1) Morning Bell: The Start of the Debate (House votes to repeal Obamacare)
Fellow conservatives,
Last night, the House of Representatives, the legislative chamber of Congress closest to American popular opinion, voted to repeal Obamacare—the increasingly unpopular law which led directly to a change in the control of Congress just three months ago.
Many will tell you that yesterday’s bipartisan vote of 245 to 189 was an exercise in futility—an empty, symbolic measure. Liberals in Congress, the White House and their echo chamber in the media all insist, as NPR has duly reported, that “this measure will go no further.”
Don’t believe this for a single minute. The vote last night was an important step in the democratic process of protecting and conserving our constitutional freedoms.
…Behind this question are the many other specific ones about health care:
-Should the federal government control America’s $2.5 trillion health sector, fully one sixth of our economy?
-Should government bureaucrats decide what form of health coverage is “acceptable”?
-Should these bureaucrats be given the legal authority to require all Americans to purchase government-designed health plans and levy penalties on those who don’t comply?
-Should the federal government require the States to devote scarce resources to the creation of federally designed health exchanges that State lawmakers may feel inadequately address the unique needs of state residents?
-Should the federal government expand the Medicaid program so dramatically that States face a Hobson’s choice – either shoulder billions in new fiscal commitments (on top of an already unsustainable budget mess) or withdraw from the program entirely?
-What about employers who want to continue to provide their employees with health coverage but learn that federal bureaucrats deem the coverage they can afford to provide insufficiently generous?
And these are but the most obvious concerns raised by last year’s law.
But what comes next, you ask?
First, it is incumbent on the Majority leader of the Senate, Harry Reid (D-NV) to allow a vote on the floor of that chamber. A bipartisan majority in one half of Congress has just repealed the most ambitious expansion of the federal government in many decades following a major electoral reversal for his party. For Mr. Reid to prevent this vote from coming to the Senate floor would be to thumb his nose at the will of the American people. Senators must be allowed to vote on this question so that repeal legislation might go to the president for his consideration.
…While that important national debate is taking place, the House of Representatives can move to defund provisions of Obamacare through either a rescissions package or funding riders. Congress is not required to fund this law or the myriad of new programs that it spawned. Like every other federal program, the current Congress can adjust – or even zero out – the level of funding for the implementation of Obamacare. Special provisions in the health care law will complicate the process, but the propriety of de-funding is unquestionable. As noted by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), “Congress is not required to provide funds for every agency or purpose authorized by law.”
1a) Rep. John Lewis Cites ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ as Justification for Health Care Mandate
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) believes the Constitution justifies Obamacare’s mandate that people must buy health insurance. According to him, the Constitution’s reference to the “pursuit of happiness” specifically justifies that mandate. There’s just one problem, the pursuit of happiness isn’t in the Constitution.
“Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness,” Lewis told CNS News regarding the mandate’s justification. ”You go to the 14th Amendment–it’s equal protection under the law and we have not repealed the 14th Amendment. People have a right to have health care. It’s not a privilege but a right.” [Emphasis added]
1b) Sheila Jackson Lee Says Repealing ObamaCare Violates Constitution
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, said on Tuesday afternoon that repealing the national health care law would violate the Constitution.
Arguing that the Commerce Clause provides the constitutional basis for ObamaCare, Jackson Lee said repealing the law by passing Republicans' H.R. 2 violates both the Fifth Amendment's right to due process and the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause.
“The Fifth Amendment speaks specifically to denying someone their life and liberty without due process," she said in a speech on the House floor moments ago. "That is what H.R. 2 does and I rise in opposition to it. And I rise in opposition because it is important that we preserve lives and we recognize that 40 million-plus are uninsured.
She continued, "Can you tell me what’s more unconstitutional than taking away from the people of America their Fifth Amendment rights, their Fourteenth Amendment rights, and the right to equal protection under the law?”
Jackson Lee mentioned the names of several people who she said would be helped by the national health care law, including a schizophrenic, a dialysis patient, and somebody whose mother cannot otherwise get dental care. “I know they would question why we are taking away their rights,” she said.
She went on to declare, “I’m prepared to stand, extend a hand of friendship, standing on the Constitution to enable us to provide for all the citizens of this country. This bill has been vetted. This bill is constitutional and it protects the Constitutional rights of those who ask the question: ‘Must I die? Must my child die, because I am now disallowed from getting insurance?'"
Her comments came during the floor debate on the Republicans' repeal bill, which is scheduled for a final vote tomorrow.
Absolutely unbelievable.
1c) Survey: US Doctors Fear Healthcare Reform
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. doctors surveyed fear healthcare reform could worsen care for patients, by flooding their offices and hurting income, according to a Thomson Reuters survey released Tuesday.
The survey of more than 2,900 doctors found many predict the legislation will force them to work harder for less money.
"When asked about the quality of healthcare in the U.S. over the next five years, 65 percent of the doctors believed it would deteriorate with only 18 percent predicting it would improve," Thomson Reuters, parent company of Reuters, said in a statement.
2) Pat Toomey: How to Freeze the Debt Ceiling Without Risking Default
As members of Congress debate whether to raise the U.S. debt ceiling—the limit on our government's debt—we should all agree on at least one thing: Under no circumstances is it acceptable for the U.S. to default on its debt. Not only are we morally obligated to honor our debts, but we benefit greatly from the nearly universal conviction that those who lend to us will always be repaid, on time and in full. We should never undermine that conviction.
Fortunately, even if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, a default on our debt need not follow when our borrowings reach their limit in the next few months. I intend to introduce legislation to make sure of this.
For months, some political leaders and commentators have argued that failure to raise the debt ceiling would necessarily cause the U.S. to default on its debt. President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors chairman, Austan Goolsbee, recently warned, "If we get to the point where you've damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity. I don't see why anybody's talking about playing chicken with the debt ceiling."
In fact, if Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling, the federal government will still have far more than enough money to fully service our debt. Next year, for instance, about 6.5% of all projected federal government expenditures will go to interest on our debt, and tax revenue is projected to cover about 67% of all government expenditures. With roughly 10 times more income than needed to honor our debt obligations, why would we ever default?
To make absolutely sure, I intend to introduce legislation that would require the Treasury to make interest payments on our debt its first priority in the event that the debt ceiling is not raised. This would not only ensure the continued confidence of investors at home and abroad, but would enable us to have an honest debate about the consequences of our eventual decision about the debt ceiling.
See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954004576089963912388314.html?KEYWORDS=PAT+TOOMEY
3) Four domains of conflict where the Chinese are advancing while the U.S. is complacent or even retrenching:
…1. Space: In 2010, China launched a record 15 satellites, the first time since the Cold War that any state has matched the rate of American launches in a year. The Chinese Beidou navigation satellite system, a rival to the American GPS system, is steadily outpacing Europe’s moribund Galileo program. Americans must recognize that not only will the U.S. and China interact on Earth; they will increasingly do so in the heavens.
2. Air: The debut of China’s J-20 last week showed that the Chinese stealth fighter program is further along than was generally recognized. While the U.S. debates whether or not to sell F-16s to Taiwan, it is now clear that China’s air force is rapidly modernizing beyond that level. Meanwhile, we have stopped building the F-22 and have cut the F-35 program.
3. Sea: The Chinese navy has built an impressive submarine fleet. The new Jin-class ballistic-missile submarines can carry the JL-2 ICBM, enhancing the survivability and deterrence of China’s nuclear forces. Meanwhile, the continued development of anti-ship ballistic missiles raises the stakes of deploying aircraft carriers in the region.
4. Cyber: In 2003, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced the creation of “information warfare units.” In 2004, the PLA noted that its priority would be fighting and winning Local Wars Under Informationalized Conditions, and that information was the keystone to future wars. All of this suggests that, from China’s view, a global conflict is already underway—in the virtual world of cyberspace.
4) Palestinian Flag Flies Over DC for the First Time
Palestinians on Tuesday raised their flag over the PLO diplomatic mission in Washington for the first time, as they push for international recognition that complicates the Obama administration's efforts to restart stalled Mideast peace talks.
Um, I thought you had to be a country to fly your flag in Washington…Oh, I see, I guess it’s OK to fly you flag if you plan to steal someone else’s land to become a country….
See: http://nation.foxnews.com/plaestinian-flag/2011/01/18/palestinian-flag-flies-over-dc-first-time
5) State Bankruptcy on the Table
Policymakers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
Unlike cities, the states are barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. Any effort to change that status would have to clear high constitutional hurdles because the states are considered sovereign.
But proponents say some states are so burdened that the only feasible way out may be bankruptcy, giving Illinois, for example, the opportunity to do what General Motors did with the federal government’s aid.
Beyond their short-term budget gaps, some states have deep structural problems, like insolvent pension funds, that are diverting money from essential public services like education and health care. Some members of Congress fear that it is just a matter of time before a state seeks a bailout, say bankruptcy lawyers who have been consulted by Congressional aides.
6) Verizon sues FCC to overturn net-neutrality rules
Just weeks after the Federal Communications Commission adopted its first-ever rules aimed at regulating Internet access, Verizon Communications on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the controversial order.
Verizon argues that the FCC does not have the legal authority to mandate how Internet service providers treat content on their networks.
A legal challenge was widely expected, and the FCC has said it thinks Congress enabled the agency to pursue its rules under several interpretations of telecommunications laws. The FCC's rules are supported by consumer groups and Web giants such as Google and Facebook.
Verizon filed its case in the same federal court - the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia - that ruled last April that the FCC overstepped its authority in trying to sanction Comcast for blocking Web traffic.
7) House Energy panel to take aim at Obama climate change regulations
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) plans to take dead aim at the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate change regulations this year, according to a document obtained by The Hill laying out the panel’s 2011 agenda.
“We believe it critical that the Obama administration ‘stop’ imposing its new global warming regulatory regime, which will undermine economic growth and U.S. competitiveness for no significant benefit,” says the document, which lays out a suite of “key issues” that will come before the committee.
While the individual items included in the document are not surprising, the agenda, taken as a whole, illustrates the breadth of GOP opposition to the White House energy and environment agenda.
The backgrounder says EPA has been regulating “too much too fast without fully analyzing the feasibility and economic and job impacts of the new rules.”
The committee will focus much of its attention this year on EPA’s regulatory “chokehold,” as the document calls it. And the document underscores the extent to which Upton will argue that EPA's agenda collides with economic recovery.
8) F.D.I.C. to Back $139 Billion in GE Capital Debt (GE in bed with Obama Administration)
General Electric said Wednesday that the federal government had agreed to insure as much as $139 billion in debt for its lending subsidiary, GE Capital. This is the second time in a month that G.E. has turned to a federal program aimed at helping companies during the global credit crisis (emphasis mine).
GE Capital is not a bank (emphasis mine), but granting it access to a new program from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation may reassure investors and help the lender compete with banks that already have government-protected debt, a G.E. spokesman, Russell Wilkerson, told Bloomberg News.
9) Judge John Roll Was a Hero: Why Didn't We Know This?
Federal Judge John Roll was killed in Tucson trying to save another man’s life. As soon as madman Jared Lee Loughner finished his attempt to murder Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, he turned his gun on the people to his left, then the people to his right. Recently released video shows his first target to the right was Ron Barber, Gifford’s district director, who was standing next to Justice John Roll.
Barber was shot in the arm. Judge Roll then pushed him down and, shielding Barber with his own body, steered him to shelter under a nearby table. While under the table, Loughner aimed for Roll’s exposed back and pulled the trigger. The video continues as Judge Roll looks up over his right shoulder, lies back down and dies at the scene.
Why don’t we know that? We know that an intern to Gifford, Daniel Hernandez, held Congresswoman Gifford’s head in his lap, putting pressure on the wound to save her life. We know that retired Army National Guard Colonel Bill Badger, though injured, tackled Loughner. We know Joe Zamudio, a young bystander carrying a gun, ran to the scene initially to stop the shooter by his own deadly force, but aided Badger instead in the restraint. While both held Loughner, Patricia Maisch removed another loaded magazine from Loughner’s pocket.
We know the stories of these people well as recounted by the press and by President Obama at the memorial service. We are collectively proud of them and each deserve recognition and praise. But what about Judge Roll?
One could argue that reports of the video were just released. Even so, should this news not be shouted from the rooftops? Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit…gives his life for another! Instead, the headline in the Washington Post read, “In videos, details of shooting emerge.” And the dramatic details of the judge’s heroism are not reported until two thirds of the way through the article. The heroism of the judge was THE most remarkable information in the story, but the Post didn’t bother to headline it.
…Could it be the heroes of this story have been chosen and that Judge Roll doesn’t fit the template? Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, could it be that Judge Roll’s act of courage was seen to diminish or interfere with the aggrandizement of a Democratic Congresswoman from her tragic shooting? Could it be that in an attempt to trade on her tragic circumstances, the report of a heroic Republican Judge would be inconvenient?
9a) Arizona shooting update: Victim shot in Tucson attack threatens Tea Party member
A 63-year-old man wounded in the Tucson, Arizona shooting on January 8, 2011 has been placed in a mental health facility after sources say he threatened a member of the Arizona Tea Party movement. James Fuller reportedly threatened the Tea Party member by stating, “You’re dead.” Sources in Tucson also say that Fuller visited the home of Jared Loughner last week after he was treated and released for his injuries sustained in the shooting.
According to reports by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, James Fuller attended a Tea Party town hall meeting on Saturday, January 15, 2011. The Department states that James Fuller took hold of a photograph of Tea Party member Trent Humphries and shouted the threat, “You’re dead.” Authorities removed Fuller from the event and arrested him. He is involuntarily undergoing a mental health evaluation.
10) DA: Pa. abortion doc killed 7 babies with scissors
PHILADELPHIA – A doctor whose abortion clinic was described as a filthy, foul-smelling "house of horrors" that was overlooked by regulators for years was charged Wednesday with murder, accused of delivering seven babies alive and then using scissors to kill them.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell was also charged with murder in the death of a woman who suffered an overdose of painkillers while awaiting an abortion.
In a nearly 300-page grand jury report filled with ghastly, stomach-turning detail, prosecutors said Pennsylvania regulators ignored complaints of barbaric conditions at Gosnell's clinic, which catered to poor, immigrant and minority women in the city's impoverished West Philadelphia section.
Prosecutors called the case a "complete regulatory collapse."
"Pennsylvania is not a Third World country," the district attorney's office declared in the report. "There were several oversight agencies that stumbled upon and should have shut down Kermit Gosnell long ago."
The inference here is that it should have been shut down because it wasn’t clean; not because this murderer was killing babies…
10a) The Philadelphia Horror: How Mass Murder Gets a Pass
Let's give the "climate of hate" rhetoric a rest for a moment. It's time to talk about the climate of death, in which the abortion industry thrives unchecked. Dehumanizing rhetoric, rationalizing language and a callous disregard for life have numbed America to its monstrous consequences. Consider the Philadelphia Horror.
In the City of Brotherly Love, hundreds of babies were murdered by a scissors-wielding monster over four decades. Whistleblowers informed public officials at all levels of the wanton killings of innocent life. But a parade of government health bureaucrats and advocates protecting the abortion racket looked the other way -- until, that is, a Philadelphia grand jury finally exposed the infanticide factory run by abortionist Kermit B. Gosnell, M.D., and a crew of unlicensed, untrained butchers masquerading as noble providers of women's "choice." Prosecutors charged Gosnell and his death squad with multiple counts of murder, infanticide, conspiracy, abuse of corpse, theft and other offenses.
The 281-page grand jury report released Wednesday provides a bone-chilling account of how Gosnell's "Women's Medical Society" systematically preyed on poor, minority pregnant women and their live, viable babies. The report's introduction lays out the criminal enterprise that claimed the lives of untold numbers of babies -- and mothers:
"This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy -- and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors. The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels -- and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths. Over the years, many people came to know that something was going on here. But no one put a stop to it."
…-- The Pennsylvania Department of Health knew of clinic violations dating back decades, but did nothing.
-- The Pennsylvania Department of State was "repeatedly confronted with evidence about Gosnell" -- including the clinic's unclean, unsterile conditions, unlicensed workers, unsupervised sedation, underage abortion patients and over-prescribing of pain pills with high resale value on the street -- "and repeatedly chose to do nothing."
-- Philadelphia Department of Public Health officials who regularly visited Gosnell's human waste-clogged offices did nothing.
-- Nearby hospital officials who treated some of the pregnant mothers who suffered grave complications from Gosnell's butchery did nothing.
…Already, left-wing journalists and activists have rushed to explain that these abortion atrocities ignored for four decades by abortion radicals and rationalizers are not really about abortion (emphasis mine). A Time magazine writer argued that the Philadelphia Horror was "about poverty, not Roe v. Wade." A University of Minnesota professor declared: "This is not about abortion."
But the grand jury itself pointed out that loosened oversight of abortion clinics enacted under pro-choice former GOP Gov. Tom Ridge enabled Gosnell's criminal enterprise -- and led to the heartless execution of hundreds of babies. Mass murder got a pass in the name of expanding "access" and appeasing abortion lobbyists.
As the report made clear: "With the change of administration from (pro-life Democratic) Gov. Casey to Gov. Ridge," government health officials "concluded that inspections would be 'putting a barrier up to women' seeking abortions. Better to leave clinics to do as they pleased, even though, as Gosnell proved, that meant both women and babies would pay."
Deadly indifference to protecting life isn't tangential to the abortion industry's existence -- it's at the core of it. The Philadelphia Horror is no anomaly. It's the logical, bloodcurdling consequence of an evil, eugenics-rooted enterprise wrapped in feminist clothing (emphasis mine).
11) Goldman Limits Facebook Offering
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slammed the door on U.S. clients hoping to invest in a private offering of shares in Facebook Inc., because it said the intense media spotlight left the deal in danger of violating U.S. securities laws.
Goldman's decision to allow only non-U.S. investors to buy shares in the social-networking site is a black eye for the Wall Street firm, which sent jealous rivals scurrying for look-alike deals when the Facebook agreement surfaced two weeks ago.
… Under an SEC rule known as Regulation D, private placements like the Facebook deal "cannot be the subject of advertising, general promotional seminars or public meetings in connection with the offering."
Rules outside the U.S. governing private placements are less strict about publicity as long as the deal is offered to individuals and institutions that qualify as "professional investors." Goldman likely won't come under fire in foreign markets for the hype that has accompanied the offering.
And now all the leftists will blame Golman Sachs for going outside the US for the investment, when the fault is really with the strangulating laws in the US…
12) Hawaii law bars release of Obama birth info
HONOLULU – A privacy law that shields birth certificates has prompted Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie to abandon efforts to dispel claims that President Barack Obama was born outside Hawaii, his office says.
State Attorney General David Louie told the governor that privacy laws bar him from disclosing an individual's birth documentation without the person's consent (then why doesn’t said person consent? – emphasis and comment mine), Abercrombie spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Friday.
12a) It appears, from several blogs, that Elena Kagan is the lawyer representing Barack Obama in the citizenship cases. Now she is in the position to rule on these cases. There are several dockets in the Supreme Court indicating this.
13) Olbermann and MSNBC: a failing relationship
NEW YORK – Keith Olbermann's exit from MSNBC appeared abrupt to viewers of his show, but the talk-show host and his network were involved "in a relationship that's been failing for a long time," an NBC Universal executive said Saturday.
Olbermann's announcement at the end of Friday's "Countdown" that it would be his last show quiets, at least for the moment, the most dominant liberal voice in a cable-television world where opinionated talk has been the most bankable trend over the past several years.
Oh, darn!
14) EU in trouble for children's diary that ignores Christian holidays
LONDON // The European Union was condemned yesterday for producing 3.2 million copies of a children's diary for 2011 that ignores all Christian holidays.
The diary, which cost 5 million euros (Dh24.6m) to produce and is distributed to pupils at 21,000 secondary schools throughout the EU, does contain the dates of Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Chinese and Sikh religious holidays.
Christian groups in France, Poland and Italy have all lodged complaints with the executive body of the EU, the European Commission, which annually produces the diary. There is no mention in it of Christmas, Easter or any other Christian holiday.
The Dutch deputy foreign minister, Ben Knapen, yesterday demanded an explanation from the European Union for what he described as "an absurd omission".
… He said the diaries, which contain information on the EU as well as warnings on the dangers of the internet and climate change, will be corrected for 2012. In the interim, a correction is being sent to all schools that received the Europa Diary.
15) Crook County Illinois: Fake State Rep Casts Deciding Vote to Raise Our Taxes (hat tip, Uncommon Show, see: http://www.uncommonshow.com)
She didn't know anything about the bill. She never read it. She hadn't been given any cheat sheets, facts sheets, talking points, or mass emails on the bill. But in true, corrupt Chicago fashion, she voted "yes" on it just as she was told to do by her corrupt party bosses.
Even worse, she was only a "state rep" because someone told her to drive to the state capitol for a week to "be" one. As Andy Shaw joked, Williams became the "somebody that somebody sent."*
It is business as usual for Illinois, the most corrupt state in the Union.
You see, fake State Rep Kathy Moore of Lincoln Park was drafted by Illinois Democratic Party bosses to fill out the last week of elected State Rep John Fritchey's term in office. Fritchey was elected to a spot on the Crook County Board and left his state rep seat to take that chair last November. So, Democrats fretted that Fritchey's 11th District seat would be empty during this important vote to wildly raise everyone's taxes.
Now, the party could have conducted an early swearing in of the woman newly elected to that seat. Ann Williams was prepared to be sworn in early, but once she found out that Democrat thugs wanted to force her to agree to vote their way in order to be allowed to take her seat early, Williams refused to accede to the pressure. She figured she could wait and escape the forced conditions.
Good for her.
But Williams' reluctance to be strong-armed left the 11th District seat empty for that final week of the lame duck session during which time a close vote to raise our taxes was to be called and party bosses couldn't have that. They wanted to soak us all good for more money to spread around to their union pals. We can't have unions going without their daily graft payments, cane we?
So, the Illinois Democrat Party went fake state rep shopping. They found Kathy Moore, the clueless wife of a local Democrat perfunctory, cajoled her to go to Springfield, and then told her how and on what to vote. Dutifully she packed her bags and trundled off to the state capitol to pretend she was "in politics." And in so doing this fool has made a mockery of the legislative process and our democracy both.
