1,990 Page Health Care "Plan" Should Be Trimmed to 200 Pages: Current Bill is Too Big, Too Broad and is Chocked Full of CRAP Too

Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats rolled out a 1,990-page health care proposal that makes severe changes to things like Medicaid, which the Democrats had previously said that they wouldn't change. And all Americans will have to subscribe to it too, which is opposite of what the Democrats said that they wanted. Opt out, my afterburner. There's no opting out with this bill.

The REPUBLICANS sure didn't put that crap in there.

They should take this bill, eliminate the fluff and condense it down to 200 pages. If they can't do that, then the entire thing should be scrapped. Entire federal budgets have been less than this pork-packed bill. Congress built the Social Security Administration in 1935 with a whopping 64-page bill. Compare that with Pelosi's 1,990-page monstrosity that a select few can even begin to understand.

Here's a part of the bill that CBS News web site quoted: "(a) Outpatient Hospitals – (1) In General – Section 1833(t)(3)(C)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(t)(3)(C)(iv)) is amended – (A) in the first sentence – (i) by inserting "(which is subject to the productivity adjustment described in subclause (II) of such section)" after "1886(b)(3)(B)(iii); and (ii) by inserting "(but not below 0)" after "reduced"; and (B) in the second sentence, by inserting "and which is subject, beginning with 2010 to the productivity adjustment described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)(II)".)

1,990 pages of that horse crap??!

They should pass a bill that says the following: Congress shall pass no bill that cannot be understood by someone reading at an Eighth Grade (up to Tenth Grade) reading level. That's what most publications and newspapers do: they write to that level so that they have a large enough audience that can understand what they're saying. Congress needs to do the same thing.

In the meantime, they need to re-do this entire bill, starting with the title of it and working their way down. And if they can't say what needs to be said in plain English, and within 200 pages, then they shouldn't even consider passing this bill. There's no excuse for passing stealth legislation, which is what this bill is.

Congress should also pass no bill which they don't completely understand themselves!

MSNBC is Living in a Glass House: Their Criticisms of Fox News Over Impartiality Applies to MSNBC as Well

MSNBC has engaged in stone throwing while ignoring the glass house that they're living in; they've said through Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann that Fox News should be disqualified from being a news organization because of their activism.

If that's the standard, then MSNBC should be disqualified first as they engage in the character assassination of Fox News personalities on a daily basis. Count the number of times Olbermann deliberately doesn't call "Fox News" "Fox News." He's been reduced to name-calling. And MSNBC was considering keeping this guy as an anchor after he SCREWED up? Here's one of his recent rants (watch as long as you can stomach it).

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Both organizations have their news reporting divisions, and both have their op-ed divisions. Fox has Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Greta Van Sustran, Chris Wallace and the Fox & Friends crowd. MSNBC has Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Andrea Michell, Ed Schultz, Joe Scarborough, Keith Olbermann, and co-hosts on several of the above shows.

MSNBC ought to tone down their own political rhetoric before criticizing the opposition; they have no credibility with personalities like Olbermann throwing political and personal grenades at people he doesn't like.

I do think both networks do need to do a better job of separating their news gathering divisions from their opinion-editorial side, which does get considerably more attention than their news divisions do. And yes, both liberals and conservatives manipulate stuff to their own ends. There's no denying that.

The main difference between MSNBC and Fox News is that Fox is more open to admitting that it has an opinion. Even their web site reflects it. Look up at the top of their web page and you'll see an "Opinions" selection. MSNBC simply calls their op-ed site "MSNBC TV" and leaves it at that on their web site.

The pot needs to stop calling the kettle black, until it comes clean on it's own views, which are hard-core liberal.

GOP Is Knuckling Under on Their Beliefs in the Name of Winning the Next Election: Stand Firm and FIGHT!

"The Party of No" is a label that has been used to describe both the Republicans and the Democrats, with one major difference.

The Democrats did not compromise on their stands; the Republicans appear ready to throw their values out the window to avoid being seen as the "Party of No" and having the label used against them in the days and weeks prior to Election Day. Yet the "PoN" strategy is one that they used against the Democrats, and were given a pretty good thumping at the polls.

The Republicans need to solidify their conservative base, and they won't do that by trying to out-Democrat the Democrats. This is a theme that I keep returning to because the GOP clearly isn't receiving the message yet. It's a failed strategy on the part of the Republicans. Their ideas should stand or fall on their own merits, without concern about whether they'll win or lose an election.

I want my elected officials to stand their ground, not adjust their positions so that they're going with the flow.

UK Prime Minister Brown Turns Into Magical Environmental Prophet: "50 Days to Save the Planet" Claim is Utter Rubbish

More global warming hubris from the government of the United Kingdom is circulating it's way through the world press this morning.

UK Prime Minster Gordan Brown is claiming that world leaders have 50 days to avoid utter disaster and climate change and "save the planet." What NONSENSE!

The Prime Minister's date is an arbitrarily chosen political date to pressure world leaders to come on board the "Save the Planet" bandwagon and agree to their point of view. And the trends that the Prime Minster is quoting is based on long-disputed research that generates enough hot air to heat the planet too.

And through all this, they're STILL ignoring the sun and sunspot activity that actually controls the extent of global warming, as the last couple of summers have clearly demonstrated.

Will the earth get warmer? You betcha! And then it'll cool off again. But this heating and cooling process has been going on for LONG before humans were around. Waters have risen, waters have fallen, then risen again. That's accepted science.

I think world leaders need to decide on what to do when the waters do rise again, as far as people who are living in areas that will be underwater in the next hundred years. The Maldives is a point in particular. Their entire nation, which is a cluster of atolls, is three feet above the ocean level and will likely be reclaimed by the ocean. What will the world do to help the people of the Maldives?

I don't have a problem with them trying to find cleaner ways of doing things; that will impact positively on our quality of life. But the man-made global warming hubris is pure rubbish; they need to look at the entire picture, not just one piece of it.

Would They PLEASE Keep the Balloon Kid Off TV?

I wish that the media circus surrounding the "balloon boy" would just die down, and that the parents would keep the kid at home, instead of dragging him onto TV. He threw up twice on live TV today, according to media reports.

This is ridiculous! Let the investigators investigate, and leave the kid out of it!

White House Behavior With Fox News is Childish: They Really Need to Grow Up

The White House is in a tit-for-tat exchange with Fox News over what they perceive as slights on the part of Fox over Obama's questionable health care and political views, and it's the most childish thing I've ever seen coming out of an Administration.

All it's done is drawn more attention to Fox to the point that they're totally dominating their competition even more so than usual.

Obama should focus on more important issues than a single media network that doesn't bow and scrape to him like the others do. No other President that has taken this kind of approach has been successful in waging a media campaign against a network.

Move on, Mr. President.

Granholm Administration Moves to Re-Combine DNR and DEQ to Save Money: That's Exactly Why They Were Split Apart

Michigan's Governor Granholm has proposed recombining the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) back into a united DNR.

The reason? To save money.

The reason the DNR was broken into the DNR and the DEQ, with their own budgets and responsibilities in the 90s? To save money.

Someone needs to explain this. Why will going back to the old system save money over the solution that a prior Administration, which was much more business savvy, came up with to save money in the first place?

I eagerly await a REAL GOOD explanation from the talking heads over this contradiction.

More Political Nonsense From the "Non-Political" Nobel Committee

I'm amused by the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to President Obama for eleven day's work as President (Obama took office January 20th, the deadline for nominations for the prior year was February 1st), but what's done is done. He's been awarded it, and has humbly accepted it in the spirit that it was offered.

So be it.

I'm also amused by the Republicans telling their members to tone it down, out of fear that they will be seen as a bunch of whiners. This is probably a smart move on their part.

And what does his press secretary have to say?

"We think that this gives us a sense of momentum when the United States has accolades tossed its way rather than shoes," he said this morning.

Accolades, eh? This was a one-fingered salute to President Bush from the Nobel Peace Prize committee, which also awarded Al Gore the prize for his global warming hubris, nothing more. So given their own political activism, I'm not surprised they gave Obama the prize for eleven days of no results.

And Mr. Press Secretary is sounding more like a propaganda minister every day, instead of a Press Secretary.

Even Obama's allies on MSNBC were not overly generous:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Whatever.

Letterman's Situation Highlights Problems With Employer/Employee Relationships: Where is the Line?

One of the questions being asked in light of the David Letterman situation is where the line is drawn between an employer and an employee (or manager/subordinate) having a relationship.

The line is fairly easy to see, yet employers get themselves into trouble by crossing that line without regard for the consequences. I've seen this first-hand, with a manager and a subordinate at a supermarket having a relationship that went badly. The effect that the break-up and charges of sexual harassment was devastating to not only the two involved, but also to all their co-workers. I thought they both acted stupidly.

Relationships at work are a bad idea. The best thing that two co-workers can do is keep their clothes on--that goes double for the manager who has the hots for a subordinate.

This Letterman situation is going to get far worse before it gets better. And yes, Letterman is an idiot for getting himself into this situation.

Dog Fighting Videos Protected By First Amendment?

When I first saw this on the news, I couldn't believe it.

There's a court case going on that will determine if dog fighting videos are protected speech. Whoever thinks that they are needs a good boot in the ass.

If the law that is being challenged is too broad, and will include a ban on hunting shows that show wild animals being shot by hunters, then they need to re-do the law which bans specific types of videos, such as dog fighting.

But leave the First Amendment out of this. This is a vile abuse of the court system to use the First Amendment to allow this contemptible blood sport to continue.

FTC Orders Bloggers to Disclose Payments For Reviews of Products

The Federal Trade Commission recently passed a rule that says that bloggers have to disclose whether they are paid for their reviews via money, freebies or equivalent of whatever product they are reviewing.

Per this order, I would like to make the following statement:

I generally refrain from reviewing products that are on the market. And those that I do review, I do so without any type of reimbursement whatsoever from the companies whose product it is. It would be nice, but I choose to review those products that I have a stake in, such as my Toshiba HD-DVD player that is essentially worthless, but still very useful. See my prior posts on the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD format war for details on that topic.

No free trips to Disney for me.

I will post what I want, when I want, about anything I want without worrying about the FTC order.

Next!

General McChrystal Goes Off the Reservation: His Afghanistan Speech Was Unfortunate

I've been watching and waiting for the axe to fall on the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and it looks like it's started.

General McChrystal sent his troop request to the Pentagon, then took his plan and his views to the media, which I didn't think was a very good idea. And sure enough, instead of motivating the Obama Administration to send more troops, all it's done is infuriate the Commander-in-Chief.

It's very unfortunate that General McChrystal didn't bide his time and speak privately with his boss.

I'm no fan of the Obama Administration, but there are written and unwritten rules between the military brass and the President, and it appears that a few lines were crossed. This is very unfortunate, and I hope that he and President Obama are able to get through this and move on to addressing what needs to be done to destroy the enemy.

Obama Administration Cancels Missile Defense Program on 70th Anniversary of Soviet Invasion of Poland: Timing of Announcement SUCKED

Poland is reacting very badly to the cancellation of the U.S. missile shield that would have been partially based on Polish territory.

For whatever reason, the Obama Administration decided to announce the change in plans on a dark day in Polish history: the 70th anniversary of the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, which lead to decades of eventual Soviet rule, once the Nazis were driven from Poland.

The Poles are still very sensitive to the symbolism of this day, and our government chose this day, out of 365 days available in the year, to leave the Poles feeling like we're abandoning them. Again.

Couldn't they have chosen a better day?

President Obama Shouldn't Use Last Administration's Poor Spending Record to Justify His Own: Make Some Cuts

President Obama made the statement during his speech to Congress that he had a $1 trillion deficit as soon as he walked through the doors of the White House due to the last Administration's spending spree, including invading Iraq, etc. And the Democrats in Congress cheered.

Yet this is the same President Obama whose Office of Budget and Management says will add another $10 trillion in debt by the end of his two terms in office, at a minimum.

We're looking to President Obama to restore financial sanity in Washington, not use excuses like he made before Congress (see the first paragraph) to engage in his own budget-busting spending spree.

Someday a President will be forced to make catastrophic cuts in order to keep the country out of bankruptcy. And those cuts will be massive, and painful. It would be better to make cuts now and keep from reaching that point.

President Obama needs to shift gears, put the health care stuff on the back burner, and make some cuts. Get the budget under control and reduce the debt before adding more to it via this costly health care proposal that Obama is keen on passing.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Twists Things Around: Representative Was Correct in Pointing Out Loophole, Though His Approach to It Was Highly Inappropriate

I was just flipping through the channels and stopped on MSNBC when I saw that Rachel Maddow was doing some commentary on the "You Lie!" situation in Congress. She got a couple of points incorrect.

The situation started when President Obama was making his speech to a joint session of Congress on Congress's health care bill, when Representative Wilson, reacting to a statement that President Obama made during the speech regarding whether this plan would cover illegals, stated that it wouldn't.

That was when Representative Wilson stated that Obama had lied, which lead to a huge political storm in Congress, which lead to Representative Wilson calling the White House before midnight on that evening to apologize.

It was a tactless statement on his part, but then news broke that the Democrats were closing a loophole that Representative Wilson was aware of, and was reacting to when Obama made his incorrect statement. A loophole is a loophole. Congress is notorious for creating loopholes in legislation, which leads them to go back and take care of it later on.

In this case, the GOP had tried to amend the problem twice, but both amendments were rejected by the majority Democrats.

Rachel Maddow stated that Congress was taking action to make sure that the "make believe" loophole would address his issue. That's pure political commentary based that is being parroted by the liberal media, who don't see it as a problem. That's nothing more than the liberal press imposing their views on things, nothing more.

Congress needs to close these loopholes.

I don't think Wilson won; decorum should be maintained. His apology was correct.

And if it wasn't a loophole, then why are the Democrats bothering to fix it?

Soviet Buran Space Shuttle Could Be Revived to Replace Retiring American Space Shuttle Program

This news report appeared in Russia Today and has sci-fi fans positively drooling. Russian and American scientists are looking at reviving the Soviet-era Buran space shuttle program to replace the retiring American space shuttle program.

The Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor are to be retired in 2010; the Orion orbiter is not expected to get off the ground until at least 2014, and is already rumored to be on the Obama Administration's list of programs to be cut.

(Adjust your volume downward at the beginning of this report, then adjust it to your comfort level).

If they can modernize the Buran design with today's technology, it would solve a lot of issues and could get off the ground relatively quickly. Buran had a larger cargo capacity as it didn't have a need for it's own engines--the Energia booster rocket provided more than enough lift to launch it into space.

Since the original Buran was destroyed in a hangar collapse in 2002, they would have to restart the program from scratch.

This probably won't happen, but it's a fascinating scenario. I like the idea.

Presidential Advisers Should Go Through Stronger Vetting Process: Current System Allows Unqualified Candidates to Advise the President

One of the most perplexing parts of the government is the Executive Office of the President, which was created in 1939 by FDR, and continues to this day. The advisers are appointed by the President and under the day-to-day management of the Chief of Staff.

The appointees are not subject to Congressional review, which I'm uneasy with. These people are advising the President.

The President's cabinet officers do require confirmation by a simple majority vote of the Senate. But this is a separate body of politicians than the Executive Office of the President. The media has taken to referring to these advisers as "czars."

The offices that are in the Executive Office of the President are:

• Council of Economic Advisers
• Council of Environmental Quality, which has been in the news quite a bit lately with one of the appointees resigning under fire due to his radical communist views.
• Council on Women and Girls
• Domestic Policy Council
• National Economic Council
• National Security Council (Congress should definitely have some input here as the last several appointees by the last three Administrations were not so hot).
• Office of Administration
• Office of Management and Budget
• Office of National AIDS Policy
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Office of the Trade Representative
• President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
• President's Intelligence Advisory Board (should be combined with the NSA)
• White House Military Office (position vacant due to Air Force One flyover of New York and subsequent resignation of the chair).
• White House Office

Each of these departments have sub-departments, so it's a pretty complex system. And very few are vetted by Congress. And in the case of Van Jones, the former "Green Czar," he didn't fill out the 63 question background questionnaire, which would hopefully have lead someone to raise some red flags.

The system needs to be strengthened, and background checks need to be performed. Or they should be voted on by Congress, following a question-and-answer session by a select committee.

Michael Jackson's Death Ruled a Homicide: Second Doctor Under Investigation

Michael Jackson's death was ruled a homicide by the coroner who did the autopsy on the late singer.

And instead of answering questions, the autopsy has lead to more questions. How could things have gotten so far? He should have been in the hospital if he was in that kind of pain and unable to sleep.

The police now have an hour-by-hour accounting of what happened to Jackson. According to the records, Jackson was given the following drugs in this sequence:

1:30 a.m. — 10 milligram tablet of Valium, a sedative.
2 a.m. — 2 milligrams of the sedative lorazepam (brand name Ativan) given intravenously.
3 a.m. — 2 milligrams of the sedative midazolam (brand name Versed) given intravenously.
5 a.m. — 2 milligrams of lorazepam given intravenously.
7:30 a.m. — 2 milligrams of midazolam given intravenously.
10:40 a.m. — 25 milligrams of propofol (brand name Diprivan) given intravenously and diluted with lidocaine (brand name Xylocaine).
10:50 a.m. — Doctor leaves Jackson’s room; returns minutes later to find Jackson not breathing. Begins CPR and gives 0.2 milligrams of flumazenil (brand name Anexate), used to reverse sedatives.

Did the doctor not realize what was going to happen? Those sedatives remain resident in the body, and with the propofol, the effect of the other seditives were amplified, according to medical authorities familiar with the drug.

Jackson should have been in the hospital getting proper treatment from doctors who were not on the King of Pop's payroll, and would have cleaned him out and gotten him on a proper treatment plan.

I can't see how the doctor involved won't get charged with a crime. He sure was negligent.

People Shouldn't Be Surprised That Pope Isn't Publicly Lavishing Praise on Senator Kennedy: His Political Stands Went Directly Against Church Policy

The media is wondering why Pope Benedict XVI hasn't issued any public comments on the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.

The reason is threefold: abortion, stem cell research, and gay marriage, which Kennedy strongly supported, but is vehemently opposed by the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Kennedy's outright defiance of church doctrine is well-known in Rome. So don't expect to see the Pope go out of his way to praise the Senator for his politics in public.

Being a liberal Catholic is a contradiction: one can be a liberal, or be a Catholic, but not both. You either are, or you aren't a Catholic. And the attempt by American politicians to bridge the gap and have it both ways is utterly ridiculous.

To see Senator Kennedy's voting record, go to ontheissues.org then select Massachusetts, then select Senator Kennedy on the Senate side.

As Expected, Liberals Target Those Who Aren't Gushing Over Senator Kennedy: Bloggers are Initial Targets

Politico.com is starting to go after those who decided not to hold their fire on the late Senator Kennedy.

Targeted were Washington Times columnist Andrew Breitbart, who twittered that Kennedy was a "villain," a "duplicitous bastard," and a "prick" and commented that he was "...more than willing to go off decorum to ensure THIS MAN is not beatified,” and “Sorry, he destroyed lives. And he knew it." Breitbart's comments, not mine.

They also mentioned HotAir's AllahPundit who wrote up a sarcastic commentary on what the eulogy was going to sound like.

And Instapundit over at Pajamas Media wrote that the Kennedy coverage was going to be like the "Wellstone funeral on steroids." Conservatives remember that disgraceful funeral as a Democratic rally, which was totally disgusting and inappropriate. The Democrats lost seats in the election that followed the Wellstone funeral because of their actions.

They even mentioned Limbaugh, who did hold his fire on Kennedy, but criticized the Clintons for being strangely quiet and commented that they had parted ways with Kennedy in January of 2008, when Senator Kennedy endorsed Obama for President instead of Hillary.

I'm waiting to see if the news anchors take the same stance that they did in 2004: that coverage of the Reagan funeral was excessive. I think the Kennedy coverage will eclipse the Reagan coverage.

Still waiting for Savage and Hannity to weigh in; listening to Savage tonight will be interesting. He's the most likely to go off on Kennedy and attract attention. Hannity will moderate his tone; Limbaugh did, so did Beck. O'Reilly will be interesting as well tonight.