Related:
McCaskill: “I Am Not a Reliable Vote For His (Obama’s) Administration”; Voted 98% With Obama in 2010
Tweet of the Day: McCaskill Having Shoulder Surgery Due to Carrying Heavy Load for Obama?
March 23rd, 2012 by mopns ·
Tags: Healthcare · Senator McCaskill
Watchdog Group Cites Cong. Clay’s $300k to Sister’s Law Firm
March 23rd, 2012 by mopns ·
The ethics watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a report yesterday showing that over the past four years, over 250 House members directed money towards relatives. Part time Congressman and Presidential aspirant Ron Paul spent the most. Paul paid more than $300,000 in salaries or fees to his daughter, brother, grandson, daughter’s mother-in-law, granddaughter and grandson-in-law. Locally, Rep’s. Clay and Emerson are cited on the list. We’ve chronicled Clay’s generosity to family members and friends here, here and here. Which is worse? This:
Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) used his campaign committee and a PAC to pay his sister’s law office $292,557 in fees and give to a scholarship fund founded by his father — who is a registered lobbyist — an additional $11,290, according to the report. Read more…
Or this?
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) has two daughters who have worked in Washington as lobbyists, one for General Motors, the other for the chemical giant Monsanto. She is one of 44 House lawmakers who have a relative who is registered to lobby or at least works in government affairs, the report said. Read more…
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Tags: Rep. Jo Ann Emerson · Rep. Lacy Clay
Video: Senator Blunt Marks 2nd Anniversary of ObamaCare
March 23rd, 2012 by mopns ·
Hat tip: SenatorBlunt
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/S5Re3V-638w" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]Quote of the Day: McCaskill on Obamacare: “It’ll be Popular 10 Years From Now”
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Tags: Healthcare
Video: Al Sharpton Speaks on Voter Fraud (Snicker) & ID’s at Harris-Stowe University
March 22nd, 2012 by mopns ·
“After reviewing the election results from the April 2011 election, the East St. Louis Alliance noted some interesting multi-voter households. In East St. Louis, we have 546 households with six or more registered voters and 22 with over 10.
For instance, Oliver Hamilton, our current East St. Louis Township Supervisor lives with 32 other people at his registered address in Precinct 2. He is also the precinct committeeman and 13 of these 33 registered voters (29 men & 4 women) actually voted in the general election. Are we supposed to believe that 13 adults are really living in the same house? Or, that Mr. Hamilton actually lives there too?” Read more….
Hat tip: stlamericanvideo
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To Endorse or Not to Endorse; Out of State Tea Party Group Endorses Steelman
March 22nd, 2012 by mopns ·
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“The Tea Party Express is proud to announce the endorsement of Sarah Steelman – she represents just the kind of leader we need in Washington,” Kremer concluded. The Tea Party Express has endorsed four other U.S. Senate candidates for the 2012 election cycle: Attorney General Jon Bruning in Nebraska, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in Indiana, former Solicitor General Ted Cruz in Texas and State Treasurer Josh Mandel in Ohio. Read more….
The Gateway Grassroots Initiative, a group formed after talk show host Dana Loesch and others left the St. Louis Tea Party over the very issue of endorsements, issued their own statement after the TPE’s announcement:
“Earlier this morning the Tea Party Express arrived in St. Louis and announced an endorsement in the Missouri Senate Republican primary. This was done without consulting or reaching out to local groups to gauge whether or not their endorsement was a wise one. We feel that this was an important and crucial step that the Tea Party Express missed and it has the potential to discredit the organization in the eyes of Missouri voters.
We feel that all politics are local and that grassroots in our area have worked very hard to develop our voice and vetting process for candidates. We are disappointed that a national group such as the Tea Party Express failed to include in their decision-making process the very people that have actually sat down with these candidates and lived under their elected leadership.” Read more…
Related:
The Hill: Tea Party group backs Steelman for McCaskill seat
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Tags: Senator McCaskill
Gallup: “Solid Majority Of Americans” Want Keystone XL Pipeline; Obama Tries To Claim Credit For Part Despite His Opposition
March 22nd, 2012 by mopns ·
Bloomberg News writes, “President Barack Obama’s promise to expedite review of the southern leg of TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline won’t speed up the timeline for the project, which already is slated to start construction as soon as June. TransCanada is awaiting permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the last it needs to begin construction on the phase of the pipeline that will carry crude from the oil storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, to Gulf Coast refineries, Terry Cunha, a spokesman for the Calgary-based company, said in an e-mail message yesterday. ‘We expect to receive the permits in time to begin construction in 2012 and be operational in 2013,’ he said.”
The Bloomberg story explains, “Obama in January denied a permit for the Keystone XL to bring oil-sands crude from Canada to the Texas coast, citing environmental concerns. TransCanada announced plans Feb. 27 to proceed with just the Cushing-to-Gulf segment of the pipeline. The project is expected to ease a supply bottleneck in Oklahoma by eventually bringing as much as 830,000 barrels of oil a day to Texas refineries. Since the Cushing phase doesn’t cross an international border, it doesn’t require permission from the U.S. Department of State and president, as the full project did. Nonetheless, the Obama administration immediately endorsed TransCanada’s Cushing plan and released a statement in February saying the White House will ‘take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits.’ Obama’s new designation of the pipeline as an infrastructure priority was dismissed by Republicans as political window dressing on a project that’s already well under way to deflect criticism Obama has received for refusing to approve the northern segment of TransCanada’s line.”
Indeed, Bloomberg notes, “Michael Brune, executive director of the San Francisco- based Sierra Club, the largest grassroots environmental group in the country, said the president’s decision to issue an executive order to speed up permitting for the southern portion of the Keystone pipeline ‘may have been a political calculation for the administration.’”
The White House is undoubtedly feeling pressure in the wake of the president’s rejection of the full Keystone XL pipeline, especially now given a new Gallup poll out today. Gallup finds, “A solid majority of Americans think the U.S. government should approve of building the Keystone XL pipeline . . . .” Fifty-seven percent of those polled say the government should approve the pipeline. Eighty-one percent of Republicans, 51% if independents, and even a plurality of Democrats agree that the pipeline should be approved.
Gallup goes on to note, “The pipeline would travel through the Midwest and the South, and Americans in those two regions are the most likely to approve of the project. Nearly 7 in 10 Midwesterners want the government to approve the building of the pipeline and 61% of those in the South do as well. There has been discussion in Washington and in the media about the potential new jobs the pipeline project would create, which may partly explain the higher support seen in those regions.” Further, Gallup writes, “Americans who say they are very closely following news about the Keystone XL pipeline overwhelmingly think the government should approve the building of it, 78% to 22%.”
So today, the president is going to attempt to take credit for a part of the pipeline that never required his approval and wasn’t really controversial in the first place. And yet he refused the permit for TransCanada to build the full pipeline, which would create tens of thousands of jobs, allow the United States to get more oil from our friends and allies in Canada, and get more oil from American oil fields in North Dakota to refineries. President Obama even personally lobbied Senate Democrats to reject a bill to authorize the full pipeline earlier this month. A “solid majority” of Americans support the full Keystone XL pipeline, as do labor unions, various Democrats, and even the president’s own jobs council.
Related:
After Obama “Personally Lobbie[s]” Democrats, Senate Dems Vote Down Keystone Pipeline Job
Obama’s Decision To Nix Keystone Pipeline Blasted By Newspapers, Dems, Labor Union
Editorials Castigate Obama”s Keystone Rejection As “The Most Craven Sort Of Election-Year Politics”
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Tags: Uncategorized
Five More Obamacare Broken Promises
March 22nd, 2012 by mopns ·
PROMISE #6: ‘My Plan Won’t Raise Your Taxes One Penny’
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “And if you’re a family making less than $250,000 a year, my plan won’t raise your taxes one penny — not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Orlando, FL, 8/3/08)
SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA): “Yes, we’ve had to raise some taxes and fees to pay for this bill.” (CSPAN’s Washington Journal, 12/22/09)
“Penalty Payments By Employers… 2010-2019… -52 [Billion Dollars].” (CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, Letter To Rep. Nancy Pelosi, P.8, 3/18/10)
$30 BILLION IN TAXES ON PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS
Tax On Private Health Insurance Plans: “32.0 [Billion Dollars].” JCT: “I. Revenue Provisions 1. 40% excise tax on health coverage in excess of $10,200/$27,500 (subject to adjustment for unexpected increase in medical costs prior to effective date) and increased thresholds of $1,650/$3,450 for over age 55 retirees or certain high-risk professions, both indexed for inflation by CPI-U plus 1%; adjustment based on age and gender profile of employees; vision and dental excluded from excise tax; levied at insurer level; employer aggregates and issues information return for insurers indicating amount subject to the excise tax; nondeductible… 2010-2019… 32.0 [Billion Dollars].” (“Estimated Revenue Effects Of The Amendment In The Nature Of A Substitute To H.R. 4872, The “Reconciliation Act Of 2010,” In Combination With The Revenue Effects Of H.R. 3590, The “Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (‘PPACA’),” As Passed By The Senate,” Joint Committee On Taxation, P.1, 3/18/10)
“The fee on health insurance providers… Taxes may be borne by: consumers in the form of higher prices; owners of firms in the form of lower profits; employees of firms in the form of lower wages; or other suppliers to firms in the form of lower payments. … we estimate that eliminating this fee could decrease the average family premium in 2016 by $350 to $400.” (Thomas Barthold, Chief Of Staff Joint Committee On Taxation, Letter To Sen. Kyl, P.2, 5, 6/3/11)
$20 BILLION IN TAXES ON MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURERS
“Excise Tax On Manufacturers And Importers Of Certain Medical Devices… 20.0 [Billion Dollars].” JCT: “Impose 2.9% excise tax on manufacturers and importers of certain medical devices… 2010-2019… 20.0 [Billion Dollars].” (“Estimated Revenue Effects Of The Amendment In The Nature Of A Substitute To H.R. 4872, The “Reconciliation Act Of 2010,” In Combination With The Revenue Effects Of H.R. 3590, The “Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (‘PPACA’),” As Passed By The Senate,” Joint Committee On Taxation, P.2, 3/18/10)
PROMISE #7: Mandate Not ‘The Solution’
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “Here’s the concern. If you haven’t made it affordable, how are you going to enforce a mandate. I mean, if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house.” (CNN’s “American Morning,” 2/5/08)
CBO: “Federal mandates that apply to individuals as members of society are extremely rare. One example is the requirement that draft-age men register with the Selective Service System. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is not aware of any others imposed by current federal law.” (“Budgetary Treatment Of An Individual Mandate To Buy Insurance,” Congressional Budget Office, P.13, 8/94)
“Penalty Payments By Employers And Uninsured Individuals… 2010-2019… 36 [Billion Dollars].” (CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, Letter To Sen. Harry Reid, P.6, 11/18/09)
INDIVIDUALS: “A person without insurance could be required to pay a financial penalty, starting at $95 in 2014 and rising to $750 in 2016, with a maximum of $2,250 for a family.” (“Senate Health Plan Seeks To Add Coverage To 31 Million,” The New York Times, 11/19/09)
COMPANIES: “Firms with more than 50 workers that did not offer coverage would have to pay a penalty of $750 for each full-time worker if any of their workers obtained subsidized coverage through the insurance exchanges; that dollar amount would be indexed.” (CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, Letter To Sen. Harry Reid, P.7, 11/18/09)
PROMISE #8: ‘Broadcasting Those Negotiations On C-SPAN’
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): “That’s what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are, because part of what we have to do is enlist the American people in this process.” (Sen. Obama, Presidential Debate, 1/31/08)
‘C-SPAN Cameras Won’t See The Real Action’ – “After months of buildup, the historic debate on health care reform opens on the senate floor Monday — but the C-SPAN cameras won’t see the real action.” (“Dems Seek Deal As Sen. Debate Begins,” Politico, 11/30/09)
“But now, as a senate vote on health-care legislation nears, those negotiations are occurring in a setting that is anything but revolutionary in Washington: three senators are working on the bill behind closed doors.” (“Small Group Now Leads Closed Negotiations On Health-Care Bill,” The Washington Post, 10/18/09)
“…there are controversial special provisions of the Senate health reform bill … First up, the ‘Louisiana Purchase.’ … Landrieu said in a speech on the Senate floor Feb. 4th that critics should ‘shut their mouth.’” (“White House Cuts Special Help For Nebraska, But Other Deals Remain In Reform Bill,” ABC News, 2/22/10)
“[Nelson’s] involvement with the Affordable Care Act–including the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ or the perception that he tried to sell his vote for favorable language in the bill–left a bad taste in voters’ mouths.” (“Nebraska Yet Another Blow To Senate Democrats’ Hopes,” U.S. News & World Report, 12/28/11)
“… a backroom deal for Florida that was nicknamed ‘Gator Aid.’” (“Florida Poll: Healthcare Law Hurts Obama, Democrats,” The Miami Herald, 3/28/10)
“…calling the carve-out the ‘Bismarck Bank Job.’” (“Conrad Drops Support For North Dakota Provision To Avoid Controversy,” The Hill, 3/18/10)
“Critics are mocking it as ‘the Rocky Top vote swap.’” (“Health Bill Vote In Sight, Dems Seeking Gains Include Provision For TN Hospitals,” Knoxville News, 3/20/10)
PROMISE #9: ‘Will Not Sign It If It Adds One Dime To The Deficit’
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period.” (President Obama, Remarks To Joint Session Of Congress, 9/9/09)
DAVID BRODER, The Washington Post: “Every expert I have talked to says that the public has it right. These bills, as they stand, are budget-busters.” (David Broder, Op-Ed, “A Budget-Buster In The Making,” The Washington Post, 11/22/09)
DOUG HOLTZ-EAKIN & MICHAEL RAMLET: “A more comprehensive and realistic projection suggests that the new reform law will raise the deficit by more than $500 billion during the first ten years and by nearly $1.5 trillion in the following decade.” (“Health Care Reform Is Likely To Widen Federal Budget Deficits, Not Reduce Them,”Health Affairs, 6/10)
PROMISE #10: Medical Liability Reform: ‘This Is Going To Be A Priority For Me’
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “I want to work with the AMA so we can scale back the excessive defensive medicine that reinforces our current system, and shift to a system where we are providing better care, simply — rather than simply more treatment. So this is going to be a priority for me.” (President Obama, Remarks To The AMA, Chicago, IL, 6/15/09)
“It is the sense of the Senate that— health care reform presents an opportunity to address issues related to medical malpractice and medical liability insurance.” (S .Amdt 2786 To H.R. 3590, “Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,” P. 1858)
HOWARD DEAN, Former DNC Chairman: “The reason that tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everyone else they were taking on. And that is the plain and simple truth.” (Howard Dean, VA Town Hall Event, Minute 2, 8/26/09)
Related:
Five Obamacare Broken Promises
“McCaskill’s ObamaCare Baggage” Has Steelman Up 10 Points
Video: The McCaskill ObamaClone: “Our Economy Needs Barack Obama as President”
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Tags: Healthcare
Report: Obama Won’t Talk About Anniversary Of Obamacare
March 21st, 2012 by mopns ·
Indeed, it’s been clear for two years now that Democrats’ unpopular health care law hasn’t lived up to the litany of promises they and President Obama made in their push to get the law passed. Though President Obama pledged repeatedly, “If you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it.” But The Wall Street Journal reported, “The law could leave more than half of employers without a grandfathered plan in 2013 . . . .” Obama promised “I will protect Medicare,” but the law cuts hundreds of billions in Medicare funds to pay for its new spending. Obama promised, “This law will lower premiums.” But the CBO estimates that families could be paying $2,100 more per year on premiums under the health care law. Obama claimed the law would “slow the growth of health care costs,” but governmental estimates show federal expenditures on health care would increase under the law.
On and on, promises about protecting federal conscience laws, not raising taxes, broadcasting negotiations on CSPAN, not adding to the deficit, focusing on medical liability reform after leaving it out of the law, and even the bill’s allegedly inevitable popularity have all fallen by the wayside, exposed by the reality of this massively flawed legislation.
Related:
STL County Executive Speaks @ “Organizing for America” Healthcare Rally (2009)
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Tags: Healthcare
Shadowy NGO Chaired by Former Cong. Richard Gephardt Accused of “Covertly Funding Political Parties, Influencing Elections and Aiding Coups”
March 21st, 2012 by mopns ·
Last month, former minority leader and uber lobbyist Dick Gephardt, was a presenter at the National Endowment for Democracy’s annual “Democracy Award” ceremony. The purpose for the awards was to honor the “heroic efforts of Cuban workers, lawyers, and writers working to advance democratic values and fundamental rights within Cuba.” Sounds like a great cause right? Who’s against bringing democracy to Cuba. According to this Wikipedia entry, the organization seems to be a little overzealous in their efforts:
“NED says it does not directly fund any political party, as this is forbidden by law. However, it has been accused of providing funding to opposition candidates in elections in countries other than the USA. According to NED, it intervenes in elections by funding election observation and civic education on voting, such as student “get-out-the-vote” campaigns.
Critics such as Pat Buchanan accuse the NED of fomenting revolution and regularly interfering in the affairs of other countries, especially dictatorships and undemocratic regimes.
NED has principally supported candidates with strong ties to the military and who support the rights of U.S. corporations to invest in those countries with minimal restriction. The NED has not supported candidates who oppose investments by U.S. corporations or who promise restrictions on investment rights of U.S. corporations.” Read more…
This left leaning article suggests that Gephardt’s National Endowment for Democracy may have financed President Mubarak’s downfall in Egypt:
NED was created as an act of Congress and receives more than 90 per cent of its budget from the US government. Freedom House, while not one of its core institutions, also regularly receives the majority of its funding from NED. Chaired by Richard Gephardt – former Democratic Representative, now CEO of his own corporate consultancy and lobbying firm – the NED’s Board of Directors consists of a collection of corporate lobbyists, advisors and consultants, former U.S congressmen, senators, ambassadors and military staff, as well as senior fellows of highly political “think tanks”.
NED and its affiliates (particularly IRI) have been implicated in funding groups involved in organising coups against democratically elected leaders…NED poured funding into the cause of ‘defending democracy’ in France against her elected government, under Francois Mitterrand, which it regarded as dangerously socialist. As Barbara Conry of the right leaning Cato Institute once wrote: “Through the Endowment, the American taxpayer has paid for special-interest groups to harass the duly elected governments of friendly countries, interfere in foreign elections, and foster the corruption of democratic movements.”
One need only look at NED’s official website to see that it is pushing a right-wing agenda in Egypt, with nearly half of the $2,497,457 allocated to Egypt in 2010 going to the Center for International Private Enterprise for actions such as strengthening civil society’s “capacity to advocate for free market legislative reform” and other large grants awarded to youth organisations for training and mobilising activists in the use of new and social media.
But this is just the funding that is openly boasted of and the Egyptian authorities are finding it difficult, apparently, to trace the organisation’s funding. Dawlat Eissa – a 27-year-old Egyptian-American and former IRI employee – claimed that that the IRI was using employee’s private bank accounts to channel funding into IRI covertly from Washington. Read more…
The ‘son of a milk truck driver’ has come a long way from those humble roots. Now he’s accused of doing the bidding of ‘big business’ by overthrowing foreign governments.
Related:
Political Fix is a Day Late/Dollar Short…Again
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Tags: Uncategorized
Amb. Alan Keyes to Headline Fundraiser for Schoeller
March 21st, 2012 by mopns ·
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Tags: Uncategorized