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links for 2011-01-06
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However, Orszag's article amounts to little more than wishful thinking. Using Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, the chart below shows that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 have left the cost curve of federal healthcare spending virtually unchanged over the next 25 years.
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Read it all
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Ezra Klein, he of recent “the Constitution’s old, and stuff” fame, is one of the great and most persuasive cheerleaders for the belief that Republicans cannot repeal Obamacare and remain fiscally responsible since — as everybody knows! — Obamacare reduces the national debt by $100 billion over the next ten years. He makes his case here. Taking a slightly different but in many ways similar view in National Review Online, Avik Roy concedes that, purely as a matter of parliamentary process, Obamacare’s deficit-reduction features have to be taken into account. (Roy is no doubt correct in his analysis of the process questions.)
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Read it all
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ObamaCare: Repeal It Now – Sign the Petition
A House GOP bill repealing ObamaCare will likely pass the Republican controlled House of Representatives. However, it will be bogged down in the U.S. Senate before reaching President Obama’s veto pen.But, all is not doomed. The process of repeal will just take some time.
American Solutions has begun a state oriented petition drive to persuade Senators – especially the ones who will be up for re-election in 2012, along with President Obama.
So, go to the new website No More ObamaCare, and sign the petition.
A citizen’s guide to repealing ObamaCare is here and offers some worthwhile suggestions on how to get involved.Do it today.
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Honda LA Marathon Announces $4 Million Charity Challenge And Flap is Participating
And, I won! But, more on that later.From the press release:
Marathon officials today unveiled an aggressive charity fundraising campaign designed to raise $4 million in connection with the March 20, 2011 Honda LA Marathon Presented by K-Swiss. Through a new partnership with Crowdrise, an innovative fundraising website launched in 2010, the Marathon is making it easier than ever for runners to support the charity of their choice as part of the largest fundraising effort in the Marathon’s 26-year history.
“Crowdrise is all about giving people the right tools to raise money for their favorite cause in a new, fun and compelling way,” said actor and activist Edward Norton, who founded the online platform. “The Honda LA Marathon is an event that truly connects the entire city, and it has the potential to be an incredible fundraising force as well. We are thrilled to be on board this year to help unite the entire LA Marathon running community.”
The $4 million fundraising target would double charitable totals from the 2010 race – which was already the largest in the race’s first 25 years. The expanded charity program is in line with the vision of Marathon Owner Frank McCourt, who directed Marathon staff to make the charitable component of the race a much higher priority.
“The marathon is not only a great running event, it is a civic asset for all of Los Angeles, and an opportunity to do a lot of good for our community,” McCourt said. “This partnership moves us one step closer to the day when every participant will raise funds for the charity of their choice.”
So, I have a partner this year with me as I train and run/walk/run the Los Angeles Marathon – The Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Please go here and join my team and/or donate to this worthy cancer charity.Yeah and I won because I type fast.
What did I win?
For my giving back to fight cancer, I received a VIP Fast Pass so I don’t have to wait in line for my race packet at the Expo and received access to a VIP Suite at the start line.
I probably won’t use either since I will be with my LA Roadrunner Group, but it is the thought, right?
And……it will make me FASTER!
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Video: No! ObamaCare Will NOT Reduce the Deficit
One of the main selling points of health care reform was that it would cut the federal deficit by a supposed $143 billion over the next decade and a trillion-plus dollars in the one after that.But not only will the legislation not cut one thin dime from the deficit, it will also certainly cost far more than the $940 billion in new spending already on the table for at least three reasons.
Unbelievable that anyone would consider the contrary. But, just in case anyone is persuaded to think that ObamaCare actually cuts the deficit, here are a couple of pieces that you should read:
No, Ezra Klein, Obamacare Will Not Reduce the Deficit
Does ObamaCare Reduce Health Care Spending? The short answer is no
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Poll Watch: Democratic Party ID Drops – Tying Lowest in 22 Years
So says the Gallup Poll.In 2010, 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, down five percentage points from just two years ago and tied for the lowest annual average Gallup has measured in the last 22 years. While Democrats still outnumber Republicans by two points, the percentage identifying as independents increased to 38%, on the high end of what Gallup has measured in the last two decades.
The Gallup Daily tracking poll, initiated in 2008, shows similar party identification figures for 2010 — 32% Democratic, 28% Republican, and 37% independent. The tracking data also show the same trend toward declining Democratic identification coupled with greater increases among independents than Republicans.
I guess President Obma, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have been good for one thing: Helping the Republican Party.
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Video: British Medical Journal: Vaccine-Autism Study Was an Elaborate Fraud
This will pretty much discredit (like in straw that breaks the camel’s back) Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his findings on autism.The Lancet has already retracted an infamous study that suggested a link between autism and the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. Now, though, an editorial published in the British Medical Journal claims that study’s claims were not only incorrect, but part of “an elaborate fraud.”
As the WSJ reports, the editorial accompanies a lengthy article by journalist Brian Deer that spells out the problems with the research, which was led by physician Andrew Wakefield. Deer writes that his investigation couldn’t reconcile the official medical records for the 12 child research subjects with the report of the findings that the Lancet published in 1998.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield defends himself here.
But, there have been NO epidemiological studies that have found a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. There have been NO published research studies that have replicated Dr. Wakefield’s results. Here is one example of a study that has found the contrary.
Now, hopefully, parents will not be afraid to vaccinate their children against measles. Since Dr. Wakefiled arrived on the autism scene, there have been outbreaks of measles because of parental refusal to vaccinate.
I have had measles (when in Middle School) and they are NO fun. If there had been a vaccine at the time, I would have taken it. My children were all vaccinated as will my grandchildren – when they arrive.
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Mitch Daniels 75 Per Cent Sure of 2012 Presidential Run
Indiana Republican Governor Mitch Daniels
So say Indiana sources as Daniels increases his national profile.Republican sources in Indiana say Daniels is about 75 percent of the way in for a presidential run. The last 25 percent of his decision will come during the next four months of the Indiana legislative session, when he will try to pass education reform and a budget.
It the meantime, however, Politico reported this morning that Daniels has accepted an in invitation to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 11 – yet another sign he’s thinking very seriously about a bid for the White House in 2012.
The CPAC speaking gig is a tip off, no?
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President 2012 Poll Watch: Mitt Romney and Mitch Daniels Leading Political Insiders Poll
A new National Journal poll of political insiders is out and Mitt Romney leads.I, normally, don’t place to much stock in what the political insiders say, but this poll is pretty much representing the CW (Conventional Wisdom).
Should Sarah Palin decide to run, Mitt Romney will be out by Florida and it may very well come down to Mitch Daniels and Sarah by Super Tuesday 2012.
Sarah Palin will win any three way contest
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ObamaCare: Here Come the Insurance Rate Increases
We all knew it was going to happen, right? – Blue Shield of California seeks rate hikes of as much as 59% for individualsAnother big California health insurer has stunned individual policyholders with huge rate increases — this time it’s Blue Shield of California seeking cumulative hikes of as much as 59% for tens of thousands of customers March 1.
Blue Shield’s action comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39% for about 700,000 California customers.
San Francisco-based Blue Shield said the increases were the result of fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws.
“We raise rates only when absolutely necessary to pay the accelerating cost of medical care for our members,” the nonprofit insurer told customers last month.
In all, Blue Shield said, 193,000 policyholders would see increases averaging 30% to 35%, the result of three separate rate hikes since October.
Nearly 1 in 4 of the affected customers will see cumulative increases of more than 50% over five months.
While most policyholders received separate notices for the successive rate hikes, others were given the news all at once because they had contracts guaranteeing their rate for a year, Blue Shield spokesman Tom Epstein said.
Michael Fraser, a Blue Shield policyholder from San Diego, learned recently that his monthly bill would climb 59%, to $431 from $271.
“When I tell people, their jaws drop and their eyes bug out,” said Fraser, 53, a freelance advertising writer. “The amount is stunning.”
An unintended consequence of President Obama’s health care reform?
No – somebody has to pay for those pre-existing conditions and the other goodies that Democrats placed in ObamaCare legislation to obtain passage.
The House will vote next week to repeal ObamaCare and even though complete repeal would be blocked by the Senate and Obama (via veto), American voters will demand selective repeal and replacement over the next two years before the Presidential election.
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Tea Party is “Last Gasp of the 55 Year Old Generation Says Howard Dean
Howard Dean on Tea Party: ‘Last Gasp of the 55-Year-Old Generation’
Speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean shared his thoughts on the Tea Party.
“I think it’s the last gasp of the 55-year-old generation,” said Dean, who was also chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005-2009. “Older folks have seen their life change dramatically. The country’s not the same.”
Lets look at some of the photos which I snapped at the Ventura County, California 2009 Tax Day Tea Party rally.
Ventura County Tax Day Tea Party April 15, 2009
But, Howard Dean is wrong.
Dean’s characterization of the Tea Party, however, doesn’t square with the facts. In July, USA Today reported that 23 percent of the Tea Party are non-white Anglos, while non-white Anglos make up roughly 25 percent of the total American population. Additionally, only 47 percent of the Tea Party is 55 years old and older, while 23 percent are under 35 years old. It may be a tough pill for Dr. Dean to swallow, but it seems the Tea Party is actually a fair representation, demographically speaking, of the American voting public.
I suppose at the daytime Tea Party rallys I have seen, there are a goodly number of “white hairs.”
Why?
The younger members are WORKING.
Howard Dean is simply pandering to the regional Democratic Party base = African Americans and Latinos. The Tea Pary folks who oppose the Big Government policies of President Barack Obama = RACISTS
Now, who is playing racial politics?
