Ben Nelson caves; Yes, it still covers abortion; Nadal Hasan getting wink from Obama

1) Ben Nelson Caves: Ben Nelson Refused to Allow Pro-Life Group's Input on Abortion Funding Deal Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Sen Ben Nelson is earning himself the ire of the majority of Americans who are pro-life on abortion with his 11th-hour deal allowing abortion funding to remain in the Senate health care bill. In comments to LifeNews.com the head of a pro-life group reveals how he refused to allow for pro-life input. The deal Nelson reached with Senate leader Harry Reid makes it so states must opt out of if they don't want to force their citizens to cover abortions. Residents of states that do not opt out of the abortion funding under the exchange will be forced to pay for abortions through government funds. Nebraska Right to Life executive director Julie Schmit-Albin told LifeNews.com that she feels her senator betrayed her group and pro-life Nebraskans. See: http://www.lifenews.com/state4667.html 1a) Analysis: How Nelson-Reid Compromise Allows Abortion Funding in Health Care Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life groups have spent most of Saturday morning furiously analyzing the Nelson-Reid compromise language on abortion funding in the Senate health care bill. Their conclusion is that the language undermines the amendments they wanted to ban abortion funding. The compromise language appears in the manager's amendment Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is offering to shore up the 60 votes he needs to overcome the filibuster against the pro-abortion health care bill. The language is not similar to the Stupak and Nelson amendments approved by the House and defeated in the Senate. Instead, Section 38 adds a provision allowing states to opt out of providing abortion coverage through the exchange and adds further layers of accounting requirements that pro-life groups are calling gimmicks to hide abortion funding. The result remains the same and, contrary to longstanding policy, the federal government will subsidize private health insurance plans that cover abortion. See: http://www.lifenews.com/nat5797.html 1b) While You Sleep: 1:00 AM Monday Vote Set on Obamacare Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has set the stage for a major vote Monday morning at 1:00 AM – one that would require the support of 60 Senators. That would, if all goes according to Senator Reid’s plan, set up a late-night Christmas Eve vote on final passage. Senator Reid also used a rare procedure to block any further amendments from being offered, debated or voted upon. When it comes time for Senators to cast their vote at 1:00AM Monday morning, shortly after Sunday Night Football ends and most Americans are in bed, they will have had less than 38 hours to understand a 383-page amendment that introduces several new concepts into the health care debate, including: -A scheme that gives the Office of Personal Management immense power in administering what amounts to a multi-state public plan; -How much a state “opt-out” of abortion coverage in the legislation erodes the long-standing Hyde-amendment; -The budgetary impact of ELIMINATING the physician reimbursement fix; and, -Multiple new taxes, federal regulations and sweet-heart deals aimed toward certain states like Nebraska. It is important for Americans to understand the process being used by the Senate. Barring any procedural snags (of which there are many in the Senate’s complex rules and precedents), the debate is likely to play out as follows: -Monday, 1:00 AM – Vote to invoke cloture (i.e. end debate) on the manager’s amendment. 60 votes are necessary. -Tuesday, 7:00 AM – Vote to approve the manager’s amendment. A majority vote is necessary. Tuesday, 8:00 AM – Vote to invoke cloture on the original Reid substitute amendment (the 2,000-page bill). 60 votes are necessary. -Wednesday, 2:00 PM – Vote to approve the Reid substitute amendment. A majority vote is necessary. -Wednesday, 3:00 PM – Vote to invoke cloture on the underlying bill. 60 votes are necessary. -Thursday, 9:00 PM – Vote to approve the underlying bill (i.e. the Senate’s version of Obamacare). A majority vote is necessary. Merry Christmas, America! You just lost one of your most basic freedoms. See: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/12/19/while-you-sleep-100-am-monday-vote-set-on-obamacare/ 2) Congressman: Why is Obama stifling Hasan investigation? Member of House intelligence committeee wants reports to prevent another attack A member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is wondering why President Obama apparently is suppressing information assembled by an investigation into the Nov. 5 attack at Fort Hood by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar," or "Allah is greatest," while killing more than a dozen soldiers and civilians. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., expressed his concern in a recent commentary, saying, "There has been a troubling refusal by Obama officials to acknowledge that the shooting likely was an act of homegrown terrorism." "How can it be that the House Committee on Homeland Security has launched an investigation and called hearings within a week to look into the couple who crashed a recent White House state dinner, yet a month after Fort Hood there has yet to be a single congressional hearing into the Fort Hood attack?" Hoekstra said. "I fear that our nation is returning to the naive security outlook of Sept. 10, 2001, when radical Islamic terrorist attacks were considered law enforcement and criminal problems and not threats to our national security." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=119216 3) Copenhagen climate summit: 'most important paper in the world' is a glorified UN press release When your attempt at recreating the Congress of Vienna with a third-rate cast of extras turns into a shambles, when the data with which you have tried to terrify the world is daily exposed as ever more phoney, when the blatant greed and self-interest of the participants has become obvious to all beholders, when those pesky polar bears just keep increasing and multiplying – what do you do? No contest: stop issuing three rainforests of press releases every day, change the heading to James Bond-style “Do not distribute” and “leak” a single copy, in the knowledge that human nature is programmed to interest itself in anything it imagines it is not supposed to see, whereas it would bin the same document unread if it were distributed openly. After that, get some unbiased, neutral observer, such as the executive director of Greenpeace, to say: “This is the single most important piece of paper in the world today.” Unfortunately, the response of all intelligent people will be to fall about laughing; but it was worth a try – everybody loves a tryer – and the climate alarmists are no longer in a position to pick and choose their tactics. But boy! Was this crass, or what? The apocalyptic document revealing that even if the Western leaders hand over all the climate Danegeld demanded of them, appropriately at the venue of Copenhagen, the earth will still fry on a 3C temperature rise is the latest transparent scare tactic to extort more cash from taxpayers. See: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100020279/copenhagen-climate-summit-most-important-paper-in-the-world-is-a-glorified-un-press-release/