The Founding Father's Real Reason for the Second Amendment
And remember the words of Thomas Jefferson "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." See Video of Suzanna Gratia-Hupp’s Congressional Testimony: What the Second Amendment is REALLY For, below (u-tube HERE).
The Leaders Are Here... Palin, Cruz, Lee, Paul, Chaffetz....
T'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Can You Really Still Believe That None of These People Would Have Done a Better Job???
My syndicated column today — reprinted below with added links, pics, and info — gives you a rundown of the Obama cronies inside and outside the White House who stand to gain the most from the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid.
Daley’s approval ratings are at a record low as he scrambles to lease everything from parking meters to airports to raise cash. Residents are stillreeling over the murder of teenager Derrion Albert. But FLOTUS Michelle Obama, on her merry way to Copenhagen, is singing a happy tune: “I mean, you know, most of these Games are taking place blocks away from my house. There’s good security by my house these days. And while Chicago is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, it is — people don’t live in fear. The downtown area is completely accessible…I know Mayor Daley, and he’s going to make sure that these Games go off without a hitch because that’s the kind of mayor he is. It’s not called the ‘City That Works’ for nothing.”
It “works” for the few at the expense of the many. That is the Chicago way.
***
All the president’s Olympic cronies by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2009
When government officials play the Olympic lottery, taxpayers lose. That has been the disastrous experience of host cities around the world (Forbes magazine even dubbed the post-Olympic financial burden the “Host City Curse”). So, why are President Obama and his White House entourage headed to Copenhagen, Denmark this week to push a fiscally doomed Chicago 2016 bid? Political payback.
Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s “vision.” The entrenched Democratic power-broker – in office since 1989 – would like to cap off his graft-tainted career with a glorious, $4 billion bread and circuses production. The influential Daley machine backed Barack Obama for the presidential primary. Obama lavishedpraise on Daley’s stewardship of the city. Longtime Daley cronies helped pave Obama’s path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now, they’re returning the favor for their hometown boss.
Senior White House adviser and Obama consigliere Valerie Jarrett is a Daley loyalist who worked as his deputy chief of staff, deputy corporation counsel, and planning commissioner. She hired the future First Lady of the United States, then-Michelle Robinson, as a mayoral assistant. Jarrett went on to serve as president and CEO of The Habitat Company, a real estate firm with a massive stake in federally-funded Chicago public housing projects.
One of those public-private partnerships, the Grove Parc Plaza Apartments, was run into the ground under Jarrett’s watch. Federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex a bottom-of-the-barrel 11 on a 100-point scale. “They are rapidly displacing poor people, and these companies are profiting from this displacement,” Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle of Southside Together Organizing for Power, a community group that seeks to help tenants stay in the same neighborhoods, told the Boston Globe last year. “The same exact people who ran these places into the ground,” the private companies paid to build and manage the city’s affordable housing, “now are profiting by redeveloping them.”
Coincidentally enough, Grove Parc — now targeted for demolition as a result of years of neglect by Obama’s developer friends—sits in the shadows of the proposed site of the city’s 2016 Olympics Stadium.
Jarrett served as vice chair of Chicago’s 2016 Summer Olympics bid committee before moving to the White House, where she has helmed a new “White House Office on Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport” with an undisclosed budget and staff. It’s not just taxpayers in cash-strapped Chicago who should be worried about this field of schemes. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Jarrett and Chicago 2016 committee member Lori Healey met this month with federal officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “to discuss financing options” for the estimated $1 billion Olympic Village.
Take senior White House adviser and Obama campaign guru David Axelrod. He’s been a Daley loyalist since 1989, when he signed up as a political consultant for the mayor’s first run. Axelrod’s public relations firm, Chicago-based AKPD Message and Media, has pitched in work for the Chicago 2016 committee. It is unknown how much AKPD has received for its services – or how much they’ll make in future income if the bid is successful. AKPD currently owes Axelrod $2 million.
The head of the Chicago 2016 bid committee is Patrick Ryan, chairman of the Aon Corporation and a co-chair of Obama’s deep-pocketed presidential inaugural committee. (Under Ryan’s watch at Aon, the company settled a massive corruption probe with 3 states for $190 million. More here on Ryan/Aon/Daley dealings More on corruptocrat Chicago Republicans like Ryan and others here.)
Also on both of those committees: Obama confidante Penny Pritzker, who in addition chairs the Olympic Village Subcommittee and is president of Pritzker Realty Group – a mega-developer in Illinois that could reap untold millions in project work if the Daley Machine/White House campaign succeeds.
Former Pritzker executive and Obama campaign treasurerMartin Nesbitt is also on the bid committee – and serves as Mayor Daley’s chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority.
Another bid committee member, Michael Scott Jr., is “trying to develop a for-profit real estate project that would sit within feet of the cycling venue if Chicago wins the 2016 Summer Games,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
It takes a crony-filled White House to raise a Chicago Olympic village. Daley and Obama will get the glory. America will get stuck with the bill.
The Top 10 Reasons Why Chicago Shouldn’t Host the Olympics
1. President Obama should not reward Daley with his support for a Chicago Olympics because of the numerous crimes and civil rights violations that have occurred during Daley’s 29 year tenure as mayor and states attorney. Given the amount of corruption that has happened under Daley, it is absurd that President Obama or First Lady Michelle are even considering making a presentation on behalf of a Daley sponsored Chicago Olympics.
2. Daley planned and followed through on an unlawful hiring and election rigging system before Daley was sworn in as mayor. Daley is scheming to use Olympic contracts and contractors to further his political might just like Daley did before becoming mayor of Chicago. One election rigging scheme, shame on Daley. A second election rigging scheme, shame on us.
3. Daley’s unlawful hiring and election rigging scheme went on for 16 years until the FBI uncovered it. The building of a Chicago Olympic site and the assignment of the land and buildings after the Olympics will take at least 10 years The length of time involved to set up and close an Olympic village gives Daley a perfect opportunity to create another long-term scandal.
4. Given Chicago Olympic Committee Chairman Patrick Ryan’s previous conflicts of interests, his $100,000.00 unethical campaign contribution to Daley, and Ryan’s long time personal friendship with Daley, Ryan is the wrong man to chair the Chicago Olympic Committee.
5. Given Aon’s previous $180 million “conflicts of interest” fine and $5.25 million fine for “inadequate corruption and bribery controls,” Aon is the wrong company to spearhead a Chicago Olympics.
6. The Chicago Olympic Committee will disburse billions of dollars in contracts and concessions without proper transparency, bidding or assignment. The claim that the Chicago Olympic Committee is a free enterprise doesn’t prevent corruption, it guarantees it.
7. For 16 years Daley used patronage workers who unlawfully received jobs, promotions, overtime pay, etc. to campaign for Daley backed candidates. If we cannot trust the Daley administration with it’s personnel decisions when the federal court observes every employment decision, how can we trust Daley to manage 5,000 Chicago Olympic employees when no one is watching? Chicago doesn’t need Daley’s patronage office moving from Chicago’s Intergovernmental Affairs office to the Chicago Olympic headquarters.
8. The Chicago Olympic committee has already been involved in controversies and improprieties, such as a Chicago Olympic Committee member’s real estate investment across from an Olympic venue, Aon’s $47 million in city contracts that was supposed to be unrelated to Aon’s office space and human resource donations to the Chicago’s Olympic bid, and the use of tax increment funds to pay for the Chicago Olympic village. Chicago Olympic improprieties will increase exponentially if the IOC selects Chicago as the 2016 host city.
9. A Chicago Olympics may cost Chicago and Illinois taxpayers billions of dollars because the IOC requires a financial guarantee. It will be a shame if President Obama persuades the IOC to select Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics and the federal taxpayers end up having to pick up the tab.
10. Showcasing Chicago to the world, the money, and jobs from a Chicago Olympics aren’t worth the price of ten or more years of Chicago and Illinois political corruption and political oppression.
Could Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Games be hurt by Mayor Richard M. Daley’s comments about the competition with Rio de Janeiro?
Daley’s comments last week about Rio’s capabilities to host both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics are being taken by Rio as critical of Chicago’s presumed main rival in Friday’s International Olympic Committee vote for the 2016 Games. (You can read our original story about that by clicking here.)
What Daley said about Tokyo and Madrid also could be viewed as critical of those two other finalists, since he minimized their chances based on geographical factors.
The IOC prohibits bid cities from criticizing their rivals.
Questions about whether Daley’s comments had breached that prohibition were raised at both the Rio and Chicago media conferences here this afternoon, and a Brazil bid leader promoted that idea.
Responding to a question today about Daley’s comments, Rio 2016 bid chairman Carlos Nuzman said, through a translator, that such issues are “in the hands” of the IOC ethics commission.
Obama heads to Europe in Air Force One to promote the Olympics in Chicago, his adopted hometown with Oprah Winfrey, Valerie Jarrett, and Wife Michelle in tow. Many feel it is a pay back trip and endeavor for political favors and delivering the vote to Mayor Daly.
Another red herring for the American economy. Olympics cost lots of money that Chicago doesn’t have, so it will be another huge expense for America as a whole. :-( Something we really need in today’s financial climate?? Most say, “NO”!
The Fox News in Illinois was told that they could not run a piece on the negative of holding the Olympics in Chicago? (I guess this is already Venezuela or Cuba?) - FOX-TV CHICAGO ORDERED NOT TO RUN ANTI-OLYMPICS STORY
Despite a planned rally in Albany Tuesday to protest a state regulation requiring health care workers be vaccinated against influenza — both seasonal and swine flu —New York’s top public health official predicts dissenters will ultimately extinguish their anger and roll up their sleeves.
The regulation, which was approved in August, comes with a stinging addendum: Get vaccinated or get fired.
But some nurses and many other health care providers say the regulation violates their personal freedom and leaves them vulnerable to vaccine injury. And they cite deaths associated with the last federal government swine-flu vaccination program in 1976.
Refusing to be immunized against H1N1 because of the vaccine debacle in 1976 “is like saying a plane crashed 33 years ago so I’ll never fly again,” said Dr. Richard Daines, New York State health commissioner.
New York is the only state in the nation to require that health care workers be vaccinated, though other states are considering such measures. Health workers, including doctors, must be immunized by Nov. 30. Opponents say it’s simply unnecessary.
Several registered nurses said they will neither contract nor transmit the flu because they’re constantly washing their hands.
While dozens of demonstrators are expected at the rally from throughout the state, many are from Stony Brook University Medical Center. A meeting was held last week for hospital staff on the importance of vaccination for health care workers; a special session was held for employees in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, because many nurses there had expressed concern about the vaccination plan.
“We cannot force employees to be vaccinated; however we do not have an infinite number of non-patient care positions available to reassign those who simply refuse the vaccine,” said hospital spokeswoman Lauren Sheprow.
Darcy Wells, spokeswoman for the Public Employees Federation, which represents 9,000 health care workers statewide, including 3,000 at Stony Brook, said the union disapproves of mandatory vaccination, but is urging members to comply with the regulation.
The opponents also say it’s wrong that all five swine flu vaccine makers contracting with the federal government have been indemnified against lawsuits if someone gets sick or dies.
Daines said the vaccination directive stemmed from particular concern about institutional outbreaks — in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice centers. In a typical year, only 40 percent to 50 percent of health care workers take advantage of voluntary flu vaccination programs, and the state has about 150 institutional outbreaks of influenza. But with seasonal and H1N1 in circulation in the fall, institutional outbreaks could worsen.
“Anyone who is concerned about the safety of the vaccine should read about the death of a previously healthy nurse in California who died of H1N1,” Daines said.
He referred to a 51-year-old nurse in Carmichael, Calif., who died in July after she was exposed to swine flu on the job.
Reed and Kristi Tramposch, both registered nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center, say as parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder, they oppose vaccination because of possible links to the neurodevelopmental condition.
“There are a lot of toxic substances that go into vaccines,” Kristi Tramposch said. “I would like to see a lot of people get it [the swine flu vaccine] before I consider it.”
Daines expressed dismay that neonatal intensive care nurses would consider shunning flu shots for personal or philosophical reasons. More than simply protecting themselves from infection, he added, health care providers are also protecting patients from the flu.
Like other protesters, the Tramposches said the newly approved H1N1 vaccine is no different from the swine flu immunization of 1976, which was linked to the nerve-damaging disorder Guillain Barre syndrome, and even death.
But Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, said while he questions the state’s move to make flu shots mandatory now, he said no relationship exists between the vaccine of 33 years ago and the current vaccine.
“I took the swine flu vaccine in 1976,” said Farber, “and I plan to take the H1N1 flu vaccine now.”
Studies show that flu vaccines are unsafe and ineffective. This presentation by the Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute includes a visual depiction of flu vaccine production -- how the flu vaccine is made and what it contains. (Let us all remember that there are many doctors who do not have their children vaccinated or are very selective of the shots they choose to give their families.)
The video by Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute offers a good summary of what every person should know about the seasonal flu vaccine; how it’s made, and its effectiveness.
Signs and Symptoms of Influenza
As most of you probably know, influenza is a contagious viral respiratory infection. Symptoms include:
Fever
Chills
Runny nose
Sore throat
Cough
Muscle aches
Fatigue
Decreased appetite
Typically, the condition will improve after two to three days of bed rest, although some symptoms may persist for about a week.
What many people do NOT know, however, is that death caused directly by the flu virus is very rare. The vast majority of so-called “flu deaths” are in fact due to bacterial pneumonia – a potential complication of the flu if your immune system is too weak.
Other complications can include ear- or sinus infections, dehydration, and worsening of chronic health conditions.
The elderly and people with other pre existing medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease, are at higher risk of developing pneumonia after a bout of the flu.
The Flu Vaccine Does Not Prevent the Flu, nor Protect Against the Vast Majority of Flu-Related Deaths
The conventional treatment for bacterial pneumonia is an antibiotic, not a viral flu drug, so to think that taking a flu vaccine will prevent death from pneumonia doesn’t really make sense.
“But the vaccine will prevent the flu, which will prevent the possibility of developing pneumonia,” some might say.
That sounds good in theory, but the statistics simply do not support this assertion.
Because study after study, and master studies that compile the results from several studies to get a more objective result, keep coming to the same conclusion: Flu vaccines DO NOT WORK, and in many cases do more harm than good.
In fact, one shocking statistic brought to light in this video is that BEFORE the CDC advocated vaccinating children under the age of five, the number of children dying from the flu was very low, and on the decline.
Then, in 2003, just after children aged five and under started getting vaccinated, the number of flu deaths SKYROCKETED. The death toll was enormous compared to the previous year, when the flu vaccine was not administered en masse to that age group!
How anyone can consider a strategy that yields a higher death toll to be a “success” is a mystery to me.
The Problem with Flu Death Statistics
However, as frightening as much of this may sound, it’s important to keep things in perspective. According to the statistics shown in the video above, more Americans die from asthma, and even malnutrition each year, than the flu.
Unfortunately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grossly distort the facts about flu deaths, making the flu virus seem far more dangerous than is warranted. On the CDC’s main flu page, they state that about 36,000 people die from the flu in the United States each year. But if you search a little harder, you can find the actual number of people who died from the flu in 2005 (this is the most recent data that’s available) was 1,806. The remainder was caused by pneumonia. In 2004, there were just 1,100 actual flu deaths. The statistics the CDC gives are skewed partly because they classify those dying from pneumonia as dying from the flu, which is inaccurate.
How is the Flu Vaccine Made?
This is another area that many people do not understand or take into consideration before getting a seasonal flu shot.
In January or February of each year, health authorities travel to Asia to determine which strains of the flu are currently active. Based on their findings in Asia, they assume that the same strains of viruses will spread to the U.S. by fall.
At this point, U.S. vaccine manufacturers start making that season’s flu vaccine, which will contain the strains found in Asia. However, if the viral strains circulating in the U.S. that season are not identical to those in Asia, the vaccine you receive is a complete dud.
And to add insult to injury, you’ve just been injected with a laundry list of harmful ingredients.
What’s in the Seasonal Flu Vaccine?
The flu strains selected are cultivated in chick embryos for several weeks before being inactivated with formaldehyde, which is a known cancer-causing agent. Then they’re preserved with thimerosal, which is 49 percent mercury by weight.
Even many health care professionals are confused about this and are not aware that the preservative thimerosal is mercury. As a quick side note, one of my chief writers told me that, “the doctor’s office told me the vaccine does not contain mercury, just something called thimerosal.”
Please, don’t be fooled by this incredible ignorance. If you have carefully studied this issue there is a great possibility you may know more than your physician about this topic. Don’t back down if they tell you something you otherwise know to be true.
According to the CDC, the majority of flu vaccines contain thimerosal. Some contain as much as 25 mcg of mercury per dose. This means that it may contain more than 250 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit for mercury.
By now, most people are well aware that children and fetuses are most at risk of damage from this neurotoxin, as their brains are still developing. Yet the CDC still recommends that children over 6 months, and pregnant women, receive the flu vaccine each year.
In addition to mercury, flu vaccines also contain other toxic or hazardous ingredients like:
Aluminum -- a neurotoxin that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease
Triton X-100 -- a detergent
Phenol (carbolic acid)
Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
Betapropiolactone - a disinfectant
Nonoxynol - used to kill or stop growth of STDs
Octoxinol 9 - a vaginal spermicide
Sodium phosphate
How Safe is the Flu Vaccine?
Serious reactions to the flu vaccine include, but are not limited to:
Life-threatening allergies to various ingredients
Guillain-Barre Syndrome (a severe paralytic disease that is fatal in about 1 in 20 cases)
Encephalitis (brain inflammation)
Neurological disorders
Thrombocytopenia (a serious blood disorder)
How Effective is the Flu Vaccine?
Remember that the potential effectiveness of a flu vaccine is dependent on the ASSUMPTION, made nearly a year in advance, that Asia’s viral strains will be the ones hitting the U.S. When they guess wrong, the vaccine is worthless from the very start.
But does that mean they withdraw the flu vaccine when they discover it contains the wrong strains? NO! They just keep giving it out anyway.
But even if they were to overcome that hurdle and actually select the correct strains, there’s still no evidence that it does anyone any good to get a flu vaccine.
Study after study comes back showing the same dismal results: the flu vaccines are not an effective method of prevention of the flu, and they do not save lives. As mentioned earlier, they may even be responsible for an increased death rate in some groups.
Sometimes determining efficacy is as easy as reading the information coming straight from the vaccine manufacturer.
How about this quote taken directly from the flu vaccine FLULAVAL’s package insert (which you likely never see when getting the flu shot) for the 2009-2010 formula:
" FLULAVAL is an influenza virus vaccine indicated for active immunization of adults 18 years of age and older against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine. This indication is based on immune response elicited by FLULAVAL, and there have been no controlled trials demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with FLULAVAL.”
That’s right, NO controlled trials demonstrating ANY decrease in your risk of contracting the flu at all after vaccination! (It also states that each dose contains a total of 25 mcg of mercury.)
For those of you who are still unconvinced, know that there’s plenty of scientific evidence available to back up the recommendation to avoid flu vaccines. In addition to studies mentioned in the video, here are several other examples showing that flu vaccines do not work for any age group:
A study published in the October 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicinefound that vaccinating young children against the flu had no impact on flu-related hospitalizations or doctor visits during two recent flu seasons.
The researchers concluded that "significant influenza vaccine effectiveness could not be demonstrated for any season, age, or setting" examined.
A 2008 study published in the Lancet found that influenza vaccination was NOT associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia in older people.
Research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine also confirms that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia in the elderly, despite the fact that vaccination coverage among the elderly has increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now.
In 2007, researchers with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health published this conclusion in the Lancet Infectious Diseases: “We conclude that frailty selection bias and use of non-specific endpoints such as all-cause mortality,have led cohort studies to greatly exaggerate vaccine benefits.”
A large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2006, found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo in children. The studies involved 260,000 children, age 6 to 23 months.
The reasons why they opted to not get vaccinated were:
They didn't believe the vaccine would work
They believed their immune systems were strong enough to withstand exposure to the flu
They were concerned about side effects
Might Influenza be Little More Than a Symptom of Vitamin D Deficiency?
Vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin,” may very well be one of the most beneficial vitamins there is for disease prevention. Unfortunately it’s also one of the vitamins that a vast majority of people across the world are deficient in due to lack of regular exposure to sunshine.
Published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection in 2006, the hypothesis presented by Dr. John Cannell and colleagues in the paper Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin Draises the possibility that influenza is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency.
The vitamin D formed when your skin is exposed to sunlight regulates the expression of more than 2,000 genes throughout your body, including ones that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses. Hence, being overwhelmed by the “flu bug” could signal that your vitamin D levels are too low, allowing the flu virus to overtake your immune system.
At least five studies show an inverse association between lower respiratory tract infections and 25(OH)D levels. That is, the higher your vitamin D level, the lower your risk of contracting colds, flu, and other respiratory tract infections:
A 2007 study suggests higher vitamin D status enhances your immunity to microbial infections. They found that subjects with vitamin D deficiency had significantly more days of absence from work due to respiratory infection than did control subjects.
A 2009 study on vitamin D deficiency in newborns with acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) confirmed a strong, positive correlation between newborns’ and mother’s vitamin D levels. Over 87 percent of all newborns and over 67 percent of all mothers had vitamin D levels lower than 20 ng/ml, which is a severe deficiency state.
Newborns with vitamin D deficiency appear to have an increased risk of developing ALRI, and since the child’s vitamin D level strongly correlates with its mother’s, the researchers recommend that all mothers’ optimize their vitamin D levels during pregnancy, especially in the winter months, to safeguard their baby’s health.
A similar Indian study published in 2004 also reported that vitamin D deficiency in infants significantly raised their odds ratio for having severe ALRI.
17 percent of participants with vitamin D levels of 30ng/ml or higher
20 percent of participants with vitamin D levels between 10-30 ng/ml.
24 percent of participants with vitamin D levels below 10ng/ml
The positive correlation between lower vitamin D levels and increased risk of URTI was even stronger in individuals with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Another 2009 report in the journal Pediatric Research stated that infants and children appear more susceptible to viral rather than bacterial infections when deficient in vitamin D. And that, based on the available evidence showing a strong connection between vitamin D, infections, and immune function in children, vitamin D supplementation may be a valuable therapy in pediatric medicine.
How to Prevent the Flu without Getting a Flu Shot
For most people the flu shot does not make you healthy; it does just the opposite and weakens your immune system.
If you follow a healthy lifestyle, you will not have to worry about getting the flu. Take it from me -- I’ve never received a flu shot, and I haven’t missed a day of work due to illness in over 20 years. The key steps that I follow to stay flu-free, which I suggest you follow too, include:
Another huge worry and consideration, if the Federal Government takes more and more control over healthcare and our decisions about healthcare… and even turns those decisions over to the United Nations, is that you and your children will be forced into taking these types of shots and information like this will not even be available!
Parents Losing Their Rights (Parental Rights are being taken over by our government as well as turned over to the United Nations or International Law).
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sens. David Vitter and Richard Shelby today introduced a bill that would prevent recipients of bailout funds under the Troubled Assets Relief Program from providing financial assistance to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The bill does not prevent organizations who have repaid any financial assistance received under TARP from providing funding to ACORN.
“When we talk about national problems and causes for concern, ACORN and the bailouts certainly come to mind,” said Vitter. “This month the Senate wisely voted to preclude further taxpayer dollars from going to this troubled organization. But billions of dollars in bailout funds are already out the door, and we need to ensure that they are being spent responsibly. If we are serious about spending this money in a responsible manner, we need to apply it where it is most likely to help spur economic recovery, and ACORN simply doesn’t fall in that area.”
“Both chambers of Congress have united in voicing strong, bipartisan disapproval of ACORN receiving federal funds going forward. It is imperative that we also look back to ensure this message applies to taxpayer funds already spent through TARP,” said Shelby.
Over the past year, ACORN has been the subject of several criminal investigations relating to voter fraud and other alleged offenses. Last week, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill that would preclude funding from being awarded to ACORN.
The word is out... the game is played... the man behind the curtain has been exposed... and it's now as plain as the nose on your face. Obama and the leftists in Congress don't want you to know what's in ObamaCare... they just made it clear that they just may try to hide all the sordid details from you.
But what's even worse, Obama and the leftists in Congress may even be trying to muzzle, and intimidate, those who dare to speak out against ObamaCare.
It's becoming more and more apparent that Obama and the leftists in Congress don’t want the American people to know... or read... or hear anything negative about ObamaCare... and that they may be willing to shut-down debate by any means necessary.
One thing is certain, Obama and the leftists in Congress are leaving the door wide open to enact ObamaCare in the dead of night... under the cover of darkness... shove it down our throats before any of us are any the wiser.
When Senator Jim Bunning offered an amendment that would have required that the language of the bill be made available to the American people 72 hours prior to a vote, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee squashed it.
Michael Franc, writing for the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry gives us the sordid and sickening details:
“During the Senate Finance Committee mark up of the Baucus health bill … Senator Bunning of Kentucky put forth an innovative amendment. This amendment stipulated that before voting on the measure in Committee, legislative language would have to be accessible to the public for 72 hours and that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would need to publish an official tally of how much this bill will cost the American people and what the real impact will be on health costs."
Franc continued:
“The amendment failed 11-12 on nearly a party line vote. Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR) was the sole Democrat to support this attempt at transparency. The bottom line: when the committee completes its work on this re-make of one-sixth of our economy, Senators will have voted on a phantom - a bill that does not exist with costs that are unknowable until, that is, the unelected legislative draftsmen write the real bill in some back room on Capitol Hill.”
If nothing else that has transpired up to this point has convinced you that ObamaCare must be rejected... thrown aside... taken off the table... these shenanigans should.
It's time to tell our elected officials that no good can come from ObamaCare... that's it's rotten to the core... and that it must be scrapped.
We need every person in receipt of this urgent appeal to use the button below and barrage Barack Hussein Obama and each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate with your personalized faxes. Make no mistake, you're not going to change America with a couple of faxes or letters or phone calls only directed at your two Senators. Each of us needs to barrage each and every one of these Republican Senators with a mountain of faxes. They all need to see that the American people are united. Only then will they wake up and smell the coffee.
Tell them that you believe that the only thing keeping ObamaCare alive is the willingness of some Republicans to negotiate and that ObamaCare would be defeated once and for all if they all stood firm in total opposition to ObamaCare. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.
Sit Down And Shut Up. ObamaCare Is None Of Your Business... When We Pass It, You Can Learn To Live With It.
It's bad enough when our federal legislators vote on bills they have not even bothered to read....
But to actually start "negotiations" on 200 pages of notes and ideas... on a bill that has not even been written....
To squash an amendment that would require them to give you 72 hours to read what will likely be thousands of pages before they vote on it... what's going on here?
It's as if they're saying, We Ain't Gonna Read It And We Don't Want You Reading It Either.
The American people are not children to be scolded or bullied.
This is the United States... not the old-Soviet Union.
And yet, ObamaCare may actually pass because the willingness of some Republican Senators to "negotiate" is keeping it on life support.
It's possibly the only thing keeping it alive right now. If Republican Senators simply walked away... if they left it alone... ObamaCare would likely just wither on the vine.
You can only scratch your head and ask why?
Why negotiate over something the American people have soundly rejected?
And furthermore, in consideration of the tactics being employed by the proponents of ObamaCare, why negotiate with a bully... even a 10 year-old knows better than to do that?
But you can do something other than just scratch your head.
You can send all of these Republican Senators a loud and clear message that it's time to stop negotiations. It's time to stand firm in opposition to ObamaCareand defeat ObamaCare once and for all.
Is Obama's Department of Health And Human Services Stomping On The First Amendment... Threatening Those Who Oppose ObamaCare.
But Obama and the leftists in Congress are not simply trying to keep you in the dark when it comes to ObamaCare.
It's worse... they're actually trying to squash attempts by some who dare to tell the truth about ObamaCare.
Did you hear about what just happened to Humana?
Humana published a letter to its members warning them of potential drastic cuts to Medicare (specifically the Medicare Advantage program) under ObamaCare and urged its members to contact Congress.
Specifically, Humana said; “if the proposed funding cut levels [in the current health care legislation] become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.”
It was a very valid point to raise... such proposals are on the table... and it makes all the sense in the world to alert people to what is going on and motivate them to call their elected officials... but it didn't take the long for our government to come down hard on Humana.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiated an investigation and sent an ominous gag-order to Humana:
“As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites.”
And Senator Max Baucus demanded that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launch an "investigation" against Humana as well, claiming the letter put forth "false information," Baucus rhetorically asked, "does the first amendment include lies?”
Of course, there's just one small problem with Baucus' ranting accusation. Humana was voicing an opinion that was well grounded in fact. Even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) made the point.
Bob Ellis with Dakotavoice.com: "Even the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms what the White House doesn’t want to get out, with CBO head Douglas Elmendorf telling the Senate this on Tuesday."
The Internet website Blogcritics.com, in an article titled, Obama Violates the First Amendment, goes so far as to say that the HHS action "smacks of fascism." "[T]his past week the Obama administration violated its oath to uphold the Constitution by issuing a decree abridging the First Amendment right to speech." "In a memo to private health insurers from a senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the Obama administration issued a decree ordering them to stop informing Medicare beneficiaries that health reform legislation before Congress could hurt them and curtail their benefits if enacted. The memo went on to say that the government might take legal action against insurers that are mobilizing opposition to the legislation by sending 'misleading and confusing' messages to seniors.
"Say what you will about insurance companies, this is by no means a defense of them. It is instead a rebuke of an administration that is playing fast and loose with basic rights guaranteed to all Americans, including corporations. ... Humana has as much right to speak out for or against federal legislation as I do. Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court have no power to abridge Humana’s right to free speech. Obama should know this, given that he is a constitutional lawyer."
And yet, in spite of these shenanigans, Senate Republicans are still bending over backward to play Let's Make A Deal. Are they under some delusion that they can somehow make ObamaCare better or soften the blow if they "negotiate?"
If so, we must disabuse them of that notion here and now. We must tell them that instead of negotiating on ObamaCare, they need to focus their efforts on stopping ObamaCare.
We need to tell them to stand firm... twist some arms... pick-off some Democrats from conservative states and bring them into the fold... dare Harry Reid to shove the reconciliation process down our throats and pass ObamaCare with a simple majority (he'll do it at the risk of destroying his own party).
The battle to stop ObamaCare is winnable... all these Senators need is a little back-bone.
What If They're Lying To Us Now... What Will Stop Them From Lying To Us Again... And Again... And Again?
It's clear, someone is not being straight with the American people, and such a display of mendacity simply leads us to ask more questions.
Can a government that is unwilling to act with transparency... a government that initiates investigations against those with opposing views... be trusted to act in the best interests of the American people... of you... of me? If ObamaCare is egregious now, what will it look like in a year... or two years... or five years... will they even bother to tell us... or will every change to ObamaCare be made behind closed doors in a smoke-filled room? Do we really want to empower the same government that is fouling-up cash-for-clunkers... the same government that is fouling-up our economy by effectively taking control of private companies... the power to foul-up our health care? Do we really want to empower that same government to determine which life-saving treatments we will receive... that our loved-ones will receive... or don't receive? Do we really want government end-of-life counselors who would probably exhibit the compassion of IRS agents counseling us or our loved ones on life and death decisions?
Of course not. But too many of our so-called leaders still don’t get it. They don't see the bigger picture. Instead of scrapping ObamaCare... throwing it onto the ash-heap of history... they're quibbling over what type of government-run health care they believe to be best for you and your family... and no one is fighting for you... for us... for the American people. When Baucus unveiled his new and improved (and unwritten) version of ObamaCare, legislators (Republicans and Democrats alike) piled on... in no time flat, over 560 amendments (to an unwritten bill that was nothing more than 200 pages of notes and ideas) were put forward. Senator Lindsey Graham perhaps said it best; "we’re making this up as we go… they’re trying to buy votes… the vision here is to pass something… they don’t give a damn what it is and nobody understands what they’re doing.” The American people for months have been sending the message loud and clear that they want no part of ObamaCare, period, regardless of what form it takes. The American people have been telling politicians in Washington that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make Obama’s government-run health care scheme acceptable or palatable. And yet, these politicians keep talking... they keep amending... they keep "negotiating" ... they keep trying to "compromise" and reach "consensus" ... in short, they continue to waste time on something that no one wants. Is that ridiculous, or what?
We need every person in receipt of this urgent appeal to use the button below and barrage Barack Hussein Obama and each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate with your personalized faxes. Make no mistake, you're not going to change America with a couple of faxes or letters or phone calls only directed at your two Senators. Each of us needs to barrage each and every one of these Republican Senators with a mountain of faxes. They all need to see that the American people are united. Only then will they wake up and smell the coffee. Tell them that you believe that the only thing keeping ObamaCare alive is the willingness of some Republicans to negotiate and that ObamaCare would be defeated once and for all if they all stood firm in total opposition to ObamaCare. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.
The two votes marked a victory for Montana Democrat Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, who is hoping to push his middle-of-the-road measure through the panel by week's end. It also kept alive the possibility that at least one Republican may yet swing behind the overhaul, a key goal of both Baucus and the White House.
In a decisive vote that could forecast the demise of a proposed government health insurance plan, the Senate Finance Committee voted twice Tuesday against creating a "public option" that would compete with private companies.
The two votes marked a victory for Montana Democrat Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, who is hoping to push his middle-of-the-road measure through the panel by week's end. It also kept alive the possibility that at least one Republican may yet swing behind the overhaul, a key goal of both Baucus and the White House.
"My job is to put together a bill that gets to 60 votes" in the full Senate, Baucus said shortly before he joined a majority on the committee in defeating efforts to rewrite a key portion of his draft legislation. "No one shows me how to get to 60 votes with a public option," he said, using the term used to describe a new government role in health care. It would take 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to overcome any filibuster Republicans might attempt.
The first proposal failed in a 15-to-8 vote, which followed several hours of debate. The second proposal failed 13-10. Taken together, the votes were a defeat for liberal Democrats who view government-sponsored insurance for the middle class as a key component of President Obama's health care overhaul.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia proposed the first measure that was defeated by five Democrats, including Baucus, and all 10 committee Republicans.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York backed an alternative approach that he said would introduce more competition into the insurance market nationwide. His version differed from Rockefeller's chiefly in that it would have allowed for the government to negotiate payments with doctors, hospitals and other health care providers for an initial two-year period rather than pay them at the same rates as under Medicare.
The votes followed warnings by the Finance Committee's top Republicans that creating a government-run health insurance program would crush private companies.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sparred with Democrats on the Senate floor over the necessity of a public plan -- with Grassley saying lawmakers shouldn't take advantage of the shortcomings in the health care system to "denigrate" American health care.
Rockefeller proposed a plan modeled on Medicare, the federal health care program for senior citizens, in which the government would set what it pays doctors, hospitals and other medical providers. Schumer proposed a government plan that looks more like a private insurance company and negotiates payment rates with providers.
Republicans and moderate Democrats, meanwhile, stood their ground in opposition to a government plan that would compete for subscribers with private carriers.
Ensign was quick to pounce on Rockefeller's amendment, arguing that his idea for a public option would deny doctors participation in Medicare for two years if they choose not to participate in a new government program.
Rockefeller, saying 70 percent of doctors support a public option, defended his proposal. He said it will protect American families, and he dismissed assertions that it will lead to a government takeover of health insurance. "It will be optional. No one has to do this," he said.
Grassley reiterated his opposition to a government-run plan and challenged Rockefeller's 70-percent statistic, saying another poll showed that not even a majority of doctors would support a public option that weakened the private insurance industry.
The United States is the only developed nation that does not have a comprehensive national health care plan, leaving about 50 million people without health insurance. The government provides coverage for the poor and elderly, but most Americans rely on private insurance, usually received through their employers. Others buy their own insurance or pay steep medical bills out of pocket.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND, who has crafted an alternative plan that would set up a series of non-profit health care cooperatives, blasted Rockefeller's plan, saying, "The devil is in the details." Conrad said if the amendment is implemented, "every major hospital goes broke."
"I can't possibly support any amendment that does that," he said.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, said he could support a public option, but he disagrees with Rockefeller's approach. "I think there is a problem with providing Medicare reimbursement rates," Bingaman said, echoing the concerns of Conrad.
As senators continue to spar over the public option, two liberal groups are launching a hard-hitting television and Internet ad featuring a young father from Montana. Bing Perrine, 26, who needs a heart operation and is uninsured and deeply in debt, looks straight into the camera and asks Baucus: "Whose side are you on?"
The ad is sponsored by Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which say Baucus is too cozy with insurance and health care interests that have contributed to his campaigns and oppose a government plan.
Baucus aide Tyler Matsdorf said the ad falsely implies that the senator doesn't care about the plight of people with pre-existing health problems. It's just that Baucus would address such problems differently than the liberals, Matsdorf said. For example, his plan calls for nonprofit co-ops to compete with the insurance industry independently of the government. Insurers also oppose co-ops.
"Win or lose, it's clear that the strong public interest and support for a public option will be well represented by the supportive senators," said Gerald Shea, a top health care policy expert for the AFL-CIO labor federation. "My sense is that our message about how vital the public plan is to the critically important issue of cost control is beginning to break through the bubble that has surrounded Finance for months."
The wild card in Tuesday's debate is Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican. Aides say she's considering offering a compromise that would use the public option as a threat, to be deployed only if private insurers fail to keep premiums in check after a reasonable period of time.
If there's a final bill this year, it's possible that Snowe's idea will be the one to carry the day.
FOX News' Trish Turner and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is the Time to step up the pressure on Congress: Call, Fax and Email and Donate to Organization’s fighting with you
The GOP and Moderates are Fighting the Following
We're going after taxpayer funding for ACORN and calling for a federal investigation of the left wing activist group. Our bill, the Defund ACORN Act, would make sure that taxpayers don't send another penny to this scandal-plagued outfit.
We're promoting real health care solutions that will lower costs without adding to the deficit or creating a government-run "option." Our plan would rein in junk lawsuits that drive up costs and allow individuals and small businesses to pool together and buy insurance across state lines.
We're demanding that Speaker Pelosi post all major bills online at least three days before a vote, giving lawmakers and the public time to know what's in them.
And we're backing a proposal to end the bailouts once and for all, and stop Washington from picking winners and losers in the market.
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is praising former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as the conservative candidate liberals fear the most – and says he hopes her upcoming book sells 5 million copies.
The former Alaska governor finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced. Her publisher says the release date has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17.
“I have been pointing out that the Democrat Party and the media will tell us who they fear most -- and they're not afraid of Huckabee, and they're not afraid of Mitt Romney and they're not afraid of Rudy Giuliani,” Limbaugh said on his show Tuesday.
“But they have gone out of their way to destroy Sarah Palin,” he continued. “They have gone out of their way to destroy me... I hope Sarah Palin sells five million copies of her book. It's going to be interesting to see just what connection she does have with the voting base, conservatives and Republicans. I hope she sells five million copies. I hope it does great. It will be interesting to see because that will just send them into an even greater tizzy on the left. “
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, has finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced, and the release date has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, her publisher said.
"Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project," said Jonathan Burnham, publisher of Harper. "It's her words, her life, and it's all there in full and fascinating detail." Palin's book, her first, will be 400 pages, said Burnham, who called the fall "the best possible time for a major book of this kind." The book now has a title, one fitting for a public figure known for the unexpected — "Going Rogue: An American Life." (Read The Full Article)
Republican base still wild about Sarah Palin
POLITICO's Sarah Palin Survey spoke with nearly 50 prominent Republican Party officials and politicians, representing every region of the country.Photo: POLITICO Staff
Despite a torrent of criticism from the media, Democratsand even some in her own party, Sarah Palin remains the hottest brand name in politics.
Her recent resignation was perplexing. It’s raised doubts about her viability as a potential presidential candidate. Still, she remains extremely popular with the GOP grass roots, and most Republican Party leaders would jump at the chance to have her headline one of their events.
That’s the picture that emerges from interviews with dozens of GOP state and local leaders from across the country.
As part of an effort to gauge Palin’s popularity with the rank and file beyond the Beltway, where the GOP establishment is lukewarm toward the charismatic former governor, POLITICO surveyed nearly 50 prominent Republican Party officials and politicians, representing every region of the country and ranging from statewide-elected officeholders to state legislators to state and county party chairs.
Some refused to talk about her at all. Others, mostly her critics, would do so only off the record. But taken as a whole, the body of interviews revealed that despite Palin’s high negative ratings in recent national polls, Republicans at the grass-roots level and their leaders still hold a very favorable impression of the former Alaska governor.
Westerners have a particular affinity for Palin, with many noting that she embodied the values of freedom and self-reliance.
Scott Sales, the minority leader of the Montana House, referred to her “curb appeal” among the party’s rank and file.
In Colorado, a state where Palin campaigned hard last year on behalf of the Republican ticket but which Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) eventually lost to Barack Obama, Arapahoe County Republican Party Chairman David Kerber said that Palin was a good fit with Western sensibilities.
“She comes across as someone who’s going to say what she says and if you don’t like it, that’s just too bad,” Kerber said. “She’s not going to lie, she’s not going to sugarcoat it — she’s just going to let it rip. I think that’s what Westerners want.”
“People saw her as one of them — someone who could relate to an everyday person. She’s not one of the political class,” said Heidi Gansert, the Nevada House minority leader. “I also believe that women appreciated her message and what she’d accomplished in her political career and family life. A woman who has a young family, who is able to become the governor of Alaska — a lot of people, women who worked the everyday jobs with their families — they know that she’s experiencing the same things they are.”
Evangelical Christians and rural and small-town Republicans also hold Palin in high esteem.
“The ones who are most supportive of her are what I would term the very conservative, libertarian-leaning voters of southern Nevada — of which there is a very large contingent,” said Bernie Zadrowski, the chairman of Las Vegas’s Clark County Republican Party. “You might also classify them as the constitutional wing of the party.”
Charles M. Webster, the state GOP chairman in Maine, said Republicans there are very enthusiastic about Palin largely because they can see themselves in her.
“I see her as being somebody who the average, what I call ‘working class guy,’ relates to,” Webster said. “Somebody who’s plain-spoken, somebody who hunts and fishes. And this is Maine — we’re in the country up here.”
In Florida, Pasco County Republican Party Chairman Randy Maggard agreed that Palin’s down-to-earth style also connected with many Gulf Coast Republicans.
“The people I talk to that like her say she relates to them because they don’t really look at her as a politician in Washington,” Maggard said. “They look at her as a mom who was in business who happened to get into politics. They feel like they can relate to her.” (Full Article)
Time to turn up the heat again against Cap and Trade, but these two really have to go!!
Ending some nine months of closed-door deliberations, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) will release global warming legislation Wednesday that they hope will be the vehicle for broader Senate negotiations and an eventual conference with the House.
The bill's authors said last week that they expect to start hearings early next month on the bill, with a markup in Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee to follow soon thereafter. They also acknowledged that their legislation is just a "starting point" in a bid to win over moderate and conservative Democrats, as well as Republicans.
"I hope what we've done is constructive and well-received," Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday. "I have no pretensions, and neither does Barbara, that this will be the final product. It is a starting point, a commitment, full-fledged, across party lines to do what we need to do to protect the planet for the next century."
The Boxer-Kerry bill will build in large part off H.R. 2454(pdf), legislation approved in June by the House following several marathon months of negotiations that involved lawmakers representing coastal and industry-heavy districts. Exactly what is the same in the two bills remains to be seen. As for differences, Senate Democratic aides say they expect the legislation to divert from the House bill's 17 percent emissions target for 2020 and go with an even more aggressive 20 percent limit. The bill also will stay silent on exactly how the Senate should divide up emission allowances.
At least five other Senate committees are also expected to contribute to the climate debate. The Foreign Relations and Agriculture committees are preparing language without convening a markup.
Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said he will hold votes on his pieces of the global warming bill. And the same goes for Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who last week told reporters that provisions on international trade and the allocation of emission allowances would be marked up provided Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says the bill is "clearly moving."
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has already approved legislation (S. 1462 (pdf)) out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that includes a nationwide renewable electricity standard and a raft of other energy incentives, including a provision that could bring oil and gas rigs closer to Florida's Gulf Coast. Bingaman is also planning a hearing Thursday on several competing cost estimates associated with the House-passed climate bill. The session, which was postponed once earlier this month, now gives senators an early public forum to sound off on the Boxer-Kerry bill.
Already last week, several Democratic senators working outside of the Boxer-Kerry camp said their ideas would be melded into the legislation at a later date. "It's going to need a lot of work," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
Brown said he did not expect the Boxer-Kerry bill to include language adopted in the House that tries to assist energy-intensive manufacturing industries, including steel, pulp and paper and cement.
"My understanding is they did not include the House language on manufacturing," Brown added. "But I've been talking to them about it. They are very open to it. They are in no way dismissive."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said she also does not think her concerns will be addressed in the initial draft from Boxer and Kerry. That means further efforts on issues related to agriculture, offsets and energy intensive industries.
"We will have to take a look at the language and then determine it from there," Stabenow said.
Kerry last week sought to change the vernacular surrounding the climate bill and sell its concepts more broadly, insisting it is not a "cap and trade" proposal but a "pollution reduction" bill. "I don't know what 'cap and trade' means. I don't think the average American does," Kerry said. "This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it's a pollution reduction bill" (E&E Daily, Sept. 25).
But a leading GOP opponent to the Senate climate effort quickly pushed back on the Democrat's strategy.
"No matter the semantic games employed, or the extent to which Democrats wish to hide the truth from the American people, cap and trade will mean more job losses, more pain at the pump, and higher food and electricity prices for consumers," said EPW Committee ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.)."
Both Brown and Stabenow said they would welcome the release of the Senate bill even though it will give critics something tangible to target.
"It always does," Brown said. "There is always something to shoot at. But I think it is the right step, and then we start working to improve it."
Senate Democratic leaders, including Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), have said that they do not know if there will be enough time to get to the climate bill on the floor this year. But Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the lead authors of the House bill, said that he is not giving up yet.
"At this stage in the House no one was predicting we could be successful," Markey told reporters. The lawmaker said he expected the Senate to closely follow the House bill's outlines, especially "once people sit down and begin to understand we have dealt with the major interests in the country.
Schedule: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing is Thursday, Oct. 1, at 9:45 a.m. in 366 Dirksen.
Witnesses: Douglas Elmendorf, director, CBO; Richard Newell, administrator, EIA; Larry Parker, specialist in energy and environmental policy, Congressional Research Service; and Reid Harvey, chief, climate economics branch, climate change division, U.S. EPA.
Reporters Allison Winter and Katherine Ling contributed.
thecommunists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest; I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, I did not protest; I was a Protestant.
Then they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
Election 2014 - What Is Really At Stake
Help Stop Voter Fraud!! Stand for the Constitution and God
Time to remember that: "We Surround Them", not the other way!
Stand Up Against Voter Fraud... Demand Re-Counts and Verification Until It is Right!! A Little Ink Goes a Long Way Toward Honesty... 1 Person 1 Vote... No More Mickey Mouse or Dead People Voting
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about IT! --Albert Einstein
Call Congress Today and Tell Them To Vote Against Cap and Trade
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality -- Dante Alighieri / Often Quoted by Mark Twain
Thanks for calling the Congressional switchboard. Keep up the pressure: "NO on Cap and Trade"!!! "NO Vote on Obamacare", NO on another Stimulus Bill, NO to the never ending parade of "Power Grab Bills", and ABSOLUTELY NO on the Climate Change Treaty in Copenhagen!!
"No" on Cap and Trade and "No" on Government Controlled Healthcare!!! And Keep up the good fight! Keep up the Pressure on both the House and Senate! These are 2-fights the American People cannot afford to lose!!!
If you choose not to go this route… call and fax your Senator and as many of them on the list yourself, but don’t sit idly by!!
United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121
We apologize in advance for any Videos or links that are not functioning in these or other older posts. Internet information... like 'true' history in our student's textbooks are under constant attack by the Progressive Movement and even more so under the present administration. Try to save what you can to your own computer.
"...there comes a time, ladies and gentlemen, when ideology can cause death. I am so tired, so tired, of zealots, primarily on the left, putting their insane personal agendas above the safety of fellow Americans. Do you think the brave soldiers and Marines operating in dangerous areas right now want [unreleased photos of alleged abuse of prisoners] all over al-Jazeera and the terror websites? So let's look out for the military, OK? Nancy Pelosi has an obligation to get the loons in her party under control. If the Speaker can't do that, she doesn't deserve her position." ... Bill O'Reilly
Updated:If you'd like to contact Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, here's the contact information that you'll need.
Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s “vision.” The entrenched Democratic power-broker – in office since 1989 – would like to cap off his graft-tainted career with a glorious, $4 billion bread and circuses production. The influential Daley machine backed Barack Obama for the presidential primary. Obama lavishedpraise on Daley’s stewardship of the city. Longtime Daley cronies helped pave Obama’s path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now, they’re returning the favor for their hometown boss.
Jarrett served as vice chair of Chicago’s 2016 Summer Olympics bid committee before moving to the White House, where she has helmed a new “White House Office on Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport” with an undisclosed budget and staff. It’s not just taxpayers in cash-strapped Chicago who should be worried about this field of schemes. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Jarrett and Chicago 2016 committee member Lori Healey met this month with federal officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “to discuss financing options” for the estimated $1 billion Olympic Village.
Take senior White House adviser and Obama campaign guru David Axelrod. He’s been a Daley loyalist since 1989, when he signed up as a political consultant for the mayor’s first run. Axelrod’s public relations firm, Chicago-based AKPD Message and Media, has pitched in work for the Chicago 2016 committee. It is unknown how much AKPD has received for its services – or how much they’ll make in future income if the bid is successful. AKPD currently owes Axelrod $2 million.
The head of the Chicago 2016 bid committee is Patrick Ryan, chairman of the Aon Corporation and a co-chair of Obama’s deep-pocketed presidential inaugural committee. (Under Ryan’s watch at Aon, the company settled a massive corruption probe with 3 states for $190 million. More here on Ryan/Aon/Daley dealings More on corruptocrat Chicago Republicans like Ryan and others here.)
Also on both of those committees: Obama confidante Penny Pritzker, who in addition chairs the Olympic Village Subcommittee and is president of Pritzker Realty Group – a mega-developer in Illinois that could reap untold millions in project work if the Daley Machine/White House campaign succeeds.
Former Pritzker executive and Obama campaign treasurerMartin Nesbitt is also on the bid committee – and serves as Mayor Daley’s chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority.
Another bid committee member, Michael Scott Jr., is “trying to develop a for-profit real estate project that would sit within feet of the cycling venue if Chicago wins the 2016 Summer Games,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
Can a government that is unwilling to act with transparency... a government that initiates investigations against those with opposing views... be trusted to act in the best interests of the American people... of you... of me? 
![Kerry: "I Don't Know What 'Cap And Trade' Means"](http://www.thefoxnation.com/assets/imagecache/fox-nation-small/fox-nation/415_092809_kerry.gif "Kerry: "I Don't Know What 'Cap And Trade' Means"")
