Monday, December 27, 2010

"DEATH PANELS" BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE THROUGH REGULATION-WRITING

The cover-up sent out in the email referenced below is scary..."The longer this goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.

I'm NOT surprised at the regulation-writing, as I've stated previously this is a serious problem that allows the large bureaucracies to implement things without any congressional approval.  What is stunning to me is that The New York Times published this.  But on the other hand, I'm sure they have been sitting on it and decided to publish this on Christmas day when they thought no one would be paying attention. Even though the headline greatly under describes the "stir" that occurred over this issue, the first sentence is a little more accurate in stating it as a "political storm," and the sixth paragraph is getting even closer describing that the Democrats "fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009."

Although this is not the same as the "death panels" as referred to in the original bill, it now encourages doctors to have an end-of-life conversation with all Medicare recipients on every routine yearly check-up. Oh wow, don't you look forward to that bit of stimulative conversation once a year!

Published: December 25, 2010 by THE NEW YORK TIMES

Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.

Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.

The final version of the health care legislation, signed into law by President Obama in March, authorized Medicare coverage of yearly physical examinations, or wellness visits. The new rule says Medicare will cover “voluntary advance care planning,” to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of the annual visit.

Under the rule, doctors can provide information to patients on how to prepare an “advance directive,” stating how aggressively they wish to be treated if they are so sick that they cannot make health care decisions for themselves.
While the new law does not mention advance care planning, the Obama administration has been able to achieve its policy goal through the regulation-writing process, a strategy that could become more prevalent in the next two years as the president deals with a strengthened Republican opposition in Congress.

Several Democratic members of Congress, led by Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, had urged the administration to cover end-of-life planning as a service offered under the Medicare wellness benefit. A national organization of hopice providers made the same recommendation.

Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans successfully argued that "end-of-life counseling" in the Democrats’ bill  would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill. Section 1233 of the bill passed by the House in November 2009 — but was not included in the final legislation — allowed Medicare to pay for consultations about advance care planning every five years.

Rep. Blumenauer (D - OR), the author of the original end-of-life proposal, praised the rule as “a step in the right direction.”

“It will give people more control over the care they receive,” Mr. Blumenauer said in an interview. “It means that doctors and patients can have these conversations in the normal course of business, as part of our health care routine, not as something put off until we are forced to do it.”

After learning of the administration’s decision, Mr. Blumenauer’s office celebrated “a quiet victory,” but urged supporters not to crow about it.

“While we are very happy with the result, we won’t be shouting it from the rooftops,” Mr. Blumenauer’s office said in an e-mail in early November to people working with him on the issue. Moreover, the e-mail said: “We would ask that you not broadcast this accomplishment out to any of your lists, even if they are ‘supporters’ — e-mails can too easily be forwarded.”
Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it, but we will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a rapid, targeted response. The longer this goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.

The administration said research had shown the value of end-of-life planning.
“Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives,” the administration said in the preamble to the Medicare regulation, quoting research published this year in the British Medical Journal.

Opponents say the Obama administration is bringing back a procedure that could be used to justify the premature withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from people with severe illnesses and disabilities.

Elizabeth D. Wickham, executive director of LifeTree, which describes itself as “a pro-life Christian educational ministry,” said she was concerned that end-of-life counseling would encourage patients to forgo or curtail care, thus hastening death.

“The infamous Section 1233 is still alive and kicking,” Ms. Wickham said. “Patients will lose the ability to control treatments at the end of life.”

Sunday, October 24, 2010

BANK TRANSACTION TAX ON THE TABLE

Whether or not the the Democrats loose the House and Senate this November 2nd - they have much more on their agenda before the new Congress and Senate takes over in January.  House Bill 4646 (HR 4646) Debt Free America Act was introduced February 23, 2010 by Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Chaka Fattah and has been referred to committee.  More taxes... more taxes to pay for this mess.  NO!!!! - CUT PROGRAMS AND WASTE!

This bill proposes a 1% transaction tax on all financial banking transactions - whether paid by cash, deposit, credit card, ATM, or transfers - the only exclusion is the sale or purchase of stocks.


Snopes.com says nobody is taking it seriously and also says that she is referring to another bill when addressing the question in the above video - perhaps there is another bill in hiding - but the question from the reporter is directly about the "transaction tax".  Who would have ever thought they would have taken the stimulous bill seriously (Obama now admitting there were no shovel ready projects)?  Who would have thought they would have taken the Obamacare bill seriously (we already pay for everyones health care that can't afford it - now we have to pay for their insurance too)!  They already took over my son's college loans - now he has to pay the government instead of the private financial instituitions from which he borrowed the money.

Congress actually passed the "Cap and Trade Bill" in the darkness of night - but it was stopped in the Senate.  This bill would have increased an average homeowner's energy bills by $2,400.00 a year - during a time when they state this is the "worst recession in history".  Heads Up - they are still trying to re-name and repackage "Cap and Trade" and shove it through - I wouldn't be surprised if this is on the table after the election also.  They are talking about another stimulous for infastructure repairs and the mother of all bailouts - 215 billion this time for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  We have got to stop this agenda - and we only have one chance - 8 days from now.  Please vote to stop this - you have this one chance to send a message to Washington or they will continue these policies that are destructive to America, our jobs, and your pocketbook.

  

Thursday, October 21, 2010

JUAN WILLIAMS FIRED-FREE SPEECH INTRUSION, POLITICALLY INCORRECT OR FOX NEWS AFFILIATION

As you probably know, National Public Radio Analyst and Fox News Contributor, Juan Williams has been fired from National Public Radio for comments he made on the O’Reilly Factor Monday night.  As you may have heard, Bill O’Reilly was a guest on The View and he stated that we were attacked on 9/11 by Muslims.  This started a yelling match between him and two of the liberal hosts - Joy Behar and Whoopie Goldberg (both hosts ended up walking off the set).  Barbara Walters, also on the set, scolded the co-hosts for walking off stage: “You have just witnessed what should not happen”...she continued saying O’Reilly did not distinguish between extremists and regular Muslims.   In a discussion on O’Reilly’s show Monday evening, O’Reilly and liberal Juan Williams were discussing the events that transpired earlier on The View and the dilemma we face in fighting the Jihadists and fears about average Muslims.




Williams traveled off the liberal reservation of political correctness and has been thrown off the bus by the tax-payer funded NPR.  I’m sure he has been a thorn in their side for years for his affiliation with Fox News.  Remember the Obama administration continues to push the position that Fox News should not be treated as a legitimate news organization (#1 in ratings of 24/7 cable news) and the administration recently praised the "opinion shows" of  MSNBC as important (last place in ratings of 24/7 cable news).  Perhaps there is link here between Juan being fired and this position by the administration?  What happened to the first ammendment here (he was expressing his feeling when he gets onto a plane) ?  I won’t hold my breath waiting for the AFLCIO, Al Sharpton, or other liberal organizations to come to Williams’ defense.




Thursday, October 14, 2010

OBAMA ADMITS THERE WERE NO SHOVEL READY JOBS


Did you hear that on the news yesterday or today?  Guess "the main-stream media" will ignore it....

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

FREE CELL PHONES EVERYONE!

The effects of mandates by Congress are not felt for years.  Today, there is too much credit given to Obama for providing free cell phones and free airtime to welfare recipients.  This was actually one of President Clinton’s bills – it was sold to Congress as a way to provide Internet to schools and libraries - it was named the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  In one advertisement by a cellular company www.safelinkwireless.com – they are promoting free cell phones and minutes to “income-eligible consumers”.  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is described below:


All phones (land line or cell) have been taxed since this Act passed (taxing began in 1997 when the FCC scrambled to enact its' mandate and sent out notices to the phone companies).  It is listed on your provider’s bill under taxes, fees, and surcharges as Federal Universal Service Fund or USF.  The bill mandates the FCC to maintain the intentions of the bill - “that the Federal-State Joint Board and the FCC should determine those other principles that, consistent with the 1996 Act, are necessary to protect the public interest”.  Thus congress does not need to take any other action to authorize anything deemed by the FCC to be in the “public interest" for the above mandates.  Thus cell phones for low income individuals – have no congressional fingerprints on it.  Today, these recipients of the benefit have dubbed their cell phones as their “Obama phone”.

Another example of the effects of these congressional mandates not being felt for years -  The Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 and the Removal of Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing Act of 1992 mandated the Department of  Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to set goals for lower income and underserved housing areas for the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


The changes HUD has made in bank loans and lending for housing (e.g. adjustable rate mortgage loans) did not have to be approved by congress as the agency was given the power by the Act just as was noted in the previous example – without congressional fingerprints on it.  However one endeavour is noted in the above link - in November 2007, at a time when the housing market was slowing, HUD initiated a program to change lending policies which provided seller concessions to buyers of HUD homes, allowing them to use a down payment of $100.00 (one hundred dollars).   By September of 2008, we had the “subprime” mortgage crisis - sub prime borrowers typically have weakened credit histories and reduced repayment capacity which the Acts of 1992 were to address – you can decide how they did.
Listen to congressional hearings in the congress on this topic:


In conclusion, if you haven't learned anything in the last two years, hopefully you learned congress doesn't read the bills - you have to - it is all political.  If you like the effects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and The Housing and Community Development Act of 1992/Removal of Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing Act of 1992 – I think you are going to LOVE the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill of 2010 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ObamaCare).   Don't you love the names they give these bills!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

OBAMA FACTOR ON UNEMPLOYMENT - IT WAS 6.1% PRIOR TO ELECTION


Update, Thursday October 7, Reuters is reporting:
The Labor Department on Friday will give an initial estimate of how far off its count of employment may have been in the 12 months through March. The government admitted earlier this year that its count through March 2009 had overstated employment by 902,000 jobs.

Imagine that - which means the unemployment rate is greater for March 2009 - March 2010 than that which is shown above!  But working with the Labor Statistics that are available now, it is hard to look at Chart #1 without the thought going through your mind that business was frightened by the election of Obama.  When both Clinton and Bush II were elected after October 1992 and 2000 respectively, the unemployment rate rose exactly 1.1% by the time each was inaugurated, which is a normal rise between October of each year and January (see Chart #2 below).  But something different happened when Obama was elected - the unemployment rate rose 1.3% more than the normal rise compared to Clinton or Bush II during this time period – I have come to believe this is the Obama Factor.
There were small businesses all over reducing their staff after his election in November.  When Joe the Plumber’s question exposed Obama’s plan to raise taxes on those making over $250,000 – he put all small businesses on notice.   In a normal election, this should have put all employees of businesses on notice too, but this was no normal election.  The kool-aid had already been drunk and it was too late.

Other Democrats also rode the coat tails of Obama into office during the election of 2008 which gave them the 60 votes needed to pass anything in the Senate – with the opposition unable to stop anything the President or congress wanted.  Like the economic stimulus package of February 2009.  This was the beginning of the destructive policies which drove the unemployment rate above the 8% mark.

I believe the Obama administration was counting on the normal downturn of unemployment after each President has taken office and thus the statement that the unemployment rate wouldn’t go over 8% if the stimulus was passed immediately.  However, they hadn’t figured in the Obama Factor.  Therefore, Obama had to begin stating that the economic mess he inherited was much worse than they anticipated before the stimulus. 

Today – almost two years later - the accusation that Bush created this mess over 8 years doesn’t bear merit.  The unemployment rate was low during Bush’s entire presidency - the highest being in January 2003 at 6.5%.  It fell to 4.1% in October of 2006 and a war weary electorate voted the Democrats control of congress again after 12 years of prosperity under a Republican congress.

If Obama can say he has saved 300,000 jobs, perhaps I can equally say we wouldn’t have such high unemployment if he had not been elected.  Who’s to say the unemployment rate would not have just dropped back down like normal if he had not been elected?  If the Republicans take back Congress in 2010, the unemployment rate should fall (as shown in Chart #1), just as in 2004 when Republicans took over Congress when Clinton was President.  However, we will still have the Obama factor....

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

GLOBAL WARMING AD PULLED

It hasn't even been two weeks since Obama went to the United Nations proclaiming the United States has made such progress in green and renewable energy that we want to share this technology with the world and transfer more taxpayer money to the cause around the world.  You won't believe this global warming ad that aired in the UK - the creators said it was to bring the issue back to the forefront.  Obama didn't do that on the UN World Stage?

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4358572/outrage-over-new-global-warming-video-warning-graphic-imagery/


A side note:  The same day Obama was at the UN (which by the way - Israel's absence during Obama's speech spoke volumes) the Republicans released their Pledge to America to try to bring life back to the economy and reduce spending.   I thought the comparison as to priorities was striking.

Monday, October 4, 2010

JUST 4 WEEKS TO VOTE OUT THE DEMOCRATS THAT VOTED FOR OBAMACARE


Don’t forget what the Democrats did to this country earlier this year.  Put them in their place – they work for us – not the other way around as they ignored us as we told them we did not want that Health Care Bill.

Now, current insurance premiums will rise, employers and all Americans will have to pay for Health Insurance for both themselves and those that cannot afford it, unless we can vote these Democrats out and show them that we meant it when we said we didn’t want that bill.  They ignored us – they are suppose to be representing us -
From the constituents pleading with their representatives at town hall meetings to the back room deals – exempting a state from a portion of the bill, paying off other states for their vote in favor, and promising 11 Democrats that the bill would not cover abortions -  the process was ugly.  The white house asked for people to forward emails that disagreed with their health plan.  They told us “for all the calls we are getting against the bill, there are just as many people that aren’t calling that are for it.” We were told by Obama that the US would go bankrupt if the bill wasn't passed. We were told by the Democratic Leader of the Congress, “We have to pass the bill so we can find out what is in it.”  We had to watch this same leader parade herself into the capitol building to take the vote on the bill with a large over-sized gavel and sneering guarded protection as she arrogantly walked past the American people opposing the bill.

We have a republic – the forefathers warned that we may not be able to keep it.  The Obama Health Care Bill showed the true ugliness of our representatives voting against the will of the American people.

When Obama signed the bill, he proudly stated, “This is what change looks like.”  That ugliness is his change?  My Democrat friends, socialists have hijacked your party.

In 4 weeks we have the opportunity to show Washington, what change looks like.  The following report from Rasmussenreports.com   lists the senators who are up for re-election this year and what the election looks like today.  Of course, congressmen from all states are up for re-election – please do not vote for anyone with a “D” behind their name - (means Democrat).   If you can’t vote against this type of governing, then please stay home and let the rest of us send a message to Washington.  Please pass this on and help remind your friends and family that our country needs us in 4 weeks to stop this takeover of our republic.

I for one don’t vote in every mid-term election.  But this time is different and most important - especially for our younger Americans that voted for him and now wonder why.  Let us send a clear and resounding message to Washington.