Right Minded Online

Rush Limbaugh did a terrific job dissecting ABC’s infomercial on ObamaCare, noting what we all know. Specifically, in no way is ObamaCare a means to extend health care to the uninsured — at least that’s not the primary objective. The primary objective is control. The primary objective of liberalism is control. And if you control a person’s health care, you control a lot.

All he did there was admit: “Yeah, I want the best healthcare possible.” Well, so the hell does everybody else! That wasn’t the question. The question was: “Are you going to go outside the plan that you have prescribed for everybody?” See, the dirty little secret is he’s going to be exempt from the plan, as are all members of Congress. The question was a good one: “Are you going to go outside the plan if you find a better doctor, better treatment that your plan doesn’t cover?” “You’re right. I’d go get the best care I could. I want the best care.” Then comes this irrelevant, non sequitur answer: That we have a bunch of care that’s being provided indicates may not be making us healthier. Folks, I’m telling you, the answer to this question you need to focus on: Obama is looking to cut healthcare. He’s looking to cut it because that’s the only way he can keep costs where they are or reduce them, which is not going to happen anyway. We have the best healthcare system in the country and he’s going to restrict access to it, as a means of saving money.

Limbaugh urged his listeners to call their congressmen and ask if they are going to subject themselves to the same health care plan they want to subject us to. That’s the true measure of just how good this health care plan is going to be.

Obama’s Government Will Decide If You Deserve Medical Treatment?.

Citing some investigation work by Byron York of the D.C. Examiner, the Maha Rushie digs into the illegal firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin. This is getting really interesting.

Gerald Walpin is Not Afraid.

This sure is a frightening scenario:

Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she’s so worried that information from next year’s national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.

In an interview Wednesday morning with The Washington Times “America’s Morning News,” Mrs. Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, said the questions have become “very intricate, very personal” and she also fears ACORN, the community organizing group that came under fire for its voter registration efforts last year, will be part of the Census Bureau’s door-to-door information collection efforts.

It will be interesting to see what’s on the 2010 questionnaire. The U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to take a census every ten years for the purpose of congressional apportionment. In other words, it is Constitutional for the government to count the number of people living in your home. The Constitution in no way authorizes the federal government to collect personal information beyond that, but that’s what the census has turned into. I can’t wait to see what the Obama Commerce Department throws into next year’s questionnaire.

EXCLUSIVE: Minn. lawmaker vows not to complete Census – Washington Times.

I try to live healthy. I run 15-20 miles a week. I keep my cholesterol down. I usually eat well. But sometimes I indulge. I’ll eat two double cheeseburgers from McDonald’s. Or I’ll make a 3-egg omlet, with bacon on the side. It’s my own darn business. I don’t want government or anyone else telling me what to eat and what not to eat. Likewise, I enjoy running. But I don’t want government or anyone else telling me I have to. I know what’s good for me, and I know what’s bad for me. I don’t need some busybody liberal or government bureaucrat telling me I shouldn’t be eating that double cheeseburger. I know I shouldn’t be eating it, but I choose to eat it anyway. I guess you could say that I’m pro-choice when it comes to personal lifestyle.

Apparently, President Obama is about to make YOUR lifestyle choices for you. He is determined to make it HIS business what you eat and how much exercise you get. This is what irritates me most about liberalism, and, believe me, everything about liberalism irritates me. But the authoritarian I-know-what’s-best-for-you aspect of liberalism gets me the most. Liberals are the smart parents. We are the dumb children.

From the White House garden to his picks for top health jobs, Obama is telling America’s McDonald’s-loving, couch-dwelling, doctor-phobic populace that things are about to change.

Don’t be fooled by the presidential burger runs. Obama and Congress are moving across several fronts to give government a central role in making America healthier — raising expectations among public health experts of a new era of activism unlike any before.

Any health care reform plan that Obama signs is almost certain to call for nutrition counseling, obesity screenings and wellness programs at workplaces and community centers. He wants more time in the school day for physical fitness, more nutritious school lunches and more bike paths, walking paths and grocery stores in underserved areas.

Barack Obama says shape up now – Carrie Budoff Brown – POLITICO.com.

A financial expert who specializes in fraud prevention says as much as $50 billion of President Obama’s $787 billion “economic stimulus” package will be written off to fraud, and this doesn’t include the global warming hoax. Remember, President Obama was going to watch every dime of this money to ensure that it would be spent “properly.” Really, did our elected leaders not learn after Hurricane Katrina that when you throw hundreds of billions of dollars at a “problem,” you’re only inviting fraud? Of course not. How could we silly taxpayers ever expect our elected leaders to learn anything resembling responsible behavior?

Stimulus fraud could hit $50 billion – MarketWatch.

Let me preface this post by disclaiming that smoking cigarettes is a filthy, disgusting habit. But, as an American, you have the right to engage in filthy, disgusting habits. Democrats don’t share my love of liberty, and instead plan on regulating the smoking industry even more than they already do.

The Senate struck a historic blow against smoking in America Thursday, voting overwhelmingly to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in the cigarettes that kill nearly a half-million people a year, to drastically curtail ads that glorify tobacco and to ban flavored products aimed at spreading the habit to young people.

President Barack Obama, who has spoken of his own struggle to quit smoking, said he was eager to sign the legislation, and the House planned a vote for Friday. Cigarette foes said the measure would not only cut deaths but reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.

The funny thing is, Democrats need for you smokers to keep on smoking. You see, Democrats love taxing the heck out of cigarettes. They build government programs on projected revenue from the cigarette tax. They will then turn around and place limitations or even outright bans on smoking, thus limiting the ability of smokers to light up, thus cutting into their tax revenue. It makes no sense.

No smoking: Historic vote could bring new limits – Yahoo! News.

President Obama is promising that his $787 billion stimulus plan is going to create 600,000 jobs. That comes out to $1,311,667 per job. Do they not have calculators at the mainstream press? Can no one who writes these stories figure out that we’re spending a whole lot of money with remarkably few results?

Republicans remain critical of the stimulus spending, slamming it as a big government program that ultimately will do little for recovery. With only a fraction of the federal money actually spent thus far, it’s premature to give the stimulus plan credit for economic trends, congressional Republicans said last week.

“I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact. So I’m very skeptical that this massive sort of spending binge that we’ve engaged in is going to have much of an impact,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Obama initially offered his stimulus plan as a way to put people back to work, a promise that 3.5 million jobs would be saved or created. The administration’s predictions that unemployment would rise no higher than 8 percent already have been shattered, leaving Obama’s advisers to caution that job growth takes time, even as recovery spending intensifies.

Obama promises more than 600,000 stimulus jobs – Yahoo! News.

Obama: Nationalization of GM to be short-term – Yahoo! News.

The Associated Press is making its pitch for President Obama’s universal health care behemoth by trying to get us angered into accepting a far worse system than what we currently enjoy.

Health insurance premiums for an average family are $1,000 a year higher because of costs of health care for the uninsured, a new report finds.

And private coverage for the average individual costs an extra $370 a year because of the cost-shifting, which happens when someone without medical insurance gets care at an emergency room or elsewhere and then doesn’t pay.

The report was released Thursday by advocacy group Families USA, which said the findings — which it calls a “hidden tax” — support its goal of extending coverage to all the 50 million Americans who are now uninsured. Congress and the Obama administration are working on a plan to do that.

First of all, there are nowhere near 50 milion uninsured Americans. I explain why here.

Second, according to this news account, those who are uninsured cost insured families $1,000 a year because of the cost of providing health care to the uninsured. Now, President Obama’s plan would cost the taxpayers $1.5 trillion over the first ten years. Assuming there are no cost overruns — wink-wink — that comes out to $150 billion per year, or about $500 per man, woman, and child.

But that’s $1.5 trillion the federal government does not have, so it will have to be borrowed. So the true cost of President Obama’s health care plan will simply be passed off to future generations, interest and all.

No thanks.

Report concludes uninsured are costly for all – Yahoo! News.

The Associated Press is breathlessly reporting that President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package has saved or created 150,000 jobs. Wow! That’s really remarkable. Problem is, that averages out to $5,246,667 of taxpayer money per job. There must be a better way.

Obama promotes clean energy, stimulus in Nevada – Yahoo! News.

The indispensable Tennessee Center for Policy Research has released its Pork Report, having identified some $500 million in fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

According to the TCPR, “In total, the Pork Report uncovers nearly 100 examples of outrageous spending by state and local government, including $7.4 million to finance government-approved art, including a grant to an author of sex novels, and $482,572 to fund the ‘Barge to Nowhere,’ a ferry that carries fewer than 17 passengers per day.”

Blue Collar Muse points out that a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly — shouldn’t those folks be out of Nashville by now? — would open up private medical records for government use. I don’t like this one bit.

TN House Bill 2289 (HB2289) and Senate Bill 2239 (SB2239), according to the state’s website, are innocuous bills on insurance, medical fees and accreditation typical of the uninteresting legislation passed nationwide. Reading the text of HB2289, it is anything but.

It establishes an All Payer Claims Database (APCD). The APCD requires private insurance companies to report to the state the details on the claims they process. For perspective, one particular Tennessee insurer processes 32,000 of those details every hour. That’s 250,000 details per day about private citizens the state wants turned over to them.

In fact, there are over 6000 details which might be reported about you under HB2289 including data on prescriptions, medical conditions, sexually transmitted diseases, surgeries and more. If I know Government, 6000 is nothing but a good start!

TN HB2289 Gives Goverment Access to Private Medical Information | Blue Collar Muse.

Last November, the American electorate voted to increase Democrat majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate while sending a leftist to the White House.

The results have been predictable. The bills are about to start pouring in.

Not only are Democrats obsessed with raising taxes, but their incessant meddling in the private sector will also inevitably increase the cost of living in the long run.

In the most recent example, President Obama has assumed the role of car-designer-in-chief. He is leading the way for much stricter mileage standards for automobiles. By 2016, he wants the average motor vehicle to get 35.5 miles per gallon. This will add as much as $1,300 to the cost of each new vehicle.

Even though he has absolutely no constitutional authority to make these kinds of demands, he’s doing it anyway, and no one has the will to stop him. The left has for years been trying to get us to drive tin can automobiles, using the global warming hoax as a wedge between us and our gas guzzlers.

Liberalism succeeds only by convincing individuals to act against their own self-interest. And if liberals can’t convince us, they’ll use the power of government to force us. In this case, Americans will be forced into buying a bunch of cars we don’t want.

Of course, according to President Obama, the increase in cost will be offset by the decrease in the demand for gasoline — about $2,800 during the life of each vehicle. That is, until the federal government decides to raise the fuel tax. You see, Americans currently pay 18.4 cents to the federal government per gallon of gasoline. If we increase our gas mileage, we’ll be buying fewer gallons of gas, which will mean less revenue going to Washington. So Congress will end up raising the gas tax in order to make up the difference.

Back in February, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood suggested that the government tax motorists not on how much gas they buy, but by how many miles they drive. This has already been proposed in several states, and if it were to become law at the federal level, then it wouldn’t matter how much money you save on gas. The government would still manage to pick your pocket.

Even though President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are spending piles of money they don’t have, President Obama is still planning on government taking over the health care industry. Government is already broke, and is going another $1.8 trillion in debt this fiscal year alone, but that’s not stopping Obama. Where’s he going to get the money for a massive government health care program that will cost an estimated $1.5 trillion over ten years? By raising taxes, of course.

Democrats in Congress are mulling over limiting the tax-free status of employer-provided health benefits. This is really ironic, given that Democrats are supposed to be all about health care. Employer-provided health benefits are tax-free for a reason: to make it easier to afford health coverage. Thus, limiting the tax-free status of employer-provided health benefits will make it more difficult for consumers to afford their premiums. This makes no sense, unless you understand that the current Democrat leaders really aren’t about health care. They’re about government-run health care.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus says there are no easy options. Of course there are. Just get government to stop meddling in our lives and stop spending money it doesn’t have.

The federal government is broke, and yet President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are still proposing program after program. Right now, given the size of the national debt and the amount of revenue that is collected each year, the federal government is today collecting money it spent about four years ago. On top of that, government is currently borrowing nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends.

The federal debt currently stands at $11.3 trillion, and increases by about $5 billion every day. Given past revenue figures, the federal government is today collecting revenue that was actually spent in 2005. And given President Obama’s budget forecast, we are spending money today that won’t be collected until 2013 or 2014. By then, the federal debt will be nearly $16 trillion.

When President Obama isn’t tinkering with the automobile industry, or the health care industry, or the banking industry, he’s messing around with the credit card industry.

During his weekly radio address on May 9, he remarked, “Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe. But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties, and hidden fees that have become all too common.”

Yes, he actually said that. Americans have a responsibility to live within their means. Apparently, Congress and the President don’t.

We also have a right to not get ripped off by sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties, and hidden fees by credit card companies. But we do apparently have a right to get ripped off by tax hikes and all the other means government uses to separate the American taxpayer from his paycheck.

Chrysler Closures, From a Car Dealer’s Point of View – Greta Van Susteren | On The Record With Greta – FOXNews.com.

This is liberalism at its worst. President Obama has assumed the role of car designer. Even though he has absolutely no constitutional authority to make these kinds of demands of the private sector, he’s doing it anyway, and no one has the cojones to stop him. Liberals have for years been trying to get us to drive tin can automobiles, using the global warming hoax as a wedge between us and our SUV’s. Liberalism succeeds only by convincing individuals to act against their own self-interest. And if liberals can’t convince us, they’ll use the power of government to force us. In this case, Americans will be forced into buying a bunch of cars we don’t want.

President Barack Obama is asking consumers to put their money — up to $1,300 per new vehicle by 2016 — behind his plan for higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and tougher rules on their greenhouse gas emissions. In return, Obama said Tuesday in unveiling the plan, drivers would make up the higher cost of more fuel-efficient, cleaner vehicles by buying less gas at the pump.

Obama touts plan for cleaner, more efficient cars.

As I mentioned two posts ago, Democrats will invent any manner of crisis. They do this for one purpose: to expand government power and/or raise taxes. And so, I bring you the Great Cheerio Crisis of 2009.

Michelle Malkin » First, they came for the Cheerios

Democrats are mulling over how to pay for President Obama’s massive government takeover of the health care system. And so, they’re looking at the tried and true method Democrats always use: raising taxes.

Senators are considering limiting — but not eliminating — the tax-free status of employer-provided health benefits to help pay for President Barack Obama’s plan to provide coverage to 50 million uninsured Americans.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Tuesday that there are no easy options. Senators began grappling with how to finance guaranteed coverage, a cornerstone of Obama’s plan to overhaul the health care system. Independent experts put the costs at about $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The federal government is broke, and yet President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are still proposing program after program. Right now, given the size of the national debt and the amount of revenue that is collected each year, the federal government is today collecting money it spent about four years ago. On top of that, we’re currently borrowing nearly 50 cents for every dollar we spend.

Imagine if we ran our personal finances the same way. Imagine if you had spent your current paycheck back in 2005 at the grocery store, or the gas pump, or the car lot, or wherever. At the rate the Democrats are piling onto our $10 trillion debt, the government is today spending money it won’t collect until about 2015. This is insanity. I can’t think of a more insane way to run a government than the way Democrats are running it now. It makes you wonder how some of these people are able to sleep at night.

Senators weigh tax hikes to pay for health care.

Two cornerstone programs of liberalism, Social Security and Medicare, were already in deep trouble before the current recession, but are now even more so now that the government is collecting less money in payroll taxes.

Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, a year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner, trustees reported.

Medicare is in even worse shape. The trustees said the program for hospital expenses will pay out more in benefits than it collects this year, just as it did for the first time in 2008. The trustees project that the Medicare fund will be depleted by 2017, two years earlier than the date projected in last year’s report.

Step one to solving a problem is to admit there’s a problem. Bet even as the walls of these two transfer-of-wealth programs crumble around them, Democrats insist there isn’t a problem, that everything is just fine. Heck, President Clinton actually fixed Social Security during his time in office, so we know there can’t be a problem. Liberals will invent all manner of fake crises, such as global warming, but when actually faced with one, they shrug it off. They were more bent out of shape over the AIG bonuses than the inevitable collapse of their two cornerstone programs.

Social Security and Medicare finances worsen.

Federal, state, and local governments now confiscate 40% of the wealth created by American producers.

TaxingTennessee: Govt spending now 40% of GDP.

Check this out: Faces of Government Healthcare.