PUMABydesign001's Blog

WASHINGTON – Michael Steele, the first African American elected to statewide office in the state of Maryland, wins election as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

A former lieutenant governor in Maryland, Steele beat South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson 91 to 77.

He replaces Mike Duncan, who dropped out of the balloting earlier today.

MARYLAND GOP WINS ELECTION AS RNC CHAIR By Todd Spangler, Free Press, 10/30/09, http://www.freep.com/article/20090130/NEWS15/90130072/1285/Michigan+GOP+chair+drops+from+RNC+race

Congratulations Michael Steele.  Never thought I’d say this. Congrats to the Republican Party for finally making an attempt to rise to the occasion.  Now let’s get it started.  It’s a new day.  Do not get comfortable and fall back into your old self.

Know this.  It is not enough to put a black face on it and call it a day as done by the Democrats.

Rather, if taxpayers and lawmakers actually have the time to digest what’s in the bill, it stands no chance of passing. The measure claims to “to create jobs, restore economic growth, and strengthen America’s middle class,” but it’s really just a collection of giveaways and outlays for favored constituents and programs. 

The president and the Democratic Party are counting on the desperate, the poorest and the under served in the nation to force this bill through.  The harder he and Pelosi pushes, the deeper Americans should look into this so called stimulus package in order to ascertain its true intentions. 

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the package’s proposed spending on health care. Billions are earmarked for Medicaid and investments in centrally planned health information technology systems. But the most sinister of the bill’s line items is a relatively tiny $1.1 billion for government-chartered comparative-effectiveness research.

This new effort would investigate various medical treatments and attempt to determine which ones work best. Proponents claim that comparative-effectiveness research (CER) would empower doctors and patients to find out if newer, more expensive treatments are really worth the additional cost.

The federal government, which accounts for about a third of our nation’s healthcare spending, obviously has an interest in the outcome of comparative-effectiveness research. If older, cheaper treatments are found to be just as good as the cutting-edge ones, the feds stand to save a lot of money.

Enter healthcare rationing.  I have blogged about Obama’s healthcare platform before which is nothing more than the rationing of healthcare.

The problem with healthcare rationing is that it is all about dollars and cents, not the health of the patient.  Many lives are lost under healthcare rationing such as that which the President is proposing.

Insurance companies already implement their brand of rationing and now the government wants to put its seal of approval on healthcare rationing causing more needless pain, suffering, lack of service and loss of life.

In other countries, like the United Kingdom, comparative-effectiveness agencies routinely deny patients new treatments, citing cost-effectiveness. As a result, thousands of Britons afflicted with diseases that are expensive to treat – like cancer – suffer needlessly, unable to get the pricey meds they need.

The CER provision represents a major victory for incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle, who has long championed the research as a way to control healthcare costs.

HOW WOULD THEY DO IT

 The CER provision represents a major victory for incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle, who has long championed the research as a way to control healthcare costs.

In his recent book “Critical,” Daschle revealed how he’d marshal CER findings to cut costs – through something he calls a Federal Health Board (FHB).

To understand how the board would operate, it is necessary to understand the overall scheme into which it would fit. Daschle would allow people to keep their current health coverage if they desired, but at the same time he would expand the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program beyond federal employees and allow people to buy into Medicare. He would force everyone to have healthcare coverage by imposing a “play or pay” mandate, which would order people without coverage to pay a tax or fine. The federal government would then subsidize individuals who politicians judged unable to afford to buy into the government plan.

The board would sit atop the entire system – acting, in his words, as “a cost-effectiveness review organization with teeth,” requiring Medicare, Medicaid and health benefits program to follow its guidelines. It would bare its teeth while “reviewing” healthcare practices and setting “guidelines” to hold down the income of medical providers and suppress the price of health care.

In other words, the Board would simply ration health care as it saw fit. And with more Americans on the government dole thanks to the expansion of the benefits program and Medicare, the board would wield near-absolute power in determining how doctors interacted with their patients.

Cost concerns would be paramount, meaning less health care would be available to consumers. Nominally, the Federal Health Board might bring us closer to Daschle’s dream of universal coverage. But everyone subjected to its dictates would find their healthcare experience to be a nightmare.

Hidden In The Stimulus, A Very Unhealthy Provision By Larry Hunter, NY Daily News, 01/30/09, http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/01/30/2009-01-30_hidden_in_the_stimulus_a_very_unhealthy_.html

During the election the President has said more than once that he would take a scalpel approach to cuts in government programming.  He is not lying about that. 

In other words, the government will earn revenue from those who buy into Medicare, earn revenue from those who cannot afford healthcare insurance by fining and penalizing them; and then turn around and play God (right up the Messiah’s alley) with American lives.  

Healthcare rationing will take more lives than it saves, not necessarily young lives. 

The sole purpose of healthcare rationing is to treat those financially feasible to treat.  It’s simple and primary function is not to waste precious dollars on the terminally ill and the elderly.  Sounds cold and calculating, does not it.  It is.  Why?  Because the terminally ill and the elderly are going to die anyway, therefore, why waste precious dollars in that direction.

Enter cheap, less successful treatment, experimental projects, all of which will be government sanctioned in which the patient will have almost no say in the matter especially if he or she cannot afford better healthcare services. 

This is what our President and his party bring to the American people embedded in the  stimulus plan. 

Be careful what you wish for.  God forbid your life should depend on this package.

References:     FOR CLARITY SAKES: OBAMA, UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE, WAR ON TERROR

FOR CLARITY SAKES (Part 2): OBAMA, Failure of Universal Healthcare and Price Controls will Make the Poor the Scapegoats

THE HARSH REALITY OF OBAMA’S UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE PLAN

BARACK OBAMA’S HEALTH CARE LIES

http://www.allamericanblogger.com/3377/oregon-woman-denied-cancer-treatment-by-government-offered-suicide-instead/

©January 2009, pumabydesign001.

The number of jobless American workers receiving unemployment checks rose to the highest level since the government began keeping records in 1967.

A Labor Department spokesman said the number of Americans drawing jobless benefits for a week or longer rose to 4,776,000 in the week ended Jan. 17, the latest data available.

The number eclipses the prior mark set in November 1982, when 4,713,000 million Americans drew benefits.

Americans who moved to collect their first unemployment checks rose for the third consecutive week, to 588,000, according to a government report released Thursday.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment claims has surged by 61% from this time a year ago.

The Labor Department said initial filings for state jobless benefits rose by 3,000 for the week ended Jan. 24 from a downwardly revised 585,000 claims filed the prior week.

Economists polled by Briefing.com expected the reading to fall to 575,000 claims.

Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics, said that initial claims data are a proxy for the trends in gross firings. Mass firings hit a seven-year high in 2008.

“The net result of this is soaring unemployment, and we see no chance of this picture changing in the foreseeable future. We expect net job losses of about three million through the first half of this year,” Shepherdson said.

The four-week average of new unemployment claims, used to smooth fluctuations in data, grew by 24,250 to 542,500 from the prior week. A year ago, it was at 333,750.

Over the previous four weeks, the number of people on unemployment for one week or more increased by 66,500 to an average of 4.63 million a week, the government said. A year ago, it was at 2.70 million.

The greatest number of layoffs for the week ending Jan. 17 were in Michigan, with heavy losses from shutdowns in the automobile industry, North Carolina and Georgia.

On Wednesday, the House passed an $819 billion economic stimulus package with the goal of saving or creating up to 4 million jobs by 2010.

Continuing jobless claims set record, CNNMoney.com, 01/29/09, http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/29/news/economy/jobless_claims/index.htm?postversion=2009012910

And the Democrats want to give the unemployed a lousy check for $500, call it a stimulus while they spend the balance building bridges and infrastructure.  How long does $500 last?  They won’t even be able to afford the kool-aid.

A debate is brewing at home and abroad over an economic stimulus measure that would require materials used in the program’s infrastructure projects to be purchased from American companies.

In the $819 billion House bill passed Wednesday, the so-called “Buy American” provision would, with some notable exceptions, ensure that only U.S.-produced iron and steel be used for construction. It expands on a 76-year-old federal law. The Senate, which is likely to take up stimulus next week, would go even further, effectively requiring that any products and equipment be American-made.

“The Buy American provision will help stimulate our own economy,” Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who wrote the provision, told CNNMoney. “When taxpayer dollars are used, we should urge that money to support the things produced here at home.”

The plan is already drawing opposition. The European Commission on Thursday said it might challenge such a move if it were signed into law. The proposal also appears to fly in the face of a G-20 agreement reached in November, when world leaders decided not to raise new trade barriers in 2009.

Furthermore, many economists argue that a Buy American provision could actually backfire, slowing economic growth instead of helping expand the American job market.

“It’s not a good time to initiate protectionist measures in any shape or form,” said Kurt Karl, head of economic research at Swiss Re. “It hurts growth, because if you force one side to go with domestic production only, then that precludes them from getting less expensive materials from overseas.”

BUY AMERICAN – SPARKS FLY By CNNMoney.com, 01/29/09, http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/29/news/economy/buy_american/index.htm?postversion=2009012916

BUY AMERICAN PERIOD.  Stop outsourcing American jobs and stop looking for excuses to outsource American jobs.  Bring our jobs back home where they belong.  I would rather pay more for American products just to make sure my American brothers and sisters had a job.

Enough of the excuses.

The 168-member Republican National Committee will gather tomorrow morning to choose its next chairman and yet even those closest to this most insider of votes acknowledge they have little idea who will emerge victorious.

The RNC race has been almost entirely overshadowed by the election, transition and inauguration of President Barack Obama and, at times, has looked more like a race for high school student council than for the chairmanship of a political party.

The entire process — dominated as it has been by anonymous nasty-grams sent via email — has left many neutral Republican strategists shaking their heads at the pettiness of the contest (at a time when Obama is focused on “big” ideas) and what they believe to be the lack of star power in the field.

Critics aside, someone has to win tomorrow and below you’ll find our handicapping of the field.

At the philosophical level, there are two dynamics playing out in the race.

The first is a choice between change and more of the same. Mike Duncan, the current RNC Chairman who is seeking another term, is, without question, the more of the same candidate — arguing that he did as good a job as possible at the helm of the party in 2008 and that a steady hand is needed to guide the GOP back to relevance in the coming years.

Any number of other candidates are grasping for the “change” mantle with former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele the most effective messenger due to his status as one of the few African American elected officials in the GOP and his strident criticism of the presidency of George W. Bush.

The other dynamic is between committee members and outsiders. For the last eight years, RNC members have seen their chairmen foisted upon them by Bush with little input or say over how the committee runs.

Now that the party is out of power, there is a strong sentiment among many RNC members to pick “one of their own” to run the committee, thereby ensuring that they retain a measure of control over its decisions between now and 2012.

Duncan, as the current chair, is the strongest committee candidate, although South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis also can make the case that they understand and represent the interests of the members of the committee.

These crosscurrents — not to mention the near-certainty that it will take multiple ballots (Three? Four? More?) for a candidate to break the 85-vote threshold necessary to win — make hard and fast predictions extremely difficult.

Our informed sense, derived from conversations with a variety of operatives both aligned with a particular candidate and neutral, of where each man stands (with their likely number of votes on the first ballot) is below. Agree or disagree? The comments section is open.

1. Mike Duncan (48-60 votes on first ballot): Outwardly, the Duncan forces portray supreme confidence — arguing that he has been slowly building support since the November election among committee members. And, there is almost no debate that Duncan will lead on the first ballot. But, does he get a vote total in the high 40s or the low 60s? That makes a HUGE difference. Under the first scenario, he may well be done. Under the second, he would continue to be the favorite on the second ballot. Sources following the race closely say that the Duncan campaign has gotten very jittery over the last 72 hours — not a good sign.

2. Michael Steele (40 votes): The Steele campaign is doing everything it can to portray the race as a narrowing to their candidate and Duncan in the final days. They said last night that they now have 39 supporters — although only 18 of them are public — and Jim Dyke, who is advising Steele, said “whether it’s on the second or the sixth ballot the Lieutenant Governor is in the strongest position to take on the current chairman.” Steele is currently regarded as the strongest alternative to Duncan and probably must finish no lower than second on the first ballot (and subsequent ballots) to maintain momentum. But, do lingering questions surrounding his conservative credentials and the fact that he is not currently a committee member complicate his path to 85 votes?

3.Katon Dawson (30 votes): Dawson is, without question, the candidate with the momentum in the field. All sides acknowledge that Dawson — once left for dead after revelations that he had been a member of a whites-only country club — is moving up the ranks quickly thanks in large part to the consolidation of the south behind his candidacy. Dawson allies cast the country club incident as a strength for Dawson, evidence that he can take a hard punch and get up off of the mat. Dawson detractors insist that if the party elects him today, the country club association will dominate news headlines and put the GOP in a very uncomfortable position. Either way, Dawson is now a force to be reckoned with in the race.

4. Saul Anuzis (mid 20s): Anuzis may have peaked a bit too soon in the race as he appeared to be the “it” candidate during the early part of this month but seems to have lost some of that velocity of late. Anuzis is probably the most charismatic member of the race (with the possible exception of Steele) and his personal magnetism has made him a popular figure among committee members. Of late, however, doubts have crept into the minds of some RNC voters about whether Anuzis is more a political operative than a party leader. While most people we talked to saw Anuzis as a long shot to win, they also believe he is a potentially key power broker. Where Anuzis and his voters go to if he steps aside could well decide the winner.

5. Ken Blackwell (Teens): Blackwell was the last candidate into the race and, for a little while, appeared to clawing his way into the top tier. That movement has slowed considerably, however, as Blackwell has struggled to grow his support beyond the strongest social conservatives on the committee. Duncan’s camp believes that if Blackwell drops out, much of his support will naturally move to the current chairman. If Blackwell’s bloc moves en masse to Duncan, then the incumbent could well be positioned to win. If Blackwell’s support fractures among the candidates, Duncan could be in a tough position.

6. Chip Saltsman (N/A): Saltsman, who managed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, was a hot candidate in late 2008 — until he sent a CD to supporters that included the parody song “Barack the Magic Negro.” His support dissolved almost immediately and never came back. As of this posting, it’s not clear whether Saltsman will be able to qualify for the ballot tomorrow as it requires two RNC members from three different states willing to formally nominate him. Even if he does make the ballot, he is a non-factor. 

RNC CHAIR RACE: THE FIX’S FINAL HANDICAPPING By Chris Cillizza, Wash. Post, 01/29/09, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/01/rnc_chair_race_final_handicapp.html?wprss=thefix

I challenge the Republican Party to take a stand twice in one week.  Now, give us Michael Steele.  Send a message to America that the Repubican Party is on a renewed path.   

A state court has ordered government officials to immediately implement Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order requiring state employees take two days off without pay each month, denying claims by unions and the state controller that the order is illegal.

The decision by Sacramento Superior Court Patrick Marlette clears the way for 238,000 state employees to be furloughed on the first and third Fridays of each month starting Feb. 6. Marlette said in his ruling that the governor has the authority to implement such cuts during an emergency.

The state is in the midst of a financial crisis, with an immediate cash shortage and a projected deficit of nearly $42 billion by the middle of next year. Refunds to taxpayers and other payments will be suspended Feb. 1 because the state does not have the money for them.

“The current circumstances constitute an emergency,” Marlette’s ruling said. He called the governor’s executive order “reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.” Public employees unions had argued that furloughs must be approved by the Legislature. State Controller John Chiang agreed and sided in court with the Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, the Professional Engineers in California Government and the California Assn. of Professional Scientists.

But the administration argued successfully that Schwarzenegger can put the furloughs in place unilaterally during a fiscal emergency.

The equivalent of a 9% pay cut, the furloughs will save the state about $1.3 billion through June 30, 2010. The court ruling does not affect the governor’s order to cut state agency payrolls by another 10% through actions possibly including layoffs.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget-workers30-2009jan30,0,930288.story

So much for unions. It is bad enough that these furloughs are forced upon state workers, but state workers are not even given the option to choose which two days during the month they would prefer to take off since they must. 

These rulings are double edged swords, both points aimed at state employees.  It is safe to say that the stimulus plan as it stands now will do nothing for these employees.

Prior to winning the election in November, Obama stated that his first order would be to create a team of specialist who would create a massive stimulus plan for the benefit of the American people.  

After the election, Obama set his plan in motion insisting on many occasions that this stimulus plan would contain NO PORK.  Several of his fellow Democrats failed to read the memo. 

The Washington Times has written an article entitled, “EXCLUSIVE: Stimlus has plum for lawmaker’s son”. 

A top House Republican is demanding an investigation into whether the more than $2 billion for national parks in the House stimulus package is proper in light of the fact that the chief lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association is the son of House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey.

NPCA is a major player in advocating for national parks funding, and its senior vice president for government affairs is Craig Obey, son of the Wisconsin Democrat who has long been his party’s top Appropriations Committee member.

The money included in the stimulus bill that passed Mr. Obey’s committee – $2.25 billion – was about equal to the National Park Service’s total yearly budget, and would be a staggering increase and almost three times the $802 million that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved for park spending in its stimulus bill.

 This brings to mind the alleged importance of President Obama’s urgency in getting this bill to his desk.  Did Obey not get the NO PORK and the NO LOBBYING memos?  Or is this about that blundering thing again? 

“It really does beg the question of, is this an earmark, is this a family connection and should it have been disclosed at least in the spirit of what the Democrats said they wanted, and the answer is it should have been disclosed,” Mr. Issa said.

Tom Hill, legislative representative for NPCA, said the group, including the younger Mr. Obey, refrains from lobbying Mr. Obey or his office to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Craig certainly never lobbies his father, and takes pains to make that crystal clear. NPCA has been laying the groundwork for years about the NPS maintenance backlog which [the Government Accountability Office] says is over $8.5 billion, and the House leaders have historically been very supportive of the national parks. The Senate tends to be more conservative, particularly where public land issues are concerned,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Obey said the funding for parks had nothing to do with Mr. Obey’s relationship with his son and was included at the request of Norm Dicks, Washington Democrat, and that it was a popular request. Mr. Dicks is chairman of the subcommittee on interior, environment and related agencies.

See, EXCLUSIVE: Stimulus has plum for lawmaker’s son By Stephen Dinan and S.A. Miller, Washington Times, 01/29/09, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/29/stimulus-includes-plum-lawmakers-son/

Well since it is a family affair, there is no need to lobby, just invite a friend over, bundle up and call it a day, shall we?