Senate liberals were called to the White House yesterday for a meeting with the president. By the time the conference was over they and Obama had agreed to take the major expansion of Medicare out of the Senate big government healthcare take-over legislation. By doing so Democrats won the vote of Senator Lieberman and according to D.C. insiders now have the 60 votes they need to pass this mess possibly before Christmas.
The good news is that not one Republican has endorsed it and if even one Democrat breaks ranks it will fail. Ironically our socialist president is taking hits today from Democrats even further to the left than himself.
Former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean blew up yesterday and said the legislation was now worthless and that liberals should vote against it. Liberal websites are full of angry bloggers accusing Obama of selling out. I love seeing the left fighting each other something that we do too often.
Senator Bernie Sanders (SocialistVT) introduced a nearly 800-page amendment to the healthcare bill establishing a government-run option. Typically when an amendment is offered senators unanimously consent to dispense with the reading of it. But conservatives are playing hardball.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is forcing the Senate clerk to read the amendment in full on the Senate floor which could take the rest of the day. Sanders called the delay tactic a bit absurd" but Coburn understands that the little-used strategy could help prevent the lefts goal of passing a bill by Christmas.
It is time to pour phone calls into Senate offices urging a no" vote on the bill. The Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121. Ask the operator to connect you to your two senators. Tell the staff people in those offices that you will vote any senator out of office who votes for this trillion-dollar mess that will destroy our health care system and bust the budget.
Thugs In Copenhagen
In the streets of Copenhagen at the climate change summit left-wing thugs have been rioting all week demanding the destruction of our economy in the name of climate justice." These lefties all think of themselves as progressives" but they really resemble the Hitler Youth of the 1930s and 1940s who used intermediation and violence to silence opponents.
But the real thugs arent in the streets they are inside taking part in the climate change deliberations. Today Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe took his seat with a 59-person delegation from his impoverished country. Mugabe is best known for violent attacks on his political opponents regular violations of human rights and his alliance with other goons like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has transformed his own country from a breadbasket" of Africa into a basket case where starvation is a growing problem.
What a fiasco. Mugabe should be arrested for his crimes and the conference should adjourn until there is a real scientific review of the data that is being manipulated to justify more socialism and less economic growth for countries like ours.
In Irans Crosshairs
Iran not only represents an existential threat to Israel. It also wants to get the U.S. out of the Middle East so it is doing all it can to threaten U.S. military bases there. Yesterday we reported more evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. According to documents leaked from Irans nuclear program it is developing a neutron initiator that can set off a nuclear detonation.
Today Iran announced that it has successfully test-fired an upgraded version of its longest-range solid fuel missile. The new missile has a range of approximately 1200 miles which puts not only Israel but also U.S. military bases in southern Europe well within range. Also today Israels military intelligence chief announced that Iran has enriched enough uranium to enable it to construct atomic weapons.
In some good news today the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that authorizes the president to apply new sanctions to foreign businesses that supply gas to Iran or help it with its oil-producing capacity. (Although Iran is the worlds second-leading oil producer it lacks the ability to refine oil into gasoline or other petroleum products.) The House vote was about as bipartisan as Washington gets these days with 412 members voting to step up sanctions on Iran and just 12 members (11 Democrats and Republican Ron Paul) voting against the measure.
There is a clear bipartisan consensus that the U.S. needs to be tougher on an emboldened Iran. But it will be up to our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president to turn that consensus into action.
Senate liberals were called to the White House yesterday for a meeting with the president. By the time the conference was over they and Obama had agreed to take the major expansion of Medicare out of the Senate big government healthcare take-over legislation. By doing so Democrats won the vote of Senator Lieberman and according to D.C. insiders now have the 60 votes they need to pass this mess possibly before Christmas.
The good news is that not one Republican has endorsed it and if even one Democrat breaks ranks it will fail. Ironically our socialist president is taking hits today from Democrats even further to the left than himself.
Former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean blew up yesterday and said the legislation was now worthless and that liberals should vote against it. Liberal websites are full of angry bloggers accusing Obama of selling out. I love seeing the left fighting each other something that we do too often.
Senator Bernie Sanders (SocialistVT) introduced a nearly 800-page amendment to the healthcare bill establishing a government-run option. Typically when an amendment is offered senators unanimously consent to dispense with the reading of it. But conservatives are playing hardball.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is forcing the Senate clerk to read the amendment in full on the Senate floor which could take the rest of the day. Sanders called the delay tactic a bit absurd" but Coburn understands that the little-used strategy could help prevent the lefts goal of passing a bill by Christmas.
It is time to pour phone calls into Senate offices urging a no" vote on the bill. The Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121. Ask the operator to connect you to your two senators. Tell the staff people in those offices that you will vote any senator out of office who votes for this trillion-dollar mess that will destroy our health care system and bust the budget.
Thugs In Copenhagen
In the streets of Copenhagen at the climate change summit left-wing thugs have been rioting all week demanding the destruction of our economy in the name of climate justice." These lefties all think of themselves as progressives" but they really resemble the Hitler Youth of the 1930s and 1940s who used intermediation and violence to silence opponents.
But the real thugs arent in the streets they are inside taking part in the climate change deliberations. Today Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe took his seat with a 59-person delegation from his impoverished country. Mugabe is best known for violent attacks on his political opponents regular violations of human rights and his alliance with other goons like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has transformed his own country from a breadbasket" of Africa into a basket case where starvation is a growing problem.
What a fiasco. Mugabe should be arrested for his crimes and the conference should adjourn until there is a real scientific review of the data that is being manipulated to justify more socialism and less economic growth for countries like ours.
In Irans Crosshairs
Iran not only represents an existential threat to Israel. It also wants to get the U.S. out of the Middle East so it is doing all it can to threaten U.S. military bases there. Yesterday we reported more evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. According to documents leaked from Irans nuclear program it is developing a neutron initiator that can set off a nuclear detonation.
Today Iran announced that it has successfully test-fired an upgraded version of its longest-range solid fuel missile. The new missile has a range of approximately 1200 miles which puts not only Israel but also U.S. military bases in southern Europe well within range. Also today Israels military intelligence chief announced that Iran has enriched enough uranium to enable it to construct atomic weapons.
In some good news today the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that authorizes the president to apply new sanctions to foreign businesses that supply gas to Iran or help it with its oil-producing capacity. (Although Iran is the worlds second-leading oil producer it lacks the ability to refine oil into gasoline or other petroleum products.) The House vote was about as bipartisan as Washington gets these days with 412 members voting to step up sanctions on Iran and just 12 members (11 Democrats and Republican Ron Paul) voting against the measure.
There is a clear bipartisan consensus that the U.S. needs to be tougher on an emboldened Iran. But it will be up to our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president to turn that consensus into action.
