Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Barrasso (R-WY) talk about the Medicare cuts used to fund Obamacare in the latest Senate Doctor’s Show: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHB6xDkQVKE#t=7m32s[/youtube] President Obama has claimed that he will fund his new plan in part by preventing waste through Medicare. Cutting waste out of the system would be good policy. We are all for slowing the growth of Medicare, but those savings should be used for deficit reduction, not another entitlement.
So claimed Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) in the Senate Finance Committee debate on Tuesday morning. The “public option” would create the “choice” of a new government-run health insurance plan to “compete” with private insurance in the free market. If Adam Smith means choice, competition and free markets then he would favor the public option. Rockefeller went so far as to claim that “Adam Smith would have cooked up this amendment” establishing the public option. Members of the committee did not see it that way, and the amendment was defeated. But …
MOSCOW – The Kremlin perceives the Obama Administration’s decision to scrap the third site anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic as a radical review of the US global leadership policy and a serious concession to Russia. At the same time, the Kremlin does not think it necessary to meet Washington halfway and is confining itself to verbal promises. Indeed, Russia in the person of President Dmitry Medvedev and a number of military commanders, announced its decision to reverse its plans to deploy Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad Region. …
The Washington Post front page blares today: “Prospects for Public Option Dim in Senate.” Don’t believe it. Yes, the Senate Finance Committee did vote down two amendments that each would have added a government-run insurance plan to the committee’s health care bill. But two key Democrats who voted against Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WV) public plan, Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Tom Carper (D-DE), voted for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) version. According to an independent analysis of Senate Democrat public statements on the public option, that raises the number of Democrats on …
“The Gulag Collection,” 50 compelling paintings of life and death inside the Soviet Union’s notorious prison camps, will be on view at The Heritage Foundation beginning this morning, Sept. 30. The exhibit opens as part of “The Year of Miracles: The Fall of the Berlin Wall,” a Heritage-sponsored event marking the approaching 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gulag survivor Nikolai Getman created “The Gulag Collection,” an unparalleled visual record of the hundreds of penal camps that held more than 14 million political prisoners — many of …
Yesterday, Whoopi Goldberg decided America needs two definitions of rape. First there is the rape of women that is tolerated by the left because it is committed by someone creative. And then there is everything else. When asked about Roman Polanski’s arrest and potential extradition to the United States following his 31 years spent as a fugitive in Europe, Whoopi said on her program The View: “I know it wasn’t rape-rape,” and went on to say, “We’re a different kind of society. We see things differently. The world sees 13 year …
The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which culmitated a series of events in the summer and fall of 1989, allows us to begin looking through the lens of history. Important lessons are to be learned from the “year of miracles,” as Czech play-write and dissident Vaclav Havel called it, lessons about American leadership and lessons about the importance of engaging in the war of ideas with enemies of ffreddom and democracy. The world has changed so dramatically since 1989, but many of us will never forget …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axB-E9PCGXM[/youtube] Heritage’s weekly Blogger Briefing heard an emotional plea for the continuation of D.C. school vouchers, a recently scuttled federal program which provided scholarships of up to $7,500 for more than 1,700 low-income children in D.C. to attend a safe and effective private school of their choice. Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of DC Parents for School Choice has led a crusade to get funding reinstated for the program. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 30th, she is leading a rally at the U.S. Capital. What: Capitol Rally When: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 11:30 …
The Senate Finance Committee Hearings on Chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care proposal continued Friday morning, September 25, 2009. The amendments offered by members of the Committee continued to address issues related to growth of the federal government and limitation to consumers’ choice and freedom, changes which are likely to emerge from the passage of a Senate Finance Committee bill. Accountability and Transparency in Government Decision-Making over Health Care (Ensign Amendment C10) Under both House and Senate bills, federal government officials or appointees would make crucial decisions over health care …
You know something is amiss when the French take a harder line on national security than the United States. At the United Nations last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy chided President Obama for his “dream” of ridding the world of nuclear weapons, reminding him that “we live in a real world, not a virtual world.” Ouch. The French like to sting American presidents, but this is different. It’s not the normal Gallic jab at America for being a “hyper power,” but a French leader reminding an American president of his …
