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    links for 2009-12-29

    • The American College of Cardiology (ACC) today announced that it filed a complaint against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in United States District Court. The complaint alleges that Secretary Sebelius, in her capacity as the HHS Secretary, unlawfully adopted the payment rates for cardiology services in the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) by using an invalid Physician Practice Information Survey (PPIS) in a manner that threatens access to care for patients and precipitously increases medical care costs.
    • Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) is set to announce Tuesday that he will not seek reelection, according to House Republican aides.

      Radanovich has missed a series of votes recently, citing his wife's health. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in recent years.
      Radanovich has made it official and has endorsed Denham.

      “As many already know, Ethie has been valiantly fighting ovarian cancer for nearly three years. My family needs me, and I intend to be by their side to win this battle.

      “It is for this reason that I have decided to not seek reelection to Congress in 2010.

      “I am pleased to say that I reached out to State Senator Jeff Denham and asked him to consider running for my seat. Jeff and I share over 100,000 constituents and I have witnessed firsthand the work he has done for our special part of California. After consulting with his family, he agreed to be our Republican candidate for the 19th congressional district."
      +++++++
      Sad but the seat should remain Safe GOP

    • The good news for Senator Ben Nelson is that he doesn’t have to face Nebraska voters until 2012.

      If Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson for the Senate job, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows the Republican would get 61% of the vote while Nelson would get just 30%. Nelson was reelected to a second Senate term in 2006 with 64% of the vote.

      Nelson's health care vote is clearly dragging his numbers down. Just 17% of Nebraska voters approve of the deal their senator made on Medicaid in exchange for his vote in support of the plan. Overall, 64% oppose the health care legislation, including 53% who are Strongly Opposed. In Nebraska, opposition is even stronger than it is nationally.
      +++++++++
      Harry Reid will be gone in 2010 over the failed economy and Nelson will go down with Obamacare

    • Sen. Max Baucus' office Monday denounced a widely viewed Internet video that suggested Baucus was drunk on the Senate floor last week, calling it an "untrue, personal smear" designed to attack Democrats' health-care reform legislation.

      "This is beyond the pale, and this type of gutter politics has no place in the public sphere," said Baucus spokesman Ty Matsdorf.

      The video, posted over the weekend on the popular Internet video Web site YouTube (www.youtube.com), is a five-minute clip of Baucus speaking last Tuesday during floor debate on the health-reform bill that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve.

      Baucus, a key figure in Democrats' crafting of the health-reform bill, is angrily answering Republican criticism that Democrats fashioned a partisan bill and locked Republicans out of any meaningful talks on the bill.
      ++++++
      Yeah, right……

      (tags: max_baucus)
    • Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will build new weapons to offset the planned U.S. missile defense and urged Washington to share detailed data about its missile shield under a new arms control deal.

      Putin's remarks posted on the Cabinet's Web site set a defiant tone and signaled new difficulties in talks between the two nations on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expired on Dec. 5. Moscow and Washington had hoped to strike a deal before the end of the year but problems persist.

      Putin's comments also showed that the former Russian president is continuing to shape Russian foreign policy, which under the constitution should be set by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.
      ++++++++++
      The Russians have been against U.S. missile defense since Reagan. Of course, the US has an edge and that is the point. Will Obama negotiate it away?

  • Day By Day,  Max Baucus

    Day By Day December 29, 2009 – Democrats Blow



    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Montana Democrat Senator Max Baucus is a disgrace and this was the principal architect of Obamacare in the United States Senate. Besides his problems with his girlfriend and taking her on government paid trysts:

    Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, gave a nearly $14,000 pay raise to a female staffer in 2008, at the time he was becoming romantically involved with her, and later that year took her on a taxpayer-funded trip to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, though foreign policy was not her specialty.

    Late last Friday, Baucus acknowledged his relationship with Melodee Hanes, whom he nominated for the job of U.S. attorney in Montana, after it was first reported on the website MainJustice.com. But he said that Hanes withdrew from consideration for the job when the relationship became more serious. The following day, Baucus dismissed calls for an ethics investigation, saying, “I went out of my way to be up and up.”

     …..there is his obvious intoxication on the floor of the Senate:

    Now, do Montana voters really want someone who has clearly “LOST IT” as their Senator?


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