• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2009-07-26

    • For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years.

      A key House chairman and moderate House Democrats on Tuesday agreed to a White House-backed proposal that would give an outside panel the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs. White House budget director Peter Orszag declared the plan "probably the most important piece that can be added" to the House's health care reform legislation.

      But on Saturday, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years- a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.

      (tags: Obamacare CBO)
    • IN a speech delivered earlier this year, during Black History Month, Attorney General Eric Holder drew headlines by criticizing the tenor of public discourse on race. “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot,” Mr. Holder said, “in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” The nation’s leading law enforcement officer — who happens also to be an African-American man — was widely criticized for making this provocative comment.
    • David Axelrod, one of President Obama’s most trusted political advisers, said Sunday that he does not spend time thinking about what Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might do next.

      “I can tell you with absolutely honesty,” Axelrod said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, “that when I sit around with my political friends . . . there’s very little or no discussion of Sarah Palin.”

      “And I really have no idea what Gov. Palin is going to do,” the Obama aide told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. “She’s entering private life now. We wish her well and it’s up to her to decide what role she’s going to play in the future. She’s got plenty of advice, I’m sure. She doesn’t need mine.”

    • President Obama has become quite the golf fanatic since he began his presidency.

      The commander in chief is out on the links again today, playing a round at Andrews Air Force Base. This is the 10th time in as many weeks that Obama has found time to squeeze in some golf (all weekends, except for one Monday.)

      In fact, the White House press corps has come up with a nickname to refer to the President's golfing habits: "The First Duffer," as they refer to him in pool reports when he's hitting the links.

      Today, Obama is playing with White House aides Ben Finkenbinder and Marvin Nicholson, as well as David Katz, the official photographer for his 2008 campaign.

      In the past, Obama has played with U.S Trade Representative Ronk Kirk, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and personal aide Reggie Love, among others.

      (tags: barack_obama)
    • After watching their stimulus package fail to stimulate and an increasing number of Americans wondering whether President Barack Obama has the first clue on economics, Vice President Joe Biden steps back into the fray to rescue his partner. In a New York Times op-ed, Biden argues that voters have misunderstood Porkulus. It wasn’t intended to deliver a big “jolt” to the economy, Biden says — apparently forgetting what he himself said last month:
  • Sarah Palin

    Sarah Palin Steps Down as Alaska’s Governor

    sarah palin warns

    Sarah Palin is out as Governor of Alaksa as she resigns today.

    Sarah Palin stepped down Sunday as Alaska governor to write a book and build a right-of-center coalition, but she left her long-term political plans unclear and refused to address speculation she would seek a 2012 presidential bid.

    In a fiery campaign-style speech, Palin said she was stepping down to take her political battles to a larger if unspecified stage and avoid an unproductive, lame duck status.

    “With this decision, now, I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. And I have never felt that you need a title to do that,” Palin said to raucous applause from about 5,000 people gathered at Pioneer Park in downtown Fairbanks.

    Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter, one of her favorite venues to reach out to supporters.

    Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at a crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded “some seemingly hell bent on tearing down our nation” and warned Americans to “be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn’t come free.”

    She also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, “has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!”

    And she told the media: “How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin’ things up?”

    She didn’t elaborate, but Palin said when she announced her resignation July 3 that she was tired of the media focus on her family and felt she had been unfairly treated by reporters and bloggers.

    First, will come a few speaking engagements and Sarah will work on her book.

    Then,will come the campaigning for conservative Congressional candidates and the fundraising in a full court press towards a possible 2012 Presidential run.

    Also, she will intensify her criticism of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden

    Stay tuned……


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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  Obamacare

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 26, 2009 – Choice

    day by day 072609

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Chris, ultimately CHOICE in health care decisions is what will sink Obamacare as we know it today. Americans do not want a government bureaucrat telling them what medicine to take or when they can obtain a necessary medical test or MRI.

    Listening the Senate Democrats on the Sunday talk shows demonstrates how scared they are of removing CHOICE from the American people.

    As far as taxing health care benefit plans, the White House and the Obama Administration in their flip flop may indeed be endangering Democrat control of the Congress in the next two election cycles. I can see the ads now, being led by John McCain and Sarah Palin saying that you beat us over the head about taxing health care benefits and you LIED – YOU were gong to do it all along.

    ++++++++++

    Today is a travel day for me as I head back to Thousand Oaks from San Francisco.  Blogging will resume in a more normal fashion by this evening.

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