What goes up must come down

The Kennedy Bounce

Gotta love the Kennedy Bounce.

What else should we blame? The Hippocratic Oath!!!

Courtesy of Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health adviser to President Barack Obama, brother of Cheif of Staff Rahm Emanuel:

Dr. Emanuel is part of a school of thought that redefines a physician’s duty, insisting that it includes working for the greater good of society instead of focusing only on a patient’s needs.

Whoa! Hello Obamunism! The greater good of society?! Doctors are supposed to heal the ills of society??

Dr. Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the "overuse" of medical care: "Medical school education and post graduate education emphasize thoroughness," he writes. "This culture is further reinforced by a unique understanding of professional obligations, specifically the Hippocratic Oath's

"Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality of care are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change."

True reform, he argues, must include redefining doctors' ethical obligations

In numerous writings, Dr. Emanuel chastises physicians for thinking only about their own patient's needs.

Dr. Emanuel believes doctors should serve two masters, the patient and society, and that medical students should be trained "to provide socially sustainable, cost-effective care."

Dr. Emanuel argues that to make such decisions, the focus cannot be only on the worth of the individual.

Dr. Emanuel concedes that his plan appears to discriminate against older people

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What part about rationing, death panels, socialism and Obamunism are people not seeing here?

Also, let's not forget that The Health Commissioner is going to dole out health care based on your income and IRS filings.

Bill would give president emergency control of Internet

From CNET

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government.

Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.

'Black agenda' memo stirs ATL race

AJC: 'Black agenda' memo stirs ATL race

Race Enters Atlanta Mayoral Vote - WSJ.com

ATLANTA -- The campaign for mayor of this city, which has long promoted its racial tolerance, veered into controversy Thursday with the release of a memo urging black voters to unite around an African-American candidate and block the election of a white mayor.

A local group known as the Black Leadership Forum called for African-Americans to consolidate their support around Lisa Borders, president of the Atlanta City Council and one of several African-American candidates, according to a memo circulated on the Web and to local media.

"For the last 25 years Atlanta has represented the breakthrough for black political empowerment in the South," read the memo. "In order to defeat a Norwood (white) mayoral candidacy we have to get out now and work in a manner to defeat her without a runoff, and the key is a significant Black turnout."

The memo was the sharpest signal yet of overt racial politics creeping into the competition to replace Shirley Franklin, elected as the city's first female mayor in 2001. Atlanta was the first Southern city to elect an African-American mayor, Maynard H. Jackson, in 1973. No white candidate has mounted a serious campaign for the office since then.

But Atlanta's demographics have shifted drastically in the past decade. The city of about 440,000 people remains a majority African-American city. But the proportion of voting-age residents who are white or Hispanic has grown.

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Can someone tell me how this is not a coordinated effort to defeat a minority candidate soley on the grounds of the color of their skin?

The finger pointing continues and they turn on their own

The finger pointing continues and they turn on their own

Moderate Blue Dog Democrats "just want to cause trouble," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who heads the health subcommittee on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

"They're for the most part, I hate to say, brain dead, but they're just looking to raise money from insurance companies and promote a right-wing agenda that is not really very useful in this whole process," Stark told reporters on a conference call.

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What do you do when you've run out of people to blame? Blame your colleagues!

Who's to blame for everything we can't accomplish:

• Bush
• Talk Radio
• Mobs of un-american Tea-baggers
• Vast right-wing conspiracies
• FoxNews
• Bush
• Rich People
• ... and Blue Dog Democrats "just looking to raise money from insurance companies and promote a right-wing agenda"

Welcome to bizarro world...

Surprise... Pete Stark is from California!

Section 431(a) .. read the bill people!

From our friends at CBS

Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."

Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details -- there's no specified limit on what's available or unavailable -- to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify "affordability credits."

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The Health Choices Commissioner is going to determine who gets care based on their income? Shouldn't we determine who gets care based on THEIR HEALTH! What else is the Commissioner going to decide? Can someone tell me how this isn't a tax? Can someone tell me how this isn't rationing? In fact, this is the dictionary definition of rationing. The Comish is going to ration "affordabioity credits" to the people the GOVERNMENT feels are most deserving. Someone please tell me how this wouldn't be ripe with political intervention? Politicians pander to the elderly primarily because the Goverment controls their social security. If you control social security you control the votes... if you control health care you control the people who get the most "affordability credits"

Why are anti-Obama citizens un-American?

From TMQ....

From Tuesday Morning Quarterback

Ideal Government Program -- Build New Clunkers, Then Immediately Junk Them: Can anyone explain why American taxpayers are being taxed, via the Cash for Clunkers program, to subsidize the destruction of low-mileage cars -- while simultaneously being taxed to support General Motors, which just released a 426-horsepower, 16-mpg Camaro to complement its 556-horsepower, 15-mpg Cadillac? Under the Cash for Clunkers mileage rules, both cars classify as clunkers! Taxpayers are simultaneously paying to destroy old low-mileage cars and build new low-mileage cars. Check the Detroit-manufactured carslisted by the EPA as "worst in class" for fuel waste -- you are being taxed to subsidize the building and promotion of these cars. Plus, the White House and many in Congress want to begin restricting greenhouse gases. I think action against greenhouse gases is scientifically justified. But if greenhouse gas regulation is enacted, you will simultaneously be taxed to reduce greenhouse gases and taxed to support construction of polluting machines such as the 556-horsepower Cadillac, which the EPA says emits 11 tons of greenhouse gases per year, one of the worst global-warming scores of any current passenger vehicle. General Motors has started to build high-quality, good-mileage cars, including the new Malibu and the new fuel-efficient Equinox SUV. That's good news. Why are average people being taxed to subsidize everything General Motors builds, including wasteful, high-polluting rich men's playthings like this?

AP Photo/Michael DwyerNew clunkers are rolling off the assembly line, subsidized by your taxes.

Meanwhile, auto dealers who credited customers with $4,500 for clunker deals are discovering federal rebate checks have not yet arrived. What's the matter, dealers -- didn't you read the fine print? Perhaps auto dealers have fallen for a bait-and-switch! Here, a dealer negotiates with Barack Obama:

AUTO DEALER: Where's my check for $4,500? You said it was in the mail.

OBAMA: [Waves thick contract] Look right here, subparagraph 14d. It clearly states the money will be paid on the third Tuesday of a month that begins with a waning gibbous moon. You read subparagraph 14d, didn't you?

DEALER: No -- I was tired -- you assured me it was just paperwork.

OBAMA: Well! Maybe I can still get you the discount, if you buy rustproofing and splashguards.

DEALER: Your ads didn't say anything about rustproofing.

OBAMA: [Waves printout] Look, I am giving you everything below my cost. See, here's my factory invoice. My revenue is $2.2 trillion, yet I am spending $3.9 trillion. [Note: actual federal budget figures for current fiscal year]

DEALER: Wait a minute -- if you're really selling below cost, how do you stay in business?

OBAMA: We make it up in volume.

DEALER: Just give me my $4,500!

OBAMA: OK. I have to ask my manager. [Disappears into back]

DEALER: I wonder if he's really checking with his manager.

OBAMA: [Returns] Tell you what, you can use the $4,500 as a down payment on the $11 trillion debt your children will owe. While you're here, would you like free health care? It's going to cost you.

Deficit revised up... way up

Obama Predicts Unemployment, Deficits Far Worse Than Previously Stated...

White House projects bigger deficits, bigger debt

WASHINGTON – The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House officials predicted Tuesday in a fiscal assessment far bleaker than what the Obama administration had estimated just a few months ago.

Figures released by the White House budget office foresee a cumulative $9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, $2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May. Moreover, the figures show the public debt doubling by 2019 and reaching three-quarters the size of the entire national economy.

Obama economic adviser Christina Romer predicted unemployment could reach 10 percent this year and begin a slow decline next year. Still, she said, the average unemployment will be 9.3 in 2009 and 9.8 percent in 2010.

Analysis of the week

Article of the week, if you read one article this week, read this one.

Why Bill Clinton's health care failure ultimately saved his presidency and how Newt Gingrich freed him from the radical left and made him the most popular leader of the decade.

Public skepticism increased when the Congressional Budget Office issued findings contradicting Mr. Obama's claims that his health-care reform would lower costs. And the more Americans have learned about the specifics, the more they dislike the plans. The president understands that he loses when he talks about substantive issues, which is why he's been fudging on the public option. He may not understand that he is closing the gap between his unpopular policies and his personal popularity in the worst way a president can: by reducing his own credibility.

A far more productive strategy would be to embrace Mr. Clinton's success, which was freeing himself from his party's left and returning to the centrist themes he had campaigned on....

Back in 1994, Mr. Clinton faced pretty much the same problem. Though he too had won the White House promising to be a new kind of Democrat, his first two years had a distinctly liberal tenor: battling over gays in the military, promoting a new energy tax, turning a promised middle-class tax cut into a huge tax hike, and trying to push through universal health care. Though he continues to deny GOP contributions to his success, after his 1994 health-care defeat, Mr. Clinton did what all smart pols do: He appropriated the most appealing parts of his opponents' agenda.

The result was a new Bill Clinton, embracing everything from deregulation and welfare reform to the Defense of Marriage Act. In his 1996 State of the Union, he even struck a Reaganite chord by announcing that "the era of Big Government is over. From this newly held center, Mr. Clinton advanced his presidency and pushed, both successfully and unfairly, to demonize Mr. Gingrich. Mostly he got away with it.

In his book "The Pact," historian Steven M. Gillon puts it this way: "Ironically, Gingrich's revolution may have saved the Clinton presidency by freeing him from the control of his party's more liberal base in Congress, giving him the opportunity to return to the moderate message that helped him win election in the first place.

"It was Gingrich who changed the language of American politics and forced Clinton to play the game on his turf," he writes. "But it was Clinton who ultimately got the credit and emerged as the decade's most popular leader."

At the moment, Mr. Obama plainly remains wedded to the view that the 1994 failure to get a health-care bill through Congress marked a catastrophe for the Clinton presidency rather than its liberation. On Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said his boss was "quite comfortable" with the idea that sticking to his agenda may well mean "he only lives in this house" for one term. Sounds like a man who appreciates the limits of a president's personal popularity.

Obama Proposes Saving Throws, Death Master in Health Care Plans

By Brian Briggs

Washington D. C. - Facing opposition on both sides of the aisle, President Obama proposed new measures for his health care plan to court the geek population's support for the issue.

In the plan, citizens facing end of life issues would meet with the "Death Master" to determine if their health care insurance will cover their treatment. The "Death Master" will conduct a complete health history and determine roll modifiers. For example, a smoker would get a -3 to their roll, while a fit person would get a +2.

After completing the survey, the "Death Master" will supervise the saving throw, and declare whether the person will live or die depending on their roll. If a person does not have a 20-sided die (d20) one will be provided for them at no cost.

The administration feels the plan will encourage healthy behaviors in the populous, and solidify Obama's reputation as a geek.

The "Death Master" will be a cabinet-level position and will be appointed by the President.

The saving throws would replace the fictional "death panels" created by conservatives trying to derail health care reform. "It will all be mathematically determined. Decisions won't be left up to a fantasy panel of government bureaucrats but by an algorithm and a roll of the die from a fantasy game," said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

If successful, saving throws could be implemented system wide to determine who does and doesn't get care. "If a person needs antibiotics for strep throat, a roll of the die could determine whether they get it or not. It would streamline the decision process for doctors and remove a lot of the bloat in the current system," said Gibbs.

Republicans voiced immediate opposition to the proposal with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin leading the charge. "Health care soaring against the northern lights. Denali giver of life. The dice roll into the future," said Palin.

The Nerd Caucus in the House of Representatives announced their support.

No one left to blame...

Now Obama is blaming the media... the media!

Press Sec Robert Gibbs has grown more sardonic and patronizing as the summer wears on and Obama’s poll numbers wilt.

The press secretary has lectured reporters on the nature of their jobs — apparently to defend the administration against “misinformation” rather than asking impertinent questions like “How will you pay for it?”

Gibbs is so crabby because, incredibly, the administration blames the media for the president’s problems.

It tried blaming Republicans, but the GOP is too far out of power. When the leader of the free world is complaining about a posting on the former governor of Alaska’s Facebook page, he’s got problems.

Team Obama tried blaming special interests, but that was a bust too.

Democrats tried blaming the “mobs” of “un-American” protesters and “evil mongers” who were giving raspberries to members of Congress at town halls.

That flopped too, leaving the administration to blame the messenger.

And one can understand why Gibbs would be a bit shocked by the slightly less accommodating tone of the media.

Reporters who traveled with the Obama campaign tell horror stories about the organization — dishonesty, rudeness and abysmal access.

Honestly, let's look at the list of people Barack has blamed since taking office:

• Bush - who set the bar exceedingly low for any President to compare themselves to
• The GOP - who does not control either house of congress or the Presidency
• The Insurance Companies and Special Interests Groups - Lobbyists, what?
• "Un-american" "mobs" who are "disrupting" Town Hall meetings
• Talk Radio - I find it ironic that the king of new media and main stream media's golden boy feels threatened by AM RADIO!
• Former Governors of Alaska and Facebook - when you are blaming Sarah Palin and Facebook you know you have lost control of the debate.
• Rich People
• a Racist Cop
• And finally he is now blaming "the media" for his Health Care implosion.

Not to be outdone:

NY Gov. blames his problems on his race...

and that 'The next victim is President Obama'..

and... NY Gov.: People get 'nervous' if there are 'too many' minorities in office...

Sounds like more racial pimpin'

Meanwhile...POLL: New Low for Obama Approval Index...

Obama to raise 10-year deficit to $9 trillion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to approximately $9 trillion from $7.108 trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.

The higher deficit figure, based on updated economic data, brings the White House budget office into line with outside estimates and gives further fuel to President Barack Obama's opponents, who say his spending plans are too expensive in light of budget shortfalls.

The White House took heat for sticking with its $7.108 trillion forecast earlier this year after the Congressional Budget Office forecast that deficits between 2010 and 2019 would total $9.1 trillion.

Tim Pawlenty: Making sense

"People are ticked off and scared. You have a situation where a good chunk of the country is waking up to the fact that Obama is proposing things that are out of step with common sense, out of step with the notion that the government isn’t going to run everything"

Pawlenty said he has three major objections to Democratic plans: the public option, possible tax increases on small and medium-sized businesses and the “massive spending disaster” that would result if health care were added to a federal budget.

The Minnesota governor also supports the right to pool insurance risk across state lines, opening up private insurance markets to allow consumers to buy a policy from nearly anywhere, creating an electronic billing and prescription system, the prohibition of coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions, portability guarantees and incentivizing hospitals and patients to reduce the cost of individual visits.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26271.html#ixzz0OjIEWuUI