http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/bribe/ en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:22:07 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414308/posts California's Democratic congressional leaders said Wednesday they hope to address concerns raised by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about the cost of health insurance legislation moving through Congress. Schwarzenegger wrote members of the state's congressional delegation this week and asked them for more flexibility to deal with the state's financial woes instead of imposing new costs through an expansion of Medicaid. He estimated that the health care legislation being debated in Congress would cost the state an extra $3 billion to $4 billion annually. “This crushing new burden will be added to a safety net that is already shredding under billions of... San DIego Union Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414308/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:22:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411913/posts Interesting Provisions That Recently Appeared In Senate Health Bill ? $100,000,000 For “Health Care Facility” “At A Public Research University In The United States That Contains A State’s Sole Public Academic Medical And Dental School.” NEBRASKA “As Part Of The Deal To Win Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's Support, The Federal Government Will Fund Nebraska's New Medicaid Recipients.” (“Ben Nelson's Medicaid Deal,” Politico, 12/19/09) VERMONT “The Health Care Overhaul Taking Shape In Congress Includes A Provision Pushed By Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy To Increase The State’s Medicaid Payments By $250 Million Over Six Years. The Provision, Also Supported By Sen. Bernie... SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411913/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:02:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409170/posts Politics: If the Democrats' stitched-together Frankenstein monster of health care reform gets the 60 votes to get through the Senate, it will have been done through an assortment of bribes and brass knuckles. (snip) Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, has also been critical of the buy-in and public option, but he has an additional issue about whatever comes out of the Senate not involving public funding of abortion in any way. Michael Goldfarb on the Weekly Standard blog quotes a Senate aide as saying the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the... Investor's Business daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409170/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:29:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409680/posts Ben Nelson says that he knows who started the rumor, and that it may be embarrassing if/when that info comes out. Says, no one threatened him or offered him ANYTHING for his vote. He's says the abortion issue is not the only thing stopping him from supporting the Senate bill. klin.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409680/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:11:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411330/posts The Senate clerk has finished reading the text of the manager's amendment to the chamber's healthcare bill. After roughly seven and a half hours of reading, the clerk concluded reading the 383-page manager's amendment to the bill, which was submitted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) earlier today. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) forced a reading of the amendment earlier today in a bid to string along the Senate healthcare debate. In the interim, Senate Democrats announced an agreement with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to secure the necessary 60 votes to move forward with the bill. They also released... The Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411330/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:37:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392130/posts Only a day after Senate Democrats voted to move into a historic debate on overhauling the nation's healthcare system, key centrists made it clearthat the party is still a long way from delivering on its promise to provide near-universal insurance coverage and contain medical costs. Faced with the prospect of Republican filibusters, Democratic leaders must deliver the same kind of total unity they managed to achieve in Saturday's vote to begin debate: Every Democratic senator, plus two independents who caucus with them, supported the key procedural motion. But several of those senators spoke out today to say that they will... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392130/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:35:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2411268/posts Now that we know that the Democratic leadership in Congress and the Obama Administration have bribed Senator Ben Nelson into supporting the government takeover of healthcare, the question arises, who ARE these people, anyway? Are they aliens from outer space? They certainly don't act like normal human beings who are fully aware of reality. Senator Ben Nelson, for example, will vote in favor of the mammoth, debt-busting monstrosity in spite of the fact that in the latest poll Nebraskans indicate by a 61% majority that they will vote against Nelson if he votes in favor of this bill. Columbia Conservative Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2411268/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:22:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409175/posts How desperate has the White House become to get anything passed under the name of health-care reform? According to Michael Goldfarb’s source on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration has targeted the last remaining Democratic holdout, at least among moderates — and they’re willing to damage national security to extort his support. The White House has threatened Ben Nelson (D-NE) with the closure of Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska if he opposes Reid’s latest version, despite its status as the headquarters of US Strategic Command: According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska’s Offutt... hotair.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409175/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:35:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408202/posts While the Democrats appease Senator Lieberman, they still have to worry about other recalcitrant Democrats including Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. Though Lieberman has been out front in the fight against the public option and the Medicare buy-in, Nelson was critical of both. Now that those provisions appear to have been stripped from the bill, Lieberman may get on board, but Nelson's demand that taxpayer money not be used to fund abortion has still not been met. According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson... weeklystandard.com/weblogs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408202/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:26:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410291/posts His biography also emphasizes his capacity to effect compromise noting that he is “known as a consensus builder who has worked to forge compromise agreements”. However, this is a man who knows the truth that the child in the womb is one of us and that we must not allow any Health Care Reform package to pass - and then become law - which uses Federal tax Dollars to kill our innocent neighbors. There are some truths which are incapable of “compromise.” The first among them is the fundamental human right to life and the first freedom, the freedom to... Catholic Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410291/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:06:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2410753/posts Here is video of South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint saying he is prepared to delay a vote on the Senate Health Care Bill in any way possible. DeMint also said that Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson will be an "American hero" if he refuses to support this bill. DeMint said he did not know if Nelson could hold out against the pressure being brought upon him by the White House. DeMint said he will seek to slow the bill down so it can at least be read before it is voted on. . . . (VIDEO) Freedom's Lighthouse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2410753/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:12:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410832/posts United Methodist Church Bashes Ben Nelson on Abortion Funding Refusal Washington, DC -- The United Methodist Church has never made a secret of its support for abortion as it regularly participates in a radical national pro-abortion religious group. With one of its members, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, holding up the health care bill over abortion funding, the church is on the attack. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5792.html LifeNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410832/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:22:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410901/posts Reid scrambles as deadline looms By: Carrie Budoff Brown and Meredith Shiner December 18, 2009 06:54 PM EST Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led a marathon negotiating session Friday with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) in a hectic bid to persuade the last holdout to sign onto the health care reform bill ahead of a key deadline Saturday morning. Nelson was huddling into the evening with Reid, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a circle of top White House officials that included deputy chief of staff Jim Messina and senior adviser Pete Rouse. Nelson was seeking stronger language to prohibit federal financing... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410901/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:09:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411359/posts The Washington Times reported last night Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) had told reporters no deal was agreed to after he emerged from a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and other Democratic leaders. He went on to say health care talks were ongoing. What he failed to mention, through all of his rhetoric about his concern for pro-life language in the bill, was the huge Medicaid pay off to Nebraska being slipped into the health care bill. Essentially, the federal government will pay for Nebraska's new Medicaid recipients. The provision is worth about $45 million for the first... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411359/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:28:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411350/posts Not that this will come as any great shock, but Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), the lone Democrat holdout against the current iteration of healthcare reform, announced Saturday he will vote for the bill. Also unsurprising: much like Mary "Louisiana Purchase" Landrieu (D-La.) before him, Nelson sold his vote and his very soul for some financial benefits to his state. As Politico reported moments ago: Sen. Mary Landrieu got the "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up most his state's future Medicaid tab -- forever. As part of the deal to win Nelson's support, the federal... newsbusters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411350/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:09:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411313/posts Since he sold out the country perhaps we should send him 30 pennies. Now I know it should be 30 silver coins but we don't make them any more and he and his ilk not only sold out the country but devalued our currency. so 30 pennies seems appropriate. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411313/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:48:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411311/posts SOLD: Sen. Nelson’s Bribeby Publius We’ll be blunt. The ‘health care reform’ legislation under consideration in the Senate is the most corrupt piece of legislation in our nation’s history. Yes, we understand that is a strong statement and there have been other abominations throughout our nation’s life. But never before did corrupt legislation threaten to radically and forever change the live’s of every American.Exhibit A is the outright bribe extracted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Corn Huckster State) from Sen. Harry Reid. As a result of Nelson’s performance in his role of Hamlet in the health care deliberations, we will... BigGovernment http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411311/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:35:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408073/posts The White House and Democratic Leadership in the Senate has told Senator Nelson they will close every military base in Nebraska — a threat that is not credible, really — but they have also offered Senator Nelson between $300 million to $500 million in earmarks, according to key hill health care operatives. These hundreds of millions will be available for whatever he wants to spend them on in Nebraska. Given Senator Nelson’s hard core earmarking history as an appropriator, the word on the street is that this is the real carrot that could get Nelson to agree to some cover... Red State http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408073/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:30:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2397260/posts It’s obvious by now healthcare reform is not reform at all. The latest votes cast in the Senate opens the door to “debate” on the bill, but will do little to change it. We know that Congress is up to its comfortable tricks stuffing pork in every piece of legislation it passes. The biggest obstacle Senate Majority Leader Reid faces is how much it will cost to bribe a few of his members to vote favorably in the end. He needs every single Senate Democrat plus two Independents. Will there be any holdouts among them? Probably not – government officials... Political Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2397260/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 00:52:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392713/posts We can thank the Drudge Report for directing us to ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl’s brief but extremely important piece whose title “The $100 Million Health Care Vote?” calls to mind the truth that since antiquity, politicians have never had a single scruple against whoring themselves — for the right price, of course. That’s not to equate politicians with ordinary prostitutes; for as the greatest writers have told us throughout the ages, politicians make saints of them. After all, never in human history has a single honest practitioner of the “oldest profession” displayed the disgusting arrogance required to charge millions,... The New Media Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392713/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:05:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390233/posts What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform? Here’s a case study. On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.” I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get... ABC News Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390233/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:31:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383840/posts Selling candy didn't raise much money last year, so a Goldsboro middle school is selling grades. A $20 donation to Rosewood Middle School will get a student 20 test points - 10 extra points on two tests of the student's choosing. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D. Susie Shepherd, the principal, said a parent advisory council came up with the idea, and she endorsed it. She said the council was looking for a new way to raise money. Newsobserver http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383840/posts#comment Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:16:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2375853/posts Nearly half the members of a powerful House subcommittee in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, who have trained their lens on the relationships between seven panel members and an influential lobbying firm founded by a former Capitol Hill aide. The Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2375853/posts#comment Sun, 1 Nov 2009 14:43:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367548/posts President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and we are having a difficult time figuring out why. The prize committee cited its decision on this: “For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Really? We missed this. Obama seemed surprised by this announcement and said winning the prize was a “call to action.” The nominations for the prize took place in February, which was only a couple months after Obama’s inspirational and change-promising “Yes We Can” campaign. In fact, he is the first U.S. president to be awarded the prize in his first term. Obama... The Purdue Exponent http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367548/posts#comment Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:51:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2362687/posts A Decadent Nobel A prize for soft moralism. By DANIEL HENNINGER So Donald Rumsfeld was right about Old Europe. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has taken it in the neck for awarding this year's Peace Prize to a nine-month old American presidency. There's been much mockery of pencil-necked Norwegian academics in faraway Oslo. This is unfair. The committee said it chose Barack Obama for his "vision of . . . a world without nuclear weapons" and for "meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting." I'd say that completes the argument over old and new Europe. This is a Nobel... Wall St. Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2362687/posts#comment Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:29:18 GMT