 POLITICAL NEWS UPDATES Page 6Bill Clinton on Health Care, 1993 Amazingly, in the decade and a half since ambitious plans for “Hillarycare” crumbled, little about the health care reform debate has changed. In fact, President Obama could plagiarize large chunks of Mr. Clinton’s health care speech, delivered on Sept. 22, 1993, and few would think the oration sounded dated. Green Termites Chewing On US Economy Under the surface and out of the spotlight, green termites are busily chewing away at the foundations of our capitalist economy. Environmental activists have flooded the system with mass petitions for endangered species listing, as reported by the Washington Times last week: When WildEarth Guardians filed two petitions in the space of a month to list 681 species under the Endangered Species Act, it came as a shock to biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Biden: Stimulus Working Better Than Expected Defending a costly plan to revitalize the economy, Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday said the government's sweeping stimulus effort "is in fact working" despite steady Republican criticism and public skepticism. "The recovery act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy, and changing the conversation in this country," Biden said. "Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession." Angry Parents Suing California Schools Over Mandatory Gay-Friendly Classes A lawsuit in California that was filed last month by angry parents who object to a gay-friendly curriculum they say is being foisted on kindergartners could well become a test case for schools around the country. Parents in the Alameda Unified School District were refused the right to excuse their kids from classes that would teach all kids in the district's elementary schools about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender alternative families. Some Parents Choose Not to Allow Their Kids to Hear Obama's National Address Regine Gordon doesn't want her 6-year-old son to hear from President Obama next week. Gordon, of Tampa, Fla., is among a growing number of parents across the country who are troubled by the president's plan to address elementary, middle and high school students in an online and televised speech Tuesday. Obamacare Bites A clash over health-care reform ended with one man biting off another man's pinky. About 100 people were rallying for health reforms Wednesday night on a street corner when a protester walked across the street to confront about 25 counterdemonstrators. Health care lobbyists target returning Congress Interest groups are unleashing a torrent of modern and old-fashioned lobbying tactics at members of Congress returning for the autumn battle over health care, from spending sky-high amounts on TV ads to staging rallies in the capital and perhaps outside insurance company offices. Obama Praises Islam as 'Great Religion' President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. "The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast. White House withdraws call for students to 'help' Obama President Obama's plan to inspire the nation's schoolchildren with a video address next week erupted into controversy Wednesday, forcing the White House to pull out its eraser and rewrite a government recommendation that teachers nationwide assign students a paper on how to "help the president." More Wary of Obama on Health Care President Obama's approval rating on health care has dropped six points since July to 40 percent, and now more Americans, 47 percent, disapprove of his handling of health care, according to a new CBS News poll taken between Aug 27 - 31. As the president's poll numbers sink on the issue, two-thirds of Americans remain confused about the health reform proposals on the table. Democrats Try Tougher Tone on Health Plan A top White House adviser said Tuesday he doubts two Senate Republicans at the center of health-care talks are negotiating seriously, as Democrats adopted a new, more confrontational tone accusing key Republicans of blocking change. AFL-CIO won't back healthcare reform without public option The AFL-CIO, a key ally of the White House on healthcare reform, won't support legislation unless it includes a public insurance option. "Let me be as clear as I can be -- it's an absolute must," Rich Trumka, the labor group's secretary-treasurer, and its next president, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday morning. "We won't support the bill if it doesn't have a public option." Obama marking 9/11 in Va. President Barack Obama plans to observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks with a visit to the Pentagon ... ... White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday. But Obama has no plans to visit New York City on the eighth year since the World Trade Center was destroyed. "I believe he will go to the Pentagon that day, and go to the memorial there and speak after that," Gibbs said in his morning gaggle. "But we have not announced more details than that." The Bigger the Government, the Smaller the Citizen Those of us who oppose a massive increase in the role the national government plays in health care ("ObamaCare") do so because we fear the immense and unsustainable national debt it would incur and because we are certain that medical care in America would deteriorate. But there is a bigger reason most of us oppose it: We believe that the bigger the government becomes, the smaller the individual citizen becomes. Here are five reasons why bigger government makes less impressive people. Experts see double-digit Dem losses After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010. Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance. Enough is enough, Harry: Stop the childish bullying This newspaper traces its roots to before Las Vegas was Las Vegas. We've seen cattle ranches give way to railroads. We chronicled the construction of Hoover Dam. We reported on the first day of legalized gambling. The first hospital. The first school. The first church. We survived the mob, Howard Hughes, the Great Depression, several recessions, two world wars, dozens of news competitors and any number of two-bit politicians who couldn't stand scrutiny, much less criticism. Cheney Slams Obama's 'Politicized' Probe of CIA Interrogations Calling it a "terrible decision" that undermines national security and devastates CIA morale, former Vice President Dick Cheney slammed the Obama administration's probe of aggressive interrogation of terrorists. "It's an outrageous political act that will do great damage, long-term, to our capacity to be able to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions, without having to worry about what the next administration is going to say," Cheney told "FOX News Sunday" in a no-holds-barred interview. Obama faces growing anger on the left By the time this year's tally for gay service members discharged under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy had hit 250, Rep. Alcee L. Hastings said he could wait no longer. The Florida Democrat decided in June to send a letter to President Obama demanding that the policy be repealed. Mr. Hastings said he was surprised when 76 other members - most of them fellow Democrats - agreed to add their signatures, and even more surprised when the letter went unanswered for the next two months. ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House. EDITORIAL: Health care run by trial lawyers Political power, rather than substance, is at the heart of the Democrats' proposed health care legislation. Admission of that power-politics reality was the most significant occurrence in a very odd town-hall meeting Tuesday night held by Virginia Democratic Rep. James P. Moran. It is now clearer than ever that plaintiffs' lawyers collectively are the political powerhouse running the health care show. Fox News beats CNN and MSNBC with more limited Kennedy coverage Fox News maintained its top ranking among the cable news channels Wednesday as its competitors turned most of their coverage over to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy. The event didn't prove to be a major draw for viewers, however. Fox, which covered the story in a more limited fashion, drew an average of 1.37 million viewers throughout the entire day and 2.67 million viewers during prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research. A Special Message from the American Political Action Committee: The "Fairness Doctrine" -- a federal regulation requiring broadcasters to present both sides of any "controversial" issue -- was enforced by the Federal Communications Commission from 1949 to 1987. The FCC adopted it as a regulation, but it was never a law enacted by Congress. Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data One of the problems with any proposed law that's over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details. Take the Democrats' proposal to rewrite health care policy, better known as H.R. 3200 or by opponents as "Obamacare." (Here's our CBS News television coverage.) 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." White House projects bigger deficits, bigger debt 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. Sex-Study 'Stimulus' The stimulus package is living up to its provocative name by funding a bacchanalia of behavioral sex research, a Post analysis reveals. The next fiscal year is set to be one of the friskiest ever in the nation's science labs, as researchers probe the ins and outs of sex patterns among humans and even some of our four-legged friends. Obamacare-Point and Counterpoint Mr. Obama has gone back on the campaign trail to try to sell his health care reform to the nation. Mostly hand-picked, sympathetic attendees have been showing up to his town hall meetings. He continues to make the same points regarding health care reform, which need to be addressed specifically. I hope to address more in future articles. Obama: Republican conspiracy out to kill health reform President Obama took to the conservative airwaves Thursday to charge that Republican leaders are engaged in a vast right-wing conspiracy to kill health care reform in order to repeat the 1994 mid-term takeover of Congress, which followed the defeat of President Clinton's reform plan. "I think early on, a decision was made by the Republican leadership that said, 'Look, let's not give him a victory, maybe we can have a replay of 1993, '94, when Clinton came in, he failed on health care and then we won in the mid-term elections and we got the majority. And I think there are some folks who are taking a page out that playbook," the president said. 2010 SENATE CAMPAIGN: Polls show potential GOP challengers would beat Harry Reid It's the highest stakes ever for a Nevada election, and former boxer Sen. Harry Reid is on the ropes early. Either Republican Danny Tarkanian or Sue Lowden would knock out Reid in a general election, according to a recent poll of Nevada voters. The results suggest the Democratic Senate majority leader will have to punch hard and often in order to retain his position as the most accomplished politician in state history, in terms of job status. Obama to raise 10-year deficit to $9 trillion 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. Democrats Still Pushing for Health Care Without GOP Support Senate Democrats said Sunday that they were fleshing out plans to pass health legislation, particularly the option of a new government-run insurance program, with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes that would ordinarily be needed to overcome a filibuster. After consulting experts in Senate rules and procedure, the Democrats said they were increasingly confident that they could legislate creation of a public plan in a way that would withstand challenges expected from Republicans. Consensus Thaws On Global Warming During an Aug. 5 interview with the BBC, Gerd Leipold, outgoing executive director of Greenpeace, admitted that his organization emotionalizes issues to influence the public. At the time, he was admitting his group had made an error in its July 15 news release that claimed "we are looking at ice-free summers in the Arctic as early as 2030." "I don't think (the Greenland ice sheet) will be melting by 2030," he said. "That may have been a mistake." Obama Calls Health Care a ‘Moral Obligation,’ But Pro-lifers Say Tax Money for Abortions Is ‘Moral’ Issue President Barack Obama, in an online conference call with BlogTalkRadio on Wednesday, urged liberal religious groups to “spread the facts and speak the truth” about health care reform. Obama said it's "not true" that health care reform will allow government funding of abortion. But pro-life leaders responded to the conference call by noting that health care reform plans in both chambers of Congress would allow federal funds to pay for abortions. Obama admin. to end cash for clunkers on Monday The Obama administration plans to end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives. The Transportation Department said Thursday the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. Senate Democratic Leadership Will Pass Health Care Reform “By Any Legislative Means Necessary” Amidst questions of whether or not any Senate Republicans will support a health care reform bill, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., today said that the “White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill.” The Reid spokesman said that “neither the White House nor the leadership have made a decision to pursue reconciliation,” the somewhat controversial legislative process by which a bill is introduced in such a manner so that it requires merely 50 votes instead of 60 to proceed to a vote, thus removing the threat of filibuster. Approval of Obama, Democrats Declines, Pew Poll Says Barack Obama’s approval rating declined as a growing number of Americans said the Democratic president and Republican leaders aren’t working together on important issues. In a poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 63 percent of Americans said they thought the two sides weren’t working together. While 29 percent of respondents said Republicans are most to blame for the lack of cooperation, 17 percent cited Obama, up from 7 percent in February, Pew said. Talking heads bite Barack Obama When you’re Barack Obama and you’ve lost Jon Stewart, you’ve got a problem. “Mr. President,” the “Daily Show” host said Monday night, “I can’t tell if you’re a Jedi — 10 steps ahead of everything — or if this whole health-care thing is kickin’ your [rear.]” White House officials, by acknowledging that a public option (or government plan) is not essential to achieving health care reform, may have improved their chances of ultimately getting a bill. Obama has not given up on public option White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says President Obama's support for a government-run -- or public -- insurance option has not changed. Here is a sampling of what the president has said about the public option. March 26 And to say we are going to allow anybody to get health insurance -- and if you've got a preexisting condition you're not going to be excluded, but you're going to be able to obtain health insurance; and if you can't obtain it through a private plan, there is going to be a public plan that is available in some way to give you insurance, or insurers are obligated to provide you with insurance in some way -- now, that's a principle. White House disables e-tip box Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan. E-mails to that address now bounce back with the message: “The e-mail address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.” Postal supervisors: Obama swipe “a kick to the chest” The National Association of Postal Supervisors has fired back at President Barack Obama for dragging the U.S. Postal Service further into the health care debate. In an Aug. 14 letter, NAPS President Ted Keating accused Obama of using the Postal Service as a “scapegoat” and unfairly painting it as “an example of inefficiency” during a health care town hall meeting last week. Obama told a crowd in Portsmouth, N.H., Aug. 11 that private health care insurance providers should be able to compete with a government-run public option because “UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. … It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.” News Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
Sign Up For Our Email Alerts:
|
.gif)
