Read Obama's Lips

From the Weekly Standard's Blog

Read Obama's Lips

This may come back to haunt him:

But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.

Obama seems intent on running a permanent campaign, and he's still making the kind of over-the-top promises that campaigns toss around like Monopoly money. In this speech he promised cap and trade and health care reform this year. He promised universal college education. He promised a cure for cancer. Obama also promised that he, too, would "sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars."

Obama's critics during the campaign -- Democratic and Republican -- painted Obama as a lightweight who talked a good game but wouldn't be able to deliver. Clinton accused Obama of raising a "false hope" and pointed out that it wasn't the speeches of JFK and Martin Luther King that landed a man on the moon and ended segregation, but the competence and oversight of a rather less inspiring LBJ. Now Obama, having promised so much during the campaign and already off to a bad start with his new era of bipartisanship, is pledging massive increases in spending, huge reductions in the deficit, and no new taxes for 95 percent of Americans. It's only been a few weeks, but so far all the American people have to show for Obama's election is $1 trillion in new debt and a thousand point drop in the Dow. Everything else is still just talk, some of which has the potential to damage the economy even further if implemented poorly or, in the case of cap and trade, implemented at all. The only thing Obama's certain to deliver is the one thing he claimed tonight he didn't believe in -- bigger government.

Posted by Michael Goldfarb on February 25, 2009 12:44 AM

Obama Rescinds the Bush Abortion Rule

Obama to Rescind Bush Abortion Rule

Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00 PM

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is moving to rescind a federal rule that reinforced protections for medical providers who refuse to perform abortions or other procedures on moral grounds, an official said Friday. A Health and Human Services official said the administration will publish notice of its intentions early next week, and open a 30-day comment period for advocates, medical groups and the public. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official notice has not been completed. The Bush administration instituted the rule in its last days, and it was quickly challenged in federal court by several states and medical organizations. As a candidate, President Barack Obama criticized the regulation and campaign aides promised that if elected, he would review it. Abortion opponents hailed the Bush regulation, saying it clarified federal policies and raised awareness about the rights of medical providers to follow their consciences. But abortion rights advocates said it could reduce access to other services — allowing a drug store clerk to refuse to sell birth control pills, for example. Federal law has long forbidden discrimination against health care professionals who refuse to perform abortions or provide referrals for them. The Bush administration's rule requires institutions that get federal funding to certify their compliance with laws protecting conscience rights. It was intended to block the flow of federal funds to hospitals and other institutions that ignore the rights of religious and moral objectors. The Obama administration supports the underlying federal laws that protect conscience rights, said the HHS official. But the administration was concerned that the Bush regulation could also be used to refuse birth control, family planning services and counseling for vaccines and transfusions. "The administration supports a tightly written conscience clause," said the HHS official. "While we are concerned about the Bush rule, we also understand there might be a need to clarify existing laws." The administration will review comments from the public before making a final decision. Options range from simply repealing the regulation to writing a new one with a narrower scope. The administration's move was first reported by The Los Angeles Times. © 2009 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Straight from Planned Parenthood!

Statement on President Obama's Executive Order Overturning the Mexico City Policy (global gag rule)

Source: Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region

Statement by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region President and CEO Becki Brenner

Contacts
Laurie Housemeyer
VP External Affairs
513.824.7824
lhousemeyer@ppswo.org
Published: 01.23.09| Updated: 01.23.09

“With the stroke of a pen, President Obama has lifted the stranglehold on women’s health across the globe. His repeal of the global gag rule ends eight long years of policies that have blocked access to basic health care for women worldwide. No longer will health care providers be forced to choose between receiving family planning funding and restricting the health care services they provide to women.

“Expanding access to family planning is not only good, basic health care; it saves women’s lives. In some parts of Africa, women have a one-in-10 risk of dying in childbirth, a sad fact only exacerbated by the gag rule. Women’s health and well-being are the bedrock of freedom and independence for individuals, families, and entire communities. Avoiding disease, having access to clean water and nutritious food, deciding whether and when to have children, and being safe in pregnancy and childbirth make women stronger and improve the quality of life for families and communities.

“Planned Parenthood thanks President Obama for taking immediate action on this critical health issue. With President Obama, women in the U.S. and around the world have a president who puts protecting and strengthening women’s health first. Just a few days after he’s taken office, we can clearly say that thanks to President Obama, it truly is a new day for women’s health.”

Obama Promises to Cut Wasteful Spending...???

Can you say "flip flop"?



Wait...what?

Canada on the American Deficit

U.S. deficit pegged at $1.2 trillion in 2009

That number will grow if stimulus package passed

By Sheldon Alberts, Canwest News Service January 9, 2009

The U.S. federal budget deficit will reach at least $1.2 trillion in 2009, almost triple its level last year, and could soar several hundred billion dollars higher with the expected passage of a massive economic stimulus package being touted by president-elect Barack Obama.

The news that Washington is awash in record amounts of red ink came Wednesday from the Congressional Budget Office, which cited a collapse in government revenue and last year's financial bailout of Wall Street for the unprecedented jump in its deficit projection.

"This is one of the worst budget forecasts I have seen in my lifetime," said Senator Kent Conrad, the Democratic chairman of the Senate budget committee. "President-elect Obama is being handed an absolute fiscal disaster."

As recently as September, the CBO had estimated the 2009 deficit at $440 billion, and its increase reflects the impact of the economic collapse on federal coffers.

For the fiscal year 2010, which begins in October, the CBO has estimated a deficit in excess of $700 billion, which many analysts already believe is too low.

The budget projections deal a political blow to outgoing President George W. Bush, who inherited a federal budget surplus when he took office eight years ago but leaves the White House with the nation facing its highest debt levels in history.

But the deficit numbers, described by Conrad as "jaw dropping," also have the potential to place new political pressures and constraints on Obama. The president-elect is trying to build bipartisan support for a plan to jolt the faltering American economy back to life, through a combination of tax cuts and massive spending programs shortly after he takes office on Jan. 20.

"The deficit estimate makes it clearer than ever that we cannot borrow and spend our way back to prosperity when we're already running an annual deficit of more than one trillion dollars," said Representative John Boehner, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives.

At a news conference in Washington, Obama acknowledged the nation's deficit picture would only worsen throughout 2009 because of stimulus legislation expected to be passed by Congress in early February.

"We have an economic situation that is dire, and we're going to have to jump-start this economy with my economic recovery plan, creating three million jobs," Obama said.

"That's going to cost some money, and, in the short term, we will actually see, potentially, additions to the deficit."

Members of Obama's transition team have placed the cost of the stimulus package at about $800 billion, while some economists argue it must reach $1.3 trillion to have any significant impact on the U.S. economy's health.

"We expect that it will be on the high end of our estimates, but will not be as high as some economists have recommended, because of the constraints and concerns we have about the existing deficit," Obama said.

With some Republicans and conservative Democrats already expressing concern about the size of Obama's economic rescue plan, the president-elect on Tuesday sought to allay fears of runaway wasteful spending.

He named Nancy Killefer, a former Clinton administration Treasury Department official, as the "chief performance officer" overseeing a comprehensive review of government departments.

Killefer will conduct a line by line review of all federal spending including high-cost entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare -- with the aim of avoiding long-term structural deficits, Obama said.

The bad deficit news nearly overshadowed the biggest symbolic event on Obama's calendar Wednesday -- a historic White House meeting with Bush and the three living ex-presidents, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

The five men assembled at Obama's request for an hour-long private luncheon; it was the first time since 1981 that all living U.S. presidents had gathered at the White House.

"One message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed," Bush told Obama during a photo opportunity before the lunch.

"Whether we're Democrat or Republican, we all care deeply about this country . . . All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual."

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

More on the Trillion Dollar "Stimulus" Package

from the Heritage Foundation

Morning Bell: Nothing Temporary About This Stimulus Spending

* Posted January 23rd, 2009 at 9.15am in Ongoing Priorities.

Pushing for deficit spending as part of his own economic stimulus package in 1971, President Richard Nixon famously told ABC News, “I am now a Keynesian in economics.” Increasingly, it seems that everyone on Capitol Hill is adopting Nixon’s economic views … but a thousand times worse. Where Nixon wanted to deficit spend by mere billions, President Barack Obama wants to deficit spend in the trillions.

Keynesian theory, suddenly back in style, holds that government can stimulate economic growth by temporarily increasing government spending. Problem is, there was nothing temporary about increases in government spending under Nixon — and there is nothing temporary about the trillion dollars in new spending being debated in Congress.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday told Politico: “Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” The House bill perfectly demonstrates how the left is using the economic stimulus bill as cover to accomplish its long-held desire to permanently increase the size of the federal government, with little or no benefit to the American taxpayer.

Today’s top six disastrous highlights are:

1. Medicaid Bailout: The House bill includes an $87 billion bailout for state Medicaid spending. Supposedly, this federal spigot will expire in two years. But there is simply no reason to believe states will be prepared to meet their Medicaid obligations any more in 2011 than they are today. Medicaid is funded by a formula that matches state spending levels with federal dollars. If we keep bailing states out, they will have every incentive to continue irresponsible spending. For example, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) significantly expanded health care spending in Illinois while Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) prudently made “hard choices” to maintain adequate reserves. When the bailout comes, Indiana taxpayers are going to have to pay for the Illinois governor’s mistakes.

2. Medicaid Expansion: The House bill expands Medicaid eligibility to cover unemployed workers whose income does not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. This provision is supposed to expire in two years, but does anyone really expect political will at the state or federal levels to kick new populations off the Medicaid rolls once states put them on? No. States will push for indefinte expansion of the program and neither the White House nor this congressional leadership is ideologically predisposed to say no. Mark our words, this is a permanent expansion.

3. Family Planning Loophole: Section 5004 of the Medicaid expansion includes language that smuggles the left’s social agenda into law under the guise of stimulus. This section undercuts parental authority, increases control over taxpayer dollars by family planning clinics, and expands exactly who is eligible to receive the benefits. Contrary to current law, the income of parents or even a spouse would not be counted in determining eligibility. So a child in a family at any income level could be eligible for free family planning services. And thanks to a “presumptive eligibility period” in the legislation, no parent ever needs to be notified that his or her child applied for Medicaid. Finally, applicants would not have to prove citizenship before “presumptive eligibility” is determined.

4. Education Bailout: The House bill creates a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help states pay for public services, 61% of which must be spent on education. Not only does this money encourage states not to make tough budgeting decisions, it also comes with new federal restrictions designed to please leftist constituencies. For example, the bill forbids bailout funds to increase school choice by specifying that “no recipient of funds under this title shall use funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools.”

5. Education Shopping Spree: Besides that $79 billion, the House bill includes more spending for a slew of other programs, bringing the total price tag for education “stimulus” to $142 billion. Winners of this round include $1 billion for Technology Education, $1.5 billion for Pell Grants, $6 billion for higher education institutions, $2.1 billion for Head Start, $2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation, and $2 billion in Child Care Development Block Grants. Are any of these increases intended to be temporary? Can you imagine Democrats in Congress standing up to cut Head Start and Pell Grant funding in two years? Of course not. This $142 billion increase in education spending would nearly double total outlays in 2007 for the Department of Education.

6. New Jobs? President Obama has said the stimulus could create as many as 3 million jobs, but Speaker Pelosi said yesterday that 4 million jobs will be created or saved. Yet, when pressed by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) earlier this week, Tax Committee staffer Thomas Barthold could only shrug and admit to having no estimates that any jobs or economic growth would be created. The video is priceless.

Some legislators are beginning to catch on to the left’s game. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he opposes the Medicaid bailout “because some governors would use the money to mask poor decisions in other portions of their budgets.” Rep. Heath Shuler (D-TN) says he is “concerned about returning fiscal responsibility to Washington” and adds that the stimulus bill “can’t be the pet projects of the House and Senate.”

It’s time to wake up. This stimulus bill is nothing but the permanent implementation of the pet projects of the House and Senate. And that is exactly why Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want you to know what’s in it, and certainly doesn’t want it to be debated. “We’re on our timetable.” she said unapologetically yesterday.

There is nothing temporary about any of the spending increases in this bill. They are all designed to make the American people more dependent on the federal government. And there is nothing stimulating about that. Let’s hope Congress gets on the timetable of the American people before it’s too late.

New RNC chair Michael Steele's Acceptance Speech

The sound quality is a bit crappy, but the speech is great. Congrats to Michael Steele and to the RNC!