“Frustrating Stubborn Facts”

Tony Blankley @ Real Clear Politics:

We’re in for quite a brawl. (Note to Democratic Party talking-points drafts people: I am using the word “brawl” as a metaphor.) I am not calling for violence against your dainty selves, so you can come out from pretending to be trembling under your desks and bask in the physical safety of debating Republicans, conservatives, Tea Party folks and other fine Americans. After all, when was the last time you saw thousands of us filthy-rich, middle-aged, paunchy white guys from gated communities riot? (With the possible exception of the first day of the 30-percent-off sale for Bermuda shorts at the country club golf shop. “Where are the 40s?”)

Come out, come out where ever you are, my little pretties. We want to debate the facts, not duck your mud balls. What are you afraid of? Admittedly, the truth may hurt you — but only metaphorically. And, as the phrase goes, the truth will set us (even you) free.

For full article: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/03/31/frustrating_stubborn_facts_104987.html

Class Warfare: The “Free Ride” for the Rich is Over

A Trip Down Memory Lane

ObamaCare: Layoffs and Job Losses

from America’s Right:

Job Losses and Layoffs from ObamaCare:

U.S. employers have warned that President Obama’s government takeover of health care would destroy American jobs and harm our economy.  President Obama’s health care law is not yet a week old, but already we’re seeing the real-life impact that ObamaCare’s job-killing tax hikes and health care costs are having on America’s employers.

Medtronic
“Medtronic Inc. CEO Bill Hawkins also tore into the tax. ‘This will make us one of the highest-taxed regions in the world, and that’s going to have an impact on the appetite for people to invest in medical innovation,’ Hawkins told the Wall Street Journal, adding that Medtronic could wind up slashing its workforce by 1,000 to absorb the cost of the excise tax.” (Mass Device, 3/23/10)

Zoll Medical Group
“‘This bill is a jobs killer,’ said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer of Chelmsford’s Zoll Medical Corp., which employs about 650 people in Massachusetts. Many of those employees work in Zoll’s local manufacturing facility making heart defibrillators. ‘We could be forced to (move) manufacturing overseas if we can’t pass along these costs to our customers,’ said Whiton.” (The Boston Herald, 3/25/10)

Theken
“Randy Theken, founder of a handful of Akron-based spinal implant companies that work under the Theken name, said he, too, expects the tax to slow research-and-development efforts and hurt medical device companies. ‘This could also be the first time in decades that we’ve seen medical device manufacturers having to lay off personnel,’ Mr. Theken said.” (Cran’s Cleveland Business, 3/29/10)

Sallie Mae
“The reforms passed Sunday night as part of the health-care reform package could prompt student lender Sallie Mae — which employs 700 people at a Muncie call center — to cut a quarter of its workforce or close its Muncie office outright. The student lender has estimated it could cut its 8,600-member workforce by as many as 2,500 and reduce its locations nationally from 25 to a half dozen.” (The Muncie Star Press, Sallie Mae Could Cut Workforce, Close Local Call Center, 3/23/10)

“Unless the U.S. Senate acts, the Sallie Mae facility in Lynn Haven likely will start ‘immediate’ layoffs due to health care legislation that keeps private loan providers from originating student loans, officials said Monday. ‘Quite frankly, I’m very saddened,’ said Renee Mang, Sallie Mae senior vice president in Lynn Haven.” (Panama News Herald, 3/22/10)

NOTE: Yesterday we launched the ObamaCare Flatlines highlighting how ObamaCare has forced job-killing taxes on America’s small businesses. Here is an update from last night on Prudential Financial:

Prudential Financial
“Insurer Prudential Financial Inc. said Monday that it will take a $100 million charge in the first quarter in relation to the recent health care overhaul legislation. Prudential joins a growing list of companies that have said they will take accounting charges because of the health care bills.” (The Associated Press, Prudential to Take $100M Health Care Charge in 1Q, 3/29/10)

By The Numbers: Companies Reeling from ObamaCare’s Job Killing Taxes:

$1,000,000,000: AT&T: “AT&T Inc. will book $1 billion in first-quarter costs related to the health-care law signed this week by President Barack Obama, the most of any U.S. company so far. A change in the tax treatment of Medicare subsidies triggered the non-cash expense, and the company will consider changes to the benefits it offers current and retired workers, Dallas-based AT&T said today in a regulatory filing.” (Bloomberg, 3/26/10)

$150,000,000 to $200,000,000: Medtronic: “The impact of the tax, we estimate, will be roughly $150 to $200 million on Medtronic annually beginning in 2013. We have no immediate plans to eliminate jobs at Medtronic as a result of the device tax or health care reform. We accept our shared fiscal responsibility for coverage expansion, and are very appreciative of our constituent members of Congress from Minnesota and Indiana, in particular, for having significantly tempered the size, distribution and timing of the tax.”  (Release, 3/26/10)

$150,000,000: Deere & Co.: “Farm equipment maker Deere & Co (DE.N) expects after-tax expenses to rise by $150 million this year as a result of the healthcare reform law President Barack Obama signed this week.” (Reuters, 3/25/10)

$100,000,000: Caterpillar: “Caterpillar Inc. lobbied to keep the U.S. from taxing a subsidy on retiree drug benefits. It lost the battle when President Barack Obama signed an almost $1 trillion health-care overhaul into law this week. The world’s largest maker of bulldozers put a price tag on that defeat yesterday: a $100 million charge to earnings.” (Bloomberg, 3/25/10)

$90,000,000: 3M: “3M Co. will record a one-time non-cash charge of up to $90 million, or 12 cents a share, in the first quarter as a result of the U.S. health reform signed into law this week, the company said on Friday. The charge reflects lower tax deductions related to retiree drug benefits.” (Reuters, 3/26/10)

$15,000,000 to $20,000,000: Valero Energy: “Valero Energy Corp said it expects to take a charge to earnings of between $15 million and $20 million in the first quarter due to the new healthcare legislation, and said it expected further tax costs to be calculated later.” (Reuters, 3/26/10)

For article: http://americasright.com/?p=4144

Remembering Terry Schiavo

     Today marks the 5th anniversary of the death of Terry Schiavo, the culmination of a long legal abttle over who can make end-of-life decisions, and what constitutes “brain dead”. In the end, Terry’s husband won out over the wishes of her family, and her feeding tubes were ended.

     The following is a column by her brother, Bobby Schindler, which expresses his concerns for our society, and his concerns over the affects of ObamaCare:

March 31st will mark the five-year anniversary of the needless death of my sister, Terri Schiavo.

It is difficult to believe this much time has passed since that horrible event which will be forever seared into my memory.

I wish I could say things have changed for the better since my sister’s death or that people with cognitive disabilities are now better protected in response to the horror she had to endure.

Tragically, however, it seems the rights of the brain-injured, elderly and others are still being violated.

Perhaps the “Death Panels” Sarah Palin spoke of sounded like bombastic language. Yet when Palin added this term into our nation’s debate on health care, I believe she did not realize that many hospitals and facilities already have something frighteningly similar. Ethics committees are making many life and death decisions about patients, including whether to withhold simple provisions.

In a seemingly clandestine way, these ethics committees – comprised of medical and legal professionals – are empowering facilities to make life and death decisions independent of the family or a person’s own wishes.

The chilling stories we receive make it clear few citizens have any idea how vulnerable they are when it comes to judgments left in the hands of these ethics committees and facilities. And with the federal government now controlling our health care, there is no reason not to believe that these types of committees won’t become nationalized. Particularly when a health care system has been sabotaged by cost factors and quality of life judgments.

For full story: http://townhall.com/columnists/BobbySchindler/2010/03/31/remembering_terri_schiavo_a_five-year_anniversary_marked_by_cruel_bigotry&Comments=true?page=full

Obama Troop Surge

http://hillbuzz.org/2010/03/28/putting-big-government-first-and-patients-last/

Worried About Her Country, Singer Revives a “Berlin” Classic

Kate Smith introduces “God Bless America”
Taking You Back In Time
In early 1940, Kate Smith, a fiercely patriotic American, and the biggest star on radio, was deeply worried about her country.
She asked Irving Berlin if he could give her a song that would re-ignite the spirit of American patriotism and faith. He said he had a song that he had written in 1917, The song was used in the musical “Yip Yip Yaphank”, which was an amateur show in which the players were all servicemen. It ran briefly at the Yaphank army boot camp on Long Island in 1917. Following that, Berlin put it in a drawer. Decades later, he pulled it out of that drawer for Kate Smith. He said she could have it.
She sat at the piano & played it and realized how good it was. She called Mr. Berlin and told him that she couldn’t take this from him for nothing. So, they agreed that any money that would be made off the song would be donated to the Boy Scouts of America.

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/kate_smith.html

American Heroes “Ready & Willing” To Serve– in Congress

From  Sarah Palin’s Facebook:

There are a number of great veteran candidates running for office this year, and there are some excellent organizations dedicated to helping them, including: Iraq Vets for Congress and Combat Veterans for Congress (please click on the links to visit their websites).

There are three veterans in particular I’ll be supporting this week.

The first is Major Vaughn Ward, a fourth-generation Idaho native who grew up on his family’s farm in Shoshone and is running in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District. Coming from a family with a proud military tradition, Vaughn joined the Marine Corps after college and was finishing up his service when the September 11th attacks occurred. He put his life on hold and heeded his country’s call – serving first as a CIA Operations Officer and later volunteering with the Marine Corps for a combat tour in Iraq, during which he was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V. After returning from Iraq, Vaughn went to work for the McCain/Palin campaign. I was grateful for his support then, and I’m happy to support him now because I know that he believes in the same commonsense conservative ideals that we cherish. Vaughn knows that real job growth comes from the private sector, not government. He believes in free market reforms, tax relief for families and small businesses, and a return to a constitutionally limited government that lives within its means. He’ll carry the conservative banner to Washington and will rein in the reckless growth of government to get it back on our side. And remember, a vote for Vaughn is a vote to remove the gavel from Nancy Pelosi’s grip. Please visit Vaughn’s website here to make a donation to his campaign, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

The second veteran is Captain Adam Kinzinger, a decorated special-operations pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Adam is running for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District against a freshman incumbent congresswoman who seemed to pull a bait and switch on voters to get elected. She sounded like a blue dog on the campaign trail, but didn’t vote like one in Washington. Instead, she voted in lockstep with the Pelosi agenda – on Obamacare, the stimulus, cap-and-tax – and the list goes on. She’s part of the reason for Congress’ 11% approval rating. Adam is a strong fiscal conservative with a proven track record as a reformer from his years serving on his local county board. Adam started out in local office, and, like many of us, believes in making government more accountable to the people. When you serve in local office, your constituents truly are your neighbors. Adam understands this, and I know that he will listen to his constituents and work for us, not against us, in Washington. Please visit Adam’s website here to make a donation to his campaign, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

The third veteran is Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, a decorated war hero who’s served with distinction in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of you may have heard of Allen from a speech he gave last year that became a viral video on YouTube with over 2 million viewers. Allen’s personal story is a testament to the commonsense conservative belief that our nation’s greatness is rooted in freedom, because with freedom comes equal opportunity, and that, coupled with hard work, leads to success. Allen is a small government fiscal conservative running against a leftwing ideologue who’s marched to the beat of Nancy Pelosi on every issue from cap-and-tax to the stimulus, TARP, and, of course, Obamacare. It’s time to send Allen to Washington in his place. Please visit Allen’s website here to donate to his campaign, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

I believe that these great veterans will fight for us in D.C. to uphold and defend our constitution as courageously in the halls of Congress as they did on the field of battle. I’m so honored to offer my support to these American heroes, and I hope you’ll join me in helping them so that they can serve us all in Washington.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=375469568434

Gun-Related Deaths Decline as Gun Control Restrictions Ease

Americans overall are far less likely to be killed with a firearm than they were when it was much more difficult to obtain a concealed-weapons permit, according to statistics collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control. But researchers have not been able to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

In the 1980s and ’90s, as the concealed-carry movement gained steam, Americans were killed by others with guns at the rate of about 5.66 per 100,000 population. In this decade, the rate has fallen to just over 4.07 per 100,000, a 28 percent drop. The decline follows a fivefold increase in the number of “shall-issue” and unrestricted concealed-carry states from 1986 to 2006.The highest gun homicide rate is in Washington, D.C., which has had the nation’s strictest gun-control laws for years and bans concealed carry: 20.50 deaths per 100,000 population, five times the general rate. The lowest rate, 1.12, is in Utah, which has such a liberal concealed weapons policy that most American adults can get a permit to carry a gun in Utah without even visiting the state.

The decline in gun homicides also comes as U.S. firearm sales are skyrocketing, according to federal background checks that are required for most gun sales. After holding stable at 8.5 to 9 million checks from 1999 to 2005, the FBI reported a surge to 10 million in 2006, 11 million in 2007, nearly 13 million in 2008 and more than 14 million last year, a 55 percent increase in just four years.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/03/29/msnbc-shocker-firearms-deaths-fall-gun-restrictions-ease#ixzz0jhhtYqB1

ObamaCare is About Wealth Redistribution

Howard Dean: “I think when it gets out of wack as it did in the ’20s and it has now, you need to do some redistribution, this is a form of redistribution. If you redistribute too much then the system doesn’t work because you take the incentive out of it, it’s like a machine, you always got to tune it right…The question is, what is the right balance”

For video: http://hotairpundit.blogspot.com/2010/03/howard-dean-of-course-health-care-law.html