Baucus May Be Stalling Because He’s Indebted To Health Care Industry

Senator Max Baucus (D – Montana), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, is stalling on health care.  His is the only panel (out of 5) which has not been able to move a health care bill out of committee for general consideration.

Baucus’ excuse is that he is reaching across the aisle to work with Republicans in the spirit of bipartisanship, but this may be more of a ruse to hide his real reason for not working with the President and other Democrats.

According to a Think Progress article from last July, Baucus has received heavy contributions from major players in the health care industry including pharmaceutical Schering-Plough Corp ($86,200), biotech Amgen Inc ($65,250), and health insurance giants Blue Cross/Blue Shield ($62,350) and Aetna Inc ($51,250), among others, to the tune of over $591,000!

It’s no wonder that Baucus  insists that any Public Option in the bill will not pass the Senate and that his Finance Committee bill doesn’t include one!  It’s also no wonder that Baucus wants to force every American family to purchase a private insurance plan (with no public option choice) by inserting language into his bill that will fine uninsured families up to $3,800 if they don’t have a private insurance plan!

Click this link for the list of all contributions that Senator Baucus has taken from the health insurance industry:  Think Progress » Max Baucus receives considerable contributions from health care industry.

Technorati Tags: Max Baucus,Washington corruption,Senators on the take from health industry,politics,health care reform

 

Ohio Fights Back Against Cap and Trade

Citing that Obama’s “cap and trade program will result  in massive increase for all consumers,” the Ohio Senate passed a resolution on Tuesday opposing the federal legistlation, according to the Star Beacon in Ashtabula, Ohio.

In what many are now viewing as the biggest increase in taxes in the history of the world, Obama’s environmental policy of cap and trade would affect every area of everyone’s lives and place taxes and excessive restrictions on food, energy, clothing, and even what kind of trees can be planted and where they can be planted.

Acknowledging that cap and trade would cause an increase in expenses for every American citizen, the U. S. Congressional Budget Office agreed that lower income income people would be hurt the worst by cap and trade.

“CBO has acknowledged these increases in energy costs will act as a regressive tax and affect every household in the nation, according to the Ohio Senate resolution,” as reported in the Star Beacon story.

Regression or “regressive” taxes, which have been acknowledged by the Congressional Budget Office for cap and trade, are particularly severe on people in lower income brackets because these kinds of taxes take a larger share out of their income.  Someone who makes more money has less of a chunk coming out of their income and therefore is more able to afford necessary goods and services.

Cap and trade has already passed the House and is now being considered by the Senate.  In addition to taxes (the rates will increase year after year and take more money out of people’s pockets) on all goods and services, including food, this legislation now being considered by the U. S. Senate would place hundreds of restrictions on our daily lives, require us having Federal inspectors into our homes, and would ration water and electrical energy.  The bill which passed the House prohibits anyone from selling their home until a Federal inspector approves it for sale; if the inspector rejects the home, the home owner would be required to make expensive green retrofits to the home.

See these links for the list of hidden items in the current cap and trade legislation:

1. http://www.examiner.com/x-2304-DC-Republican-Examiner~y2009m7d1-Fun-with-Cap-and-Trade-No-more-than-60-watts-in-your-candelabra

2. http://patriotroom.com/article/picking-our-way-through-waxman-markey

3. http://soitgoesinshreveport.blogspot.com/2009/06/whats-in-waxman-markey-bill.html

Star Beacon story link: The Star Beacon; Ashtabula, Ohio – Resolution opposing cap and trade adopted by Ohio Senate Tuesday.

 

Matthews Scores Agreement About Photos on Hardball

You have to give MSNBC’s Chris Matthews a lot of credit as a journalist; he really makes his show “Hardball” live up to its name!

Yesterday, he conducted a double interview with two men about those controversial prisoner photos which the President, also yesterday, said he was reversing his decision to release.

These two guys which Matthews was interviewing couldn’t be further apart.

Anthony Romero is ACLU’s Executive Director and “the top guy” there, according to Matthews.  Pete Hegseth is the Chairman of Vets For Freedom and is evidently the number one person in that organization, and, he is also an Iraq War veteran.

Both of these gentlemen, though vastly differing in their positions, had valid points regarding this issue of prisoner abuse and these photos:

Romero’s and the ACLU’s push to release these photos isn’t something that just happened overnight or since the Obama election.  According to Romero, “We’ve been fighting it for 6 years,” he told Matthews.  Romero suspects the orders for abuse coming from up the chain of command and has “incontrovertible proof” that abuse “worse than Abu Ghraib” occurred, he explained to Matthews.  If there has been wrongdoing – especially if came from on high – then it cannot be swept under the rug.  Romero has a valid argument in this respect that the truth needs to come out.

Hegseth is concerned about potential danger to American troops in the field if these photos go public.  And this is also valid because America does have enemies out there who will use these images, if made available to the public, as propaganda tools to recruit those who would attack our soldiers.

After the usual wrangling back and forth which, we all know, gets nowhere, Matthews evidently sensed, because he is an excellent journalist, a common thread and he changed the tone of the interview with one question:

“Is there any way to find a middle  ground?” Matthews asked both gentlemen at the same time.

The results are surprising and should be actively considered by the Obama Administration and Congress.

Here is the video link: 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/30730211#30730211|340224

 

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Technorati Tags: MSNBC,Hardball,Chris Matthews,Obama,Washington,government and politics,government,politics,politics and government,news

 

ACORN’s Partnership With Feds Disturbing

Despite the recent criminal fraud charges against ACORN in Nevada and several other states involve falsifying information in exchange for money, ACORN remains a partner of the Federal government to help take next year’s census!

Washington should be more responsible with our money and should be less political in its choices with whom it does business; of course, perhaps this is too much to ask for from those political animals to whom we trust our tax dollars!

This news of ACORN’s continued business with Washington makes Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann actually look correct because she wants an amendment to stop tax money from going to ACORN and other businesses like them!

Technorati Tags: ACORN,voter fraud,politics,Washington,political corruption,Bachmann,Michelle Bachmann,Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann