• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2009-07-27

    • Too many conservative senators like Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are to blame for the GOP's downfall, one of their retiring Republican colleagues complained Monday.

      "We got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns," Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) told the Columbus Dispatch. "It's the southerners."

      Voinovich, a native Clevelander who retires after the 2010 election, continued after the southern elements of the GOP.

      "They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr,'" he said. "People hear them and say, 'These people, they're southerners. The party's being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'"
      ++++++
      Voinovich is a weenie and should have been retired after one term in office.

      Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

    • (AP) – Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony.

      Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide

    • Face-lifts, tummy tucks and hair transplants could be hit with a new tax to help finance the trillion-dollar healthcare overhaul plan, CONGRESS DAILY reports.

      The Senate Finance Committee has discussed imposing a 10% excise tax on cosmetic surgery deemed unnecessary for medical purposes.

      DAILY's Peter Cohn reveals: The idea was broached in a meeting with OMB Director Orszag in mid-July, after which Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told reporters he had heard some "interesting," "creative," and "kind of fun" ideas.

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • A straw poll of same sex marraige leaders gathered in San Bernardino Saturday just came in: The majority want to return to the ballot in 2010 to try to overturn Proposition 8. Final count of the nonbinding measure: 93 people voted to go in 2010, 49 in 2012 and 20 undecided.

      The next step: Leaders will return to their organizations and then a final decision will be made in a couple of weeks. If they're going to go for it in 2010, they'd better hurry. Ballot language is due to the Attorney General by Sept. 25.

      Oh, yeah. And they still need a leader. And a leadership structure. And a decision-making process.

      (tags: gaymarriage)
    • Bill Simon, the GOP's 2002 pick for governor, has endorsed Meg Whitman in her Republican primary bid.

      Simon, who was a key player on former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign before endorsing Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain, has snagged the titles of campaign co-chairman and senior policy adviser.

    • s bipartisan negotiations continue on a health care reform bill this week, an exchange yesterday between Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week is worth highlighting:

      Conrad: "Look, there are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle."

      Stephanoplous: "So it's just not possible to have a Democrat-only bill?"

      Conrad: "No, it is not possible and perhaps not desirable either. We are probably going to get a better product if we go through the tough business of debate, consideration, analysis of what we're proposing."

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • The woman whose report of a possible house break-in led to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said she never mentioned race during her 911 call and is “personally devastated’’ by media accounts that suggest she placed the call because the men she observed on the porch were black, according to a lawyer acting as her spokeswoman.
    • Discouraged by stubborn poll numbers and pessimistic political consultants, major financial backers of same-sex marriage are cautioning gay rights groups to delay a campaign to overturn California’s ban on such unions until at least 2012.
      Earlier this year, many supporters of same-sex marriage seemed eager to mount a 2010 campaign to overturn Proposition 8, which was passed by California voters in November and defined marriage as “between a man and a woman.”

      But the timing of another campaign has since been questioned by several of the movement’s big donors, including David Bohnett, a millionaire philanthropist and technology entrepreneur who gave more than $1 million to the unsuccessful campaign to defeat Proposition 8.

    • The strike ballots may come back "yes," but history says "no."

      With a Friday deadline looming, members of California's largest state employee union have been voting on whether to give their leaders permission to call a strike.

      And another union that represents California's correctional officers may soon send strike-authorization ballots to its members.

      No state employee union has ever called a general strike, and it's unclear what would happen if one did. Government officials say that a walkout by Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which has mailed strike-authorization ballots to 95,000 state employees, would violate labor agreements and that the state would punish anyone who strikes.

    • The feds are spending tens of millions of stimulus dollars to repair and build toilets across the nation, in an outflow of taxpayer funds that critics have branded "potty pork."

      From humble sylvan outhouses to "historic" restrooms, cash from the $787 billion stimulus is going to spruce up or completely replace aging toilets, government releases show.

      In New Mexico alone, the feds are spending $2.8 million for toilets in national forests.

      The bathroom bonanza runs across myriad federal agencies, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Veterans Affairs Administration and the Army.

      "You could definitely say this is potty pork," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste. "This puts a whole different swirl on money going down the drain."

      Many proposals cite the need to improve accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

    • As we asked earlier this week, if questions over President Obama's citizenship were valid, wouldn't they have come out during the presidential campaign?

      David Weigel talked with Trevor Potter and other lawyers for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign who said that they did look into the Obama citizenship rumors and found them without merit.

      Said Potter: "To the extent that we could, we looked into the substantive side of these allegations. We never saw any evidence that then-Senator Obama had been born outside of the United States. We saw rumors, but nothing that could be sourced to evidence. There were no statements and no documents that suggested he was born somewhere else. On the other side, there was proof that he was born in Hawaii. There was a certificate issued by the state's Department of Health, and the responsible official in the state saying that he had personally seen the original certificate. There was a birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser, which would

      (tags: barack_obama)
    • While protesters rallied in his support, the owner of a Concord Mills kiosk that sells conservative merchandise said he met with the mall's manager Sunday to see what arrangements can be made for him to remain after his lease expires Friday.

      Nothing was agreed to, except that the two would meet again Monday, said Loren Spivack, owner of Free Market Warrior.

      Spivack has contended that he's being kicked out of the mall for political reasons. He's traced his exile to a letter to the editor in the Charlotte Observer criticizing his business, saying it promotes “ideas such as racism, sexism and even slavery.”

      (tags: barack_obama)
  • Obamacare

    Plastic Surgery Tax to Help Fund Obamacare?

    cosmetic-tax

    And, why not Pelosi and Biden already got theirs, right?

    Face-lifts, tummy tucks and hair transplants could be hit with a new tax to help finance the trillion-dollar healthcare overhaul plan, according to sources familiar with the Senate talks.

    The Senate Finance Committee has discussed imposing a 10 percent excise tax on cosmetic surgery deemed unnecessary for medical purposes. The idea was broached in a meeting with OMB Director Orszag in mid-July, after which Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus told reporters he had heard some “interesting,” “creative,” and “kind of fun” ideas.

    The tax, which has not been officially scored, would plug some of the revenue gap senators are seeking to fill to keep on schedule for a markup the week of Aug. 3. It would target procedures prohibited under Section 213 of the tax code, which deals with itemized deductions for medical expenses not covered by health insurance.

    The 1990 deficit-reduction law prohibited taxpayers from taking deductions for cosmetic surgery “unless the surgery or procedure is necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease.”

    The law defines cosmetic surgery as “any procedure which is directed at improving the patient’s appearance and does not meaningfully promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease.”

    According to the IRS, deductions for procedures such as reconstructive surgery due to cancer or laser eye surgery would be allowed. But nose jobs, liposuction, teeth-whitening procedures and Botox injections to smooth wrinkles would be prohibited under Sec. 213 and subject to the new tax.

    Of course, the bureaucrats will then decide which is defined as a cosmetic procedure and which will be surcharged – and how much. Then, there are the states who will also excise tax “cosmetic procedures.” The taxation will NEVER end – for all of those rich bastards who dare improve their own appearance at the expense of some homeless SOB who only cares about his wine bottle.

    Gotta spread the wealth around…..

    But, what about veterinarian procedures for your cat and dog? Certainly those people are rich and should pay for something, right?

    Obamacare gets whacked out more and more every day…….

    Good luck with passing this BS, Democrats in Congress, and waive good bye when you pull the yes switch.


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  • Barack Obama,  Polling

    Poll Watch: 40 Per Cent Strongly Disapprove of Obama Presidency

    obama_index_july_27_2009

    President Obama’s troubles in the polls are continuing.

    The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 30% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10. Yesterday and today are the only time that Obama’s Approval Index ratings have fallen to double digits in negative territory.

    What a contrast from just 6 months ago.

    Wait until the GOP finds its 2010 message and begins to hammer the Democrats and Obama.


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  • Michael Ramirez,  Obamacare

    Obamacare: The 47 Million Uninsured

    ramireztoon072409

    Political Cartoon by Michael Ramirez

    And, the costs of Obamacare?

    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.

    “In CBO’s judgment, the probability is high that no savings would be realized … but there is also a chance that substantial savings might be realized. Looking beyond the 10-year budget window, CBO expects that this proposal would generate larger but still modest savings on the same probabilistic basis,” CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf wrote in a letter to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Saturday.

    Some reforms ultimately will be passed by the Congress but Obamacare?

    I don’t think it will happen.

    If it does, the GOP will roll most of it back after the 2010 and 2012 elections.


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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 27, 2009 Is Jan Cut Off?

    day by day 072709

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    It is uncertain whether Jan  is cut off from her daddy’s largess but it is a certainty that Barack Obama will be cut off from the media largess that has propelled him to the Presidency.

    When press accounts proclaim that Obama has played golf ten times since becoming President, I see the tide slowly turning.

    Now, when will the White House Press Corps start covering Obama not as “The One” but a regular POL who is to be evaluated on his policy decisions?

    It might take some time – especially with NBC News.

    Previous:

    The Day By Day Archive


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