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Calm and Ready

Subject: txt 1st hcare = At Health Care Summit, Republicans
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., one of the GOP's fastest-rising stars, laid out the free market health care argument for the nation to see. He told the president and the American people

The difference is this. We don’t think all the answers lie in Washington regulating all of this. So the problem with the approach we're seeing that you're offering, which I do believe, Senator, is very different from what we're saying, is we don't want to sit in Washington mandating all of these things.

What you're doing is you're defining exactly what kind of health insurance people can have, you're mandating them to buy this kind of health insurance, and so we simply say, look if the National Restaurants Association or the National Federation of Independent Business on behalf of their members, wants to set up an association health plan, we think they'll probably do a good job on behalf of their members. Let them decide to do that instead of restricting insurance competition.

By federalizing the regulation of insurance, and by mandating exactly how it’ll work, you make it more expensive and you reduce the competition among insurers for people's business. We want to decentralize the system, give more power to small businesses, more power to individuals, and make insurance compete more. But if you federalize it, you standardize it and mandate it, you do not achieve that. And that’s the big difference we have.

Ryan's brief but apt summary of the Republican position on DemCare generally was at once calm and hard-hitting.

Of course this is not the first time Republicans have issued the charges Ryan did today. But it is the first time they have been able to do so in an organized setting with virtually every national media outlet present.

Who knows, maybe this will get the nation's lefty pundits to stop calling Republicans do-nothing obstructionists and actually discuss some of their ideas...

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Obama Rejects Socialist Tag But Would Tax Health Plans If More Than People 'Need'

Subject: txt sclm hcare -

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." -- Karl Marx, 1875

The day after Pres. Obama carped about people calling him a socialist, he sent his top spokesman out to describe a plan to tax health insurance policies that provide benefits more generous than what people "need."

"It's a tax on insurance companies that offer Cadillac, or quite frankly, Rolls Royce policies that in essence people don't need." -- Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, 2-25-10

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The Main Event: Ryan v. Obama

Subject: txt 1st hcare -
Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, just launched a full-bore assault on the faulty assumptions behind the claim that the Obama health care plan will reduce the deficit.

Obama didn't even bother questioning Ryan's presentation. He changed the subject to Medicare Advantage.

The expression on the president's face as Ryan made his case was that of someone who realizes he's met his match...

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Rave reviews for Republicans

Subject: txt 1st hcare -

CNN’s WOLF BLITZER: “It looks like the Republicans certainly showed up ready to play.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)

CNN’s GLORIA BORGER: “The Republicans have been very effective today. They really did come to play. They were very smart.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)

BORGER: “They took on the substance of a very complex issue. … But they really stuck to the substance of this issue and tried to get to the heart of it and I think did a very good job.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)

CNN’s DAVID GERGEN: “The folks in the White House just must be kicking themselves right now. They thought that coming out of Baltimore when the President went in and was mesmerizing and commanding in front of the House Republicans that he could do that again here today. That would revive health care and would change the public opinion about their health care bill and they can go on to victory. Just the opposite has happened.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)

THE HILL’S A.B. STODDARD: “I think we need to start out by acknowledging Republicans brought their ‘A Team.’ They had doctors knowledgeable about the system, they brought substance to the table, and they, I thought, expressed interest in the reform. ” (Fox News’ “Live,” 2/25/10)

THE WEEKLY STANDARD’S STEVE HAYES: “I think to me the most important thing to come out of the morning so far is that Republicans have spent a great deal of time talking with great passion, and I think eagerness about their plans, detailing the plans that until this morning the democrats had been saying didn’t exist. Well, you now see, I think, in great detail that Republicans do have plans, that they care about the same issues and that they feel passionately about it.” (Fox News’ “Live,” 2/25/10)


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NPR: 'Menacing' That ObamaCare Can't Get Passed

[Meanwhile, in our tax-paid-for media...]

In his weekly interview on Weekend Edition Saturday, National Public Radio "senior news analyst" (read: unrebutted liberal commentator) Daniel Schorr saw something "menacing" in Capitol Hill’s failure to pass a big ultraliberal agenda.

It’s "more menacing than simply whether one or another winds a couple of seats in the Congress."

That’s an easy thing for a 93-year-old government-paid commentator with no term limits to say. Schorr was circulating the same liberal "wisdom" of the week that Sen. Evan Bayh has identified that Washington is somehow "dysfunctional" or "broken" when ultraliberal bills that the majority of Americans despise aren’t rammed through boldly and persistently...

['Menacing', as in potentially violent]

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What happens next in health care

Subject: txt 1st hcare - Exclusive:
After a brief period of consultation following the White House health reform summit, congressional Democrats plan to begin making the case next week for a massive, Democrats-only health-care plan, party strategists told Politico.

A Democratic official said the six-hour summit was expected to “give a face to gridlock, in the form of House and Senate Republicans.” Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week, the strategists said...

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While You Are Distracted by the Summit, Obama Democrats Are Targeting the CIA

Subject: txt nsec - 1st -
The House is about to debate the 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 2701), and, with all eyes are on the health care summit, Democrats have slipped into the bill a new provision that would establish criminal punishments for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" during interrogations.

[such as placing hoods over heads or 'exploiting phobias' - with up to 15 years prison time]

The Democratic addition is called the "Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Interrogations Prohibition Act of 2010," and it was inserted into the larger intelligence bill without being considered by the House Intelligence Committee.

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Judge orders another Guantanamo detainee freed

Subject: txt gwot nsec bbro -
A federal judge here has ordered the release of a Yemeni prisoner who's been held at the Guantanamo detention center. U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr., issued the order late Wednesday, telling the Obama administration to "take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps" to free Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman. Kennedy ordered the administration to report back on its progress April 1.

The order brings to 33 the number of people ordered freed under the Supreme Court's ruling...

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The Special Relationship is under fire: Obama’s refusal to back Britain over the Falklands is a disgrace

Subject: txt intl nsec libs sclm bdd owg bdd -
The Obama administration’s decision to remain neutral in the dispute between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands is a shameful decision that will go down very badly across the Atlantic. As The Times has just reported, Washington has point blank refused to support British sovereignty over the Falklands, and is adopting a strictly neutral approach. In the words of a State Department spokesman:

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality.."

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British Tea Party Movement to launch on Saturday

Subject: txt intl lbrty -
The inaugural British Tea Party will take place on Saturday in my home town of Brighton. Labour has raised more than a trillion pounds in additional taxation since 1997. Yet, unbelievably, Gordon Brown has still managed to run up a deficit of 12.6 per cent of GDP (Greece’s is 12.7 per cent). A far lower level of taxation brought Americans out in spontaneous protest last year - [snip]

Oh, and this being England, we’ll be serving actual, you know, tea.

[Pretty flexible interpretation of history there - but whatever brings 'em out...]

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Islamic and Leftist Allies Defend Iran’s Human Rights Record at U.N. Gathering

Subject: txt owg - libs -
As the U.N. Human Rights Council scrutinized Iran’s domestic rights record on Monday, Western nations raised concerns about abuses including executions, torture and mass arrests, while Tehran’s Islamic and leftist allies lined up to defend and praise the regime.

The events once again highlighted the deep divisions in the Geneva-based U.N. body, which the Obama administration joined last year, citing hopes of improving it from within...

[I.e., another year squandered being played by the mullas while they build their bomb...]

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'Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois'

Subject: txt sclm mny -
To become solvent, the state must enact the largest tax-increase package in Illinois history and wrest major financial concessions from the state's unionized work force, a nonpartisan government watchdog contends.

In a new analysis of Illinois' ''horrific'' finances, the Civic Federation lays out the painful choices awaiting Gov. Quinn and the Legislature as they stare down an epic $12.8 billion budget deficit that has choked the flow of state cash to public universities and schools, transit systems and social-service agencies to the point of economic collapse...

[Note that continued spending is assumed...]

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Private Accounts the Only Answer on Social Security, Pensions

Subject: txt mny bbro sclm gdd - Cato Scholar:

Americans have been so bombarded with the word "crisis," it appears to have lost all meaning. But distinguished scholar the Cato Institute, there is a real, serious crisis pending in America's addiction to entitlement programs, government-dependence, and imaginary "rights" to live off future generations.

"You will have to look into the future, do the responsible thing, and begin moving toward a system of personal accounts. That is the only long-term solution,"

said Jose Pinera of America's social security and pension system.

Pinera knows what he's talking about - he's the architect of social security reform in Chile. Introducing a recent interview with Pinera, Fox Business Network's Brian Sullivan said,

"Thirty years ago, the social security system of Chile was broke, flat-busted. Entitlement reform was just destroying the nation's finances. In walks the Harvard-educated Jose Pinera. He pushed through by force of will a plan to privatize their entire entitlement system and social security - there is no government social security in Chile now - and everybody has a private account..."

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What Bias? re: Venezuela Slipping Into Socialist/Statist Darkness, Literally And Figuratively

Subject: txt sclm - msm -
Four recent stories out of Venezuela each give readers a brief glimpse at how Hugo Chavez's brand of authoritarian socialism is critically wounding what could be resource-rich, financially prosperous country:

1. January 9, Associated Press -- "Venezuela weakens currency for 1st time in 5 years."
2. January 10, Bloomberg -- "Chavez Says He’ll Seize Businesses That Raise Prices."
3. December 22, AFP -- "Chavez announces new discount 'socialist' stores."
4. January 9, AP -- "Venezuela faces risk of devastating power collapse."

Collectively, however, they depict a country in the early stages of a headlong free-fall into Cuban-style financial ruin.

But no U.S. establishment media enterprise appears interested in making the accelerating decays in financial well-being and personal freedom in that country understandable to the average person...


[Well, no; socialism is really a good thing, reality notwithstanding.]

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UKIP would ban Al Gore film in schools

Subject: txt grn edu -
Following a number of scandals around the science of climate change, UKIP are promising to launch a Royal Commission led by a High Court judge to investigate whether global warming is man-made.

Pending the results of the commission, it's hoped that Global warming 'propaganda' like the Al Gore film Inconvenient Truth will be banned in schools and public settings that represent captive audiences to only one point of view...

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Green madness, &c.

Subject: txt grn -
For a long time now, many of us have written about the green movement, and I don’t mean democratic protests in Iran: I mean the environmentalist movement here in the United States.

Is it a sane, realistic, and admirable response to genuine environmental problems? Or is it a foolish, often bullying cult, which will one day be regarded as a bizarre chapter in our history?

Sometimes you think — Has the whole world gone mad? Green-mad?

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