In his address to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama said, “One more misunderstanding I want to clear up — under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.”
Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, commented: “Barack Obama needs to learn that the mere repetition of a verbal formula does not change reality. The reality is that the Obama-backed House bill would explicitly authorize the federal government insurance plan to pay for elective abortions and would explicitly authorize subsidies for private abortion insurance — and all with federal dollars, which are the only kind of dollars that the federal government can spend.”
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) last week released definitive memoranda that demonstrate that (1) the “Hyde Amendment” would not apply to the new programs that would be created by the Obama-backed health bill, H.R. 3200, and (2) that all of the funds that would be spent on elective abortions under the bill, and all of the funds that would be spent to subsidize private insurance plans that cover abortion, would be “federal funds” in both the legal sense and in the sense in which those terms are used throughout the government.
“The claim that a federal agency would be spending private funds on abortion, not federal funds, is absurd on its face, a political hoax,” Johnson said.
To read a September 8 NRLC media advisory that summarizes these issues, click here. The advisory contains links to the detailed memoranda that disprove the “Hyde Amendment myth” and the “government will spend private funds on abortions myth.”
The National Right to Life Committee, the nation’s largest pro-life group is a federation of affiliates in all 50 states and 3,000 local chapters nationwide. In his address to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama said, “One more misunderstanding I want to clear up — under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.”
Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, commented: “Barack Obama needs to learn that the mere repetition of a verbal formula does not change reality. The reality is that the Obama-backed House bill would explicitly authorize the federal government insurance plan to pay for elective abortions and would explicitly authorize subsidies for private abortion insurance — and all with federal dollars, which are the only kind of dollars that the federal government can spend.”
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) last week released definitive memoranda that demonstrate that (1) the “Hyde Amendment” would not apply to the new programs that would be created by the Obama-backed health bill, H.R. 3200, and (2) that all of the funds that would be spent on elective abortions under the bill, and all of the funds that would be spent to subsidize private insurance plans that cover abortion, would be “federal funds” in both the legal sense and in the sense in which those terms are used throughout the government.
“The claim that a federal agency would be spending private funds on abortion, not federal funds, is absurd on its face, a political hoax,” Johnson said.
To read a September 8 NRLC media advisory that summarizes these issues, click here. The advisory contains links to the detailed memoranda that disprove the “Hyde Amendment myth” and the “government will spend private funds on abortions myth.”
The National Right to Life Committee, the nation’s largest pro-life group is a federation of affiliates in all 50 states and 3,000 local chapters nationwide.
President Barack Obama used only-in-Washington accounting Wednesday when he promised to overhaul the nation’s health care system without adding “one dime” to the deficit. By conventional arithmetic, Democratic plans would drive up the deficit by billions of dollars.
The president’s speech to Congress contained a variety of oversimplifications and omissions in laying out what he wants to do about health insurance.
OBAMA: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period.”
THE FACTS: …The long-term prognosis for costs of the health care legislation has not been good.
OBAMA: “Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.”
THE FACTS: …The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it…
OBAMA: “Don’t pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. … That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.”
THE FACTS: Obama and congressional Democrats want to pay for their health care plans in part by reducing Medicare payments to providers by more than $500 billion over 10 years…
If we are going by the House Bill, HR3200, then it appears that Obama was incorrect when it comes illegal aliens being covered also. There is nothing in HR3200 that excludes illegal aliens from the various coverage provisions (with a few limited exceptions). The Congressional Research Service agrees with this assessment.
H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange.
Graduating from voter fraud to tax fraud and supporting underage prostitution. This is another example of tax funds from the stimulus bill at work. It is organized crime on a Billion Dollar scale. Between this mischief, voter fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US Government they need a suspension of any further US Tax Dollar funding and a Criminal investigation.
This was just the Baltimore office. How many others are involved in illegal activities? This could likely be just the tip of the iceberg. I’m not holding my breath on the Holder DOJ doing much about it but ACORN needs to be investigated. Period.
You will notice that the Child Prostitution issue didn’t impact them. These folks are absolutely shameless.
Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents.
The videotape was made public Thursday on BigGovernment.com, a political blog launched by Andrew Breitbart as a companion site to his BigHollywood.breitbart.com blog.
In the videotape, made on July 24, James O’Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named “Kenya” who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN’s office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business.
ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — bills itself as the nation’s largest community of low- and moderate-income families “working together for social justice and stronger communities,” according to its Web site. The organization has been accused by Republicans and conservative activists with fraud in voter registration drives around the country and has been under fire since last year for its support of President Obama and for its planned participation in next year’s census.
A spokesman for ACORN, Scott Levenson, when asked to comment on the videotape, said: “The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at gotcha journalism. This film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed. ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further.”
On the videotape, “Kenya” can be seen telling an ACORN staffer that she earns roughly $8,000 a month. The ACORN employee then suggests to “Kenya” that ACORN could submit a tax return for 2008 showing that she made $9,600 for the entire year — instead of $96,000 — and that ACORN would charge “Kenya” $50 instead of the usual $150 fee for preparing her taxes.
ACORN offers tax preparation and benefits application services free of charge during tax season; it charges nominal fees during non-tax season.
The ACORN staffer can also be seen suggesting that the prostitute list her occupation as a freelance “performing artist.”
“It’s not dancing, trust me,” the “pimp” says.
“But dancing is considered an art,” the ACORN staffer replies. “[Exotic dancers] usually go under performing artists, or yeah, they usually go under performing arts, which will be what you are — a performing artist.”
The “pimp” later says that he and “Kenya” plan to bring up to 13 “very young” girls from El Salvador to work as prostitutes. Although an ACORN staffer points out their plans are illegal, she also suggests that the girls can be claimed as dependents.
“What if they are going to be making money because they are performing tricks too?” the pimp says.
“If they making money and they are underage, then you shouldn’t be letting anybody know anyway,” the ACORN staffer says, and laughs. “It’s illegal. So I am not hearing this, I am not hearing this. You talk too much. Don’t give up no information you’re not asked.”
The “pimp” then asks ACORN staffers to “promise” not to discriminate against his sex worker because of “who she is and what she does,” according to the audiotape.
“If we don’t have the information, then how are we going to discriminate?” the ACORN staffer replies. “You see what I am saying?”
If the girls are under age 16, the ACORN staffer says on the tape, then they are not legally allowed to work in the state, regardless of what they do.
“So it’s like they don’t even exist?” “Kenya” asks.
“Exactly,” the ACORN staffer replies. “It’s like they don’t even exist.”
The staffer goes on to suggest that as many as three of the underage girls can be listed as dependents at the home, but a “flag” will be raised if as many as 13 are listed.
A spokesman for ACORN, Scott Levenson, when asked to comment on the videotape, said: “The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at gotcha journalism.
LOL, This sounds familiar. That is ACORNS standard reply to everything they get busted for.
Remember, in addition to our tax dollars, ACORN also gets money from EVERY mortgage that is written.
Yes, you read that right.
Every time there is a real estate closing in America the home purchaser gives ACORN $$ through that transaction. It’s required by federal law.
As the economy worsens, Obama and his czars will recommend more government intervention which will cause more deterioration which is their plan. At that point the people with be putty in their hands since a drowning man will grab even the point of a sword.
Barack Obama is committing the same mistakes made by policymakers during the Great Depression, according to a new study endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan.
His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate as Argentina, which suffered a painful and humiliating slide from first to Third World status last century, the paper says.
There are “troubling similarities” between the US President’s actions since taking office and those which in the 1930s sent the US and much of the world spiralling into the worst economic collapse in recorded history, says the new pamphlet, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs.
In particular, the authors, economists Charles Rowley of George Mason University and Nathanael Smith of the Locke Institute, claim that the White House’s plans to pour hundreds of billions of dollars of cash into the economy will undermine it in the long run. They say that by employing deficit spending and increased state intervention President Obama will ultimately hamper the long-term growth potential of the US economy and may risk delaying full economic recovery by several years.
The study represents a challenge to the widely held view that Keynesian fiscal policies helped the US recover from the Depression which started in the early 1930s. The authors say: “[Franklin D Roosevelt's] interventionist policies and draconian tax increases delayed full economic recovery by several years by exacerbating a climate of pessimistic expectations that drove down private capital formation and household consumption to unprecedented lows.”
Although the authors support the Federal Reserve’s moves to slash interest rates to just above zero and embark on quantitative easing, pumping cash directly into the system, they warn that greater intervention could set the US back further. Rowley says: “It is also not impossible that the US will experience the kind of economic collapse from first to Third World status experienced by Argentina under the national-socialist governance of Juan Peron.”
The paper, which recommends that the US return to a more laissez-faire economic system rather than intervening further in activity, has been endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan, who said: “We have learned some things from comparable experiences of the 1930s’ Great Depression, perhaps enough to reduce the severity of the current contraction. But we have made no progress toward putting limits on political leaders, who act out their natural proclivities without any basic understanding of what makes capitalism work.”
The most open and ethical administration ever, except for these 10 people that Obama released information about on Friday afternoon before Labor Day weekend. Well, he has to replace the schmuck who got run out of the White House on a rail for being a 9/11 wackjob. Why not do it on a slow news weekend?
Calling President Obama’s Executive Order on Ethics for Executive Branch personnel “the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history,” White House counsel Norm Eisen on Friday announced 10 more waivers for Obama administration officials.
The waivers will allow the officials to participate with persons with whom and entities with which “the appointees formerly had a professional relationship,” Eisen wrote, “because there was a compelling public interest in allowing it.”
The waivers are for:
* NASA administrator Charles Bolden; Bolden served as a consultant to the science, engineering, and technology corporation SAIC, which has billions in government contracts, and on the board of directors of aerospace and defense giant GenCorp.
The President’s ethics rules would otherwise prohibit Bolden from participaring in any matter in which SAIC or GenCorp was a party in any way. That was waived because Bolden’s “knowledge of and expertise in current NASA programs are essential to making informed and timely decision-making.” He is still not allowed to engage in one-on-one meetings or communications with either organization or to participate in contracting matters involving either company.
* Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor Naomi Walker; Walker was Director of State Government Affairs for the AFL-CIO but has been permitted to communicate with that organization because, the Obama administration decided, prohibiting her from doing so would be detrimental to the Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO’s 11 million members. She is still prohibited for the next two years to participate in any matter having to do with regulations or contracts involving the AFL-CIO.
* Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Ash Carter; Carter was a consultant for defense giant Textron, Inc. focusing on strategy and mergers and acquisitions, trends in military technology and strategy, and how and where military platforms and weapon systems could be deployed effectively. Carter also provided advice on the Sensor Fuzed Weapon, a cluster bomb used by the U.S. Air Force.
Carter is permitted to have dealings with Textron and any of its divisions and subsidiaries because, in the view of the Obama administration, “national security challenges require your expertise and judgment in making sound acquisition decisions on major defense programs, several of which involve Textron or one of its subsidiaries.”
* Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer previously worked for the law firm Covington & Burling; Deputy Attorney General David Ogden worked for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.
All three are permitted to cooperate and participate in the investigation into possible prosecutorial misconduct in the case of U.S. v Theodore Stevens even though government lawyers whose conduct is in question are represented by both law firms. The three otherwise remain recused from participation in particular matters with parties in which their previous employers represents a party.
* Deputy Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate and Director of the National Cybersecurity Center in the Department of Homeland Security Philip Reitinger; Reirliner worked for Microsoft Corportation as Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategy from 2003 until March 2009. Because of his “unique expertise, industry perspective and responsibilities for cyber programs,” he is permitted to deal with Microsoft;
* Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education Margot Rogers and Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement James Shelton both worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works on education issues. Both are allowed to have communications with that charitable foundation;
* Peace Corps director Aaron Williams; Williams served on the board of directors of the National Peace Corps Association, and is now prohibited from participating in any matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to NPCA.
Hope the idiots of America vote you in, then Change your mind on everything you said you are going to do…
A former Treasury official has told the watchdog for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout program that President Obama’s promise to restrict lobbyist access to the bailout was made purely for political reasons.
Months after the administration’s pledge, the lobbyist rules haven’t been implemented and Neel Kashkari, the one-time czar of the agency’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, told the office of the special inspector general for TARP that the pledge to craft safeguards against lobbyist influence was a defensive move.
“Mr. Kashkari believed that this statement was purely for political reasons with Obama’s new entering administration, and that there was no substantive reason for this announcement,” the office wrote in a document obtained by The Washington Times in which the inspector general recounted Mr. Kashkari’s April 30 interview with the auditors.
“He noted that, at that time, there had been headlines in the press regarding lobbyists influencing the process, and Treasury wanted to show that they were taking action,” the inspector general’s office wrote.
Mr. Kashkari, a former executive at Goldman Sachs who was tapped in October by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. to oversee the distribution of TARP cash to vulnerable firms, stepped down in April after serving under the Obama administration since January. Attempts to reach Mr. Kashkari for comment on this report were unsuccessful.
In January, amid concerns that lobbyists would sway TARP decisions, the Treasury Department pledged to write rules to restrict their access, acting “in light of President Obama’s firm commitment to transparency, accountability and oversight in our government’s approach to stabilizing the financial system.”
More than six months later, the rules have not been issued.
200 billion bucks later and no rules, as promised by Obama, have been implemented. Rep. Darrell Issa described it perfectly in the article by saying the Obama administration is “saying one thing while doing another.”
“It’s very apparent that the talk about curbing and limiting lobbyist influence was nothing more than smoke and mirrors in an effort to mislead the American people into believing their tax dollars would be protected,” Mr. Issa said.
“The Treasury Department has actively obstructed our ability to determine what the true value of the TARP investments are worth and what TARP recipients are doing with taxpayer dollars. Until we have full transparency, we will never be able to know how much risk Treasury is assuming on behalf of the taxpayers,” Mr. Issa said.
Actually, he has to remove his head from his rectum before he can put his foot in his mouth.
Harry Reid really is imploding.
Look at the recent news on him.
1. Holds a staged town hall on health care
2. Thousands turn out for tea party express protest against him
3. Attempts to bully Vegas newspaper
4. Is behind in polls to get re-elected
5. Calls the opponents of Obamacare “evil mongers”
This guy is about to spontaneously combust.
Harry Reid on Kennedy’s Death: ‘I Think It’s Going to Help Us’
When the Reno Gazette-Journal asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid whether Ted Kennedy’s death would help Democrats pass health care reform, he gave a rather impolitic answer.
Q: How will U.S. Sen. (Edward) Kennedy’s death affect things?
A: I think it’s going to help us. He hasn’t been around for some time. We’re going to have a new chairman of that committee, it’ll be, I don’t know for sure, but I think Sen. (Chris) Dodd, (D-Conn.). He has a right to take it. Either him or (U.S. Sen. Tom) Harkin, (D-Iowa), whichever one wants it can have it. I think he (Kennedy) will be a help. He’s an inspiration for us. That was the issue of his life and he didn’t get it done.
His answer strikes me as problematic for several reasons.
First, Senator Reid might want to reconsider how wise it is to speculate about the political ramifications of someone’s death. I have long had a rule, which if adopted I believe would benefit politicians, which is that political leaders should never talk like political commentators. Leave it to the pundits and bloggers to speculate on such things. Politicians shouldn’t be in the business of making political prognostications – it always burns them when they do. At this point, it is now fair to say Democrats are politicizing Kennedy’s death in order to pass health care – Reid essentially admitted to it.
Second, Reid could have simply said, “He’s an inspiration for us,” and left it at that. Instead, his first thought was that Kennedy had been (understandably) absent a lot – and now he could be replaced by the younger Chris Dodd. Publicly speculating about who would replace Kennedy seems a bit callous, but noting they could essentially upgrade the chairmanship with a more effective leader was certainly in poor taste.
To sum up, Redi said that Ted Kennedy hurt them the past 8 months, by hanging on to his Senate seat when he couldn’t do the work, meaning they were missing the chair of important committees.
IN other words, Harry Reid just attacked Ted Kennedy, and said they were better off with Ted Kennedy dead.
When you lie to the American people like Obama has, this next 4 years will indeed be a loss, for the democrats, and mostly, the American people.
The Republican National Committee has released a massive, 200-point “I told you so” on President Obama’s 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the “stimulus package.”
The RNC calls the report “200 Days, 200 Claims,” and moves point-by-point through Democrats’ pledges and promises in promoting the stimulus package. Quoting Obama, Vice President Biden and Democrats from each region of the country separately, the report cites what advocates of the stimulus package said would happen upon its passage, then lists stats and quotes the GOP claims present the “reality” of what actually happened.
And then they’ve got the little problem of playing politics for votes with that Stimulus money, as well. I’ve already posted something on it….but lots of Democrats Senators and even Janet Napolitano’s state has jumped ahead of others on getting their projects done first—–even when they were much lower on the list. And of course, the stimulus money that was supposed to help our border operations?
Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester have taken credit for helping secure $77 million in stimulus money for repairs at border stations in their state. That includes $15 million for a Whitetail, Mont., checkpoint that sees three travelers a day.
In contrast….A busy border checkpoint in Laredo is getting nothing under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan.
“Despite Obama’s promises that the stimulus plan would be transparent and free of politics, the government is handing out $720 million for border upgrades under a process that is both secretive and susceptible to political influence. This allowed low-priority projects such as the checkpoint in Whitetail, Mont. – ranked on a government priority list as marginal, but pushed by two powerful Democratic senators – to skip ahead of more pressing concerns, according to documents revealed to The Associated Press.”
Might as well just make this a daily post. Everyday his ratings are falling in all the polls. If unemployment doesn’t improve, even slightly, he is going to start losing everyone but the Soros crowd.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 30% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11 (see trends).
Most voters now expect that the situation in Afghanistan will get worse over the next six months. That’s up fourteen points over the past month. At the same time, the number worried about a terrorist attack in the United States has declined.
Hurry up liberals, all of you get on board, you don’t want to miss the fail train.
His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate as Argentina, which suffered a painful and humiliating slide from first to Third World status last century, the paper says. 
