TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's president on Tuesday dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, and claimed his government is now "10 times stronger" than a year ago.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks underscored Tehran's defiance amid the nuclear standoff — and also sought to send a message that his government had not been weakened by the protest movement sparked by June's disputed presidential election. His comments came a day after the latest opposition protest by tens of thousands mourning a dissident cleric who died over the weekend.
President Barack Obama has set a rough deadline of the end of this year for Iran to respond to an offer of dialogue and show that it will allay fears of weapons development. Washington and its allies are warning of new, tougher sanctions on Iran if it doesn't respond.
Full Story
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
At least Chavez is honest about it...do you agree, Mr. President?
Listen for the applause. Chavez speaks of the real purpose of the climate change movement: the death of capitalism.
Interesting that he calls for a change of the system first in order to help the climate; a change I presume to socialism. Ironic considering the environmental devastation brought to the Soviet Union by the same system. We've heard it before: those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
Does anyone read these bills?
Earlier this week, Congress sent the president a massive spending bill that funded dozens of federal departments. Tucked into the transportation section of the legislation are safety requirements for AMTRAK customers who carry firearms on board the government-backed train system. The bill Congress passed mandates that passengers with firearms declare they have weapons with them in advance and stow them in locked boxes while on the train.
The bill text was correct when the House approved the legislation last week and the Senate followed suit Sunday. But somewhere in between, the language that referred to putting the guns in locked boxes morphed into stuffing “passengers” into locked boxes.
Full Story
The bill text was correct when the House approved the legislation last week and the Senate followed suit Sunday. But somewhere in between, the language that referred to putting the guns in locked boxes morphed into stuffing “passengers” into locked boxes.
Full Story
Thursday, December 17, 2009
When we're in the hole $12 trillion, why not throw away a few billion more
The United States extended a $100 billion carrot to the rest of world Thursday, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Copenhagen the United States is willing to commit up to $10 billion a year by 2012, and would support a global fund of $100 billion a year to help developing nations deal with climate change, provided the nations here are willing live up to the 'transparency' demanded by the U.S.
Clinton said the money was "conditional." Clinton's words were directed at China, which has refused to meet the monitoring and verification requirements requested by the U.S. when it comes to promises of carbon reductions.
Full Story
Clinton said the money was "conditional." Clinton's words were directed at China, which has refused to meet the monitoring and verification requirements requested by the U.S. when it comes to promises of carbon reductions.
Full Story
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Not sure this is exactly what Christmas is about
President Obama's speech upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is getting a lot of attention for its (ironic for the occasion) defense of war.
But religion pundits are weighing in on what was a very religion-heavy speech.
There have been a number of these from the President lately: At the lighting of the White House Christmas tree, Obama spoke of the Christmas story as "a story that is as beautiful as it is simple. The story of a child born far from home to parents guided only by faith, but who would ultimately spread a message that has endured for more than 2,000 years—that no matter who we are or where we are from, we are each called to love one another as brother and sister." Then, as Ed Stetzer noted, the President's first words at his first state dinner were to point out that he was the first President to celebrate Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Lights) and the birth of the founder of Sikhism.
Full Story
But religion pundits are weighing in on what was a very religion-heavy speech.
There have been a number of these from the President lately: At the lighting of the White House Christmas tree, Obama spoke of the Christmas story as "a story that is as beautiful as it is simple. The story of a child born far from home to parents guided only by faith, but who would ultimately spread a message that has endured for more than 2,000 years—that no matter who we are or where we are from, we are each called to love one another as brother and sister." Then, as Ed Stetzer noted, the President's first words at his first state dinner were to point out that he was the first President to celebrate Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Lights) and the birth of the founder of Sikhism.
Full Story
Friday, December 11, 2009
More family values
President Obama's controversial nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chai Feldblum, has not been shy about her plans to fight for gay rights -- a position that is now is drawing sharp criticism.
"She's been an aggressive advocate for some of the most radical views that have ever been expressed," said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America.
Yet the Senate health Committee on Thursday approved Feldblum for the EEOC, sending her nomination to the full Senate for a vote.
In 2004, Feldblum outlined her strategy for strengthening gay rights.
"There is a war that needs to be fought and it's not a war overseas where we're killing people in the name of liberating them," she said. "It is a war right here at home where we need to convince people that morality demands full equality for gay people.
But during the Senate committee hearing, Feldblum backed away from a document she signed in 2006 advocating government recognition of various kinds of sexual relationships, including those with multiple partners and unorthodox situations.
She now calls it a mistake.
"She's been an aggressive advocate for some of the most radical views that have ever been expressed," said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America.
Yet the Senate health Committee on Thursday approved Feldblum for the EEOC, sending her nomination to the full Senate for a vote.
In 2004, Feldblum outlined her strategy for strengthening gay rights.
"There is a war that needs to be fought and it's not a war overseas where we're killing people in the name of liberating them," she said. "It is a war right here at home where we need to convince people that morality demands full equality for gay people.
But during the Senate committee hearing, Feldblum backed away from a document she signed in 2006 advocating government recognition of various kinds of sexual relationships, including those with multiple partners and unorthodox situations.
She now calls it a mistake.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Overseas overtures not working
'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah, who had once been smitten with Barack Obama, recently observed to me of America's 44th president. He has wearied of Mr. Obama and now does not bother with the Obama oratory.
He is hardly alone, this academic. In the endless chatter of this region, and in the commentaries offered by the press, the theme is one of disappointment. In the Arab-Islamic world, Barack Obama has come down to earth.
He has not made the world anew, history did not bend to his will, the Indians and Pakistanis have been told that the matter of Kashmir is theirs to resolve, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the same intractable clash of two irreconcilable nationalisms, and the theocrats in Iran have not "unclenched their fist," nor have they abandoned their nuclear quest.
There is little Mr. Obama can do about this disenchantment. He can't journey to Turkey to tell its Islamist leaders and political class that a decade of anti-American scapegoating is all forgiven and was the product of American policies—he has already done that. He can't journey to Cairo to tell the fabled "Arab street" that the Iraq war was a wasted war of choice, and that America earned the malice that came its way from Arab lands—he has already done that as well. He can't tell Muslims that America is not at war with Islam—he, like his predecessor, has said that time and again.
It was the norm for American liberalism during the Bush years to brandish the Pew Global Attitudes survey that told of America's decline in the eyes of foreign nations. Foreigners were saying what the liberals wanted said.
Now those surveys of 2009 bring findings from the world of Islam that confirm that the animus toward America has not been radically changed by the ascendancy of Mr. Obama. In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in Ankara didn't seem to help in Turkey, where the favorables are 14% and those unreconciled, 69%. In Egypt, a country that's reaped nearly 40 years of American aid, things stayed roughly the same: 27% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 70% do not. In Pakistan, a place of great consequence for American power, our standing has deteriorated: The unfavorables rose from 63% in 2008 to 68% this year.
He is hardly alone, this academic. In the endless chatter of this region, and in the commentaries offered by the press, the theme is one of disappointment. In the Arab-Islamic world, Barack Obama has come down to earth.
He has not made the world anew, history did not bend to his will, the Indians and Pakistanis have been told that the matter of Kashmir is theirs to resolve, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the same intractable clash of two irreconcilable nationalisms, and the theocrats in Iran have not "unclenched their fist," nor have they abandoned their nuclear quest.
There is little Mr. Obama can do about this disenchantment. He can't journey to Turkey to tell its Islamist leaders and political class that a decade of anti-American scapegoating is all forgiven and was the product of American policies—he has already done that. He can't journey to Cairo to tell the fabled "Arab street" that the Iraq war was a wasted war of choice, and that America earned the malice that came its way from Arab lands—he has already done that as well. He can't tell Muslims that America is not at war with Islam—he, like his predecessor, has said that time and again.
It was the norm for American liberalism during the Bush years to brandish the Pew Global Attitudes survey that told of America's decline in the eyes of foreign nations. Foreigners were saying what the liberals wanted said.
Now those surveys of 2009 bring findings from the world of Islam that confirm that the animus toward America has not been radically changed by the ascendancy of Mr. Obama. In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in Ankara didn't seem to help in Turkey, where the favorables are 14% and those unreconciled, 69%. In Egypt, a country that's reaped nearly 40 years of American aid, things stayed roughly the same: 27% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 70% do not. In Pakistan, a place of great consequence for American power, our standing has deteriorated: The unfavorables rose from 63% in 2008 to 68% this year.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Stewardship
President Obama has shattered the budget record for first-year presidents -- spending nearly double what his predecessor did when he came into office and far exceeding the first-year tabs for any other U.S. president in history.
In fiscal 2009 the federal government spent $3.52 trillion -- $2.8 trillion in 2000 dollars, which sets a benchmark for comparison. That fiscal year covered the last three-and-a-half months of George W. Bush's term and the first eight-and-a-half months of Obama's.
That price tag came with a $1.4 trillion deficit, nearly $1 trillion more than last year. The overall budget was about a half-trillion more than Bush's for 2008, his final full fiscal year in office.
Full Story
In fiscal 2009 the federal government spent $3.52 trillion -- $2.8 trillion in 2000 dollars, which sets a benchmark for comparison. That fiscal year covered the last three-and-a-half months of George W. Bush's term and the first eight-and-a-half months of Obama's.
That price tag came with a $1.4 trillion deficit, nearly $1 trillion more than last year. The overall budget was about a half-trillion more than Bush's for 2008, his final full fiscal year in office.
Full Story
Friday, November 20, 2009
Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
On November 20, a group of Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical leaders released a statement, the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience, on the issues of life, marriage, and religious liberty in our culture. The full text is here. Below are some excerpts from each section.
On Life
On Marriage
We understand that many of our fellow citizens, including some Christians, believe that the historic definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a denial of equality or civil rights. They wonder what to say in reply to the argument that asserts that no harm would be done to them or to anyone if the law of the community were to confer upon two men or two women who are living together in a sexual partnership the status of being “married.” It would not, after all, affect their own marriages, would it? On inspection, however, the argument that laws governing one kind of marriage will not affect another cannot stand. Were it to prove anything, it would prove far too much: the assumption that the legal status of one set of marriage relationships affects no other would not only argue for same sex partnerships; it could be asserted with equal validity for polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships. Should these, as a matter of equality or civil rights, be recognized as lawful marriages, and would they have no effects on other relationships? No. The truth is that marriage is not something abstract or neutral that the law may legitimately define and re-define to please those who are powerful and influential.
No one has a civil right to have a non-marital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow. First, the religious liberty of those for whom this is a matter of conscience is jeopardized. Second, the rights of parents are abused as family life and sex education programs in schools are used to teach children that an enlightened understanding recognizes as “marriages” sexual partnerships that many parents believe are intrinsically non- marital and immoral. Third, the common good of civil society is damaged when the law itself, in its critical pedagogical function, becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends. Sadly, we are today far from having a thriving marriage culture. But if we are to begin the critically important process of reforming our laws and mores to rebuild such a culture, the last thing we can afford to do is to re-define marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is.
On Religious Freedom
We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel pro- life institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and pro-life physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of anti-discrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. After the judicial imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century-long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasi-marital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions. In Canada and some European nations, Christian clergy have been prosecuted for preaching Biblical norms against the practice of homosexuality. New hate-crime laws in America raise the specter of the same practice here.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The courts begin to crumble
While a seriously flawed candidate, this is where McCain would have made a difference: court nominations. He remained one of the 29 to continue the filibuster. Since the legislative and executive branches continue to ignore the Constitution, the judicial branch - as it was under FDR - is the only guard left at the republic's gate. This is the only reason I voted for McCain. Looks like the gate will swing wide open pretty soon.
Democrats, with a bit of Republican help, voted 70-29 to limit debate on U.S. District Judge David Hamilton, exceeding the 60 votes needed and assuring his confirmation to the Chicago-based appeals court by a simple majority of the 100-member Senate.
At least 10 Republicans broke from the filibuster. The final vote is expected Wednesday.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., voted against ending the debate on Hamilton.
"Judge Hamilton is the definition of an activist judge and is clearly not qualified to sit on a court of appeals," he said in a written statement. "Judge Hamilton, who spent years working with the ACLU and ACORN, has used his position on the bench to drive his personal political agenda."
President Obama's judicial picks are being closely watched after eight years of mostly conservative judicial picks under President Bush.
Republicans have objected to holding a vote on Hamilton's confirmation since June, when the Judiciary Committee reported his nomination favorably to the full Senate.
Conservative Republican senators and their judicial-watching outside groups then launched a major political assault on Hamilton.
They criticized his rulings against Christian prayers in the Indiana legislature and against a menorah in the Indiana Municipal Building's holiday display.
Conservatives were furious that Hamilton struck down part of an Indiana law requiring women to make two trips to a clinic before they could get an abortion. He said the requirement placed an undue burden on a woman's constitutional right to choose to end a pregnancy.
Beyond the political message, the filibuster effectively ended a bipartisan accord reached in 2005, when 14 senators signed onto a deal that effectively stopped Democratic filibusters of Bush's judicial nominees except in extraordinary circumstances.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who led the opposition to Hamilton, argued that Hamilton's record met his definition of extraordinary circumstances.
Hamilton's confirmation by itself will not have a large political effect. The 7th Circuit appellate court, which serves, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, has seven judges nominated by Republican presidents -- while Hamilton would be the fourth chosen by a Democrat.
Last week, the Senate confirmed U.S. District Judge Andre Davis of Baltimore for the appeals court based in Richmond, Va., giving Democratic nominees a 6-5 edge on the 4th Circuit that once was a conservative legal bastion.
Other appellate courts are close to a political turnaround.
Full Story and another
Another page from the FDR playbook
Speaking in the heart of America's biggest lender, President Obama told Fox News in an interview Wednesday that the piling on of U.S. debt could drag the country into a "double-dip recession," though he said he's still considering additional tax incentives for businesses to reverse the rising unemployment rate.
The president, who is in China as part of his tour through several Asian countries where he is addressing economic challenges, spoke candidly about the precarious balancing act his administration is trying to perform with regard to the U.S. economy. He wants to spend money to kick-start the economy, but at the same time is in danger of creating too much red ink.
"There may be some tax provisions that can encourage businesses to hire sooner rather than sitting on the sidelines. So we're taking a look at those," Obama told Fox News' Major Garrett. "I think it is important, though, to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."
The president, who is in China as part of his tour through several Asian countries where he is addressing economic challenges, spoke candidly about the precarious balancing act his administration is trying to perform with regard to the U.S. economy. He wants to spend money to kick-start the economy, but at the same time is in danger of creating too much red ink.
"There may be some tax provisions that can encourage businesses to hire sooner rather than sitting on the sidelines. So we're taking a look at those," Obama told Fox News' Major Garrett. "I think it is important, though, to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."
A suicide bomber president?
An interesting post from Doug Wilson - here is the content:
It is starting to look as though he might be doing it all on purpose.
Many years ago, William Simon commented that right wingers are prone to conspiracy theories precisely for this reason -- it seems apparent to them that the destructive nature of the proposed policies A, B, and C are evident to all, and so, when the policies are pursued anyway, come hell or high water, it must be because they, the perpetrators, are trying to take down the republic on purpose. William Simon understood this perspective until he got to the highest levels of power, only to discover that the liberals running around loose up there really did not have a clue. They really did not understand the basics of governance. They were legislating sunshine, and who could be against that?
But at some point, you gotta wonder . . .
Let's string them together, shall we? The president wouldn't be caught dead bowing to the Queen of England, for she is Anglo, but acts like Steppin Fetchitt when introduced to any royalty of color. We have a terrorist act at Fort Hood, the first on American soil in 8 years, and since a terrorist attack would be inconvenient, he refuses to call it that. Right after this terrorist attack, his attorney general announces that five fire-eating terrorists were being moved from Cuba to NYC in order to receive a civilian trial. Not to worry, Holder reassured us . . . it won't be a fair trial -- the results are already in. It will be a show trial, for the attorney general has already guaranteed us the convictions. We will show the rest of the world that fair trials in America necessarily result in convictions. But in the meantime, the trial will be enough of a circus to make the OJ trial look like a textbook sample of modesty and decorum. Trillions of dollars have been spewing from Washington like there was no tomorrow, because there probably isn't. He wants to ram health care through the Senate regardless of what anybody with a calculator thinks about it.
It begins to appear that he doesn't care if his is a failed presidency, just so long as the country fails along with him. The pilot doesn't mind if he goes down, just so long as the plane goes down with him. Is this a suicide bomber president? If so, it wouldn't be nihilism; this is basic left wing ideology. A new order will rise out of the chaos, as this secular utopianism has it. Things have to get better. A phoenix will arise out of the ashes. It has never worked before, but it probably will this time.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
King George is smiling now!
From the L.A. Times:
(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor in the same door way in a different fashion.)
How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty?
This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference to a superior.
To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better.
Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies and get bad reviews and lots of money as a sign of respect.
Obama could receive some frowns back home as he did for his not-quite-this-low-or-maybe-about-the-same-bow to the Saudi king not so long ago. (See photo here)
(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor in the same door way in a different fashion.)
How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty?
This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference to a superior.
To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better.
Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies and get bad reviews and lots of money as a sign of respect.
Obama could receive some frowns back home as he did for his not-quite-this-low-or-maybe-about-the-same-bow to the Saudi king not so long ago. (See photo here)
Holder: 9/11 not an act of war
The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Michael Mukasey, the attorney general at the end of President Bush's second term, ripped his successor's decision to prosecute the Sept. 11 conspirators in a federal court, saying the trial will give jihadists a forum and could compromise delicate intelligence.
Mukasey, in an interview with Fox News, called the civilian trial announced Friday by Attorney General Eric Holder "the wrong place, under the wrong circumstances, in the wrong forum."
"After 9/11, we recognized that we were at war," he said, arguing that military tribunals were created for this kind of case and noting that they have been used since the Revolutionary War and during and after World War II.
"There are forums that allow the presentation of evidence in a controlled atmosphere, where you can limit access to classified information, and where you can receive evidence gathered on the battlefield, not necessarily under the kinds of conditions in which police gather evidence in a conventional case," he said. "That's not true in federal court."
On Friday, Holder announced that the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo detainees will be tried in federal court in New York for their alleged role in the attacks that killed 2,976 American civilians -- saying the U.S. will seek the death penalty against the defendants.
Holder said he decided to seek justice against the suspects in federal court rather than a military tribunal because the attacks targeted civilians on U.S. soil. But Mukasey and other critics say the attack was an act of war that should be prosecuted in a military tribunal.
Mukasey said it's unlikely that Mohammed will be acquitted because of his confession and other evidence linking him to the attack. But he added that same evidence could present problems in federal court.
"The real problem is that there is other evidence that may very well come from classified sources, that would be easier to handle in a military tribunal, much harder to handle in a civilian tribunal," Mukasey said.
He added that the trial also puts the terrorists on the kind of stage they seek.
"They want to be on a big stage and there's no bigger stage than New York," he said.
Full Story
Michael Mukasey, the attorney general at the end of President Bush's second term, ripped his successor's decision to prosecute the Sept. 11 conspirators in a federal court, saying the trial will give jihadists a forum and could compromise delicate intelligence.
Mukasey, in an interview with Fox News, called the civilian trial announced Friday by Attorney General Eric Holder "the wrong place, under the wrong circumstances, in the wrong forum."
"After 9/11, we recognized that we were at war," he said, arguing that military tribunals were created for this kind of case and noting that they have been used since the Revolutionary War and during and after World War II.
"There are forums that allow the presentation of evidence in a controlled atmosphere, where you can limit access to classified information, and where you can receive evidence gathered on the battlefield, not necessarily under the kinds of conditions in which police gather evidence in a conventional case," he said. "That's not true in federal court."
On Friday, Holder announced that the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo detainees will be tried in federal court in New York for their alleged role in the attacks that killed 2,976 American civilians -- saying the U.S. will seek the death penalty against the defendants.
Holder said he decided to seek justice against the suspects in federal court rather than a military tribunal because the attacks targeted civilians on U.S. soil. But Mukasey and other critics say the attack was an act of war that should be prosecuted in a military tribunal.
Mukasey said it's unlikely that Mohammed will be acquitted because of his confession and other evidence linking him to the attack. But he added that same evidence could present problems in federal court.
"The real problem is that there is other evidence that may very well come from classified sources, that would be easier to handle in a military tribunal, much harder to handle in a civilian tribunal," Mukasey said.
He added that the trial also puts the terrorists on the kind of stage they seek.
"They want to be on a big stage and there's no bigger stage than New York," he said.
Full Story
Friday, October 30, 2009
Hmmm...I wonder what lobby encouraged this decision?
This should help contain healthcare costs:
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. will overturn a 22-year-old travel and immigration ban against people with HIV early next year. The order will be finalized on Monday, Obama said, completing a process begun during the Bush administration.
The U.S. has been among a dozen countries that bar entry to travelers with visas or anyone seeking a green card based on their HIV status.
"If we want to be the global leader in combatting HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," Obama said at the White House before signing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. Begun in 1990, the program provides medical care, medication and support services to about half a million people, most of them low-income.
The bill is named for an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion at age 13. White went on to fight AIDS-related discrimination against him and others like him and help educate the country about the disease. He died in April 1990 at the age of 18.
His mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, attended the signing ceremony, as did several members of Congress and HIV/AIDS activists.
Full Story
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. will overturn a 22-year-old travel and immigration ban against people with HIV early next year. The order will be finalized on Monday, Obama said, completing a process begun during the Bush administration.
The U.S. has been among a dozen countries that bar entry to travelers with visas or anyone seeking a green card based on their HIV status.
"If we want to be the global leader in combatting HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," Obama said at the White House before signing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. Begun in 1990, the program provides medical care, medication and support services to about half a million people, most of them low-income.
The bill is named for an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion at age 13. White went on to fight AIDS-related discrimination against him and others like him and help educate the country about the disease. He died in April 1990 at the age of 18.
His mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, attended the signing ceremony, as did several members of Congress and HIV/AIDS activists.
Full Story
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Silently slipped into a defense bill
I thought this administration and Congress was supposed to be different? The expanded hate crimes bill was snuck into a $700 billion defense appropriation so representatives and senators had the choice of signing the bill with the hate crimes bill or not signing it and leaving our troops high and dry. To discourage such lack of integrity, President Obama would have been right to veto this bill, but that would take integrity as well.
I sent this note to both of my senators; worked real well - they both voted for it:
I am completely ashamed of the conduct of the U.S. Congress. That the recent hate crimes bill - which seeks to expand federal hate-crime protection to homosexuals – was slipped into the defense authorization bill to ensure passage is deceitful and totally inappropriate. Hate crimes supporters in the House, realizing that the expanded hate crimes bill could not pass on its own merits, used deceitful tactics to get it passed. And the Senate seems willing to do the same. As it has abandoned its integrity, I am quickly losing confidence in the legislative branch of our federal government. I thought that the new administration and Democrat led legislature were supposed to preside over an exceptionally open and honest approach to government. Those promises have sadly faded.
I implore you as my representative not to succumb to this pressure. Let the debate over additional hate crimes be discussed honestly in the light of day, not in the shadows of another bill which has nothing to do with this issue. Please give me some hope that there is some integrity left in the Senate.
If you do vote for this bill as is, I can assure you that you will never receive my vote for any public office candidacy again, and I will do whatever I can to convince my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to do the same. I could not support a candidate who lacks the integrity to vote “No” on this bill.
I sent this note to both of my senators; worked real well - they both voted for it:
I am completely ashamed of the conduct of the U.S. Congress. That the recent hate crimes bill - which seeks to expand federal hate-crime protection to homosexuals – was slipped into the defense authorization bill to ensure passage is deceitful and totally inappropriate. Hate crimes supporters in the House, realizing that the expanded hate crimes bill could not pass on its own merits, used deceitful tactics to get it passed. And the Senate seems willing to do the same. As it has abandoned its integrity, I am quickly losing confidence in the legislative branch of our federal government. I thought that the new administration and Democrat led legislature were supposed to preside over an exceptionally open and honest approach to government. Those promises have sadly faded.
I implore you as my representative not to succumb to this pressure. Let the debate over additional hate crimes be discussed honestly in the light of day, not in the shadows of another bill which has nothing to do with this issue. Please give me some hope that there is some integrity left in the Senate.
If you do vote for this bill as is, I can assure you that you will never receive my vote for any public office candidacy again, and I will do whatever I can to convince my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to do the same. I could not support a candidate who lacks the integrity to vote “No” on this bill.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Into the abyss
This is from an article by Dr. Albert Mohler. I highlighted a few critical points:
The President’s promises were sweeping. Nevertheless, the most remarkable section of his address included a truly unprecedented promise. The President told the group that his expectation is that when they look back over the years of his administration, they would “see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians.”
Then he spoke these words:
You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.
Those words represent a moral revolution that goes far beyond what any other President has ever promised or articulated. In the span of a single sentence, President Obama put his administration publicly on the line to press, not only for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, but for the recognition that same-sex relationships are “just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”
It is virtually impossible to imagine a promise more breathtaking in its revolutionary character than this — to normalize same-sex relationships to the extent that they are recognized as being as admirable as heterosexual marriage.
Full article
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
You say you want a revolution...
If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow!
Bringing down the Fourth Estate?
The White House is calling on other news organizations to isolate and alienate Fox News as it sends out top advisers to rail against the cable channel as a Republican Party mouthpiece.
Top political strategists question the decision by the Obama administration to escalate its offensive against Fox News. And as of Monday, the four other major television networks had not given any indication that they intend to sever their ties with Fox News.
But several top White House officials have taken aim at Fox News since communications director Anita Dunn branded Fox "opinion journalism masquerading as news" in an interview last Sunday.
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN on Sunday that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox."
Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization."
"Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "We're not going to treat them that way."
Full Story
Top political strategists question the decision by the Obama administration to escalate its offensive against Fox News. And as of Monday, the four other major television networks had not given any indication that they intend to sever their ties with Fox News.
But several top White House officials have taken aim at Fox News since communications director Anita Dunn branded Fox "opinion journalism masquerading as news" in an interview last Sunday.
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN on Sunday that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox."
Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization."
"Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "We're not going to treat them that way."
Full Story
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
It's more than cheap doctor visits
This is an excerpt from an article in the Wall Street journal on reasons why countries adopt - or don't adopt - universal health care:
I discovered Victor Fuchs's analysis during a dive into my PC's hard drive, where years ago I stored a paper the Stanford economist did in 1976 called "From Bismarck to Woodcock: The 'Irrational' Pursuit of National Health Insurance." That it was delivered to mark the 65th birthday of the conservative economist George Stigler suggests the eclectic flavor of the liberal Prof. Fuchs's thinking.
His paper is mainly a meditation attempting to explain why so many countries adopted national insurance programs, and why it is resisted in the U.S. Several broad points help explain the tides running against the Obama plan.
He notes, for instance, that the national health insurance movement rose alongside a larger transfer of responsibility from the family to the state: "Every time the state assumes an additional function such as health insurance, child care or benefits for the aged, the need for close family ties becomes weaker."
But even the state must bond: "It may be that one of the most effective ways of increasing allegiance to the state is through national health insurance." This would have been Bismarck's purpose. "We live at a time when many of the traditional symbols and institutions that held a nation together have been weakened and fallen into disrepute. A more sophisticated public requires more sophisticated symbols, and national health insurance may fit that role particularly well." Updating the public symbols, Mr. Obama says health care is one of the two "pillars" of U.S. prosperity in the 21st century.
I discovered Victor Fuchs's analysis during a dive into my PC's hard drive, where years ago I stored a paper the Stanford economist did in 1976 called "From Bismarck to Woodcock: The 'Irrational' Pursuit of National Health Insurance." That it was delivered to mark the 65th birthday of the conservative economist George Stigler suggests the eclectic flavor of the liberal Prof. Fuchs's thinking.
His paper is mainly a meditation attempting to explain why so many countries adopted national insurance programs, and why it is resisted in the U.S. Several broad points help explain the tides running against the Obama plan.
He notes, for instance, that the national health insurance movement rose alongside a larger transfer of responsibility from the family to the state: "Every time the state assumes an additional function such as health insurance, child care or benefits for the aged, the need for close family ties becomes weaker."
But even the state must bond: "It may be that one of the most effective ways of increasing allegiance to the state is through national health insurance." This would have been Bismarck's purpose. "We live at a time when many of the traditional symbols and institutions that held a nation together have been weakened and fallen into disrepute. A more sophisticated public requires more sophisticated symbols, and national health insurance may fit that role particularly well." Updating the public symbols, Mr. Obama says health care is one of the two "pillars" of U.S. prosperity in the 21st century.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Because this is how good Christians respond to sin
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama reaffirmed his campaign pledge to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but offered no timetable or specifics for acting on that longstanding promise.
He acknowledged to a cheering crowd that some policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected.
"I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,"' Obama said to a standing ovation from the crowd of about 3,000 at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group.
The law was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress. Obama said he's working with Pentagon and congressional leaders on ending the policy.
Full Story
He acknowledged to a cheering crowd that some policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected.
"I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,"' Obama said to a standing ovation from the crowd of about 3,000 at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group.
The law was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress. Obama said he's working with Pentagon and congressional leaders on ending the policy.
Full Story
Friday, October 9, 2009
The results are in...what results?
CNN) -- President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
Less than nine months into his presidency, Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
The first African-American to win the White House, Obama was praised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
The committee also said Obama has "created a new climate in international politics."
The announcement came as a surprise -- Obama's name had not been mentioned among front-runners -- and the roomful of reporters in Oslo, Norway, gasped when he was named.
In his short time in office, Obama has acted on a wide range of issues from the economy to terrorism and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Less than nine months into his presidency, Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
The first African-American to win the White House, Obama was praised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
The committee also said Obama has "created a new climate in international politics."
The announcement came as a surprise -- Obama's name had not been mentioned among front-runners -- and the roomful of reporters in Oslo, Norway, gasped when he was named.
In his short time in office, Obama has acted on a wide range of issues from the economy to terrorism and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Man...that's a lot of bread
WASHINGTON -- The federal budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion for the 2009 fiscal year that ended last week, congressional analysts said Wednesday.
The Congressional Budget Office estimate, while expected, is bad news for the White House and its allies in Congress as they press ahead with health care overhaul legislation that could cost $900 billion over the next decade.
The unprecedented flood of red ink flows from several factors, including a big drop in tax revenues due to the recession, $245 billion in emergency spending on the Wall Street bailout and the takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then there is almost $200 billion in costs from President Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as increases in programs such as unemployment benefits and food stamps.
The previous record deficit was $459 billion and was set just last year.
The Obama health plan would be "paid for" with new revenues and curbs in spending. But the overhaul effort would eat up tax increases and spending cuts that could be used to bring the deficit down.
Full Story
The Congressional Budget Office estimate, while expected, is bad news for the White House and its allies in Congress as they press ahead with health care overhaul legislation that could cost $900 billion over the next decade.
The unprecedented flood of red ink flows from several factors, including a big drop in tax revenues due to the recession, $245 billion in emergency spending on the Wall Street bailout and the takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then there is almost $200 billion in costs from President Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as increases in programs such as unemployment benefits and food stamps.
The previous record deficit was $459 billion and was set just last year.
The Obama health plan would be "paid for" with new revenues and curbs in spending. But the overhaul effort would eat up tax increases and spending cuts that could be used to bring the deficit down.
Full Story
Monday, October 5, 2009
Just to be clear...
WASHINGTON - -- Despite months of seeming ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched an intensifying behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea in the weeks just ahead.President Barack Obama has long advocated a so-called public option, while at the same time repeatedly expressing openness to other ways to offer consumers a potentially more affordable alternative to health plans sold by private insurers. But now, senior administration officials are holding private meetings almost daily at the Capitol with senior Democratic staff to discuss ways to include a version of the public plan in the health care bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring to the Senate floor later this month, according to senior Democratic congressional aides.Among those regularly in the meetings are Obama's top health care adviser, Nancy-Ann DeParle, aides to Reid, and Senate finance and health committee staff, both of which developed health care bills.
Full Story
Full Story
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Next week: Goose-stepping lessons
This was filmed at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ :
Lyric:
Song 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama
Song 2:
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"
Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!
Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!
Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!
So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Lyric:
Song 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama
Song 2:
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"
Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!
Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!
Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!
So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Another interesting choice
President Obama's "safe schools czar" is a former schoolteacher who has advocated promoting homosexuality in schools, written about his past drug abuse, expressed his contempt for religion and detailed an incident in which he did not report an underage student who told him he was having sex with older men.
Conservatives are up in arms about the appointment of Kevin Jennings, Obama's director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, saying he is too radical for the job.
Jennings was appointed to the position largely because of his longtime record of working to end bullying and discrimination in schools. In 1990, as a teacher in Massachusetts, he founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which now has over 40 chapters at schools nationwide. He has also published six books on gay rights and education, including one that describes his own experiences as a closeted gay student.
The OSDFS was created by the Bush administration in 2002. According to its Web site, one of its primary functions is to "provide financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities and activities that promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education."
Jennings' critics say he fits only half the bill, if that.
"Jennings was obviously chosen for this job because of the safe schools aspect... defining 'safe schools' narrowly in terms of 'safe for homosexuality'," Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, told FOXNews.com.
"But at least half of the job involves creating drug-free schools, and we've not been offered any evidence about what qualifications Jennings has for promoting drug-free schools."
Jennings' detractors note that he made four references to his personal drug abuse in his 2007 autobiography, "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir." On page 103, discussing his high school years in Hawaii in the early 1980s, Jennings wrote:
"I got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned."
Sprigg said that quote is particularly unacceptable for someone who has been named to lead America's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.
"It would be nice to hear from Mr. Jennings ... that he regrets the drug use he engaged in when he was in school," Sprigg said. "But in this autobiography, which Mr. Jennings wrote only recently, he never expresses any regret about his youthful drug use."
Full Story
Conservatives are up in arms about the appointment of Kevin Jennings, Obama's director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, saying he is too radical for the job.
Jennings was appointed to the position largely because of his longtime record of working to end bullying and discrimination in schools. In 1990, as a teacher in Massachusetts, he founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which now has over 40 chapters at schools nationwide. He has also published six books on gay rights and education, including one that describes his own experiences as a closeted gay student.
The OSDFS was created by the Bush administration in 2002. According to its Web site, one of its primary functions is to "provide financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities and activities that promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education."
Jennings' critics say he fits only half the bill, if that.
"Jennings was obviously chosen for this job because of the safe schools aspect... defining 'safe schools' narrowly in terms of 'safe for homosexuality'," Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, told FOXNews.com.
"But at least half of the job involves creating drug-free schools, and we've not been offered any evidence about what qualifications Jennings has for promoting drug-free schools."
Jennings' detractors note that he made four references to his personal drug abuse in his 2007 autobiography, "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir." On page 103, discussing his high school years in Hawaii in the early 1980s, Jennings wrote:
"I got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned."
Sprigg said that quote is particularly unacceptable for someone who has been named to lead America's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.
"It would be nice to hear from Mr. Jennings ... that he regrets the drug use he engaged in when he was in school," Sprigg said. "But in this autobiography, which Mr. Jennings wrote only recently, he never expresses any regret about his youthful drug use."
Full Story
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Elitism in the White House?
When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.
Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu said he didn’t think average folks had the know-how or will to to change their behavior enough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
“The American public…just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act,” Dr. Chu said. “The American public has to really understand in their core how important this issue is.” (In that case, the Energy Department has a few renegade teens of its own.)
The administration aims to teach them—literally. The Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on real children. Partnering with the Parent Teacher Organization, the agency earlier this month launched a cross-country tour of 6,000 schools to teach students about climate change and energy efficiency.
“We’re showing people across the country how energy efficiency can be part of what they do every day,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “Confronting climate change, saving money on our utility bills, and reducing our use of heavily-polluting energy can be as easy as making a few small changes.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
It if walks like a tax and talks like a tax...
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama insists that requiring Americans to get health insurance does not amount to a tax increase.
President Obama says requiring people to have health insurance is not the same as raising their taxes.
In a testy exchange on ABC's "This Week," broadcast Sunday, Obama rejected the assertion that forcing people to obtain coverage would violate his campaign pledge against raising taxes on middle-class Americans.
"For us to say you have to take responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase," Obama said in response to persistent questioning, later adding: "Nobody considers that a tax increase."
A proposal going before the Senate Finance Committee this week includes the mandate for health coverage. Obama has praised the plan in general, and indicated in the interview conducted Friday that he could back the coverage mandate.
He noted that consumers currently pay higher health insurance premiums due to the costs run up by hospitals and other facilities providing care to uninsured people.
Those unable to afford health insurance should get government help, Obama said, but others who can afford coverage but choose not to get it should face coverage requirements similar to those for auto insurance.
"What it's saying is ... that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you any more than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance," he said. "Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that, if you hit my car, that I'm not covering all the costs."
Asked again about critics calling the requirement to pay for health insurance a tax increase, Obama said: "My critics say everything is a tax increase." Watch Obama strategy in health care battle »
On another aspect of his desired health care reform, Obama said cutting billions of dollars in government subsidies for Medicare Advantage would not reduce essential coverage for senior citizens in that program.
The government cites the proposed subsidy cut for Medicare Advantage -- an enhanced program within Medicare -- as an example of how it can reduce health care spending while expanding coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.
Republican opponents say cutting Medicare costs will reduce benefits for senior citizens, a claim Obama has denied as misinformation.
When pressed on that issue in the interview, Obama said Medicare Advantage provided essentially the same level of medical care as regular Medicare while costing the government much more due to the subsidies.
Insurance companies were "overcharging" for the service, Obama said, insisting that the change would mean senior citizens will get the same level of coverage at a lower cost to the government.
"Now, they package these things in ways that, in some cases, may make it more convenient for some consumers, but they're overcharging massively for it," Obama said. "There's no competitive bidding under the process." Watch Obama talk health care and more with CNN »
He said people currently signed up for Medicare Advantage would still get regular Medicare coverage "and the same level of benefits, but they may not be having their insurer get a 14 percent premium."
"And will the insurers squawk? You bet," Obama said, rejecting claims that those enrolled in Medicare Advantage would be left with substandard benefits. "These folks are going to be able to get Medicare that is just as good, provides the same benefits, but we're not subsidizing them for $18 billion a year."
Full Story
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
ACORN silence from the White House
This is an exerpt from an article written last year by Stanley Kurtz from National Review Online. Even if Obama does not approve of their tactics, it is clear that he worked with ACORN before. If he can inject himself into the Gates break-in "the cop acted stupidly" debacle (which had nothing to do with him), why can't the president make a statement about this? The videos make it clear that this organization has serious problems; why wouldn't the president condemn what ACORN has been caught doing and distance himself from this organization ?
Before giving us a tour of Acorn’s pro-Obama but somehow “non-partisan” election activities, Foulks treats us to a brief history of Obama’s ties to Acorn. While most press accounts imply that Obama just happened to be at the sort of public-interest law firm that would take Acorn’s “motor voter” case, Foulkes claims that Acorn specifically sought out Obama’s representation in the motor voter case, remembering Obama from the days when he worked with Talbot. And while many reports speak of Obama’s post-law school role organizing “Project VOTE” in 1992, Foulkes makes it clear that this project was undertaken in direct partnership with Acorn. Foulkes then stresses Obama’s yearly service as a key figure in Acorn’s leadership-training seminars.
At least a few news reports have briefly mentioned Obama’s role in training Acorn’s leaders, but none that I know of have said what Foulkes reports next: that Obama’s long service with Acorn led many members to serve as the volunteer shock troops of Obama’s early political campaigns — his initial 1996 State Senate campaign, and his failed bid for Congress in 2000 (Foulkes confuses the dates of these two campaigns.) With Obama having personally helped train a new cadre of Chicago Acorn leaders, by the time of Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, Obama and Acorn were “old friends,” says Foulkes.
So along with the reservoir of political support that came to Obama through his close ties with Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, and other Chicago black churches, Chicago Acorn appears to have played a major role in Obama’s political advance. Sure enough, a bit of digging into Obama’s years in the Illinois State Senate indicates strong concern with Acorn’s signature issues, as well as meetings with Acorn and the introduction by Obama of Acorn-friendly legislation on the living wage and banking practices. You begin to wonder whether, in his Springfield days, Obama might have best been characterized as “the Senator from Acorn.”
Full Story
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Of course they're wrong: Spend more
The White House has a message to the tens of thousands of protesters who railed against big government during a rally in Washington Saturday: You're wrong.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the protesters, part of the "tea party" movement, do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.
"I don't think it's indicative of the nation's mood," Axelrod said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "You know, I don't think we ought to be distracted by that. My message to them is, they're wrong."
Axelrod said that President Obama has made clear he wants to "build on the system that we have," dismissing concerns that the president is proposing a large-scale government intervention and claiming broad support for the president's plan.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the protesters, part of the "tea party" movement, do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.
"I don't think it's indicative of the nation's mood," Axelrod said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "You know, I don't think we ought to be distracted by that. My message to them is, they're wrong."
Axelrod said that President Obama has made clear he wants to "build on the system that we have," dismissing concerns that the president is proposing a large-scale government intervention and claiming broad support for the president's plan.
Full story
The rally, and others like it, have been billed as "tea parties," part of a movement that takes its cue from the Boston Tea Party and other imagery from the days of the founding fathers. On Saturday, men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of "judgment day" -- Election Day 2010.
The rally, and others like it, have been billed as "tea parties," part of a movement that takes its cue from the Boston Tea Party and other imagery from the days of the founding fathers. On Saturday, men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of "judgment day" -- Election Day 2010.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Trouble in the posse
The resignation of White House green jobs adviser Van Jones could ultimately embolden conservatives who are critical of the Obama administration for its reliance on "czars" -- the nickname for special advisers who do not need congressional approval.
Jones resigned late Saturday following mounting criticism over his past statements and associations. The tipping point came when it was discovered that he signed a petition in 2004 supporting the "9/11 truther" movement, which believes the Bush administration may have been complicit in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
But even before his resignation, critics said the controversy surrounding Jones was indicative of the fundamental problem with the administration's reliance on such advisers.
Full Story
Jones resigned late Saturday following mounting criticism over his past statements and associations. The tipping point came when it was discovered that he signed a petition in 2004 supporting the "9/11 truther" movement, which believes the Bush administration may have been complicit in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
But even before his resignation, critics said the controversy surrounding Jones was indicative of the fundamental problem with the administration's reliance on such advisers.
Full Story
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tyranny in the public schools
I'm not so concerned about the hubbub over the president's address to students this week, but the attitude of some of these school administrators is wicked. They have their fiefdoms and will rule with an ironhand.
But some parents won't be allowed to "opt-out" their kids everywhere. At least one school district, Tempe Elementary School District No. 3 in Arizona, is not permitting parents to pull their children out of class during Obama's speech.
I have directed principals to have students and teachers view the president's message on Tuesday," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Arthur Tate Jr. said in a statement Thursday. "In some cases, where technology will not permit access to the White House Web site, DVDs will be provided to classes on subsequent days. I am not permitting parents to opt out students from viewing the president's message, since this is a purely educational event."
"I am not permitting parent's to opt out..." Contra Scripture, the state trumps the parents' authority. I wonder what King Tate would have done if Ronald Reagan were president now. I'm sure appeals to "freedom of conscience" would win the day. Of course, Mr. Reagan would not have pulled this stunt to begin with.
If you send your kids to government schools, this is what you get.
But some parents won't be allowed to "opt-out" their kids everywhere. At least one school district, Tempe Elementary School District No. 3 in Arizona, is not permitting parents to pull their children out of class during Obama's speech.
I have directed principals to have students and teachers view the president's message on Tuesday," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Arthur Tate Jr. said in a statement Thursday. "In some cases, where technology will not permit access to the White House Web site, DVDs will be provided to classes on subsequent days. I am not permitting parents to opt out students from viewing the president's message, since this is a purely educational event."
"I am not permitting parent's to opt out..." Contra Scripture, the state trumps the parents' authority. I wonder what King Tate would have done if Ronald Reagan were president now. I'm sure appeals to "freedom of conscience" would win the day. Of course, Mr. Reagan would not have pulled this stunt to begin with.
If you send your kids to government schools, this is what you get.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Is it great and false or just great?
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast.
The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress."
Full Story
"The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast.
The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress."
Full Story
Monday, August 31, 2009
Moderate to heavy losses
After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.
Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance.
Top political analyst Charlie Cook, in a special August 20 update to subscribers, wrote that “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.”
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Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance.
Top political analyst Charlie Cook, in a special August 20 update to subscribers, wrote that “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.”
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Thursday, August 20, 2009
Is the doctor in?
When it comes to the health care reform debate, Canada's single-payer system often is held up as an example of success by supporters -- and by opponents as a warning of the pitfalls.
Answering questions at the Summit of the Americas on Monday, President Obama seemed ambivalent about Canadian health care.
"I don't find Canadians particularly scary, but I guess some of the opponents of reform think that they make a good bogeyman," he said.
Obama went on to say the Canadian system wouldn't work in the U.S., but many American doctors believe it does some things better.
"Our health care system delivers probably the highest specialty quality care in the world but our primary care infrastructure is not good," said Dr. Joseph Ross of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
Canadians have a longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality rates and lower rates of obesity and diabetes than people in the United States. Canadians' primary care doctors get paid more and spend more time with their patients than doctors across the border to the south.
But Canadians also wait twice as long for non-emergency care and sometimes come to the U.S. for specialized treatment.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says the single-payer edifice is starting to crumble.
"What you're starting to see in Canada is that it is falling apart, and you're seeing the growth of a private market for a lot of essential services," he said.
That private market was born after a 2005 Canadian Supreme Court ruling ended the government's monopoly on some health care services.
But since people have to pay out of pocket for them, Canada's public system is still overloaded.
"The average wait time to get an appointment with a new primary care physician is 17 weeks and for specialty care it is even worse," he said.
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Answering questions at the Summit of the Americas on Monday, President Obama seemed ambivalent about Canadian health care.
"I don't find Canadians particularly scary, but I guess some of the opponents of reform think that they make a good bogeyman," he said.
Obama went on to say the Canadian system wouldn't work in the U.S., but many American doctors believe it does some things better.
"Our health care system delivers probably the highest specialty quality care in the world but our primary care infrastructure is not good," said Dr. Joseph Ross of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
Canadians have a longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality rates and lower rates of obesity and diabetes than people in the United States. Canadians' primary care doctors get paid more and spend more time with their patients than doctors across the border to the south.
But Canadians also wait twice as long for non-emergency care and sometimes come to the U.S. for specialized treatment.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says the single-payer edifice is starting to crumble.
"What you're starting to see in Canada is that it is falling apart, and you're seeing the growth of a private market for a lot of essential services," he said.
That private market was born after a 2005 Canadian Supreme Court ruling ended the government's monopoly on some health care services.
But since people have to pay out of pocket for them, Canada's public system is still overloaded.
"The average wait time to get an appointment with a new primary care physician is 17 weeks and for specialty care it is even worse," he said.
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Sunday, August 16, 2009
Which Obama did we elect?
The biggest concern for many in the healthcare debate is the move towards a single-payer heathcare system controlled by the government. Obama denies that this is the direction he wants, but he has advocated it in the past: Which Obama did we elect?
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Something fishy in California
The Central Valley of California was once considered the bread basket of America. But now farms all over that region have been allowed to dry up. Now why? Because of a 2-inch minnow on the endangered species list.
Now, environmentalists claim that the fish was getting caught in the water pumps that provided the farms with water, so to protect the tiny fish, the pumps were turned off. And farmers, well, they were left high and dry, and entire communities are now feeling the impact.
Some towns in the area are now facing unemployment rates of up to 40 percent. And many residents are now forced to visit food banks. But the people of that great area, they've had enough, and they're speaking out tonight.
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Now, environmentalists claim that the fish was getting caught in the water pumps that provided the farms with water, so to protect the tiny fish, the pumps were turned off. And farmers, well, they were left high and dry, and entire communities are now feeling the impact.
Some towns in the area are now facing unemployment rates of up to 40 percent. And many residents are now forced to visit food banks. But the people of that great area, they've had enough, and they're speaking out tonight.
Full Story
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Highest civilian honor goes to...Harvey Milk?
Among the 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Wednesday were physicist Stephen Hawking, Sen. Ted Kennedy, tennis legend Billie Jean King and the late gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, and encouraged LGBT citizens to live their lives openly.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Short memory
A poster recently circulated depicting President Obama as the "Joker" has created quite a stir, prompting Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson to call it "politically mean-spirited and dangerous." But comparing the commander in chief to Batman's nemesis is nothing new in American political satire, as former President George W. Bush certainly knows. He appeared in a similar image submitted to Vanity Fair last July.
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Monday, August 3, 2009
If nothing else, this is the difference McCain would have made as president
WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. John McCain, his party's failed 2008 presidential contender, announced Monday he'd join the vast majority of the GOP to vote against Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who's on track to be confirmed this week as the first Hispanic justice.
McCain's decision, the day before the Senate debates President Barack Obama's first high court nominee, underscored the degree to which Republicans -- even those who, like the Arizonan, represent large Hispanic populations -- have turned against Sotomayor. Conservatives argue she'd bring her own biases to the bench.
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McCain's decision, the day before the Senate debates President Barack Obama's first high court nominee, underscored the degree to which Republicans -- even those who, like the Arizonan, represent large Hispanic populations -- have turned against Sotomayor. Conservatives argue she'd bring her own biases to the bench.
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Gates arrest: Just want to record this for posterity
Obama was asked about Gates' arrest at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night and began his response by saying Gates was a friend and he didn't have all the facts.
"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."
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"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Self-serving exaggerations and political fantasies
The most misused word in the health care debate is "reform." Everyone wants "reform," but what constitutes "reform" is another matter. If you listen to President Obama, his "reform" will satisfy almost everyone. It will insure the uninsured, control runaway health spending, subdue future budget deficits, preserve choice for patients and improve quality of care. These claims are self-serving exaggerations and political fantasies. They have destroyed what should be a serious national discussion of health care.
The health-care conundrum involves a contradiction that the administration steadfastly obscures: In the short run -- meaning four to eight years -- government cannot both insure the uninsured and rein in health spending. Here's why. The notion that the uninsured get little or no care is a myth: They now receive about 50 to 70 percent as much health care as the insured. If they become insured, they would use more health care, possibly as much as today's insured. That would increase both government and private health spending, depending on how the insurance is provided.
The health-care conundrum involves a contradiction that the administration steadfastly obscures: In the short run -- meaning four to eight years -- government cannot both insure the uninsured and rein in health spending. Here's why. The notion that the uninsured get little or no care is a myth: They now receive about 50 to 70 percent as much health care as the insured. If they become insured, they would use more health care, possibly as much as today's insured. That would increase both government and private health spending, depending on how the insurance is provided.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
FYI: The uninsured are closer to 10 million than 45 million
This number, the number of insured Americans, is not an easy figure to find. Just try Googling it and you'll navigate through a frustrating labyrinth of dead ends, most of which lead you directly back to that uninsured "45 million" number. Eventually I had to ask the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Census Bureau to get an answer.
It turns out that 253.4 million Americans -- or a whopping 83% of the country -- have health insurance, whether it's through private insurers, employer-based coverage, a government program or Medicaid/Medicare. The majority, 202 million of the 253.4 million, pay for private insurance.
And as a number of clever skeptics have recently pointed out, breaking down the 45 million number reveals that far fewer folks are actually uninsured. Nearly 10 million of those 45 million aren't even American citizens, and nearly 17 million of them can easily afford insurance, but choose not to get it (these folks will be taxed under Obamacare for opting out.) When the numbers are crunched, it turns out that only 11 million legal American citizens who would like health insurance don't have it, and even that figure is likely high. If we take it at 11 million, that's less than 4% of the country.
Now, it's important that we get health care to those 4%, of course. But is it really necessary to rip apart the health care system we currently have to do it? Yes, we all want better coverage that's more affordable and easier to navigate. Obamacare doesn't solve any of these. All it does is help less than 4% of the country get health insurance, while putting the rest of us through a tangled maze of bureaucracy, for worse care that costs just as much, maybe more. The long-term effects are even more frightening, but in the short term do we really want to penalize the many in favor of the (very) few?
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It turns out that 253.4 million Americans -- or a whopping 83% of the country -- have health insurance, whether it's through private insurers, employer-based coverage, a government program or Medicaid/Medicare. The majority, 202 million of the 253.4 million, pay for private insurance.
And as a number of clever skeptics have recently pointed out, breaking down the 45 million number reveals that far fewer folks are actually uninsured. Nearly 10 million of those 45 million aren't even American citizens, and nearly 17 million of them can easily afford insurance, but choose not to get it (these folks will be taxed under Obamacare for opting out.) When the numbers are crunched, it turns out that only 11 million legal American citizens who would like health insurance don't have it, and even that figure is likely high. If we take it at 11 million, that's less than 4% of the country.
Now, it's important that we get health care to those 4%, of course. But is it really necessary to rip apart the health care system we currently have to do it? Yes, we all want better coverage that's more affordable and easier to navigate. Obamacare doesn't solve any of these. All it does is help less than 4% of the country get health insurance, while putting the rest of us through a tangled maze of bureaucracy, for worse care that costs just as much, maybe more. The long-term effects are even more frightening, but in the short term do we really want to penalize the many in favor of the (very) few?
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"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion...over every living thing..."
WASHINGTON -- President Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" has hit a new snag in his Senate confirmation process -- a "hold" by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who's says he's not convinced that Harvard professor Cass Sunstein won't push a radical animal rights agenda, including new restrictions on agriculture and even hunting.
Senators are permitted "holds" to prevent a vote on a nominee from coming to the floor. They are often secretive and for very specific reasons.
"Sen. Cornyn finds numerous aspects of Mr. Sunstein's record troubling, specifically the fact that he wants to establish legal 'rights' for livestock, wildlife and pets, which would enable animals to file lawsuits in American courts," the Republican's spokesman, Kevin McLaughlin, said in a statement to FOXNews.com.
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Senators are permitted "holds" to prevent a vote on a nominee from coming to the floor. They are often secretive and for very specific reasons.
"Sen. Cornyn finds numerous aspects of Mr. Sunstein's record troubling, specifically the fact that he wants to establish legal 'rights' for livestock, wildlife and pets, which would enable animals to file lawsuits in American courts," the Republican's spokesman, Kevin McLaughlin, said in a statement to FOXNews.com.
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Monday, July 20, 2009
The rich democrats and taxes
A group of Democrats elected in recent years from some of the country's richest congressional districts have emerged as a stumbling block to raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for President Barack Obama's ambitious health-care overhaul just as the plan has begun to meet increasing resistance over its cost.
Friday, two freshmen representatives -- Dina Titus, from suburban Las Vegas, and Colorado's Jared Polis, representing Boulder, Vail and some of the tonier suburbs of Denver -- joined Republicans to vote against Mr. Obama's top-priority health-care overhaul when it faced a vote in their House Education and Labor Committee. One reason was a one-percentage point-surtax on couples earning between $350,000 and $500,000 -- gradually increasing to 5.4 percentage points on earnings more than $1 million -- to pay for it.
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Friday, two freshmen representatives -- Dina Titus, from suburban Las Vegas, and Colorado's Jared Polis, representing Boulder, Vail and some of the tonier suburbs of Denver -- joined Republicans to vote against Mr. Obama's top-priority health-care overhaul when it faced a vote in their House Education and Labor Committee. One reason was a one-percentage point-surtax on couples earning between $350,000 and $500,000 -- gradually increasing to 5.4 percentage points on earnings more than $1 million -- to pay for it.
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
36 Czars: Too much power?
Candidate Barack Obama criticized President Bush for trying to increase executive power. Now President Obama finds himself the target of similar criticism as his growing army of czars raises concerns and questions about his authority.
Candidate Obama's complaints were usually about Bush excluding Congress from national security and civil liberty matters. But Republicans say his czars are shutting Congress out of health care and environmental issues.
By some accounts, there are close to three dozen so-called czars in the Obama administration, managing everything from closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to ending the genocide in Darfur, though the White House is reluctant to use the term "czar."
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Candidate Obama's complaints were usually about Bush excluding Congress from national security and civil liberty matters. But Republicans say his czars are shutting Congress out of health care and environmental issues.
By some accounts, there are close to three dozen so-called czars in the Obama administration, managing everything from closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to ending the genocide in Darfur, though the White House is reluctant to use the term "czar."
Full Story
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Power to the people: Union official heads U.S. car industry
If U.S. auto makers are going to survive — government bailout or not — there's no leaving out the United Auto Workers. Delicate negotiations on things like retiree health benefits will be necessary as the car companies, unions and the government try to chart a course that will keep the American auto industry afloat. Enter Ron Bloom. President Obama has scrapped his initial plan for a "car czar", but Bloom — who has strong ties to private banking and labor — will reportedly serve in a high-profile advisory role on an automobile task force at the Department of the Treasury.
Fast Facts:
• Is currently employed by the Pittsburgh-based United Steelworkers union, which has 1.2 million working and retired members. Bloom has worked as a special assistant to the USW president since 1996 and his duties include helping the union affect corporate business restructuring, investments, bankruptcies and mergers. He is particularly known for working on deals related to recent steel industry bankruptcies. In many of these deals, the USW made considerable concessions in order to help steel companies stay afloat.
• Before taking a position with the steelworkers union, worked as an investment banker for 10 years, including as a vice president for Lazard Freres & Co. As a banker, he often worked on investment deals related to unions.
• In January 1990, Bloom and another Lazard banker quit the company to start their own boutique firm.
• Bloom is a 53 year-old New York native, has a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he came from a proud union family that includes an aunt who was a leader in the teachers' union.
• After graduating from Wesleyan, he worked for the Jewish Labor Committee and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He reportedly decided to go to business school so he could help unions navigate the business world.
Fast Facts:
• Is currently employed by the Pittsburgh-based United Steelworkers union, which has 1.2 million working and retired members. Bloom has worked as a special assistant to the USW president since 1996 and his duties include helping the union affect corporate business restructuring, investments, bankruptcies and mergers. He is particularly known for working on deals related to recent steel industry bankruptcies. In many of these deals, the USW made considerable concessions in order to help steel companies stay afloat.
• Before taking a position with the steelworkers union, worked as an investment banker for 10 years, including as a vice president for Lazard Freres & Co. As a banker, he often worked on investment deals related to unions.
• In January 1990, Bloom and another Lazard banker quit the company to start their own boutique firm.
• Bloom is a 53 year-old New York native, has a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he came from a proud union family that includes an aunt who was a leader in the teachers' union.
• After graduating from Wesleyan, he worked for the Jewish Labor Committee and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He reportedly decided to go to business school so he could help unions navigate the business world.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
I applaud him for his honesty
But despite the progress that has been made – and there has been considerable progress in parts of Africa – we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled. Countries like Kenya, which had a per capita economy larger than South Korea’s when I was born, have been badly outpaced. Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the African continent. In many places, the hope of my father’s generation gave way to cynicism, even despair.
It is easy to point fingers, and to pin the blame for these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father’s life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for far too many.
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It is easy to point fingers, and to pin the blame for these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father’s life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for far too many.
Full Story
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Uh-oh
PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama's job approval rating fell to 58% in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from June 16-18 -- a new low for Obama in Gallup tracking, although not dissimilar to the 59% he has received on four other occasions.
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PRINCETON, NJ -- While 67% of Americans view President Barack Obama favorably, his overall job approval rating and his ratings on specific areas are less positive. At the low end of the spectrum, only 45% of Americans approve of Obama's handling of federal spending, and 46% of his handling of the federal budget deficit.
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Read it and REEP
(CNSNews.com) – The 1,400-page cap-and-trade legislation pushed through by House Democrats contains a new federal policy that residential, commercial, and government buildings be retrofitted to increase energy efficiency, leaving it up to the states to figure out exactly how to do that.
This means that homeowners, for example, could be required to retrofit their homes to meet federal “green” guidelines in order to sell their homes, if the cap-and-trade bill becomes law.
The bill, which now goes to the Senate, directs the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement a national policy for residential and commercial buildings. The purpose of such a strategy – known as the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) – would be to “facilitate” the retrofitting of existing buildings nationwide.
“The Administrator shall develop and implement, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, standards for a national energy and environmental building retrofit policy for single-family and multi-family residences,” the bill reads.
It continues: “The purpose of the REEP program is to facilitate the retrofitting of existing buildings across the United States.”
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This means that homeowners, for example, could be required to retrofit their homes to meet federal “green” guidelines in order to sell their homes, if the cap-and-trade bill becomes law.
The bill, which now goes to the Senate, directs the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement a national policy for residential and commercial buildings. The purpose of such a strategy – known as the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) – would be to “facilitate” the retrofitting of existing buildings nationwide.
“The Administrator shall develop and implement, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, standards for a national energy and environmental building retrofit policy for single-family and multi-family residences,” the bill reads.
It continues: “The purpose of the REEP program is to facilitate the retrofitting of existing buildings across the United States.”
Full Story
Clinton makes her move: The race for 2012 begins
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged President Obama for two days to toughen his language on Iran before he did so, and then was surprised when he condemned Iran's crackdown on demonstrators last week, administration officials say.
At his June 23 news conference, Mr. Obama said he was "appalled and outraged" by Iranian behavior and "strongly condemned" the violence against anti-government demonstrators. Up until then, Mr. Obama and other administration officials had taken a softer line, expressing "deep concern" about the situation and calling on Iran to "respect the dignity of its own people."
Behind the scenes, the officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing internal deliberations, said Mrs. Clinton had been advocating the stronger U.S. response, but the president resisted. When he finally took her advice, the aides said, he did so without informing her first.
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At his June 23 news conference, Mr. Obama said he was "appalled and outraged" by Iranian behavior and "strongly condemned" the violence against anti-government demonstrators. Up until then, Mr. Obama and other administration officials had taken a softer line, expressing "deep concern" about the situation and calling on Iran to "respect the dignity of its own people."
Behind the scenes, the officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing internal deliberations, said Mrs. Clinton had been advocating the stronger U.S. response, but the president resisted. When he finally took her advice, the aides said, he did so without informing her first.
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Nothing's perfect
Private for-profit clinics are a booming business in Canada -- a country often touted as a successful example of a universal health system.
Facing long waits and substandard care, private clinics are proving that Canadians are willing to pay for treatment.
"Any wait time was an enormous frustration for me and also pain. I just couldn't live my life the way I wanted to," says Canadian patient Christine Crossman, who was told she could wait up to a year for an MRI after injuring her hip during an exercise class. Warned she would have to wait for the scan, and then wait even longer for surgery, Crossman opted for a private clinic.
As the Obama administration prepares to launch its legislative effort to create a national health care system, many experts on both sides of the debate site Canada as a successful model.
But the Canadian system is not without its problems. Critics lament the shortage of doctors as patients flood the system, resulting in long waits for some treatment.
Facing long waits and substandard care, private clinics are proving that Canadians are willing to pay for treatment.
"Any wait time was an enormous frustration for me and also pain. I just couldn't live my life the way I wanted to," says Canadian patient Christine Crossman, who was told she could wait up to a year for an MRI after injuring her hip during an exercise class. Warned she would have to wait for the scan, and then wait even longer for surgery, Crossman opted for a private clinic.
As the Obama administration prepares to launch its legislative effort to create a national health care system, many experts on both sides of the debate site Canada as a successful model.
But the Canadian system is not without its problems. Critics lament the shortage of doctors as patients flood the system, resulting in long waits for some treatment.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A champion for sin
WASHINGTON -- Countering criticism that he's done little on gay rights, President Barack Obama commemorated the 40th anniversary of the birth of the modern movement by welcoming its leaders to the White House and reaffirming his commitment to their top priorities.
"I want you to know: You have our support," Obama told members of the core Democratic constituency as he and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail-and-appetizer reception in the East Room for gay pride month. It's been some four decades since the police raid on New York City's gay Stonewall Inn that spurred gay rights activism across the country.
As activists work to change minds and change laws, Obama added: "I will not only be your friend, I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you."
"I want you to know: You have our support," Obama told members of the core Democratic constituency as he and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail-and-appetizer reception in the East Room for gay pride month. It's been some four decades since the police raid on New York City's gay Stonewall Inn that spurred gay rights activism across the country.
As activists work to change minds and change laws, Obama added: "I will not only be your friend, I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you."
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"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful,and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." Romans 1:26-27
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sounds like Zelaya was on his way to becoming a dictator
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A day after Honduras's military ousted President Manuel Zelaya, the country's new government found itself isolated on Monday amid international condemnation of the coup, but said it was acting to defend the country's democracy instead of subverting it.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Mr. Zelaya's ouster was "not legal" and that Mr. Zelaya remains the country's president, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after meetings with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Mr. Obama pledged the U.S. would "stand on the side of democracy" and work with other nations and international entities to resolve the matter peacefully...
...The coup stemmed from a bid by Mr. Zelaya, a frequent critic of the U.S., to stay in office past the end of his term in January. Mr. Zelaya wanted to hold a referendum on Sunday asking voters if they wanted to vote at a future date to scrap the constitution. Mr. Zelaya's opponents say his aim was to end the constitution's limit to a single presidential term.
The crisis grew into a full blown confrontation between Mr. Zelaya and the country's other institutions. The Supreme Court had ruled the vote was illegal because it flouted the constitution. The army, Congress, Catholic church and business leaders lined up against the president. The Supreme Court gave the order for the army to arrest the president, who was hauled out of his residence early on Sunday and bundled onto a plane to Costa Rica.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Mr. Zelaya's ouster was "not legal" and that Mr. Zelaya remains the country's president, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after meetings with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Mr. Obama pledged the U.S. would "stand on the side of democracy" and work with other nations and international entities to resolve the matter peacefully...
...The coup stemmed from a bid by Mr. Zelaya, a frequent critic of the U.S., to stay in office past the end of his term in January. Mr. Zelaya wanted to hold a referendum on Sunday asking voters if they wanted to vote at a future date to scrap the constitution. Mr. Zelaya's opponents say his aim was to end the constitution's limit to a single presidential term.
The crisis grew into a full blown confrontation between Mr. Zelaya and the country's other institutions. The Supreme Court had ruled the vote was illegal because it flouted the constitution. The army, Congress, Catholic church and business leaders lined up against the president. The Supreme Court gave the order for the army to arrest the president, who was hauled out of his residence early on Sunday and bundled onto a plane to Costa Rica.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
In bed with the president?
Juan Williams comments on the relationship between the press and the Obama Administration:
At last weekend's Radio and Television Correspondents' dinner in Washington he joked that during a sleepless night grappling with a problem "I rolled over and asked [NBC "Nightly News" anchorman] Brian Williams what he thought."
The bada-bing drum roll for that joke was drowned out by self-conscious laughter from an audience that began the night with a cartoon tribute to the President as a Super Hero able to leap tall buildings and zoom across the globe to defeat evil pirates.
The president drew more nervous laughs from the media when he said he didn't mind attending the dinner because "why bother hanging out with celebrities when I can spend time with the people who made me one."
It's time for the press to stop being Obama's toady and treat him with the seriousness he deserves. So far, it's Hollywood on the Potomac all the time for Obama but at some point the press has got to get back to covering him as a serious, political leader. That means covering the manipulations, the flip flops, the failures of the administration. -- Instead of covering him like "Entertainment Tonight" they've got to start covering him more like a reality show -- one like "Jon & Kate." Ultimately, while the administration might be happy with their strategy at the moment, over time the press will lose its credibility and the Obama White House will have no way to deliver important messages to the American people...
...The Pew study concluded that half of all the stories done about President Obama focused on his "personal and leadership qualities" as opposed to his policies. President Bush and President Clinton had only about a quarter of their coverage devoted to non-political news.
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Monday, June 22, 2009
"Fish don't vote"
Recently, a federal judge ordered irrigation sources be turned off in the San Wakin Valley to allegedly save a small minnow (fish) under the Endangered Species Act. Farmers have no irrigation alternatives and 80,000 jobs are in jeopardy.
Here is an interview with Paul Rodriguez on Hannity.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Celebrating LGBT month
President Barack Obama signed a presidential memorandum today that extends many benefits now received by spouses of federal employees to same-sex partners of federal employees.
Family advocates say Obama’s action is a direct violation of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a big step toward redefining marriage.
“The president thumbed his nose at the rule of law and continues to undermine marriage as society’s most pro-child institution,” said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action.
“It’s a settled principle of moral tradition and social science that says children do best with both a mom and a dad who are married to each other. Congress already defined marriage for purposes of federal law in 1996 with the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act.
“Treating same-sex partners as the equivalent of spouses is therefore a direct violation of DOMA and merely Obama's contribution to the clearly-stated, gay-activist agenda of redefining marriage and family.”
Full Story
Family advocates say Obama’s action is a direct violation of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a big step toward redefining marriage.
“The president thumbed his nose at the rule of law and continues to undermine marriage as society’s most pro-child institution,” said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action.
“It’s a settled principle of moral tradition and social science that says children do best with both a mom and a dad who are married to each other. Congress already defined marriage for purposes of federal law in 1996 with the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act.
“Treating same-sex partners as the equivalent of spouses is therefore a direct violation of DOMA and merely Obama's contribution to the clearly-stated, gay-activist agenda of redefining marriage and family.”
Full Story
Nationalizing the banks
WASHINGTON -- Setting up a certain fight with big business, President Obama is proposing a new regulatory agency to police lenders and protect consumers in credit, savings and other banking transactions .
The consumer agency and a newly empowered Federal Reserve will be two of the central elements of a broad overhaul of the financial regulatory system that the president will announce on Wednesday, officials said.
Already the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve would supervise large financial institutions that are considered so big that their failure could undermine America's economy, according to the administration proposal.
Obama's decision to create a consumer agency comes amid criticism that mortgage lenders and credit card companies have taken advantage of unwitting customers and saddled them with debt. The financial crisis was precipitated in part by the preponderance of securities backed by mortgages that went sour when the housing market collapsed.
The consumer agency and a newly empowered Federal Reserve will be two of the central elements of a broad overhaul of the financial regulatory system that the president will announce on Wednesday, officials said.
Already the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve would supervise large financial institutions that are considered so big that their failure could undermine America's economy, according to the administration proposal.
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And what was the main cause of the housing market collapse? Subprime lending encouraged and regulated by the federal government. Can the same government that has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare regulate the financial markets?
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Friday, June 12, 2009
The noose around liberty tightens
WASHINGTON – No more "light" cigarettes or candy-flavored smokes. Bigger, scarier warning labels. Fewer ads featuring sexy young smokers.
Historic anti-smoking legislation sped to final congressional passage on Friday — after a bitter fight lasting nearly a half-century — and lawmakers and the White House quickly declared it would save the lives of thousands of smokers of all ages. Even more important, they said, the measure could keep countless young people from starting in the first place.
President Barack Obama, admittedly still struggling with his own nicotine habit, saluted passage of the bill, which he will soon sign. He said, "For over a decade, leaders of both parties have fought to prevent tobacco companies from marketing their products to children and provide the public with the information they need to understand what a dangerous habit this is."
Specifically, the measure for the first time will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate what goes into tobacco products, demand changes or elimination of toxic substances and block the introduction of new products.
Historic anti-smoking legislation sped to final congressional passage on Friday — after a bitter fight lasting nearly a half-century — and lawmakers and the White House quickly declared it would save the lives of thousands of smokers of all ages. Even more important, they said, the measure could keep countless young people from starting in the first place.
President Barack Obama, admittedly still struggling with his own nicotine habit, saluted passage of the bill, which he will soon sign. He said, "For over a decade, leaders of both parties have fought to prevent tobacco companies from marketing their products to children and provide the public with the information they need to understand what a dangerous habit this is."
Specifically, the measure for the first time will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate what goes into tobacco products, demand changes or elimination of toxic substances and block the introduction of new products.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
When will the spending stop?
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- The House on Tuesday waded deeper into the rescue of the troubled auto industry when it passed a $4 billion plan to subsidize new cars sales for consumers who scrap old ones.
By a vote of 298-119, the House approved the "cash for clunkers" program.
The measure would give consumers vouchers worth as much as $4,500 to turn in gas guzzlers and buy new cars that are more fuel efficient.
The legislation now goes to the Senate. President Obama has said he supports such a measure.
By a vote of 298-119, the House approved the "cash for clunkers" program.
The measure would give consumers vouchers worth as much as $4,500 to turn in gas guzzlers and buy new cars that are more fuel efficient.
The legislation now goes to the Senate. President Obama has said he supports such a measure.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Put the pedal to the metal!
President Barack Obama assured the nation his recovery plan was on track Monday, scrambling to calm Americans unnerved by unemployment rates still persistently rising nearly four months after he signed the biggest economic stimulus in history.
Obama admitted his own dissatisfaction with the progress but said his administration would ramp up stimulus spending in the coming months. The White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus, but that total has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.
"Now we're in a position to really accelerate," Obama said.
Obama admitted his own dissatisfaction with the progress but said his administration would ramp up stimulus spending in the coming months. The White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus, but that total has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.
"Now we're in a position to really accelerate," Obama said.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Diminishing holiness
Four times in his speech in Cairo, President Obama referred to the Holy Koran: Should a Christian, who proclaims to believe in the Holy Scriptures, refer to any other book as "holy"? Can a book of lies and deceit be holy?
As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do - to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.
And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library.
The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.
The Holy Koran tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."
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And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library.
The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.
The Holy Koran tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."
Thursday, June 4, 2009
A little to eager to please
My wife was listening to NPR last night and they said Obama had done a blog interview in Egypt yesterday or the day before. He answered a question telling the questioner that if America was a Muslim-country it would be second or third. They thought that was a bit high, and investigated. Turns out we'd be 35th, behind Turkistan.
Full Story
Full Story
June is officially LGBT Pride Month!
If a Christian is doing this, what will a presidential pagan do?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Anyone see the 10th amendment lately?
ATLANTA — The Justice Department has rejected Georgia's system of using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens, a process that was a subject of a federal lawsuit in the weeks leading up to November's election.
In a letter released on Monday, the Justice Department said the state's voter verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a "discriminatory effect" on minority voters. The decision means Georgia must halt the citizenship checks, although the state can still ask the Justice Department to reconsider, according to the letter and to the Georgia secretary of state's office.
"This flawed system frequently subjects a disproportionate number of African-American, Asian and/or Hispanic voters to additional, and more importantly, erroneous burdens on the right to register to vote," Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said. King's letter was sent to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Friday.
Full Story
In a letter released on Monday, the Justice Department said the state's voter verification program is frequently inaccurate and has a "discriminatory effect" on minority voters. The decision means Georgia must halt the citizenship checks, although the state can still ask the Justice Department to reconsider, according to the letter and to the Georgia secretary of state's office.
"This flawed system frequently subjects a disproportionate number of African-American, Asian and/or Hispanic voters to additional, and more importantly, erroneous burdens on the right to register to vote," Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said. King's letter was sent to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Friday.
Full Story
Monday, June 1, 2009
The kinder, gentler military
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- These captives already get to order fast-food takeout from the base and have access to a phone booth for weekly calls. Now some 17 Uighur Muslims awaiting a nation to grant them asylum are about to go high-tech, with laptops and web training.
While awaiting details of President Barack Obama's order to close the prison camps by Jan. 22, commanders here have ordered 20 laptops for the captives of Camp Iguana.
''As you know, detainees are leaving this place,'' said Army Lt. Col. Miguel Mendez, who oversees detainee classes, a multilingual library and now-emerging virtual computer lab. ``We're getting them computer classes to prepare for their return.''
Full Story
While awaiting details of President Barack Obama's order to close the prison camps by Jan. 22, commanders here have ordered 20 laptops for the captives of Camp Iguana.
''As you know, detainees are leaving this place,'' said Army Lt. Col. Miguel Mendez, who oversees detainee classes, a multilingual library and now-emerging virtual computer lab. ``We're getting them computer classes to prepare for their return.''
Full Story
Saturday, May 30, 2009
"Thanks...read it already!"
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez says he has a new book for President Barack Obama: "What is to be Done?" by communist Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet state.
Chavez says he'll "give it to Obama at the next meeting."
"What is to be Done?" is Lenin's political treatise on the role of intellectuals and the proletariat in promoting revolution, written more than a decade before he led the Bolshevik takeover of Russia in 1917.
Chavez says he'll "give it to Obama at the next meeting."
"What is to be Done?" is Lenin's political treatise on the role of intellectuals and the proletariat in promoting revolution, written more than a decade before he led the Bolshevik takeover of Russia in 1917.
Friday, May 29, 2009
A warning to the president
Below is an excerpt from a sermon by Pastor Doug Wilson; the full text is below:
Mr. President, your past record, your campaign promises, your political affiliations, your supporters, your political philosophy, and your record since the election, all consistently indicate that your appointment to the Supreme Court will be a pro-abortion nominee, one who favors the continued recognition of a ghoulish "right" to slaughter the unborn. Your rhetoric, as displayed very recently at Notre Dame, hypocritically aspires to transcend this moral confrontation, sometimes disingenuously called "a debate," as though you are somehow above it all—but your record and actions indicate otherwise. You are radically down to earth in your complete support of unrestricted abortion rights. You are a thoroughly committed partisan in this sick war that adults have declared on children. This means that we have every reason to believe that you will decide, or that you already have decided, to nominate a pro-abortion judge to this vacancy. And so we come to the central point of this message, declared to you by a minister of Jesus Christ, speaking in His name and on His behalf. You may not do this thing. And if by the time this message is preached, you have already placed the name of such a person in nomination, you are commanded in the name of the Lord Jesus to repent, and withdraw that name from consideration. The one to whom you ultimately answer is the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the American people. And this Jesus, who is the Lord of all presidents and parliaments, kings and congresses, forbids what you are in the midst of doing. And so I say it again. You may not.
You said in the campaign that you did not have "a litmus test" for your nominees, but it is important for you to know and recognize that the Lord Jesus does have a litmus test for judges. He requires them to hate injustice and to judge righteously (Dt. 1:16), to defend the fatherless (Is. 1:23; Jer. 5:28), and to keep the land from being soaked with the blood of innocents (Hos. 6:6-8; Ps. 10:18). Judges must adjudicate with godly wisdom (Prov. 8:16). Judges must recognize that there is a Judge above them, one to whom they answer. The Lord is our judge, lawgiver and king (Is. 33:22). And judges who refuse to acknowledge the wisdom of heaven are judges that the Lord will bring down to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth as vanity (Is. 40:23).
Now at this point, you might be thinking that the best response would be to simply dismiss the insignificant messenger or herald, to shoo away the little bird. "Megalomania is never attractive," you might say, "especially in small town pastors." But this objection actually brings the biblical answer to this objection right along with it. This is what God does. This is His way. He chooses the despised of this world to confront the worldly wise, and He takes those who are small and insignificant and He works through them. The authority of a messenger always lies in the message itself, and in the authority of the one who sent it. The authority of an ambassador or herald works the same way. And in this instance, the authority of any minister with an open Bible is authority enough.
So hear the word of the Lord. You have no mandate to allow for the summary executions of anyone. You have no authority to make whether or not a baby is allowed to take a breath of air a matter of somebody else’s political "choice." That is not yours to give. You have no right to deprive anyone of life without due process. And to address the crowning hypocrisy in all of this, you have no authority to invert the meanings of empathy and cruelty. You have stated that one of the characteristics of your nominee would be "empathy." But the treatment that unborn children receive in this calloused and cruel nation of ours is a photo negative of true empathy. We dismember little children, we kill them with saline injections, we suck out their brains with high powered equipment, and you want a nominee who will keep this ghastly business going, and you want one who will call what he is doing empathy. But the prophet Isaiah has declared an authoritative word—"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (Is 5:20-21). Woe, in other words, to those who do exactly what you are doing.
Full Text
Mr. President, your past record, your campaign promises, your political affiliations, your supporters, your political philosophy, and your record since the election, all consistently indicate that your appointment to the Supreme Court will be a pro-abortion nominee, one who favors the continued recognition of a ghoulish "right" to slaughter the unborn. Your rhetoric, as displayed very recently at Notre Dame, hypocritically aspires to transcend this moral confrontation, sometimes disingenuously called "a debate," as though you are somehow above it all—but your record and actions indicate otherwise. You are radically down to earth in your complete support of unrestricted abortion rights. You are a thoroughly committed partisan in this sick war that adults have declared on children. This means that we have every reason to believe that you will decide, or that you already have decided, to nominate a pro-abortion judge to this vacancy. And so we come to the central point of this message, declared to you by a minister of Jesus Christ, speaking in His name and on His behalf. You may not do this thing. And if by the time this message is preached, you have already placed the name of such a person in nomination, you are commanded in the name of the Lord Jesus to repent, and withdraw that name from consideration. The one to whom you ultimately answer is the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the American people. And this Jesus, who is the Lord of all presidents and parliaments, kings and congresses, forbids what you are in the midst of doing. And so I say it again. You may not.
You said in the campaign that you did not have "a litmus test" for your nominees, but it is important for you to know and recognize that the Lord Jesus does have a litmus test for judges. He requires them to hate injustice and to judge righteously (Dt. 1:16), to defend the fatherless (Is. 1:23; Jer. 5:28), and to keep the land from being soaked with the blood of innocents (Hos. 6:6-8; Ps. 10:18). Judges must adjudicate with godly wisdom (Prov. 8:16). Judges must recognize that there is a Judge above them, one to whom they answer. The Lord is our judge, lawgiver and king (Is. 33:22). And judges who refuse to acknowledge the wisdom of heaven are judges that the Lord will bring down to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth as vanity (Is. 40:23).
Now at this point, you might be thinking that the best response would be to simply dismiss the insignificant messenger or herald, to shoo away the little bird. "Megalomania is never attractive," you might say, "especially in small town pastors." But this objection actually brings the biblical answer to this objection right along with it. This is what God does. This is His way. He chooses the despised of this world to confront the worldly wise, and He takes those who are small and insignificant and He works through them. The authority of a messenger always lies in the message itself, and in the authority of the one who sent it. The authority of an ambassador or herald works the same way. And in this instance, the authority of any minister with an open Bible is authority enough.
So hear the word of the Lord. You have no mandate to allow for the summary executions of anyone. You have no authority to make whether or not a baby is allowed to take a breath of air a matter of somebody else’s political "choice." That is not yours to give. You have no right to deprive anyone of life without due process. And to address the crowning hypocrisy in all of this, you have no authority to invert the meanings of empathy and cruelty. You have stated that one of the characteristics of your nominee would be "empathy." But the treatment that unborn children receive in this calloused and cruel nation of ours is a photo negative of true empathy. We dismember little children, we kill them with saline injections, we suck out their brains with high powered equipment, and you want a nominee who will keep this ghastly business going, and you want one who will call what he is doing empathy. But the prophet Isaiah has declared an authoritative word—"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (Is 5:20-21). Woe, in other words, to those who do exactly what you are doing.
Full Text
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