’s most successful and proven education innovations.

“Many of our generation’s greatest breakthroughs occur when people are willing to invest in small scale projects with big scale potential,” said Duncan. “We need to identify these pockets of promise in the education community and give them the resources they need to grow.”Individual school districts or groups of districts can apply for the i3 grants, and entrepreneurial nonprofits can join with school districts or a consortium of schools to submit applications. To qualify for the competitive grants, applicants will need to address one of the four areas that are driving the Obama administration’s school reform agenda: supporting effective teachers and principals; improving the use of data to accelerate student achievement; complementing the implementation of standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and careers; and turning around persistently low‐performing schools.

Applicants will receive a competitive preference if their project addresses one or more of the following priorities: improving outcomes for young children; expanding students’ access to college and preparing them for success in college; addressing the unique needs of students with disabilities and of limited English proficient students; and serving schools in rural areas.

Unlike other federal grant programs where evidence is a selection criterion, in the i3 program evidence is a formal eligibility requirement. The i3 regulations also include specific definitions for what constitutes strong evidence, moderate evidence and a reasonable hypothesis and will award three types of grants based on these three levels of evidence. Development grants will require a reasonable hypothesis and will be aimed at helping develop fresh ideas, Validation grants will require moderate evidence and will be aimed at validating and spreading promising programs to regional scale, and Scale Up grants will require strong evidence and will be aimed at bringing proven programs to national scale. The Department expects to make Development grants of up to $5 million each; Validation grants of up to $30 million each; Scale Up grants of up to $50 million each.

“This fund awards three different grants to programs at three different stages of development that all share one thing in common‐ evidence of success,” said Duncan. “We will award modest grants for new ideas, more for programs with moderate levels of evidence and significant funds to those with the strongest track records of success. There is no argument for investment more powerful than a program that is making a difference in the lives of our kids.”

Once identified as an award recipient, successful applicants will need to demonstrate how their programs will be sustainable after their federal grants are completed as well as find a 20 percent cash or in‐kind match of the federal award from the private sector. To assist recipients in their efforts to find private matches and to serve the larger purpose of creating an innovation community, the Department of Education has launched an online community, the Open Innovation Portal. This is the first national forum within which entrepreneurs, education stakeholders of all types, and funders can partner to develop and fund innovative ideas in the education sector.

Through this portal, the Department will hope to facilitate partnerships by convening like‐minded individuals to accelerate the development, identification, and broad use of innovative products, practices, and processes to improve education in schools. Applications will be due in mid‐May and grants will be awarded in September. In the coming weeks, officials from the Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement will hold informational workshops in Atlanta, Baltimore and Denver that will be web‐accessible. President Obama has proposed an additional $500 million of the i3 program in his fiscal 2011 budget.

Applications available here.

[Via http://quepasatampabay.wordpress.com]

Fox News -- the store! (pic) -- The Live Feed | THR

American Healthcare Reform

2010-03-21T07:55:00.000+02:00

RE: Healthcare Reform vote in the USA.

President Obama is pushing for a controversial Healthcare reform system that will entitle every American to proper healthcare. Republicans have criticized the initiative, stating that it is based on the communism ideal that everyone works together for the benefit of everyone else. I understand that conservative views are against communism as a whole, but this specific ideal (related to the well-being of the people) is not only very fair to everyone, but should also be considered a basic right of humanity.

Living in Canada, where we have a healthcare system, I can say it is very beneficial.

The main opponents of the health care reform seem to be right-wing, white, upper class and upper-middle class people. Why? Because they happen to be the ones who benefit from the lack of a health care system (as in the case of hospital owners / pharmaceutical companies / investors), and if not, they happen to be people well enough that they can afford the best without any waits; good for them, but what about the other 80% of the people in the country?

I’m not rich, but I make enough money that I could afford the heavy doctor and hospital bills should I need to pay in case of an emergency; however, I much prefer paying my monthly premium (which comes right out of my pay cheque along with other taxes) and knowing that no matter what happens, no matter the cost, my healthcare system will take care of me without making a huge negative financial impact from which I may never recover. Seeing as how so many people are not in the same financial situation as I am, I am proud to live in a country where everyone will have proper access to healthcare simply by being a citizen who contributes to this society.

Does a healthcare reform have a bad side? Yes.

The main issue is that, since everyone will have access to doctors and hospitals, waits will become longer; this is why people who have more money than they will ever spend in their lifetime are so opposed to a healthcare reform: because they rather spend the money, selfishly keeping all attention to themselves, while those who are not as well-off die and suffer, not being able to afford the outrageous bills of the current healthcare system in the USA.

The reality now is that millions of Americans go though life without treating or even addressing any health problems, ranging from basic sicknesses and injuries to life-threatening diseases, because they do not have coverage they need through work or otherwise.

What you need to ask yourself is: What kind of society have we become, if we are unwilling to allow everyone the opportunity to take care of their health and LIVE, based on the amount of money they have?

If we have lost all disregard for the well-being and life of others, then we have bigger issues to consider.

The decision is now not only in the hands of the politicians. Every American individual has the power to call their government representatives and speak their minds on this issue, and hopefully make a difference in the shaping of their country.

I strongly believe that healthcare is everyone’s basic right, not just that of the rich and powerful. I personally will be very disappointed if the American public chooses to reinforce the stereotype of Americans being selfish and unintelligent, by choosing to deny a healthcare reform that is fair to everyone.

[Via http://theclausito.wordpress.com]

Immigration Reform: House Of Labor Marches With Immigrants | NEWS ...

So Disrespectful..

2010-03-20T15:38:00.000+02:00

Has a sitting U.S. President EVER been disrespected like this by a domestic reporter? ..let alone on a national news network? Real talk, fuck Brett Baier. I dont even know why Obama even started communicating with the Fox News Network. Its COMPLETELY obvious that that network and the vast majority of their viewers have an agenda. The agenda – to disagree and fuck over ANYTHING the president proposes. What’s interesting is how Obama ALWAYS handles his business when confronted by bias opposition. Here is Baier’s Twitter @SpecialReport . Ole Hunchback Of Notre Dame lookin ass dude..

[Via http://glasscoffeehouse.wordpress.com]

VOA News: The jihad against the West is all our fault - Jihad Watch

Tax Campaign Contributions to Pay For Healthcare!

2010-03-20T07:27:00.000+02:00

With the Democrats poised to pass a $1 Trillion Dollar overhaul of the U.S. Healthcare system, I still have not heard how we are going to pay for it.

Until Now!!!

Why doesn’t the U.S. implement a Windfall Tax on political campaign contributions? Instead of trying to tax healthcare plans to pay for healthcare, lets look to where the big money is.

President Obama spent almost $1 Billion Dollars on his bid for the White House. The average Senatorial Campaign costs around $200 Million Dollars and to become a State Representative can cost upwards of $75 Million Dollars.

So let’s do some simple math on just the Federal Campaigns. Ever four years, two (sometimes more) candidate go head to head for the White House. So let’s adjust for differences in donations and estimate $1.5 Billion Dollars spent in the Presidential Race. There are 100 Senators and 100 challengers in the Senatorial Race so that is another $40 Billion Dollars spent on ridiculous ads and buying votes. Now, we have 435 State Representatives and including their challengers, that is 870 campaigns out spending money to the tune of $65.2 Billion Dollars. So every fours years, there is over $106 Billion Dollars received and spent by our politicians in attempts to get jobs that pay less then $250,000 per year.

I will not get into State Campaigns but that could easily double or triple the total amount spent every four years.

So I propose a 50% Tax on all campaign contributions for every political campaign!!!

This tax will bring in approximately $53 Billion Dollars every four years just in Federal Campaign money and almost $50 Billion from all of the state and local campaigns. And why not, the money was not earned by the candidate! It was a windfall, just like Banker Bonuses and Cadillac Insurance Policies!!

[Via http://usvca.wordpress.com]

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Open thread: Obama to appear on Fox News

Coming Soon: Bloody Sunday

2010-03-18T15:58:00.000+02:00

The Stage is set.

All the players are lining up.

Sunday, March 21, 2010 is likely the end of the road for America.

The Democrats will likely “deem” the Senate bill pass in the greatest act of political cowardice and underhanded chicanery in American History.

And The President is worried.

President Obama is not worried about the “procedural” debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

Why should he be.

Though the Senate will still have to vote for the Reconciliation package (and additional 2,300 pages bringing the monster to 5,000 pages!!) it will be by simple majority, which should be no real problem.

So Obama will get enshrined in the Liberal Socialist Hall of Fame and raised up amongst their Gods.

The mere mortals, The American People, who are not for it, get stuck with a terminal cancer that will eat away at them forever.

Democracy in action.

“I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate,”

Obama said. “What I can tell you is that the vote that’s taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform. And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health care reform. And I don’t think we should pretend otherwise. And if they don’t, if they vote against it, then they’re going to be voting against health care reform and they’re going to be voting in favor of the status quo.

<<>>

“So Washington gets very concerned with these procedures in Congress, whether Republicans are in charge or Democrats are in charge,” he said.

Indeed, House lawmakers would be going on record for health care reform. But they wouldn’t be casting a vote for the Senate bill alone.

Instead, under a process called a “self-executing rule,” the House could simultaneously approve the Senate bill while voting on a package of changes to it. This would “deem” the Senate bill to be passed, without compelling members to vote for it directly.

They vote for the rule, not the bill.

Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill” has just been murdered! :0

But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. (Article 1 Section 7).

But the Orwellian bastards will try and sell that pile of crap all summer and the Liberal media (aka The Ministry of Truth) will go along with it when it comes up.

There is no “Fourth Estate” to protect you, they are a Fifth Column.

Asked to respond to a viewer’s e-mail question about why he has to “bribe Congress to pass it,” Obama said, “I’ve got the same exact e-mails that I could show you that talk about why haven’t we done something to make sure that I, a small business person, am getting as good a deal as members of Congress are getting, and don’t have my insurance rates jacked up 40 percent?”

Obama later added, “I’ve got to say to you, there are a lot more people who are concerned about the fact that they may be losing their house or going bankrupt because of health care.”

Obama expressed confidence that the health care bill will pass.

“And the reason I’m confident that it’s going to pass is because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

“And yes, I have said that this is an ugly process,” he said. “It was ugly when Republicans were in charge. It was ugly when Democrats were in charge.”

“But they did it too Mommy!!” is Obama’s basic answer for everything these days.

But if it passes (or is “deemed” more likely) he gets to ascend to Liberal Socialist Godhood and nothing else matters.

Except, attempting to rig future elections that is.

Remember, the White House took control of the Census data that can be used to gerrymander legislative districts.

Also, you have 12-20 million new socialist Democrats and ACORN chomping at the bit to get them registered.

They are called Illegal Aliens.

Obama won by 10 million last time.

But he has so pissed off many Americans he would need more voters to replace them.

So in come the Illegals, most from socialist countries to the south.

Most can’t speak much English.

Many are very undereducated.

And virtually all will be grateful to their new God, Obama and The Democrats for giving them Amnesty.

But that won’t stop the Illegals.

They’ll still keep coming.

And with Former Arizona Governor and lover of all things Non-American Janet Napalitano cutting funding for Border Security you have a never ending supply of new Democrats to bring in to use as electoral weapons.

And with Cap and Trade (which they will try and pass before November) they can effectively run your life for you.

As Obama said, it’s the right thing to do.

They “deem” it so. So mote it be.

So enjoy your weekend, as Americans, it’s probably our last.

Unless, there is a Miracle.

[Via http://indyfromaz.wordpress.com]

Obama Fox News Interview: Bret Baier Interrupts Obama (VIDEO)

Durbin Says Obama Not Telling Truth

2010-03-18T07:57:00.000+02:00

Health Insurance Premiums Will Rise Under Obamacare

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) last Wednesday contradicted socialist Barack Hussein Obama on whether the health care reform bill will lead to a decrease in health care premiums. Durbin claimed that rates would go up, while Obama said the rates would go down..continued…

Moms, Dads, Grandparents we started a forum just for you!! Visit MomsandDadsBeHeard soon! 2010 is a MUST year to be involved. No longer can we sit back and allow our rights to disappear. The 2010 elections will be the deciding factor. Get involved, speak out!

[Via http://conservativeamerica2009.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: Stone Temple Pilots, The Stooges, Furthur Festival ...

Embattled Democrats should breathe a sigh of relief

2010-03-16T15:58:00.000+02:00

So the Telegraph is reporting that President Obama is threatening to withdraw support for Democrats that don’t vote for the Healthcare bill. In light of the news today, that this might get passed by some sort of procedural shenanigans, who knows what that means. But for the sake of simplicity and so that dummy-dumb-dummies like myself can understand let’s assume that we are taking about a “straight up or down” vote on the Senate Healthcare bill.

In this context we are hearing that the President is threatening members of his own party that if they don’t support him on this he won’t support them for re-election. Traditionally the presence of the President has meant a huge fund raising opportunity. The President can bring in tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single event. This would normally take a small army of volunteers and months of time to accomplish. So having the President as a member of your party and being willing to come support you, has been a traditional political trump card. So normally this would be a huge deal, however is it this year?

Thus far in the past twelve months every race that Obama has shown up to “help” has failed. His appearances have seemed more like the grim reaper rearing his ugly head instead of the cavalry there to save the day. I believe Greta Van Susteren called Obama appearances “the kiss of death.” Granted there haven’t been that many of them but two major Governorships and a Senate seat from Massachusetts are hardly anything to guff at.

Now to a simple minded man like me, it would seem that were I a democrat in congress and I was worried about what this vote might mean for my reelection chances. I would think that voting no and not having the President show up would be a good thing. In fact that might be reason enough to vote no. However in the world of Washington politics, up is often down. So, I can understand many members of congress missing this miniscule trend and its implications. That said, in the world of midterm elections they may find that this point might have been what would have saved them their political careers.

[Via http://bigfatbarrelofmonkeys.wordpress.com]

News to know: Google-China; SXSW; iPad; Universal-Comcast; XBox ...

JUST A LOOK ON THE LIGHTER SIDE..... of the dark.....

2010-03-16T07:30:00.000+02:00

Just a comment on our current health care issues……. since I’ve not been well enough to do a full post for a while but despite the political problems with our health care system I hope to be feeling better sooner than later and be back with both my environmental work and my critter tales…….until then enjoy the lighter side…… of the dark and slightly twisted world of mine until our paths cross again……… Lila

[Via http://birdladybydayakalilabyrd.wordpress.com]

ABC News plans paywall by June | Media | guardian.co.uk

Bummed By The Hope And Change

2010-03-14T23:35:00.000+02:00

WSJ – It’s been more than a year now since President Obama began seeking engagement with rogue regimes the world over. Last week, his own State Department tallied up the benefits of that effort to human rights. There appear to have been none.

Around the world, human rights deteriorated markedly over the past year, according to the 2009 Human Rights Report, released Thursday.

[Via http://downwitheverybody.wordpress.com]

NewsDaily: Afghanistan eases ban on news coverage of raids

The Gaza Gambit: Exit Biden, Enter Lula

2010-03-14T15:37:00.000+02:00

Above: Brazilian blogger Angelo of the C.I.A, “A Manual of Anti-Ahmedinejad Protest.” A strongly worded manifesto against hate speech.

As prefab scandal rocks the Sambodian republic of print and online media, the president of Brazil embarks on a remarkably audacious diplomatic initiative.

Do you think maybe the two are related?

Also related: Joe Biden’s trip to the Arab-Israeli conflict zone and Hillary’s recent and notably under-reported domestically visit to Brazil.

Brazil’s principal foreign policy goal since the Lula government took office has been a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Can they pull it off?

With John “I Am The Walrus and You, Sir, Are a Nazi” Bolton out of the way?

Recent headline here:

Ahmedinajad is not a Nazi: Lula

The Estadão (remixed, with a new site designed by Innovation International, I believe) reports.

Com uma oferta de mediação brasileira apresentada em 2003 e ressuscitada agora no fim do mandato, o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inicia amanhã uma visita oficial a Israel e aos territórios palestinos em um momento especialmente delicado para as negociações de paz, que os Estados Unidos desejam mediar.

With an offer to mediate first presented in 2003 and revived now at the end of his mandate, President da Silva begins an official visit tomorrow to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The trip comes at a particularly delicate moment in the peace negotiations, which the U.S. wants to mediate.

Ao desembarcar hoje em Tel-Aviv, Lula chegará com uma bagagem potencialmente explosiva: sua insistência em levar mais interlocutores para esse difícil diálogo, entre os quais o Brasil, e em interferir nas discussões internas entre a Autoridade Palestina (AP) e os radicais do Hamas.

When he lands in Tel Aviv today, Lula will arrive with something potentially explosive in his luggage: …

“Lula is a suicide bomber.”

Is it just me, or do metaphors matter?

…. his insistence upon bringing more participants to the table in this difficult process, Brazil among them, and interfering in internal talks between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas radicals.

“Lula insists on interfering.”

How can talks between the PA and Hamas be described as “internal”?

They shoot each other, don’t they?

No auge das pretensões, o Brasil quer até mediar diretamente o diálogo entre o Fatah e o Hamas, que tomou o controle da Faixa de Gaza em junho de 2007, após derrotar as forças de segurança do movimento laico.

The height of Lula’s pretension is for Brazil to directly mediate the talks between Fatah and Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after defeating the security forces of the secular movement.

See?

Territorially separate and governed by opposing secular and theocratic, though ethnically homogeneous, actors.

Meddling in internal affairs?

Also, with the verb pretender, I hear a note of “Lula is a wannabe.”

Or is it just me?

Ontem, o vice-presidente dos EUA, Joe Biden, partiu de Israel, encerrando seu esforço para fazer avançar as negociações indiretas entre palestinos e israelenses. Sua visita foi prejudicada pelo anúncio de Israel de que pretende construir 1.600 casas em Jerusalém Oriental.

Yesterday, U.S. VP Biden left Israel, closing his effort to advance indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis. His visit was marred by the announcement that Israel plans to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem.

O argumento básico de Lula em favor de novos interlocutores é embalado pelo fracasso da mediação dos EUA. Um ministro próximo a Lula esmiuçou assim, na semana passada, a crítica à atuação de Washington: os EUA são parte interessada, estão atrelados ao ponto de vista de Israel.

Lula’s basic argument in favor of bringing new parties to the table received a boost from the failure of U.S. mediation. Last week, a cabinet minister close to Lula detailed the criticism of U.S. policy as follows: The U.S. is an interested party, handcuffed to the Israeli position.

A mesma fonte lembrou que, apesar dos avanços iniciais nas negociações que mediou, a Casa Branca não conseguiu fechar um acordo capaz de permitir a convivência pacífica e segura entre os dois lados.

The same source recalled that in spite of inicial progress, the White House failed to close a deal that would make possible the peaceful, secure coexistence of both sides.

Forget those Riotur videos with endless black and tan and generically Latin hotties in microbikinis: ethnically, the prominent Arab and Jewish communities here have contributed enormously to Brazilian cultural identity, even as Brazil has tropicalized those communities.

(Some of the rest Syrian restaurants outside Damascus are here in São Paulo. Also, the McDonald’s of Middle Eastern cuisine: Habbib’s.)

They are not necessarily polarized along the same lines as the dyad CAIR-AIPAC, I think.

Also, despite its many shortcomings in terms of governance, Brazil fields professional career diplomats almost exclusively — rather than, oh, say, e-commerce moguls who are also top-bundling Bush Pioneers from GOPAC.

Persons of the same quality and culture as, for example, the great poet Vinicius de Morães.

[Via http://tupiwire.wordpress.com]

Twitter is down this morning. (Scripting News)

The Problem with Blaming Insurance Companies

2010-03-13T15:57:00.000+02:00

The Problem with Blaming Insurance Companies

By Brenton Stransky

Earlier this week, President Obama addressed a crowd of gushing students and selected guests at Arcadia University in a suburb of Philadelphia to promote his final push for healthcare reform. It was a beautiful day for late winter, magnifying the gathered group’s existing enthusiasm and after the usual “I/we love you(s)” from the crowd the President wasted little time before turning to his usual tones of demagoguery. A moment or two into the speech, the President characteristically accused the Insurance Companies of arbitrarily causing the extra inflationary costs of healthcare coverage and for other ills of our healthcare system: See, these Insurance Companies have made a calculation. Listen to this. The other day, there was a conference call that was organized by Goldman Sachs. You know Goldman Sachs. You’ve been hearing about them, right? (Laughter.) So they organized a conference call in which an insurance broker was telling Wall Street investors how he expected things to be playing out over the next several years, and this broker said that Insurance Companies know they will lose customers if they keep on raising premiums, but because there’s so little competition in the insurance industry, they’re okay with people being priced out of the insurance market because, first of all, a lot of folks are going to be stuck, and even if some people drop out, they’ll still make more money by raising premiums on customers that they keep. This statement is absurd and disheartening because it clearly shows that the President is willing to make any claim and accentuate any fact in order to pull his healthcare reform hopes from the nosedive it is in. He’s not alone. For years the left and some on the right have accused the big Insurance Companies of inconsiderately raising the costs of insurance premiums in order to pad their pockets. The President proposes and some unwittingly agree that we would be better off if the government controlled the types of healthcare insurance provided and the cost for such coverage. What this overly simplified argument leaves out is that the premium increases by the Insurance Companies are to offset the rising “benefit expenses” that they payout. Premium increases are the Insurance Companies attempt to stay in business. In the same speech the president cited an example of the exorbitant increases to premiums that effect everyday Americans: Every year, they drop more people’s coverage when they get sick right when they need it most. Every year, they raise premiums higher and higher and higher. Just last month, Anthem Blue Cross in California tried to jack up rates by nearly 40 percent — 40 percent. Anybody’s paycheck gone up 40 percent? Perhaps most people’s paychecks haven’t gone up 40% but if the government runs healthcare coverage it will further reduce competition or eliminate it all together. Anybody saved a ton of money on car insurance by switching companies lately? Competition is good because it forces companies to be honest and as was seen in Hawaii, government intervention greatly reduces competition. It already has greatly reduced competition. Anthem Blue Cross’s parent company is WellPoint (the second largest insurance company in the country) and what the President won’t tell you is that WellPoint’s net income dropped 30% from 2007-08 to 4.2% of revenue according to the 2008 annual report. This drop was the result of several factors including higher claims payouts; people are getting older and new medicines cost more. In 2008, the largest 100 companies in the country averaged a profit margin of 5.6%. It has been increasingly noted lately that insurance companies aren’t the hugely profitable corporations they are made out to be and we might benefit from digging into the numbers. According to Fortune, the ten largest healthcare insurance providers saw an average profit decrease of 52% in 2008 (the latest year for which information is available) from the year prior. In fact, the entire “Healthcare: Insurance and Managed Care” sector of the SP500 stock index ranked 33rd of 51 total sectors for total profitability in 2008.

The profit level observed in the healthcare insurance industry in 2008 wasn’t from just a bad year. In fact the five-year average profitability numbers shows that the “healthcare insurance industry” was only the 23rd most profitable. There is something at stake today greater than just the nationalization of the healthcare insurance industry, as dire as that is. If the government is able to successfully argue that the 23rd most profitable industry in our country is too profitable they might easily argue that the 22 more profitable industry groups are too profitable. And at least eight of the top ten most profitable industries are in some way vital to our well being and as ripe for government take over. Historically, nationalization is a slippery slope. One of the problems with government takeovers of private industry is that the government cannot create an efficient solution like we are led to believe they can. A company like WellPoint spends roughly 80-85% of its premiums on paying for medical expenses incurred by participants, leaving the rest for administrative costs and profit. If the government is to effectively drive down premiums they would have to cover less participant expenses (which they have promised time and again not to do), pay less for the procedures or drugs than the insurers are paying now (which might cause a lower supply of physicians willing to take government insurance, more lines for care like in parts of Europe or a reduction in the quality of care) or manage more efficiently the administrative costs to something less than the 15-20% the insurance companies have. We should note that no example exists of a government organization running more efficiently than a private competitor. We should instead be aware of the sleight of hand where the government keeps health insurance premiums the same but raises taxes to pay for it. In the end, the healthcare insurance providers are certainly not gouging their policyholders anymore than the food services industry is (which was the most profitable industry in 2008). It appears that as the left becomes more desperate to save their pet project they are moving even further away from substantive arguments and using even more misleading perversions of the truth, exactly the opposite of what they promised earlier this year. But what did we expect. Brent Stransky is a co- author of “The Young Conservative’s Field Guide” which is scheduled for release by Nimble Books on April 1st, 2010. The authors can be contacted through their website at www.aHardRight.com.

[Via http://bsimmons.wordpress.com]

Good News Pilipinas » BBC News travel show features top Philippine ...

Illustrating Absurdity

2010-03-13T07:33:00.000+02:00

Chicken crossing by Peter Griffin

I find the timing of J-Wright’s reappearances interesting. Obamacare is on the ropes, and his “son”’s approval rating is dipping at 43%. Rev. Jeremiah Wright discusses Obama controversy, history of the church.

And much to my surprise, the Census envelope I received in the mail was not the actual Census form, but a letter informing me to expect the form in the mail within the next week. My tax dollars at work. Can you say, redundancy and waste? I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so: Did the U.S. Census waste millions sending 2-paragraph letters?

And the tragedy of Chelsea King’s murder keeps uncovering further negligence and misses by the California criminal justice and parole systems. Her killer (I’m not a lawyer or a journalist, so I don’t have to say “alleged”), John Albert Gardner III was discovered to have violated parole back in 2007 because he was living near a college day-care center; but they did not re-arrest him because he moved within two weeks, avoiding a parole hearing that would have landed him back in jail. Gardner is also a “person of interest” in the murder of Amber DuBois, who went missing a year ago. Had someone towed a harder line, two lives might have been saved. Sex offender violated parole, but wasn’t sent back to prison.

In an act of locking the chicken coop after the foxes have already visited, Governor Schwarzenegger reversed the recordkeeping policy of the parole board. Instead of immediately purging records of paroled sex offenders, they will now hold on to them indefinitely. Schwarzennegger reverses state policy on parole records.

Too little, too late.

[Via http://asthegirlturns.wordpress.com]

News Ticker: The Clash, Ray Charles, Amy Winehouse, Metallica ...

Obama Sets Record With Biggest Deficit In History

2010-03-11T15:45:00.000+02:00

The left told us that Obama’s was a historic presidency. And they were right: he just smashed his own record for massive and totally unsustainable deficits.

Budget deficit sets record in February

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER (AP)

WASHINGTON — The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year’s record for the full year.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit totaled $220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in February of last year.

The deficit through the first five months of this budget year totals $651.6 billion, 10.5 percent higher than a year ago.

The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year will hit an all-time high of $1.56 trillion, surpassing last year’s $1.4 trillion total. The administration is forecasting that the deficit will remain above $1 trillion in 2011, giving the country three straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits.

The administration says the huge deficits are necessary to get the country out of the deepest recession since the 1930s. But Republicans have attacked the stimulus spending as wasteful and a failure at the primary objective of lowering unemployment. [Editorial note: The Republicans are right, and the American people know it. The stimulus is a gigantic porker which was recently upgraded as costing a massive $862 billion from the previous estimate of $787 billion. But the real cost is actually $3.27 TRILLION!!! And contrary to Obama's utterly false claims, only SIX PERCENT of Americans believe that the stimulus has created any jobs at all].

The administration defends the economic stimulus bill that Congress passed in February 2009 with a pricetag at the time of $787 billion as the right medicine to get the economy back on its feet. President Barack Obama has said even more is needed to battle an unemployment rate that remained stuck in February at 9.7 percent. [Editorial note: When Obama was elected, unemployment was at 6.6%. He promised that his stimulus would prevent unemployment from reaching 8%. The stimulus failed by Obama's own standard. To try to explain away the failure of his policy, Obama created the nonexistent category of "saved jobs." But economists point out the following: “One can search economic textbooks forever without finding a concept called `jobs saved.’ It doesn’t exist..."]

The White House says that job creation will remain a top priority, hoping to convince voters that Obama did not spend too much time during his first year in office trying to get Congress to pass health care reform. [Allow me to editorially interrupt this spin to point out that ObamaCare is the top priority, with Obama hoping to convince liberals that they need to pass this incredibly unpopular bill no matter how many Democrats lose their seats in order to "maintain a strong presidency." And in point of fact, they have done little else this entire year].

The government’s monthly budget report showed the record $220.9 billion deficit for February reflected outlays of $328.4 billion and revenues of $107.5 billion. The February receipts marked the first time that revenues are up compared with the same month a year ago since April 2008. Revenues had fallen for 21 straight months as the recession cut into both individual and corporate income tax payments. [Editorials note: And yet Obama is selling his healthcare takeover as "deficit neutral" on the incredibly risky assumption that tax revenues will miraculously massively increase. So Obama is explaining away his deficits by pointing to the frighteningly low revenues even as he bases his health care on the assumption that those same revenues will massively increase. And if Obama is wrong, the trillions of dollars of new spending will implode our economy].

Deficits normally shoot up in February because it is a month when the government makes large refund payments to individuals and corporations as part of the tax filing process. Those payments were boosted this year by various tax credits that were expanded or added as part of the government’s stimulus efforts including the “Making Work Pay” tax credit and the first-time home buyers tax credit. [Editorial note: Which doesn't in any way change the fact that this February's frighteningly low revenues continues a 21-consecutive month trend. That in addition to the fact that the stimulus is contributing to our deficit crisis].

Through the first five months of the budget year, government revenues totaled $800.5 billion, down 7 percent from a year ago, while outlays totaled $1.45 trillion, up a slight 0.1 percent from a year ago.

The deficit of $651.6 billion through February is up by 10.5 percent from the $589.8 billion deficit run up during the first five months of the 2009 budget year. The government’s budget year begins on Oct. 1.

The budget that Obama sent to Congress in February projects that the deficits over the next decade will total $8.53 trillion. But the Congressional Budget Office last week put the 10-year total even higher at $9.8 trillion. Part of the reason for the $1.2 trillion difference is that the CBO is projecting slower economic growth and thus less tax revenues than the administration over the next decade. [Editorial note: Number one, this proves we can't trust the Obama administration or the government's cost estimates to do anything other than be lowball figures. Number two, passing trillions in new spending via ObamaCare is hardly the thing to do given the fact that we will have LOWER revenues rather than higher ones].

The administration has maintained that the country must run large budget deficits until the economy has begun to grow at a sustainable pace that is bringing the unemployment rate down. Only then, the administration says, should the government focus on getting control of the deficits. [Editorial note: So I'm flat broke and deeply in debt. Clearly the thing I need to do is go on a massive spending spree on my credit card in order to get out of debt!!!].

Obama has created by executive order an 18-member fiscal reform commission that has been charged with coming up with a plan to shrink the deficit to 3 percent of the economy within five years. The plan is scheduled to be unveiled in December, after the midterm congressional elections. [Editorial note: What Obama has in fact created is a tool to weasel out of his repeated campaign promise not to raise taxes on "95% of Americans" by so much "as one dime"].

With the economy so weak, the interest rates that the government has to finance the flood of red ink have remained low. However, economists are worried that the favorable outlook on interest rates could change quickly if investors, including foreign investors, start to worry about the government’s commitment to restraining future deficits. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities. [Editorial note: First of all, the Associated Press is factually wrong: Japan is now our largest holder, as China is jumping off the proverbial sinking ship. And to make things even worse, China is preparing to abandon the dollar altogether. Second, just to clarify, what this paragraph means is that the moment our interest rates go up - which they have to do in order to deal with our debt/deficits - we will have a double-dip recession. And the second dip may well be worst than the first].

Through the first five months of this budget year, net interest payments totaled $86.5 billion, up 15.3 percent from a year ago. [Editorial note: this is exactly what happened to Greece; and we are not far away from the same sort of implosion occurring here. Obama's "solution" is to borrow more money in more unsustainable spending which will ultimately push our interest payments rates up and up].

In its report last week, the CBO predicted that the government debt held by investors would climb from $7.5 trillion at the end of last year to $20.3 trillion in 2020. CBO forecast that interest payments would more than quadruple from a projected $209 billion this year to $916 billion annually by the end of the decade. [Editorial note: So let's just keep spending and spending and spending until we fly off a cliff to our deaths].

Congratulations on your historic presidency, Mr. Obama. Congratulations on your new record as the biggest spender in the history of the human race.

Obama promised hope and change. And he’s delivering.

A second Great Depression will be “change.” And there are plenty on the left – who embrace the Cloward-Piven strategy – who are “hoping” for it.

[Via http://startthinkingright.wordpress.com]

Steam News

RealClearPolitics - HorseRaceBlog - Bart Stupak Has Problems

2010-03-11T07:27:00.000+02:00

RealClearPolitics HorseRaceBlog

By Jay Cost

« It’s Time for Moderate House Democrats to Stand Up to Obama | HorseRaceBlog Home Page

March 10, 2010

Bart Stupak Has Problems

Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak has problems.

Big problems.

Here’s the situation. He and his bloc of pro-life Democrats want Stupak’s pro-life language in the final health care bill. The talk of late is that this might be done by inserting the Stupak language into the reconciliation bill that is currently being negotiated. Here’s how this scenario would go down: the House votes for the Senate bill, which does not have the Stupak language; then it votes for the reconciliation “fixer,” which does have the Stupak language; then the Senate votes for the reconciliation fixer; in the end, the Stupak language becomes law.

That’s a mess.

via RealClearPolitics – HorseRaceBlog – Bart Stupak Has Problems.

[Via http://sroblog.com]

CNET News Daily Podcast: Tuesday's top headlines | CNET News Daily ...

How many more reasons do you need to clean the political cesspool called Washington D. C.?

2010-03-09T15:55:00.000+02:00

3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate—

Released: 4/10/2008 2:25:36 PM

Contact Information:

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey

Office of Communication

119 National Center

Reston, VA 20192

Read FAQs about the Bakken Formation.
Listen to a podcast with the lead scientist on this topic.

Reston, VA – North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.

Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.

New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007.

The USGS Bakken study was undertaken as part of a nationwide project assessing domestic petroleum basins using standardized methodology and protocol as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000.

The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest “continuous” oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A “continuous” oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest “continuous” oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil.

“It is clear that the Bakken formation contains a significant amount of oil – the question is how much of that oil is recoverable using today’s technology?” said Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota. “To get an answer to this important question, I requested that the U.S. Geological Survey complete this study, which will provide an up-to-date estimate on the amount of technically recoverable oil resources in the Bakken Shale formation.”

The USGS estimate of 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil has a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. Scientists conducted detailed studies in stratigraphy and structural geology and the modeling of petroleum geochemistry. They also combined their findings with historical exploration and production analyses to determine the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil estimates.

USGS worked with the North Dakota Geological Survey, a number of petroleum industry companies and independents, universities and other experts to develop a geological understanding of the Bakken Formation. These groups provided critical information and feedback on geological and engineering concepts important to building the geologic and production models used in the assessment.

Five continuous assessment units (AU) were identified and assessed in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota and Montana – the Elm Coulee-Billings Nose AU, the Central Basin-Poplar Dome AU, the Nesson-Little Knife Structural AU, the Eastern Expulsion Threshold AU, and the Northwest Expulsion Threshold AU.

At the time of the assessment, a limited number of wells have produced oil from three of the assessments units in Central Basin-Poplar Dome, Eastern Expulsion Threshold, and Northwest Expulsion Threshold.

The Elm Coulee oil field in Montana, discovered in 2000, has produced about 65 million barrels of the 105 million barrels of oil recovered from the Bakken Formation.

Results of the assessment can be found at http://energy.usgs.gov.

For a podcast interview with scientists about the Bakken Formation, listen to episode 38 of CoreCast at http://www.usgs.gov/corecast/.

Just a question, why are we not drilling here instead of sending money to countries that don’t really like us very much? Now onto some more assinine, environmental, political restrictions.

A few excerpts. For the entire article click here.

WASHINGTON, May 8 — In 1977, the United States and Cuba signed a treaty that evenly divided the Florida Straits to preserve each country’s economic rights. They included access to vast underwater oil and gas fields on both sides of the line.

Now, with energy costs soaring, plans are under way to drill this year — but all on the Cuban side.

“This is the irony of ironies,” Charles T. Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said of Cuba’s collaboration with China and India. “We have chosen to lock up our resources and stand by to be spectators while these two come in and benefit from things right in our own backyard.”

At a recent trade conference in Mexico City arranged by Mr. Jones, Cuban officials invited American oil companies to bid for the other leases on the Cuban side of the Florida Straits even though drilling in Cuban waters would violate the United States’ longstanding trade embargo against Cuba.

Any politician that opposes domestic offshore and/or onshore drilling should be voted out of office. This is completely assanine as are the restrictions on drilling in Anwar and other regions within the continental Unites States. Rules and regulations must be tempered with a little common sense. Unfortunately there is a toll booth set up for politicians and bureaucrats that enter Washington and state capitals. The toll is common sense and so they enter office without any.

[Via http://boudicabpi.wordpress.com]

Not Quite The Bearer Of Bad News… | PerezHilton.com

The Painting Gorilla

2010-03-09T07:51:00.000+02:00

INT. ZOO – DAY

There’s a lot of commotion and clamoring outside the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. People are buzzing about something this REPORTER is going to tell us about:

REPORTER

Thanks, Sally. People are buzzing about the ground-breaking news I’m about to share with you. A gorilla, at the zoo, is a painter. Yes, that’s right, a fucking gorilla. I shit you not.

The Reporter probably doesn’t really talk like this, but I thought it’d be funny. Anyway.

REPORTER

And this isn’t like an elephant painting or a horse or a chimpanzee. This gorilla is actually good. I’m talking Grandma Moses good. Or Monet good. But not Manet, that dude was a hack.

Great art history joke.

REPORTER

Anyway, let’s take a look at this dude do his thing…

We angle on the gorilla enclosure. One gorilla paints. He’s happy as fuck. The other gorilla is sad. Mainly because he can’t paint, but also because he has to take a dump and all these people are here. He’s too nervous to go. So he waits.

The painting gorilla has a GREY SPLOTCH on his head. Pay attention to that last part: the painting gorilla has a GREY SPLOTCH on his head. That shit’s gonna come into play later.

The painting gorilla just paints and then reveals his masterpiece. (Note: we should get a person to do the actual painting because I just made up this painting gorilla shit and actually finding one will probably be impossible. But I guess casting should give it a shot. It would be cool if it was a real painting gorilla.)

Anyway, the painting is awesome. Better than anything you could do, trust me.

CUT TO:

EXT. FAKE FORESTY AREA AT ZOO – LATER

Suddenly we cut to an interview set-up thing with the reporter, the painting gorilla and the TRAINER (A super hot chick. Think of a super hot chick. Any hot chick. That’s who this is.)

REPORTER

So this is some pretty impressive shit.

TRAINER

Yes, it is. Popono loves painting.

Apparently the painting gorilla is named POPONO.

REPORTER

We hear he does American Sign Language.

TRAINER

Yes, he does. You can totally ask him anything you want.

REPORTER

Popono, we hear your paintings are selling for a lot of money and people with a lot of money are buying your paintings. What are you going to do with the money?

POPONO

(subtitled from his American Sign Language)

Well, I don’t have any real dreams but to just paint. My cage-mate Fofofo wants to buy a boat and sail around the world, but he’s talentless. So I will steal his dream.

REPORTER

That’s a great story, Popono.

What? That’s a terrible story. Whatever.

Music swells because we’re doing a montage.

REPORTER (VO)

And paint Popono did…