links for 2009-01-14

In an incident that pro-life advocates say is the slippery slope that results from legalizing assisted suicide or euthanasia, two medical staffers in England have been arrested for reportedly deciding that the life of a disabled man was not worth saving after he had a heart attack.

The two ambulance medics were reportedly heard discussing how they would not revive 59-year-old Barry Baker, who had called emergency services saying he was having a heart attack.

When the unnamed medics arrived at Baker's home, they found him collapsed on the floor and the phone line was still open and recording their conversations. Baker died after the incident.

A police source told the London Times that the medics were heard discussing how they didn't want to revive Baker saying “words to the effect that he was not worth saving."

The president-elect tonight is having dinner with some ideological adversaries: four of the most widely-read conservative columnists.

He's dining at the Chevy Chase home of Washington Post columnist George Will with the Post's Charles Krauthammer and the New York Times's David Brooks and William Kristol. All three wrote, at times, both kind and scathing things about Obama, though Kristol in particular pushed sharp attack lines against him in the waning days of the race.
++++++
Dinner with the 4 is confirmed. Waiting for tomorrow's columns.

A document has emerged suggesting that Obama had taken more public, liberal stands in the past than had been revealed in the digging of reporters and opposition researchers over two years of campaigning, the latest of several pointing to a rightward shift as he moved into national politics.

In a 1996 questionnaire filled out for a Chicago gay and lesbian newspaper, then called Outlines, Obama came out clearly in favor of same-sex marriage, which he has opposed on the public record throughout his short career in national politics.

“I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages,” Obama wrote in the typed, signed, statement.

There was no use of “civil unions,” and "no compromise whatsoever," the Windy City Times story today notes.
++++++
Where was this during the campaign? AWOL = MSM
Did this come out to mollify Gays about Pastor Rick Warren?

He motorcaded to a house in Maryland this evening, and if the press pool report is accurate, he is breaking bread with William Kristol and David Brooks. (If Brooks and Kristol seem to be unusually briefed about Obama's thinking, you'll know why.)

CBS News's Dan Raviv tells the pool that the house, on Grafton Street in Chevy Chase, belongs to George Will. (Unless he's moved.)

Tomorrow, I hear Obama has another private meeting with non-Republican opinion columnists.
++++++
What about Rush and Krauthammer?

Sean Hannity pwned the opposition last night in the TV ratings game.

Will this be disqualifying?

They were just honest mistakes, really.

And I’m sure the Obama IRS would be as charitable with you or me as Team Obama is being with Timothy Geithner if we used the same explanation for failing to pay self-employment taxes:
+++++++
Ah No.

Senators gathered Tuesday in an emergency meeting discussing the fate of Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner, who is under fire after a report that he neglected to pay payroll taxes for himself and employed a housekeeper whose immigration status had expired

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) raised questions today about the immigration status of the housekeeper, and is also questioning why Geithner did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes when he worked at the International Monetary Fund, The Wall Street Journal first reported this afternoon.
++++++
Disqualifying?
The GOP should say NO Way!

Iranian demonstrators burned photographs of Barack Obama today as they protested against America’s inaction over Gaza.

Dozens of people gathered in Tehran waving Palestinian flags and defacing and setting fire to images of the President-elect.

Iranian demonstrators have often burned effigies or pictures of US presidents in the past but this appeared to be the first time Mr Obama’s picture had been defaced, a week before his inauguration as president.
++++++++
But, Obama is so sensitive and will negotiate without preconditions. What happened?

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to run the Treasury Department and lead the economic rescue effort disclosed to senators Tuesday that he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, a last-minute complication in an otherwise smooth path to confirmation.
++++++
Obama is supporting him. Sorry but he has to go. Remember Zoe Baird?

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that 61 former detainees from its military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appear to have returned to terrorism since their release from custody.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said 18 former detainees are confirmed and 43 suspected of "returning to the fight."

He said the figures, updated at the end of December, showed a higher rate of recidivism than seen in a previous report showing 37 former detainees as active militants.
+++++++
And, Obama will close Gitmo when? And, what will he do with the detainees and where?

I find nothing wrong with a newspaper seeking facts about a public official and asking them directly of the official. I see a newspaper seeking access and honest evidence and a governor who refuses to cooperate. And the newspaper was prepared to let the matter drop and killed their story, for Pete's sake. What more does she want if not Coulter-levels of media attention?

Palin should either answer the ADN's legitimate questions or shut up. But she can't seem to do either.
+++++++
The Trig Truther whines like moronic bitch he is.

A coalition of labor unions announced Tuesday that it will file amicus briefs to urge the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned gay marriage in the state.

More than 50 labor unions signed onto the brief including some of California's most influential labor groups. Among them: the California Labor Federation, SEIU California State Council, the California Federation of Teachers, the California Nurses Association, the California Faculty Association, UNITE HERE! and the Screen Actors Guild.

Combined, the labor organizations say they represent 2 million California workers.

In the brief, the unions argue that Proposition 8 is invalid because it is not a "constitutional amendment," but a "constitutional revision." A revision requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to get on the ballot, where an amendment can qualify through the collection of signatures, as Proposition 8 did.

The best available fiscal policy measure would be a sharp reduction in the payroll tax, which would boost household disposable income while giving firms an incentive to retain more workers on their payrolls. Total annual collections from households and firms of payroll tax levies total about $625 billion, about 7 percent of disposable personal income. A payroll tax is labeled as the primary means to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits, but those benefits are financed out of government revenues and would, of course, continue to be provided at their full level. The payroll tax is a poorly designed fiscal measure because it acts as a tax on employing labor and, in times of falling demand, a tax on retaining labor. The payroll tax is the primary tax paid by more than 60 percent of American households and so constitutes a marginal disincentive to further work.

A newly elected California congressman is calling Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan a bad idea. Representative Tom McClintock has arrived in Washington after defeating Charlie Brown in a recount this fall for California's 4th Congressional District seat, and he is making his opinion of government stimulus money known.

"I think it's important to understand that government cannot inject a dollar into the economy that it has not first taken out of the economy," said McClintock.

McClintock says the government will have to borrow money for any stimulus package, and that money, in his opinion, could be better spent by business owners to create jobs, or consumers to buy homes and cars.
++++++++
Here we go with McClintock…….a true conservative

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of American adults are opposed to a government economic recovery plan that does not cut taxes, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Adults are evenly divided over whether they would support an economic recovery package that includes tax cuts only – with no government spending. Thirty-seven percent (37%) favor the idea, 38% are opposed, and 25% are not sure.
+++++++
For an immediate stimulus, cut the payroll tax for 6 months. DUH

… those unfathomable numbers, hard-working families didn’t get us into this mess, and the Legislature shouldn’t raid the pockets of cash-strapped Californians to get out of it. When faced with hard economic times, families try their best to stretch their household budgets. They cut back on entertainment dollars, they use coupons and they shop for the cheapest gas. Just as you and I shop for the lowest prices, legislators, too, need to budget more wisely.
This is why I am co-author legislation to bring more accountability to state spending by requiring the state auditor to conduct performance audits on government programs.

I also firmly believe that increasing taxes will further harm our fragile economy and eliminate jobs rather than create them. That is why it is particularly frustrating that a majority of legislators blatantly ignored the law and the will of the people in a direct assault on Proposition 13 by approving a complicated scheme that amounts to $10 billion in tax hikes.