Check...

Via HotAir

After a long day of supposed “accommodation” and discussion, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops took a close look at the supposed adjustment of the HHS mandate yesterday. Their conclusion? It represents no change at all, and the bishops will press for a “legislative solution” to Barack Obama’s mandate:

These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protection for key stakeholders—for self-insured religious employers; for religious and secular for-profit employers; for secular non-profit employers; for religious insurers; and for individuals—is unacceptable and must be corrected. And in the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer’s plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns.

We just received information about this proposal for the first time this morning; we were not consulted in advance. Some information we have is in writing and some is oral. We will, of course, continue to press for the greatest conscience protection we can secure from the Executive Branch. But stepping away from the particulars, we note that today’s proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. In a nation dedicated to religious liberty as its first and founding principle, we should not be limited to negotiating within these parameters. The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.

We will therefore continue—with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency—our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government. For example, we renew our call on Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. And we renew our call to the Catholic faithful, and to all our fellow Americans, to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

The bishops note that the Obama administration never even bothered to contact them to discover what their true objections are, and what would satisfy them. The White House simply presumed to know church business better than the bishops and offered an “accommodation” that is anything but. In fact, that sounds a lot like the process that produced this mandate in the first place.

Freedom To Choose. Or Not....

Via Rush Limbaugh

....Back on January 20th Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Department of Health and Human Services had ruled in August that all government-funded service providers provide free contraceptive services, including morning after pills and surgical sterilizations. When this thing first hit as part of Obamacare it barely caused a ripple outside the Catholic church. Now, in the same announcement back on January 20th she said she was gonna give the churches until August of 2013 to get right with the law, which is after the election. So what's happened here is that an uproar has taken place in a clear bid to please the base, and it's actually more than just pleasing the base. This whole decision by Obama as part of health care is who he is. The government telling everybody, including churches and church education institutions, schools, what they can and can't do. It is hideous, but it's right there in front of everybody's face for them to now see. Every day it seems, every week there are more and more examples of the totalitarian nature of this administration and what its true desires are.

RUSH: Way back in February of 2009, at the height of the health care reform bill, Obama leaked the idea of rolling back the so-called conscience clause that the Bush administration had put in place. That was a regulation "allowing health-care workers to refuse to provide services based on moral objections..." In other words, a health care worker could not be forced to perform an abortion. A health care worker, with the conscience clause, could not be forced to pass out the morning-after abortion pill, the RU-486. "The Provider Refusal Rule was proposed by the Bush White House in August and enacted on January 20, the day President Barack Obama took office."

But Obama backed down on that so as to get Obamacare through. Now he's going after it again. "A couple of weeks ago Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary Health and Human Services, announced that all health care providers that get money from the federal government must," would have to, "provide conception and other birth control treatments, such as the morning-after pill, free." It wasn't just that they had to provide it. They had to pay for it as well! It didn't matter what their moral objections. It didn't matter the conscience clause. It didn't matter what they wanted to do or not based on a religious belief. None of that mattered; the state was supreme. The state would triumph here....

More...

Pass It Forward Around

“This video lays out the clear choice our nation faces on Medicare: Will Medicare become a program in which a board of bureaucrats manages its bankruptcy by denying care to seniors? Or will leaders work together to save and strengthen Medicare by empowering seniors to choose health care plans that work best for them, with less support for the wealthy and more help for the poor and the sick? House Republicans have advanced solutions to save Medicare. Instead of working with us, the leaders of the Democratic Party have opted to play politics with the health security of America’s seniors.”

H/T to The Rightscoop

Socialized Medicine

April Fools

h/t to Ace

Commander in Totalitarian

“Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, ‘No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square.’”

If you’re president of China, people around the world who are fighting for freedom don’t really expect you to help.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. ~ John F. Kennedy

Pusherman

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.

Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats’ bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill.

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.

Tucker Carlson in a debate with Kirsten Powers over the end-of-life planning regulation executed by Medicare Socialist Czar Donald Berwick:

Okay, so it's a good thing that doctors will discuss the end of life options for the terminally ill patients. It's a good thing for families to understand these options. I know about these options. They were given to me and my family three times. My mother, my brother and my brother-in-law. All of whom have passed. For my mother, it was called hospice.

But I'll be damned if the government will try to push their way into something they know nothing about. And could care less about family tragedy for that matter. Let's be real and honest about this. The only thing the government is concerned about is cost, which by the end of the day, is all about rationing.
So to Obamacare I say, "keep your ass...off of my ass."

Wolves In Sheep's Clothing

American Patriot

An open letter to President Obama by: Charlie Daniels

In a nutshell:

Mr. President,

I write this letter as a patriot, a taxpayer, a lifelong resident and as concerned citizen of what I consider to be the greatest nation ever known to man, the United States of America.

I am Caucasian, so let's get the racial aspect out of the way to start with. This letter has nothing to do with your race. I lived through the cruelty of Jim Crow and segregation and learned early on in my life that the color of my skin does not make me better or worse than any other man.

We all remember Martin Luther King, Jr.'s statement about judging people, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, and I believe that with all my heart.

I believe that America is an exceptional country. We have been liberator, benefactor and leader of the free world for centuries. America is an example of what can be achieved by free people living under the free enterprise system.

We have led the world in technology, industry, science and medicine for a long time.

Our capitalist system guarantees that those who explore new worlds and bring us new products and better techniques are amply rewarded for their efforts, and this is as it should be.

A person who is the first one to get there and the last one to leave, who burns the midnight oil and never gives up until they realize their goals, are a boon to humankind. They're the ones who discover new cures, start new industries and create jobs.

These people deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and for the products and services they bring to make life better for all mankind.

Mr. President, it is my personal opinion that you want to take the well-earned rewards of these people and give it to those who have done nothing to deserve them.

It's really redistribution of wealth, and it's nothing new. It's been tried many places before and it has miserably failed in every one of them.

It's called socialism.

Am I calling you a socialist? Yes, I am. I firmly believe that you are a socialist and a globalist, and that you think America should have a comeuppance and have our playing field leveled to match those of other countries not as industrious or as innovative as we are.

Mr. President, how can you support the building of a mosque in the very same area where Islamic radicals murdered so many Americans?

Just who's side are you on?

Am I accusing you of being a Muslim? No I'm not, but the jury is still out a little bit on that subject in my mind, because many times your sympathies seem to lean in that direction. You need to watch who you bow to Mr. President.

You have betrayed a whole generation of African-Americans who voted for you because they really believed all that junk about "hope and change," they really thought you were going to do something great and the only thing you've done is to make their jobs disappear and their health insurance go up.

You and your party have corrupted duly elected officials in an effort to get your legislative agenda passed. Remember the "Louisiana Purchase" and the "Cornhusker Kickback," and that's just a couple we know about, but you bought off a bunch of congressmen and senators, knowing that you were going against the will of the majority of Americans, because you think that you and your arrogant friends know more about what's good for America than the citizens your disastrous actions effect.

Am I accusing you of being an elitist? You bet.

I don't believe you take the Islamic threat to America nearly as seriously as you should. You use semantics like "Overseas Contingency Operation" and "Man Caused Disasters" to soften your rhetoric toward people who would like nothing better than decapitate the entire population of America.

And Mr. President, if you'd really like to know the kind of warriors who are fighting the "Overseas Contingency Operation," and you would like to really know about what kind of enemies they're fighting, you should read a book called Lone Survivor by a brave, young Navy Seal named Marcus Lutrell who went to hell and back for his country, and is still a dedicated patriot. I think you'd find it enlightening, Mr. President and after you finish it would you pass it on to Janet Napolitano? And by the way, tell her that my invitation to take her to Iraq and show her some "Man Caused Disasters" is still open.

Am I calling you naïve? Absolutely.

You seem to think that America has an endless supply of tax dollars for you to waste and give away, and the debt you've piled up could well bankrupt the greatest nation on earth.

Am I calling you a failure, Mr. President? With all due respect that's exactly what I'm doing.

Runaway Slave: Wake Up America!

Pre 1960 most African-Americans were Republican. After Martin Luther King was freed from jail by John F. Kennedy, the African-American vote has gone Democratic. We gave up 3 to 1 odds in abortion:
...14 million black babies have died since 1973.
...Dependent on welfare system: They begin to take young women and they begin to tell the young women, we will give you money if you just stay home. What if I want to get married? You lose your benefits.
...Sometimes you can't tell the difference between now and 200 years ago. And we, by 95% support this.

H/T to SondraK

Flesh Peddler

No Obamacare for Obama.

President Obama declared that the new health care law "is going to be affecting every American family." Except his own, of course.

The new health care law exempts the president from having to participate in it. Leadership and committee staffers in the House and Senate who wrote the bill are exempted as well. A weasel-worded definition of "staff" includes only the members' personal staff in the new system; the committee staff that drafted the legislation opted themselves out.

@ The New Ledger

Slippin' Into Darkness

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 31% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11.

@ Ace

In A Nutshell

Rep. Dingell Says ObamaCare Will Eventually ‘Control the People’

Cretin...

Socialized Medicine

What a rotten day this turned out for me after hearing the health care reform legislation had been passed. What the hell is wrong with these politicians? Every single one of those Democraps. Where does Nancy Pelosi and her ilks find the nerve to ignore the American people? How is it possible that they just don't care that the majority have spoken?

When this socialized medicine becomes law, what's going to happen to my handicapped child then? What's going to happen when the government will be the deciding factor if my handicapped child will be eligible to live? What will happen when the government decides that my child with disabilities is not a productive part of this society, so they will ration her care to the point that she will not survive the little care that she receives? Because her health is so fragile, what will happen when the government will decide that they can't afford to give her an ultrasound for having a simple tummy ache? But in fact, a simple tummy ache for her could be life threatening. My daughter cannot take generic anti-convulsant medication. What will happen to her when the government will take away our Brand name medication which has been controlling the life threatening convulsive epilepsy that she has? Generic medicine will surely kill her. The government will kill her. They will decide whether my daughter should live or die. And they could care less either way, that's obvious by the decision they've made not to listen to the American people.

What can I do? Who can I rely on? Who can I trust? We're at the mercy of these politicians. The doctor's will also have their hands tied by these morons. My daughter will surely die under this government controlled socialized medicine. That I know is certain. If that isn't enough to fill me with disdain, I don't know what is. If someone can tell me otherwise...I'm all ears.
Frankly.....politics is bullshit.

First Amendment Buffoonery

Creepy, freaky, deaky. Wonder what would have happened if Dubya did this.

The Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America has quietly launched an initiative aimed at making Obama supporters' voices heard on the largely conservative airwaves.

"The fate of health reform has been a focus of debate in living rooms and offices, on TV and online — and on talk radio. And since millions of folks turn to talk radio as a trusted source of news and opinions, we need to make sure OFA supporters are calling in with a pro-reform message," says the introduction to the online tool.

The online tool presents users with a radio show discussing political topics, to which supporters can listen live, and the phone number for that station, for when health care comes up. It also offers tips for callers and talking points on the issue.

It Is What It Is

Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points examines whether Obama should be labeled a Socialist. Newt Gingrich responds. You decide.

C-SPAN Challenges Congress To Open Health Care Coverage: Obama's Transparency Lies

What say you, Betty?

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open “all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings,” to televised coverage on his network.

“The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety,” he wrote.

Congressional leaders, however, reportedly are expected to bypass the traditional conference committee process, in which lawmakers from both parties and chambers meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. Instead, The Associated Press reports that top Democrats at the House, Senate and White House will figure out the final product in three-way talks before sending it back to both chambers for a final vote.

This format would seem ideal for closed-door meetings, which congressional Democrats have used many times to figure out sensitive provisions in the health care bill — though President Obama pledged during the campaign to open up health care talks to C-SPAN’s cameras.

America Rising: We're Taking Our Country Back

“Man can be chained, but he cannot be domesticated.”-- Robert A. Heinlein


@ Hillbuzz

The Challenge Of Freedom

A must read by Doctor Zero.

Writing in the U.K. Times Online, Michael Binyon asks if Iran is approaching the tipping point of revolution. It’s a revolution observers in the West have anticipated for a long time. Ever since the massive protests against the stolen elections of early 2009, when a murderer’s bullet slammed into Neda Soltan’s chest, we’ve wondered if the Iranian people would stand up and overthrow their sinister regime. Neda’s name became a prayer in the West, and many of us thought it would soon become a battle cry ringing through the stale air of Tehran.

New demonstrations are under way, and there have been fresh atrocities, but the regime remains in power. Charles Krauthammer has encouraged the Obama Administration to declare the regime illegitimate… but by the time that happens, the lumberjacks of liberty will already be shouting “Timber!” as the dead regime comes tumbling down.

The melancholy truth is that tyranny is extremely difficult to overcome. Every successful revolution has been a desperate struggle, conducted in the defiance of inevitable defeat. As a religious and spiritual people, we have a tendency to regard the triumph of the righteous as assured, and see victory as the destiny of virtue. The evidence of history says otherwise. No one would have given the American patriots winning odds at the outset of the Revolutionary War, fought against the most disciplined and well-equipped military force of the era, by men who marched through the snow in the tatters of disintegrating boots.

Even patriotic Americans of today don’t always appreciate how special our achievement is… not just in its success, but its endurance. Most victorious “revolutions” end with a new class of slaves cleaning up the victory celebrations, beneath the whips of a new set of tyrants. As Binyon points out in his Times Online article, grisly regimes like North Korea remain in power, despite decades of poverty and manifest failure. The image of a lone, unarmed man standing against a line of tanks in Tienanmen Square hangs proudly in the gallery of Western memory, but it is virtually unknown to the people of China, its rightful owners. Brutal oppression works. That’s why humanity is still sick with it, after thousands of years.

Freedom is not a gift, or even a prize to be taken in battle. It is a challenge, and it is frightening. Modern Americans are born with the greatest inheritance of freedom enjoyed by any children of mankind, but they don’t guard it jealously. Too many of them view it as a currency to be exchanged for benefits. Freedom implies responsibility, and choice is meaningless without the risk of failure. We’ve come to define “fairness” as “everybody wins.” To build that rickety and doomed variety of “fairness,” freedom must be melted down into nails.

Our current government does not provide a rousing defense of liberty to those battling oppression in Iran, and elsewhere. What do those people think, when they see an exhausted West that wallows in self-loathing? What conclusions do they draw, when they hear the grandchildren of the Greatest Generation meekly concede that freedom is a burden, and life depends on the subsidies and control of the State? What encouragement can they find in the example of a nation that racks up debt as if it doesn’t expect to survive long enough for the bills to come due? Should the Iranian resistance be eager to fight and die, to replace mullahs with swindlers who steal trillions with midnight votes?

Capitalism is the practical expression of freedom. The two concepts are inseparable. Freedom of speech without property produces nothing but serfs with active social lives. Our current President was pleased to accept a politically-motivated Nobel Prize from a committee that honored Yasser Arafat, a murderous totalitarian thug. He visited Copenhagen to receive polite applause from people that gave socialist dictator Hugo Chavez a thunderous ovation for his anti-capitalist ravings. Could anyone in this Administration deliver a heartfelt endorsement of capitalism to the hungry ears of the Iranian protesters? Would any of them even be willing to try?

President Obama’s belief that America’s standing in the world would improve with his election, because he’s a “good listener,” is the exact opposite of the truth. Wise people, and nations, are always listening carefully… but the world improves when America speaks with confidence. Obama’s cherished Indonesian childhood, and the travels through the Muslim world he boasts of, have proven to mean nothing to the forces of Islamic fascism. He should have spent more time learning what his American heritage means to the people dying on the streets of Tehran, and those like them around the world.

Iran’s future remains cloudy. Even if the rumors about the Ayatollah Khamenei preparing to flee the country are true, a great deal of butchery may separate us from the moment when the wheels of his plane leave the tarmac. The wildest dream of democracy would have the Iranian people put the rest of the theocracy on the next plane behind him, with no blankets or pillows, and strict instructions to remain seated during the last hour of the flight. Even if the story took such an incredible turn, we should be under no illusions that the people of a liberated Iran would automatically love us… but we should love them anyway. The American flag was not raised solely for the benefit of those who are blessed and honored to stand beneath it. It is a challenge to all the tyrants of the world.

I dearly hope that, before his time in office is done, President Obama comes to understand that the challenge of freedom was not meant to be mumbled, or cloaked in the false vanity of regret. It should be bellowed in the faces of butchers and dictators. America has a moral obligation to remain strong, brave, and confident. No one on Earth should ever have to face a disaster and wonder if the Americans will be able to help. No victim of oppression should ever look at us and wonder if we still think freedom is priceless.

ReidCare: The Promise of Transparency..In The Dark Of Night

Via Gabriel Malor at AoSHQ:

Yes, America, this is how laws get made now: written in secret, voted on in the dark of night.

Tonight will be the first of three procedural votes the Democrats need to pass in order to destroy America's healthcare system.

Assuming they get 60 votes for cloture on the Manager's Amendment, the Democrats must wait 30 hours for the next vote (roughly until 7am Tuesday) , which will be an up-or-down vote on the Manager's Amendment. 50 votes required.

Immediately following the vote on the Manager's Amendment there's going to be a cloture vote on the Reid Substitute. It also requires 60 votes. Then Democrats must wait 30 more hours for an up-or-down vote on the Reid Substitute (until roughly 1pm Wednesday) . Only 50 votes required.

Immediately after the vote on the Reid Substitute, there will be a cloture vote on the final bill, ReidCare. 60 votes required. Then Democrats must wait 30 more hours for the final up-or-down vote on ReidCare. That requires only 50 votes and it should take place, if everything goes according to schedule, on Thursday, Christmas Eve around 7pm.

Merry Fucking Christmas.

1:08am So Reid's just yammering on. Can we tweak him for already being off schedule?

1:10am Voting now. Am I a bad person for hoping for a freak earthquake?

1:17am It's done. No surprises. The vote was 60-40 on strict party lines. The clock is now ticking.

Political Whores

Ben Nelson didn’t come cheap. In addition to the abortion restrictions he wanted, he also got a very nice pay out to his state of Nebraska: the feds will pay 100% of its Medicaid costs, forever.

Senate Majority Leader Harry insisted federally funded Medicaid for Nebraska forever was just a small part of it all for Nelson, and he said there were also deals cut to try to win a few Republicans.

Mary Landrieu gets her Lousiana Purchase deal for $300 mil.

All politicians have the spine of a gutless worm.