Archive for August, 2009
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Three Ventura County sheriff’s deputies wrestled a man to the ground and led him away in handcuffs outside a Democratic healthcare forum Wednesday evening at the Thousand Oaks Main Library.
A man identifying himself as Grant Markus, 50, of Ventura allegedly shoved one of three doctors speaking at an impromptu gathering outside the healthcare forum.
His shirt, apparently ripped open by the struggle, hung from his shoulders as he was led away, his hands locked behind his back.
“All I wanted to do was speak!†Markus protested. “I did not raise a hand to anyone!â€
The soapbox forum outside the Democratic healthcare meeting rose out of frustration from those who did not get into the meeting because members of area Democratic clubs got first priority.
“How is it beneficial if only Dems (Democrats) are in there?†asked Karen Keyser, 52, of Thousand Oaks.
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An angry man assaulted a trio of doctors who were criticizing Obama's healthcare plan outside a town hall meeting today in Thousand Oaks, CA. The doctors, who were shut out of the indoor meeting at the Thousand Oaks Public Library along with approximately one hundred anti-universal healthcare protesters, held an impromptu town hall of their own when they were attacked.
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Key senators are excluding a provision on end-of-life care from health overhaul legislation after language in a House bill caused a furor.
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that the provision had been dropped from consideration because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly.
A health care bill passed by three House committees allows Medicare to reimburse doctors for voluntary counseling sessions about end-of-life decisions. But critics have claimed the provision could lead to death panels and euthanasia for seniors.
The Senate Finance Committee is still working to complete a bill.
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Yesterday President Obama responded to my statement that Democratic health care proposals would lead to rationed care; that the sick, the elderly, and the disabled would suffer the most under such rationing; and that under such a system these “unproductive†members of society could face the prospect of government bureaucrats determining whether they deserve health care.
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The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes rose 7 percent from June to July, as the escalating foreclosure crisis continued to outpace government efforts to limit the damage.
Foreclosure filings were up 32 percent from the same month last year, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. More than 360,000 households, or one in every 355 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, such as a notice of default or trustee's sale. That's the highest monthly level since the foreclosure-listing firm began publishing the data more than four years ago.
Banks repossessed more than 87,000 homes in July, up from about 79,000 homes a month earlier.
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The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, while continuing claims fell sharply.
The Labor Department says new claims increased to a seasonally adjusted 558,000, from 554,000 the previous week. Analysts expected new claims to drop to 545,000, according to Thomson Reuters.
The number of people remaining on the benefit rolls fell to 6.2 million from 6.34 million the previous week. Analysts had expected a slight decline.
The four-week average of initial claims, which smooths out fluctuations, rose by 8,500 to 565,000, after falling for six straight weeks.
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United States Senator and newly switched party Democrat Arlen Specter is in trouble in his 2010 re-election campaign.
Uncomfortable town hall meetings are just the tip of the iceberg for Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. He now trails Republican Pat Toomey by double digits in his bid for reelection next year and is viewed unfavorably by a majority of the state’s voters.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Pennsylvania voters shows 48% would vote for Toomey if the election were held today. Just 36% would vote for Specter while four percent (4%) prefer a third option, and 12% are not sure.
These figures reflect a dramatic reversal since June. At that time, before the public health care debate began, Specter led Toomey by eleven.
Just 43% now have a favorable opinion of Specter while 54% offer an unfavorable assessment of the longtime GOP senator who became a Democrat rather than face Toomey in a party primary. Those numbers have reversed since June when 53% had a favorable opinion of him.
The current figures include 15% with a Very Favorable opinion of Specter and 36% with a Very Unfavorable view.
And, Republican Pat Toomey is beating left-wing Democrat Congressman Joe Sestak who is challenging Specter in the Democrat primary election.
After watching Specter in action at a health care town hall a couple of days ago, is there any doubt that the near octogenarian may be too old and feeble to succeed in his re-election efforts?
I doubt Specter wins the primary election and Toomey then mops the floor with Sestak.
Technorati Tags: Arlen Specter, Pat Toomey, Joe Sestak
Tags: Arlen Specter, Joe Sestak, Pat Toomey
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Posted by Flap in Obamacare
General Practitioner Asks Question About Preventative Care at Sheila Jackson Lee Healthcare Townhall
Patrick has it all here.
And, fancy that. Roxana Mayer was an Obama delegate too.
Great work, Patterico.
Technorati Tags: Obamacare, Barack Obama
Tags: Barack Obama, Obamacare
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President Obama’s latest poll numbers are in the tank, according to Rasmussen.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 29% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.
Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. That’s the lowest level of total approval yet recorded. The President’s ratings first fell below 50% just a few weeks ago on July 25. Fifty-two percent (52%) now disapprove.
The bloom has come off the Obama rose – big time.
Exit question:Will the White House now fight the trend and roll the dice with Obamacare or will they retrench?
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Polling
Tags: Barack Obama, Polling
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Crowd at Pennsylvania Town Hall Meeting speak up against health care plan with Democrat Senator Arlen Specter
So says the latest USA Today/Gallup poll.
The raucous protests at congressional town-hall-style meetings have succeeded in fueling opposition to proposed health care bills among some Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — particularly among the independents who tend to be at the center of political debates.
In a survey of 1,000 adults taken Tuesday, 34% say demonstrations at the hometown sessions have made them more sympathetic to the protesters’ views; 21% say they are less sympathetic.
Independents by 2-to-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now.
The findings are unwelcome news for President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders, who have scrambled to respond to the protests and in some cases even to be heard. From Pennsylvania to Texas, those who oppose plans to overhaul the health care system have asked aggressive questions and staged noisy demonstrations.
But, the Democrats have overwhelming majorities in the Congress and can just ignore the voices of the American public.
The GOP can only hope.
Technorati Tags: Obamacare, Polling
Tags: Obamacare, Polling
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Americans angry over the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats blazen attempt to socialized the health care system are turning out at town hall meetings in unprecedented numbers. Isn’t this participation the American Way?
Yet, Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others, including the White House are demonizing the demonstrators as Nazi’s, astroturfers and out of the mainstream nut jobs. They do so at their own political peril.
What the Democrats have to worry about is NOT the passage of Obamacare – because in its present form, will NOT pass, but independent voters who are beginning to realize that Obama conned them using Saul Alinsky tactics over the past year. Americans want policy substance and are seeing none of it from Obama and the majority Congressional Democrats.
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The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama
Tags: Barack Obama, Day By Day, Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare
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I never thought I'd enjoy a Democratic senator from California as much as I've enjoyed Dianne Feinstein for the past couple months. From vocally supporting the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, against her party's wishes, to vocally dressing down the White House for not keeping her in the loop on the Panetta pick for CIA, she has become an unexpected pleasure.
Today, she's hitting Organizing for America, the astroturf totally genuine grassroots operation of the Democratic National Committee, for misleading constituents into thinking they have scheduled meetings with her. When her offices aren't able to accommodate each constituent, they're understandably upset with her, and she's upset with the White House:
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A government plan to use National Guard troops to help stem Mexican drug violence along the southern border is stymied by disagreements over who will pay for the soldiers and how they would be used.
Ordered by President Barack Obama in June to help secure the border with Mexico, the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department drafted a $225 million plan to deploy temporarily 1,500 Guard troops to supplement Border Patrol agents.
The two agencies are wrangling over how to structure the deployment, but the primary sticking point is the money, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The funding stalemate lingers even after Obama renewed his commitment to Mexican officials on Monday to reinforce the border and to help Mexico battle the drug cartels. Fierce battles between Mexican law enforcement and the cartels have left as many as 11,000 people dead and fueled concerns about violence spilling into the U.S.
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Bowing to the advice of political consultants and pollsters, officials from a major gay rights advocacy group announced Wednesday that they will wait until 2012 to return to California voters with an initiative legalizing gay marriage.
The leaders of Equality California, which calls itself the largest gay rights advocacy group in the state, said they won't try to qualify a measure on the subject for the 2010 ballot despite demands from many gay and lesbian activists seeking quicker movement on the issue.
That decision, however, hasn't stopped a liberal advocacy group, Courage Campaign, from collecting signatures for a 2010 ballot initiative on the subject. According to that group's Web site, it has already raised about $136,000 to "invest in research, polling and focus groups to repeal Proposition 8," the ballot initiative passed last year banning same-sex marriage.
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Democrats have a senior citizen problem.
Frustrated older Americans are packing the town halls on health care
. They are incredibly passionate about their Medicare benefits. Polls show senior citizens largely disapprove of health care reform ideas so far.
And of course, they vote — in larger numbers than any other demographic.
But so far, Democrats have focused much of their health care sales pitch on middle-class Americans and the uninsured — a slight that has been noticed by senior citizens, who hold great influence with members of Congress.
At his Tuesday town hall event in New Hampshire, President Barack Obama made a point to reach out to seniors, noting the low support in polls for his health care proposals.
“We are not talking about cutting Medicare benefits,†Obama said, trying to assuage the audience.
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There is plenty of blame to go around. Obama's aggressive endorsement of a healthcare plan that does not even exist yet, except in five competing, fluctuating drafts, makes Washington seem like Cloud Cuckoo Land. The president is promoting the most colossal, brazen bait-and-switch operation since the Bush administration snookered the country into invading Iraq with apocalyptic visions of mushroom clouds over American cities.
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A $200 back-to-school giveaway for needy kids sparked a mad rush for money on the streets of New York on Tuesday.
"It's free money!" said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids.
"Thank God for Obama. He's looking out for us."
Thousands of people lined up at banks and check-cashing shops to withdraw the cash that magically appeared on their electronic benefit cards.
Some rushed out because of rumors the money would vanish by the end of the day.
"Rumors, there's always rumors," said Teresa Medina, who waited four hours at a Pay-O-Matic in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, to get $600 for her three teenagers – just in case they were true.
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Is this what Obama meant by spreading the wealth around?
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Red hot auto sales under the U.S. government's "cash for clunkers" incentive began to cool as dealer inventories tightened and showroom traffic showed signs of leveling off from its frantic pace of a week ago.
One industry analysis released on Tuesday forecast a steady decline in "clunker" related business even though the Obama administration and Congress added $2 billion to the program in recent days with hopes of matching the success of its first weeks. Sales during that period topped 250,000 and rebates exceeded $1 billion at least, according to government and industry figures.
"We see that interest dying down," Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Michelle Krebs said in an interview on the consumer auto industry resource group's analysis of buyer intentions. "It's still high. It's better than pre-clunker levels, but it's off its peak."
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