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It’s very fair to send people who disregard the federal mandate to buy health insurance to prison, Nancy Pelosi says, because otherwise they’ll assault citizens … with a bill for medical services … or something. Apparently, the occasionally unhealthy have become such a security risk that we need to imprison them for opting to pay their own way. Infidels Are Cool has the key exchange::

Both the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy approved earlier this year and the version just okayed by Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Democrats (Republicans boycotted the vote) contains an obscure but nasty bureaucratic provision that requires President Obama to act like Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez. Here’s how: The bills require a federal declaration of a “climate emergency” if world greenhouse gas levels reach 450 parts per million. Guess what? The Pacific Northwest National Lab says it is a virtual certainty that level will be reached within a few months. The bill then requires the president to “direct...

Mr. Obama said, “penalties are appropriate for people who try to free ride the system and force others to pay for their health insurance.”

Advice For Obama: Knock Heads On Health Care He 'could take a few pages from Lyndon Johnson's book,' says Rep. Conyers WASHINGTON - The most senior African-American in Congress offered some unsolicited advice Monday to President Barack Obama on how to get his signature health care bill through a balky Senate: knock their heads together. "The president could take a few pages from Lyndon Johnson's book ... and start knocking heads together," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Conyers, who spoke to reporters in Detroit, first came to Congress in 1965, the year Medicare and...

* All 5 commissioners vote to seek public comment on rule * Two Republican commissioners have some reservations * Draft rule would allow for 'reasonable' net management * Public comments accepted until Jan. 14 * Telecom firms worry rule would hamper network management (Adds vote by commissioners, quotes, background) By John Poirier and Sinead Carew WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators voted unanimously Thursday to support an open Internet rule that would prevent telecom network operators from barring or blocking content based on the revenue it generates. The proposed rule now goes to the public for comment until...

"President Obama is working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party, setting loose top White House officials to undermine conservatives in the media, business and lobbying worlds. With a series of private meetings and public taunts, the White House has targeted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest-spending pro-business lobbying group in the country; Rush Limbaugh, the country’s most-listened-to conservative commentator; and now, with a new volley of combative rhetoric in recent days, the insurance industry, Wall Street executives and Fox News"

Hoyer Says Constitution’s ‘General Welfare’ Clause Empowers Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance Wednesday, October 21, 2009 By Matt Cover (CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the individual health insurance mandates included in every health reform bill, which require Americans to have insurance, were “like paying taxes.” He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.” The Congressional Budget Office, however, has stated in the past that a mandate forcing Americans to buy health insurance would...

The White House escalated its offensive against Fox News on Sunday by urging other news organizations to stop "following Fox" and instead join the administration's attempt to marginalize the channel. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox." Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization." "Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's...

Senior Obama administration officials took to the airwaves Sunday to accuse Fox News of pushing a particular point of view, one week after the administration fired its initial salvo to try to isolate the news network by accusing it of being a GOP mouthpiece. "A lot of their news programming, it's really not news. It's pushing a point of view," senior adviser David Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week." "The way we -- the president looks at it and we look at it, is, it is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective," White House Chief...

Get in shape or pay a price. That's a message more Americans could hear if the health care reform bills passed by the Senate Finance and Health committees become law. By more than doubling the maximum rewards and penalties that companies can apply to employees who flunk medical evaluations, the bills could put workers under intense financial pressure to lose weight, stop smoking or even lower their cholesterol.

Scuffles erupted as several thousand Detroit residents jockeyed, pushed and shoved Wednesday to get free money being offered to only 3,500 of the city's recently or soon to be homeless. (Oct. 7)

Obama Administration task force closing in on deadline for 'health care' for nation's shorelines, waterways IRVINE, Calif. USA - October 5, 2009 - A recently published administration document outlines a structure that could result in closures of sport fishing in salt and freshwater areas across America. The White House created an Interagency Oceans Policy Task Force in June and gave them only 90 days to develop a comprehensive federal policy for all U.S. coastal, ocean and Great Lakes waters. Under the guise of 'protecting' these areas, the current second phase of the Task Force direction is to develop zoning which...

WASHINGTON – Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way. Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools...

Nearly 20 young children are captured in an online video as they sing songs that overflow with campaign slogans and praise for "Barack Hussein Obama," as they repeatedly chant the president's name and celebrate his accomplishments. A video posted on YouTube appears to show a New Jersey elementary school class being taught to sing praises of the "great accomplishments" of President Obama. The video shows nearly 20 young children taught a song overflowing with campaign slogans and praise for "Barack Hussein Obama," repeatedly chanting the president's name and celebrating his accomplishments, including his "great plans" to "make this country's economy...

An important update about the creepy video we posted yesterday. The Burlington Township School District, to which B. Bernice Youngs Elementary School belongs, posted the following Letter to Parents this morning. Dear Burlington Township Families: Today we became aware of a video that was placed on the internet which has been reported in the media. The video is of a class of students singing a song about President Obama. The activity took place during Black History Month in 2009, which is recognized each February to honor the contributions of African Americans to our country. Our curriculum studies, honors and recognizes...

The gloves are off. Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC, announced new guidelines to formalize the concept of net neutrality. Within hours, opponents of net neutrality published statements and op ed articles expressing objections, and a handful of elected U.S. representatives filed an amendment intended to prevent the FCC from taking action. The speed of the political response is stunning. Granted, it had been leaked at least a few days earlier that Genachowski would address net neutrality in his speech to the Brookings Institute on Monday. And, Genachowski's views on Net Neutrality are not a secret. So, opponents had a...

*Per Live Interview with Mike Tuffin of American Health Insurance Plans: *Regarding "Humana letter" sent out to Seniors (in regards to Obama Health Care proposed policy). *Insurance Companys have been told by the White House to withdraw letter to Seniors. *WH: "STOP SCARING SENIORS" *Mike Tuffin: "Infrigement on Freedom of Speech."

President Obama appeared on television yesterday 5 times and it is interesting that very little, if any news, came out of any of them. The guy is worse than a broken record. At least there, we can take the needle off the disc and make it stop. We are not so lucky with Obama. There's nothing we can do but turn off the TV when he repeats the same things over and over again about health care reform the same things he has been saying for months. Every speech, every townhall, every interview he makes the same points, tells the...

Barack Obama will renew his commitment to green America's economy and join international action on global warming in a speech to the United Nations climate change summit on Tuesday. The appearance is a chance to offer much needed assurances to nearly 100 world leaders that the president can deliver on his promise for early action on climate change – now that the issue has taken second place to health care in the Senate. The delay has added to uncertainty that the Senate will move forward on a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the crucial climate change summit at...

Health bill says 'tax' when President Obama said 'not' By: Chris Frates and Mike Allen September 21, 2009 09:06 AM EST In the most contentious exchange of President Barack Obama’s marathon of five Sunday shows, he said it is “not true” that a requirement for individuals to get health insurance under a key reform plan now being debated amounts to a tax increase. But he could look it up — in the bill. Page 29, sentence one of the bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont) says: “The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise...

On a Sunday show, the President offers a revealing definition. President Obama didn't make much news on his round of five Sunday talk shows yesterday, with one notable exception. The President revealed a great deal about his philosophy of government and how he defines a tax increase. It turns out the President thinks a health-care tax is not a tax if he thinks the tax is for your own good.

President Barack Obama is poised to abandon attempts to broker bipartisan health care reform and instead push through proposals using only the votes of Democrats. White House officials said they had been forced to take the step by Republicans amid an increasingly bitter debate over the plans. The Obama administration appears set on taking the politically dangerous route of painting Republicans as health care obstructionists despite polling showing widespread concern among Americans. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, told The New York Times that the Republican leadership "has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama's health care...

<p>HARTFORD - Police in Connecticut say they've now seized more than 2,000 firearms under a 1999 law that allows authorities to confiscate guns from people they suspect might harm themselves or others.</p> <p>A report prepared for the state legislature says state and local police seized 2,093 guns from October 1999 to May 2009.</p>

<p>HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ― Police in Connecticut say they've now seized more than 2,000 firearms under a 1999 law that allows authorities to confiscate guns from people they suspect might harm themselves or others.</p> <p>A report prepared for the state legislature says state and local police seized 2,093 guns from October 1999 to May 2009.</p>

(CNN) -- The recent closure of 32 privately owned radio stations and a proposed law to punish "media crimes" are signs that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is moving to quash criticism of his government, according to a recent U.S. intelligence report. Chavez's government is "moving forcefully to silence critics," said the unclassified U.S. analysis prepared by the Open Source Center, a U.S. government office that translates and analyzes reports from foreign news organizations. The relationship between privately owned media in Venezuela and the leftist Chavez have never been rosy. Chavez has accused private television stations of supporting his brief ouster...

FAITH AND FAMILY "Dirty secret No. 1 in Obamacare is about the government's coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development. It's outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading 'home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children.' The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills. The bill says that the government agents, 'well-trained and competent staff,' would 'provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains ... modeling, consulting,...

You can be a spy for Obama August 4, 8:56 PM During the Holocaust, many people and organizations betrayed their fellow man. They helped the Nazi's identify Jews, and reported those who were part of the Resistance.Some, like IBM, did it for money.  Others, like the whores who literally slept with the enemy, tried to curry favor with the occupying forces.  Some were only children, indoctrinated by Hitler's Jugend, the Nazi youth movement, to betray their parents.  Some were probably just trying to stay alive.Regardless of their reasons, they were all collaborators who sent millions of innocent people to their...

The goal of the Democrats' plan for health-care reform is coming more and more out into the open: they want to eliminate health insurance. This has turned out to be the most passionate source of public opposition to the Obama health-care bill. People are terrified that they will be deprived of any choice or any control over their own health care if their only option is to depend on the... --snip-- Do the Democrats even understand what insurance is? Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum muses that "Health insurance is a weird industry…. They don't do research, they don't perform...

Vocal crowd turns out for health care forum Wednesday, August 05, 2009 By NATALIE HOFFMAN Register Staff Writer A packed Napa church hosted a boisterous meeting Monday night regarding health care reform. The meeting drew some 500 people to listen to — and occasionally shout at — a panel of speakers that included Rep. Mike Thompson, D- St. Helena. The audience at First United Methodist Church demonstrated varying policy viewpoints. Some asked mild questions, others pointed ones, and still others burst into verbal attacks at panel members. Shouts of “This is America!” and “What’s wrong with profit?” emerged from a...

... Judge Sonia Sotomayor will doubtless be questioned about Kelo at her confirmation hearings next month. But her answers will be complicated by her participation in a 2006 decision applying and extending Kelo. Bart Didden, the property owner on the losing side of that decision, Didden v. Village of Port Chester, said in an interview that he had been contacted by aides to Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who seemed eager to explore Judge Sotomayor’s views on property rights. The ruling in Didden is not popular among some property rights and constitutional law professors. Eight of them filed a...

Reusable grocery bags may be a breeding ground for dangerous bacteria, yeast and mold, according to the first microbiological study in North America of earth-friendly shopping bags. The bottom line is that while such bags may be good for the planet, they are potentially very bad for your health. The new catch-phrase could soon be, “Paper, plastic or poison?” Two independent labs were hired by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association to study the bags, and found that 64 percent of them harbored some level of bacteria. Yeast or mold was found in 40 percent of the bags, and some bags...

Gan Yulan, a woman from a small town in Jianxi Province of China, was blindfolded and forced to have a sterilization operation by local township officials on March 23. Gan told a reporter that she was assaulted by the deputy director of the Local People's Congress on the way to the hospital and was forced to be sterilized without any family members present. Four officers took her into custody without showing any legal warrant. The officer who assaulted her on the way to the hospital was deputy director, Wang Xuebing. When asked why he hit her, Wang said: "You are...

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG "The world we leave our children" SNIPPET: "And some took heart in what the First Lady assured them would be "a new day" at the EPA."

BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio – President-elect Barack Obama made a pitch for his massive economic stimulus plan at a Midwestern factory that makes wind turbine parts, saying Friday his plan would make smart investments in the country's future and create solid jobs in up-and-coming industries. "Renewable energy isn't something pie in the sky. It's not part of a far-off future. It's happening all across America right now," Obama told workers at the Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. in this Cleveland suburb. "It can create millions of additional jobs and entire new industries if we act right now." Just days before taking...

As of this writing, December 6th, the Supreme Court has not yet announced whether or not it will take up the Donofrio case, or any other case concerning Obama’s constitutional eligibility for the office of President. Yet there is no more important issue before the court today and the clock is ticking. (snip) The Supreme Court of the United States of America has but one primary obligation to the American people, and that obligation is to use the power afforded it under Article III—Section I of the Constitution, to uphold, protect and preserve the U.S. Constitution, the Charters of Freedom,...

After an awful week in the stock market, Team Obama sent its acolytes out to the Sunday morning shows to let everyone know that the president-elect’s campaign promise to impose tax increases on higher-income earners as quickly as possible probably won’t kick in until at least 2011. By doing so, Obama and his inner circle finally, if only tacitly, acknowledged what they had refused to recognize during the presidential campaign, namely that economic expectations matter in the here and now. The recession, once it becomes official, will richly deserve designation as the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) recession....

Many say that now that Barack Obama has been elected, we should all work together for the common good. That sounds wonderful until you realize that we don't all agree on what is the common good. Notice I don't take the position that Republicans should refuse to cooperate with Mr. Obama because Democrats have been indescribably partisan, cruel and unfair to President Bush for the past eight years. Those are certainly grounds to call them hypocrites, but we must always put the best interests of the nation above petty partisanship -- obviously. So we must ask: Would it be in...

The GOP strategist had been joking about the upcoming presidential election and giving his humorous assessments of the candidates. Then he suddenly cut out the schtick and got scary serious. "Let me tell you something, if Democrats take the White House and pass a big-government healthcare plan, that's it. Game over. Government will dominate the economy like it does in Europe. Conservatives will spend the rest of their lives trying to turn things around and they will fail." And it turns out that the fearsome harbinger of free-market doom is the mild-mannered ex-U.S. senator with the little, red glasses, Tom...

It is simultaneously the worst political ad I’ve ever seen and the best. So I guess that makes it so bad it’s good. And it’s not exactly funny, though it is humorous. I’m talking about a 30-second television ad from Don Zimmerman, Republican candidate for Travis County tax assessor-collector. In the ad, titled “Kidneys for Taxes,” the camera quickly pans foot to head on a man (Zimmerman?) sitting in a bathtub filled with ice. A line of blood runs from the man’s midsection to the tub’s edge, where it trickles onto the floor. The voiceover — vaguely similar to the...

SUN PRAIRIE — Actor Bradley Whitford, who spent seven years working in a fictional White House in "The West Wing," knows a thing or two about real-life campaigns as well. The Madison native previously stumped for former Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and John Kerry before hitting the trail in support of current Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Whitford says things are different this time around. "I've never felt this sense of urgency. I have three kids and I'm sick of picking up the newspaper every day and seeing their future attacked," said Whitford, who was back in Dane County Sunday....

Obama spoke of his history with ACORN It is significant that we got a "page load error" for the original but, thanks to Google's cache, we can post the page's content. ACORN’s Political Action Committee Endorses ObamaOn Wed., Feb. 20, ACORN Votes endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. ACORN Votes is the national political action committee convened by ACORN leadership. ...When Sen. Obama met with ACORN Votes leaders in November, he spoke of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as an organizer with Project Vote, a nonprofit organization focused on voter...

I also heard an interview this morning: If ANYONE ELSE CAN GET IT Powell basically said that Obama will surround himself with experience people due to obamas Inexperience... Than he goes on to trash Palins Inexperience for President...

To end the many obstacles Southern states put up before African-American voters as late as the 1960s, Congress worked for decades to make voting much easier. These efforts had a hugely positive effect - until the 1993 "motor voter" law. This measure and some related laws made registration so easy - and so difficult to verify because of a lack of resources and time - that they created nothing less than a structural weakness in American democracy. This election year, we're seeing a determined, well-funded effort to exploit this weakness, led by ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for...

The aggravated assault on American democracy by Barack Obama's fan club(AKA, ACORN) is no longer a minor distraction that can be swept under the rug by the candidate and his colleagues. Voter fraud has exploded into a major national crisis, which threatens the very integrity of the November 4, election. Fraud by ACORN (registration so far) has been documented in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Ohio, and Missouri so far, all of which would benefit Barack Obama. Which brings up an intriguing question: Why are there no ACORNers to register Dumbo the Flying Elephant as the Republican answer to the left's Mickey...

Washington -- Two prominent former U.S. senators who support John McCain warned this morning of "a potential nightmare" on Election Day and afterward if measures aren't taken to monitor precincts in battleground states including Ohio. John Danforth, a former senator from Missouri and a former United Nations ambassador, said he is deeply concerned "that this election night and the days that follow will be a rerun of 2000, and even worse than 2000." It could be worse than the hanging chad controversy and recounts in Florida, and lead to political accusations and court fights that could delay the country from...

Members of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now downplayed their group’s participation in voter registration fraud and argued fraudulent voter applications rarely corrupt the electoral process Tuesday. One African-American ACORN official even suggested fraudulent registrations were a small price to pay for voting privileges that were paid for “in blood.” “Thorough studies of voter fraud in the United States have been done and the universal conclusion of the studies that have been done by us and other people is that the actual incidence of the voters voting under a false name and attempting to register multiple times and...

Obama pitches plan to amend bailout bill By Klaus Marre Posted: 09/30/08 10:26 AM [ET] Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on Tuesday proposed to increase the bank deposit insurance limit, hoping that the move could help get a Wall Street bailout passed. “Continued inaction in the face of the gathering storm in our financial markets would be catastrophic for our economy and our families,” Obama stated, urging continued bipartisanship to get the measure passed. The Illinois senator said the bailout measure rejected in the House on Monday was a “marked improvement” over Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s original proposal....

Bars and restaurants around Wrigley Field that ignore the city’s call to voluntarily cut off liquor sales after the seventh inning could face a dire alternative: Area residents could vote them dry, Mayor Daley warned Tuesday. One day after bar owners reacted angrily to the city’s proposal, Daley defended it as "common sense." He argued that Cubs fans who’ve been drinking up until the seventh-inning stretch of potential title-clinching games need, what he called, "some smoothing time" before the celebration begins in earnest. » Click to enlarge image Fans celebrate after the Cubs won the Central Division title. Mayor Daley...

A NEW weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Even in a country where a third of the schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the yearlong moratorium raises questions about when eating one style of food stops being a personal choice and becomes a public health concern. The Sisyphean struggle against poor diets has included booting soda from schools, banning trans fat and, more recently, sending New Yorkers into dietary sticker shock with a law...

If you're in Beijing for the Olympics kick starting this weekend, don't be spilling any beans (state secrets or otherwise) in your cab back to the hotel, because you're being listened to. As the WSJ is reporting, on your taxi's dash is a microphone that can be activated remotely, at any time and without the driver's knowledge, for a live listen into any one of Beijing's estimated 70,000 cabs. And then, if the folks on the other end don't like what they hear, they can take things even further.The GPS-equipped devices also allow for remote disabling by "cutting off...