"It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth -- and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. ... Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not?" --Patrick Henry
1) Morning Bell: The Left’s Righteous War Against the Individual Mandate
Explaining why he would vote against the Senate version of Obamacare if he were a Senator, former-Democratic National Committee Charmian Howard Dean told MSNBC last night: “You’re going to be forced to buy health insurance from a company that is going to take on average of 27% of your money … and there is no choice about that. If you don’t buy that insurance you are going to get a fine.” For this heresy, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested Dean was irrational, and asked: “I would ask Dr. Dean, how better do you address those who don’t have insurance: passing a bill that will cover 30 million who don’t currently have it or killing the bill?”
Later in the day, the successor organization to Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, Democracy for America, shot back at the White House, blasting out an e-mail that reads:
What they are actually talking about is something called the “individual mandate.” That’s a section of the law that requires every single American buy health insurance or break the law and face penalties and fines. So, the bill doesn’t actually “cover” 30 million more Americans - instead it makes them criminals if they don’t buy insurance from the same companies that got us into this mess.
…Conservatives have been making nearly identical critiques of the individual mandate since the beginning of the debate. Of course, we differ with the left on whether the public option would solve the above problems, but both progressives and conservatives are now in complete agreement that the current Senate bill would be a health care disaster for Americans. And the American people agree. In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, the American people oppose Obamacare 51% to 44%. But when asked about specific provisions of health care reform, guess which aspect is the least popular: the individual mandate. A full 57% Americans told NBC News they do not want Obamacare to create “a law that requires everyone to have health insurance coverage.” With only 38% of Americans supporting it, the individual mandate is the least popular portion of the bill.
See: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/12/17/morning-bell-the-left’s-righteous-war-against-the-individual-mandate/
1a) Public Reading of 767-Page Amendment Ends After Senator Withdraws Measure
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., withdrew a measure calling for an all-government health care system after a Republican colleague on Wednesday called for its 767 pages to be read aloud.
Sanders' amendment to the Senate's health care legislation would have created a single-payer insurance plan. The amendment was all but dead on arrival, but Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., ordered that the measure be read in its entirety -- which Senate aides said likely would have taken 17 hours to complete.
Coburn, disparaged by some Democrats as "Dr. No" for challenging bills in which he finds costly earmarks, had sought approval to require that any amendment considered by the Senate must be offered 72 hours in advance and with a full cost report.
When he was rebuffed by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Coburn invoked his right to require that an amendment by another lawmaker be read aloud. That sent the Senate into limbo.
The Republicans are finally getting some guts! Good!
See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/16/senator-forces-clerk-read-page-amendment-aloud/
1b) Holdout Sen. Nelson rejects abortion compromise
WASHINGTON (AP) - A moderate Democrat whose vote could be crucial said Thursday an attempted Senate compromise on abortion is unsatisfactory, raising doubts about whether the chamber can pass President Barack Obama's health care overhaul by Christmas.
"As it is, without modifications, the language concerning abortion is not sufficient," Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a key holdout on the health care bill, said in a statement after first making his concerns known to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Nelson said there were positive improvements dealing with teen pregnancy and adoption, and that he was open to further negotiations. But in a radio interview earlier in the day with KLIN in Lincoln, Nebraska, Nelson also said that abortion wasn't his only concern and he didn't see how the Christmas deadline was achievable.
The development came with Senate leaders working round the clock trying to finalize their 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill in time for a final vote on Christmas Eve. Nelson is emerging as a major obstacle - perhaps the only remaining one - since Democrats need his vote to have the 60 necessary to overcome Republican stalling tactics.
See: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091217/D9CL9K000.html
1c) Bennett: Obama outdoes LBJ in strong-arming tactics
President Barack Obama's treatment of lawmakers far exceeds the strong-armed tactics once employed by President Lyndon Johnson, a GOP senator argued Thursday.
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) accused Obama of bullying lawmakers on healthcare reform, specifically the rumored threat to centrist Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) that an Air Force base would be closed unless Nelson agreed to vote for health reform.
"This would be one of the most outrageous demonstrations of presidential power I've ever seen," Bennett said on a conservative news radio syndicate.
"I'm old enough to have been around the town in the days of Lyndon Johnson," Bennett added. "He was pretty imperial and he would beat up members of the Senate really quite brutally. I don't think even Lyndon Johnson would try anything like this."
…At issue is a rumor that the Obama administration threatened to close or rename Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, a rumor which Nelson rejected on Thursday, but into which Republican senators are demanding an investigation.
"Nobody's threatened me. As a matter of fact, in any discussion with the White House or the leadership or any of my colleagues, the question about the base or even the name of the base has never come up," Nelson said during an interview on KLIN radio in Nebraska. "Nobody has talked about anything of that kind."
Nelson said he knows the source of that rumor, suggesting that Republicans would be red-faced if details of the source of the rumor came out.
Hmmm…puzzling.
See: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/72797-bennett-obama-outdoes-lbj-in-strong-arming-tactics
1d) 20 senators demand probe of health-care vote 'threat'
Did White House say it would close Air Force base if Nelson didn't play?
Twenty senators are demanding an investigation into reports the Obama administration threatened to close Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska if that state's Democratic senator, Ben Nelson, didn't join other Democrats in voting for health-care reform.
The group of 20, all Republicans, today called for a hearing in a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the committee's top Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
The text of the letter states:
It has been reported that the Obama Administration threatened the closure of a U.S. military installation for political purposes, thereby bringing into question the integrity of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The BRAC process was established to remove political influence so that the decision to close or not to close a military installation could be based upon military utility.
Specifically, various media reports have stated that the Obama Administration would put Offutt AFB in southeastern Nebraska on a future BRAC list because of a vote on healthcare reform. While we recognize the importance of Offutt AFB as the headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command and the approximately 10,000 individuals that work there, we feel that this installation should remain open or be closed on its own merits.
Therefore, we respectfully ask that a hearing be held as to whether the BRAC process has been compromised. We do not want to see the name of a base from our state on a BRAC list and think it has been put there to settle partisan scores. We also do not want our bases to be more vulnerable to closure because political arm-twisting has taken another installation off the table. National security not partisanship should determine how BRAC decisions are made.
See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=119239
2) U.S. House Approves $154 Billion Jobs Bill, Debt Limit Increase
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House approved a $154 billion economic-aid package and a $290 billion increase in the legal limit on government borrowing as the chamber wrapped up its legislative business for the year.
The lawmakers voted 218-214 yesterday to raise the debt ceiling to $12.394 trillion, the fourth such increase in 18 months. Hours later, the House approved on a 217-212 vote the new spending for infrastructure projects, extended unemployment benefits and aid to state governments.
The chamber also passed a $636 billion defense budget bill yesterday. All three measures await Senate action.
See: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afE_3egIaUSs&pos=9
3) Obama's Safe Schools Czar Tied to Lewd Readings for 7th Graders
President Obama's "Safe Schools Czar," already a target of social conservatives for his past drug abuse and what they say is his promotion of homosexuality in schools, is under fresh attack after it was revealed that the pro-gay group he formerly headed recommends books his critics say are pornographic.
The group under fire is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which Kevin Jennings, now the assistant deputy secretary for safe and drug-free schools in the Department of Education, founded and ran from 1990 to 2008.
GLSEN says it works to create a welcoming atmosphere for homosexual students in schools, and that effort includes recommending books for students of all ages.
But critics say many of the books, particularly some that are targeted for children between Grades 7 to 12, are inappropriately explicit. A full list is available at the blog Gateway Pundit, which has published dozens of controversial passages from the books.
One recommended book is titled "Queer 13: Lesbian and Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade." On pages 43 through 45, writer Justin Chin tells of how as a 13-year-old, he went along with "near-rapes" by older men, but "really did enjoy those sexual encounters." Chin also recounts each sexual action he performed with an "ugly f*** of a man" he met on a bus.
See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/14/obamas-safe-schools-czar-tied-lewd-readings/
4) Islamic mosque built at NYC Ground Zero
Muslim business leader: 'This has hand of the divine written over it'
A new Islamic mosque will open its doors just steps from Ground Zero where Muslim terrorists murdered 2,751 people in the name of Allah on Sept. 11, 2001 – and its leading imam, who conducts sensitivity training sessions for the FBI, has reportedly blamed Christians for starting mass attacks on civilians.
The five-story building at Park Place, just two blocks north of the former World Trade Center site, was the site of a Burlington Coat Factory. But a plane's landing-gear assembly crashed through the roof on the day 19 Muslim terrorists hijacked the airliners and flew them into the Twin Towers in 2001.
Now Muslim worshippers currently occupy the building, and they plan to turn it into a major Islamic cultural center.
"The men and women stand up, raise their hands on either side of their head, murmur 'Allahu akhbar,' bow and kneel again," reports Spiegel Online.
"Only in New York City is this possible," Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, or ASMA, told the magazine. Khan is the wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of ASMA.
They have leased the new prayer space as an overflow building for another mosque, Masjid al-Farah, at 245 West Broadway in TriBeCa, where Rauf is the spiritual leader.
See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=119328
5) Hugo Chavez gets standing ovation
...Then President Chavez brought the house down.
When he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he got a rousing round of applause.
When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.
But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation.
See: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/penny-wong-jeered-hugo-chavez-cheered/story-e6frgczf-1225811179614
6) Pre-massacre concerns about Hasan may have been off limits to FBI
WASHINGTON – FBI agents who discovered Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's extremist ties before the Fort Hood massacre may not have had access to key Army records on the psychiatrist, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday.
The Maine Republican said some information that terrorism investigators need stays in military education or training files "and does not make its way to the personnel files" – the records that intelligence agencies would see when deciding whether to investigate someone.
Collins is the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which is investigating how pre-massacre intelligence was handled. She spoke after a closed-door hearing with Defense Department officials.
Hasan's colleagues and superiors repeatedly raised concerns about him during his psychiatric training. Issues included his fundamentalist Islamic leanings, religious proselytizing, work performance and mental stability.
"It doesn't appear that the military has updated its personnel policies to reflect the threat of Islamic extremism," Collins said. "There appears to be a real gap in the protocols in the personnel procedures."
See: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-militaryfiles_16nat.ART.State.Edition2.4bede79.html
7) Iran tests missile, stoking tensions with the West
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran on Wednesday test fired an upgraded version of an advanced missile capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, an apparent show of strength aimed at discouraging attacks on its nuclear facilities.
The test of the medium-range Sajjil-2 fueled calls for tougher sanctions against Tehran, which has resisted U.N. demands that it rein in its nuclear ambitions. Iran touted the launch as a success proving it can deter any U.S. or Israeli military strike against its nuclear facilities.
See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_missile
8) Obama Writes Letter to North Korean Leader Kim, Official Says
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama wrote a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as the U.S. is seeking to reopen negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear program, an administration official said.
Obama’s special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, delivered the letter during a three-day visit to North Korea’s capital last week, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official wouldn’t divulge the contents.
Bosworth’s trip marked the first official contact between the two governments since Obama took office in January signaling a willingness to engage with the communist regime.
See: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ai1EiiTcBQfs&pos=9
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