What are you going to do this weekend? If you are like the majority of Americans, you’ll spend it with family and friends, trying to find something inexpensive to do, due to the effects of the Obama Economy.

As I just said this, I heard Liberal heads all exploding in unison as they shrieked:

But…but…Boooosh!!!!!

Nope.  The sad fact of the matter is: A government report issued on Monday reported that the number of U.S. households that have been forced to get emergency food from a food pantry almost doubled between 2007 and 2009, at the height of the recession.

According to the The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of households jumped to 5.6 from 3.9 million.

An article published in the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) “Amber Waves” said:

Households also accessed additional assistance through USDA’s 15 food and nutrition assistance programs.

The USDA is in charge of the government’s food stamp program,known as SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for low-income families and other domestic feeding programs like school lunches.

During the 2009 fiscal year,according to the article:

15.2 million households participated in SNAP in an average month, up from 12.7 million in FY 2008.

In a separate report, the ERS said the percentage of U.S. households that did not have access to enough food for an active, healthy life, at some point during the year hit a record in 2009.

More than 50 million people, including at least 17 million children, lived in households uncertain of having or getting enough food at some point because of insufficient money or other material resources.

Remind me again the year in which the Democrats took over Congress. Oh yeah, 2007.

So this weekend, as millions of Americans are simply trying to survive, what is the leader of their country going to be doing?

Coming off a failed Asia trip, where Obama’s proposals were rebuffed time and again by world leaders trying to not laugh out loud at his economic policies, Scooter will travel to Europe this Friday and Saturday.

His mission is to attempt to convince skeptical European allies that he is an effective American President, able to engage in better cooperation on issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the fight against trade protectionism.

The problem for Obama is the fact that, just as Americans have seen behind his mask, so has the rest of the world, as evidenced by his failed Asian trip. Our allies do not have a whole lot of confidence in this “leader of the free world”.

As the president attends back-to-back NATO and European Union summits in Lisbon on Friday and Saturday, he faces an uphill battle, according to Sally McNamara, a European affairs expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington:

Obama is facing  the daunting task of figuring out how to show the Europeans not only that he’s still important to them but that they’re still important to the U.S..

One of his main problems is that our friends in Europe may be feeling ignored by his foreign policy initiatives.

Despite his nonsensical European Presidential Campaign stops where he was treated like a rock star, once Obama was elected, he placed Europe on the back-burner, instead courting favor with India and Asia and devoting his attention to an attempt to change America into a socialist country, resulting in high unemployment and a horrible economy.

He will only be spending 24 hours in Lisbon, Spain, after spending 10 days in Asia.

And while Obama’s been pushing his failed strategy of more government spending, European leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron have been stressing fiscal discipline.

Because they tried socialism already and it did not work.  Capitalism does.

To say that the Europeans are less than impressed with Obama’s economic policies is an understatement. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, earlier this month, said the Federal Reserve’s decision to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy was “clueless.” Germany, China and other big exporters have identified the action as a backdoor way to bring down the value of the dollar, thereby giving U.S. goods a trade advantage.

Obama will meet first with NATO leaders and then with heads of the 27-nation EU, the world’s biggest economic bloc. Given his track record, this weekend will undoubtedly be a failure, also.

This president’s domestic and foreign policies are both failing in an epic way.  In the span of two years, he has spent more money that all of our other presidents combined.  Instead of turning a slow economy around, his economic policies, including his so-called “Stimulus” Bill and strident government take-over of private industry, have not only driven the car into the ditch, his policies are burying our economy deeper than the Kennedys buried Chappaquiddick.  The next time that you’re in church or at a ballgame, count 6 people down the row.  That person may be fighting, economically, for their very survival.

America’s allies…and our enemies…have been watching for the past two years.  They view this American President as an inept bungler.  They probably are laughing themselves silly, wondering how the American people could have elected such a lightweight.  Obama has succeeded in diminishing America’s stature throughout the world.

Obama has never believed in American exceptionalism.  The crux of all his speeches has basically been to identify America as just another nation on the world stage.  He has been doing his best to turn the Shining City on the Hill into just another Third World Barrio.

The good news is, November 2nd was a refudiation (Refudiate…The New Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year…More Liberal heads exploding.) of Obama and his minions’ Master Plan to radically change America.  With the American people rejecting his policies, along with the rest of the world, Obama will be locked for the next two years in an ideological prison of his own device.

The most ethical Congress evah returns to Capital hill today.  As I wrote last week, there are a lot of things on the agenda, most of which are wishes and dreams.

There are two important pieces of legislation that will have to be tackled right off the bat, though:  The extension of the Bush tax cuts and the START Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty.

The START treaty, which has been pending in the Senate for months,would reduce the limit on strategic warheads to 1,550 for each country from the current ceiling of 2,200. It also would set up new procedures to allow both countries to inspect each other’s arsenals to verify compliance.

The treaty was signed by President Barack Hussein Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April and is waiting to be ratified by the Senate.  Before the Midterms, this would have sailed through.  Now, it won’t be so easy, with Senators looking over their shoulders, scared by the righteous indignation of the American people, who spoke in a loud and clear voice on November 2nd.

Then, there’s the Bush Tax Cuts.  Of course, Scooter and his minions have been adamant about raising the taxes of American families making $250,00 or more, while Republicans and the majority of the American people want all the Bush Tax Cuts extended.

The smell of compromise is in the air.  The WH has been signaling that they may be agreeable to extending the tax cuts for the so-called wealthy for a couple of more years, while indefinitely extending the rest of the cuts.

The problem, as usual, is Obama himself.  He’s still of the opinion that over-taxing those who actually create jobs and put Americans to work is no big deal.  Obama told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from an Asia trip:

It won’t significantly boost the economy, and it’s hugely expensive. So we can’t afford it.

Obama then allowed the possibility of compromise to remain open:

If they feel very strongly about it, then I want to get a sense of … how they intend to pay for it.

Republicans have signalled back that they would be willing to talk about it, but they realize that the folks back home do not want their taxes raised. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has introduced legislation that would permanently extend the current tax rates for all income levels,said in a statement:

I’m willing to listen to what the president has in mind for protecting Americans from tax increases.

Two other Republican leaders said on Sunday that Congress may only be able to come up with a short term-continuation of the current tax rates.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)said:

If the president wants to compromise on a two or three-year extension … if that’s all we can get out of the president, and he is the president, so we’ll work with him on that.

Our ol’ buddy Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he would be alright with a short-term extension of all the tax cuts. The World Champion reacher-across-the aisle voted against the Bush tax cuts, claiming that they disproportionately benefited wealthy Americans and did not reign spending.

He opined that:

They should be extended until we are out of this recession. At such time we can look at other tax hikes. But when we’re in a serious recession I cannot believe that raising taxes is a good thing on anybody.

Wow.  How profound.  Gee, John.  Ya think?

Meanwhile, Freshmen Orientation Classes begin for almost 100 incoming members of the House of Representatives, chosen by the American voters 13 days ago.

Yesterday, there were four events held at the same time for the newbie Congresscritters:  A meet and greet at the Capitol Hill Club, sponsored by the Claremont Institute, a forum at the Regan Building, held by the Constitutional Congress, a third meeting, also at the Reagan Building, organized by the Tea Party Patriots, and. of course, the formal orientation session, held at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel.

The TPP, apparently upset at being ignored yesterday, issued a memo, intercepted by Fox News:

Don’t Let them Steal OUR New Members of Congress. They are apparently trying to make sure that instead of sitting with grassroots tea party leaders from around the country, the lobbyists and consultants can sink their claws into the freshmen and begin to ‘teach them’ the ways of DC.

The TPP went on to publish on the internet the personal cell phone numbers and email addresses of every freshman Republican member. TPP backers then blasted the government-issued BlackBerries of the freshman GOPers with tons of voice messages and emails.

While I understand the TPP’s concern, I think that they should have allowed these neophytes to take their place on the playing  field first before they tackled them.  These incoming Freshmen know what the American people expect of them.  That message was sent loud and clear on November 2nd.  They, along with their veteran colleagues, know the consequences of failing to follow through with the mandate that they were given on that historic day.  They talked the talk to get to Capitol Hill.  Now, it’s up to them to walk the walk.

When San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House in January of 2007, her ratings were 2-to-1 positive, 44% to 22%. However, as America got to know her, those ratings became just about even by March of that year and remained that way in November 2008.  Americans began to grow even more tired of her in the first half of 2009, due to her Liberal ideological stance against the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation” of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay prison, and her silly dispute with the CIA over whether she had been briefed on the matter. During the time that these issues were in the news, her favorable rating fell from 42% to 32%. Pelosi’s favorable rating recovered slightly in the first half of 2010 to 36%, because her base, the Far Left, was happy with her.

Since then, Independents in particular have gotten to know Nancy better, as evidenced by her favorability dropping nine points among this group since May, to 21%. Nearly 6 in 10 independents (58%) now view her unfavorably, compared with 86% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats.

This led to a favorability rating of 29%, per gallup.com, as of 10/20/2010.

Her  words and actions, as Speaker of the house of Representative, made her a point of focus in the minds and hearts of Americans as they headed to vote in the Midterm Elections. 

This Congressional version of Captain Queeg gave an interview within the friendly confines of National Public Radio yesterday, where she said:

We didn’t lose the election because of me. Our members do not accept that.

Pelosi, in a trip through denial not seen since the Egyptian Pharaohs, blames the Midterm Massacre on high unemployment and “$100million of outside, unidentified funding.”

No word on whether she knows who ate the strawberries yet – obscure movie reference.

The NPR interview is one of the first San Fran Nan has given to fight back against Democrats who have began complaining to anyone who will listen about her decision to seek the position of House Minority Leader. That list even includes some congresscritters who previously carried the water for her, such as Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan.

Republicans are loving this,even to the point of hanging a Hire Pelosi sign from their headquarters. They’re looking forward to the easy campaign strategy of tying Democratic incumbents around the country to the liberal from San Francisco.

And, pray tell, what was the Congressional Queen of Denial’s reply?

The reason they had to take me down is because I’ve been effective in fighting special interests in Washington, D.C. I’m effective. They had to take me out. I’m also the most significant attractor to support for the Democrats.

So, I’m not looking back on this. They asked me to run, I’m running. We don’t let the Republicans choose our leaders, and again, our members understand, they made me a target because I’m effective, politically and policy-wise.

The sad thing is, (If you’re a Democrat, that is.  I say:  Give ’em more rope.) her stupid Democratic supporters are paving the way for her.

In a Congressional Soap Opera, that I think I’ll title As the Sycophants Turn, Democrats came to a backroom deal, enabling Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer to become second in command of their new minority without a challenge from South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.

The Dems said Friday night that Clyburn would instead receive a new position,created just for him, explicitly labeled the third-ranking post in leadership. The title and duties are not known.  Maybe Rush is right.  Maybe Clyburn will be Driving Miss Nancy.

This revelation was reported by Democratic officials after Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a vaguely worded (is there any other kind from these guys?) statement saying she intends to nominate Clyburn to a new No. 3 post. The statement did not mention Hoyer, and officials who filled in the details did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not permitted to speak publicly about the matter.

San Fran Nan is going to stay on as Democratic party leader when the new Congress convenes in January under a Republican majority. There is no official opposition for the post even though a bunch of the rank and file have said that she should step aside after November 2nd’s shellacking. The GOP gained at least 60 seats in midterm elections,due to the tone-deaf arrogance and incompetence of the Democrats.

As America moves forward, through the Lame Duck Congress with Pelosi as Speaker and into the next 2 years, with her as House Minority Leader, remember these gems of wisdom that she has already given us…and try not to laugh out loud:

Bipartisanship is nice, but it cannot be a substitute for action, not having it cannot prevent us from going forward.

Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.

But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

If the Democratic Party is so ignorant as to keep in power one of the main leaders responsible for one of the worst Political Massacres in American history, so be it.

Just don’t expect Americans to put you back in charge of Congress anytime soon.

While President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) confers with world leaders for the G-20 summit in South Korea to consider proposals that are supposed to stabilize the global economy, a brilliant idea being bandied about is an aptly named “Robin Hood tax.”  This Marxist measure would collect money from rich nations to give to the poor.

The Robin Hood tax is actually a global financial transaction fee that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay the cost of the global financial crisis and support developing nations struggling to recover.

So far, it’s not exactly receiving rave reviews.

Britain, France and Germany have been pushing a bank tax for all G-20 nations.  However,  financial gurus from the industrialized nations shot down the idea at a previous summit held in Toronto last summer.

Still, the tax’s supporters, the usual suspects, including unions, environmental groups, Comic Relief (remember Whoopi, Robin, and Billy?), UNICEF and others in a coalition made up of several countries, claim that the tax could go to canceling debt from poor nations. They also say that it could be used for social programs to fight hunger, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria or other causes. The thing is, these are all programs to which America and other nations already donate billions.

The socialist advocates make up a coalition of 183 organizations from 42 countries.  They issued a plea this week urging leaders at the G-20 summit in South Korea to adopt the measure. No specifics have been given (of course), but the idea would be to charge a small transaction fee, anywhere from 0.05 percent to 1 percent, on each stock transaction made.

In other words, penalize capitalism.

The coalition wrote a letter to G-20 leaders, including Obama, claiming that the tax would help meet the costs

…of the global financial and economic crisis, including reducing the unacceptably high rate of job loss, and achieve key development, health, education and climate change objectives in developing countries.

Those that have actually thought about the consequences of this proposal say that it would kill businesses and job growth in the U.S.  They also make the point that Obama doesn’t even have the authority to tax U.S. businesses to pay for a global fund.

Scott Talbott, a lobbyist with the Financial Services Roundtable, which advocates for large financial firms, said:

We support the goal of helping distressed nations, but feel that the tax would harm the economic recovery of the other countries.

The proposal misses the mark and will do more harm than good. It will raise the price of financial products for the average investor, retirees, pension plans and parents saving for college tuition.

According to an e-mail sent by David C. John , a senior research fellow in retirement security and financial markets at The Heritage Foundation, to Fox News, the proposal has been tried before and failed miserably:

Decades ago, responsible economists showed that the so-called ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial institutions has no purpose other than to punish banks and provide money for certain pet projects. Given that several governments have already rejected the tax, governments that do impose it will find that thousands of jobs leave their shores for more competitive countries with better fiscal policies.

When this idiotic proposal came before the G-20 summit last summer, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to Treasury Secretary  Turbo Tax Tim Geithner, saying that the financial transaction tax

…would raise trading costs and reduce the liquidity that benefits all investors and businesses while a bank tax could reduce the lending capacity of financial institutions, harming the ability of businesses to grow.

R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of government affairs for the chamber, warned that the severe negative impact from the Robin Hood Tax could damage the U.S.’ ability to recover from recession or create jobs.  A spokesman for the chamber told FoxNews.com that the business lobby stands by that position.

That hasn’t stopped the Progressives back home from floating the idea of a transaction tax from gaining attention at home as a potential moneymaking source.  Last December, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., tried to introduce a bill to impose a tax on financial transactions aimed at letting taxpayers off the hook for future bailouts. The bill never even made it out of committee.

In a letter to G-20 leaders, Obama didn’t bring up the Robin Hood tax per se.

But,  he did encourage the G20 to pursue policies that will help poorer nations:

Finally, we should advance our cooperation to address common global challenges.

The Korean presidency has highlighted the key role growth has played in lifting so many out of poverty, especially in emerging Asia, and drawn attention to what we all can do to increase the potential for inclusive growth in low-income countries.

Turbo Tax Tim  Geithner wrote an opinion article published Wednesday in the Asian version of The Wall Street Journal that also alluded to consideration of the financial transaction tax:

We need to strike a balance on the pattern of growth across countries.  Balance matters not for its own sake, but because it is critical to strong and sustained growth globally and to future financial stability. Ultimately, we are trying to lift global growth, not just shift it — so as to deliver strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

This is nothing new for Obama.  In 2001, he spoke about redistribution of wealth in an interview with a Chicago Public Radio Station.  Here’s the audio:

During 1948’s Presidential Campaign, Norman Thomas, a 6 time Presidential Candidate for the American Socialist Party, said:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Sound familiar?  Thank God, Thomas  had no clue as to the wonderful advances in the area of communications that America has seen since he made that statement.  Thanks to the advent of Conservative Talk Radio, Conservative websites, and Fox News, Americans are informed and fighting back, as evidenced on November 2nd.  However, that was just the opening round in the fight to maintain our liberty.  We must stay vigilant for the next two years and beyond.

A week ago yesterday, Americans changed the balance of power in the Legislative Branch of our government.  However, the Representatives and Senators that we elected do not take over until January 2011.  Of course, that means that we’re stuck with the comedy team of Pelosi and Reid for one last session:  affectionately known as a “Lame Duck” Congress.

With any luck, this final act of desperation may turn out to be short and sweet for the American people.

Even though the Dems have a list the size of the Magna Carta of proposed legislation that they want to cram down our throats, ala the Stimulus Bill and Obamacare, after the shellacking we just handed them, they don’t appear to be in any mood to participate in a no holds barred cage match over their wish list.

The Republicans, for their part, know that the folks back home are watching,to see if they learned anything from the rebuke of  Beltway Elite politicians in the Midterms.

The session, which begins Nov. 15, will be mostly about tax-and-spending issues.  But there also are legislative battles waiting to be fought ranging from giving seniors $250 Social Security special payments to repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy against gays serving openly.

They’ll have at it for a week and then break for Thanksgiving.  These turkeys will return after the holiday, but on Dec. 1, the bums that America kicked out have to vacate their offices. If Congress is still in session, they will be moved to the basement where they will only have cubicles.  Sweet! 

This drop in prestige makes it very unlikely that lawmakers will still be around by Christmas Eve, as they were last year when they were shoving Obamacare down our throats.

A spokesman for one of the dearly departing said that his boss will be around no matter where his office is located.

Josh Taylor, a spokesman for outgoing Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, said:

We’re here to finish business.  That’s our commitment to our district.

Everyone on Capitol Hill is saying that the House will only be in session for two weeks, but nobody can tell you why.

According to a senior Republican House aide:

I think it’s one recognizing the reality that what the House passes has to get through the Senate, which is still bollixed up.

This aide thinks that  Congress will probably find a way to avoid a government shutdown when a stopgap spending bill expires Dec. 3 and to address the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts on Dec. 31. Taxes on income, investments and large estates are set to go up, while the $1,000 per-child tax credit would be cut in half and couples would lose relief from the so-called marriage penalty.

The GOP aide said it’s possible Congress won’t reach a consensus in time to extend the tax cuts. Republicans want to extend them for all Americans while President Obama wants to cap them at $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families.

A senior House Democratic aide told FoxNews.com that Democrats plan to consider bills on food safety, child nutrition, appropriations, emergency Social Security payments and taxes.

A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader “Dinghy” Harry Reid said there is no list yet of what items will be considered. Of course, Reid promised Hispanics that he would bring up the DREAM Act for a vote in the lame duck session before his re-election victory.  The DREAM Act would grant conditional legal status to some illegal immigrant students under certain conditions.

Reid also told labor officials that he would repay their mobilizing the voters by bringing up the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, a bill that would set minimum standards for state collective bargaining laws for firefighters and police officers.

Reid’s lackey said that Reid, before the election, began the procedural process on three bills: the natural gas and electric vehicle bill, the paycheck fairness act and one on food safety. But the spokeswoman said the other items, like the Bush tax cuts, and unemployment benefit, still need to be discussed among the White House and leaders in both parties.

Uh huh.  I would love to be a fly on the wall during those discussions.

Reid’s spokeswoman said getting the items passed depends on Republicans.

These are all items important to Harry Reid.  We’ll need Republican support.

I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting on it.

Especially after San Fran Nan throws her little party today celebrating her accomplishments as the leader of the most unethical, tone-deaf, Elitist bunch of Jackwagons ever to slink about Capitol Hill.

The soon-to-be Former Speaker of the House (Thank you, Lord) has problems of her own.  Defeated Democrats have sent a letter asking her to step aside in her quest to be Minority Leader of the House.  Health Schuler and other “Blue Dogs” also want her to step aside.  They know that as long as she’s leading them, House Democrats will never return to power.

The Republicans are loving this.  It’s their job now to allow the Dems to implode.  They also have to block, by any means necessary, any legislation that might actually have a chance to be pushed through in this short Lame Duck Session.  Their time will come in January.  Just hold the line until then.

And pass the popcorn.

President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes last night. During an interview with Steve Kroft, Scooter said that the political cost of overhauling the health care system turned out to be higher than he had expected.

Did he expect Americans to just shut up and take it?

He went on to say that the health care system itself is huge and complicated and that changing it eluded previous presidents because it was so difficult.

But he plowed right on through with it…because he’s special…and a socialist ideologue:

I made the decision to go ahead and do it, and it proved as costly politically as we expected — probably actually a little more costly than we expected, politically.

Obama went on to say, probably sarcastically, that he thought that he would find common ground with Republicans by advancing health care proposals that had been introduced by Republican administrations as well as potential presidential candidate Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts:

I bet ol’ Mittens was squirming in his recliner at the house when Scooter said that.

Obama said:

I couldn’t get the kind of cooperation from Republicans that I had hoped for. And that was costly, partly because it created the kind of partisanship and bickering that really turn people off.

So, what it is that everyone has been bickering about?  Here is a brief overview of the timeline for the implementation of Obamacare, from a pdf prepared by the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees on April 2, 2010.

2010

• Immediate Access to Insurance for Uninsured Individuals with a Pre-Existing Condition.
• Eliminating Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions for Children.
• Prohibiting Rescissions. Prohibits abusive practices whereby health plans rescind existing health insurance policies when a person gets sick as a way of avoiding covering the costs of enrollees’ health care needs.
• Covering Preventive Health Services. All new group health plans and plans in the individual market must provide first dollar coverage for preventive services.
• Extending Dependent Coverage. Requires all plans in the individual market and new employer plans that provide dependent coverage for children to continue to make that coverage available up to age 26
• Reducing the Cost of Covering Early Retirees. Creates a new temporary reinsurance program for health benefits for retirees age 55-64.
• New, Independent Appeals Process.
• Improving Consumer Assistance.
• Improving Consumer Information through the Web. Requires the Secretary of HHS to establish an Internet website through which residents of any State may identify affordable health insurance coverage options in that State.
• Cracking Down on Health Care Fraud. Requires enhanced screening procedures for health care providers to eliminate fraud and waste in the health care system.
• Rebates for the Part D “Donut Hole”. Provides a $250 rebate for all Part D enrollees who enter the donut hole.
• Improving Public Health Prevention Efforts. Creates an interagency council to promote healthy policies at the federal level.
• Strengthening the Quality Infrastructure.
• Extending Payment Protections for Rural Providers.
• Establishing a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Establishes a private, non-profit institute.
• Ensuring Medicaid Flexibility for States.
• Non-Profit Hospitals. Establishes new requirements applicable to nonprofit hospitals beginning in 2010, including periodic community needs assessments.
• Encouraging Investment in New Therapies.
• Tax Relief for Health Professionals with State Loan Repayment.
• Excluding from Income Health Benefits Provided by Indian Tribal Governments.
• Establishing a National Health Care Workforce Commission. Establishes an independent National Commission to provide comprehensive, nonbiased information and recommendations to Congress and the Administration for aligning federal health care workforce resources with national needs.
• Strengthening the Health Care Workforce. Expands and improves low-interest student loan programs, scholarships, and loan repayments for health students and professionals to increase and enhance the capacity of the workforce to meet patients’ health care needs.
• Special Deduction for Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS).
• Indoor Tanning Services Tax.  There are a lot of torqued-off women out there.
• Holding Insurance Companies Accountable for Unreasonable Rate Hikes.

2011

• Bringing Down the Cost of Health Care Coverage.
• Strengthening Community Health Centers and the Primary Care Workforce.
• Increasing Reimbursement for Primary Care.
• Increasing Training Support for Primary Care.
• Improving Health Care Quality and Efficiency. Establishes a new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce health care costs and enhance the quality of care provided to individuals.
• Improving Preventive Health Coverage.
• Improving Transitional Care for Medicare Beneficiaries.
• Expanding Primary Care, Nursing, and Public Health Workforce.
• Increasing Access to Home and Community Based Services.
• Reporting Health Coverage Costs on Form W-2: Requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2.
• Standardizing the Definition of Qualified Medical Expenses. Conforms the definition of qualified medical expenses for HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs to the definition used for the itemized deduction. An exception to this rule is included so that amounts paid for over-the-counter medicine with a prescription still qualify as medical expenses.
• Increased Additional Tax for Withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts and Archer Medical Savings Account Funds for Non-Qualified Medical Expenses.
• Cafeteria Plan Changes.

2012

• Encouraging Integrated Health Systems.
• Linking Payment to Quality Outcomes.
• Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions. Directs CMS to track hospital readmission rates for certain high-volume or high-cost conditions and uses new financial incentives to encourage hospitals to undertake reforms needed to reduce preventable readmissions, which will improve care for beneficiaries and rein in unnecessary health care spending.  Can you say “here come the Death Panels”?

2013

• Payments to Primary Care Physicians. Requires that Medicaid payment rates to primary care physicians for furnishing primary care services be no less than 100% of Medicare payment rates in 2013 and 2014.
• Administrative Simplification. Health plans must adopt and implement uniform standards and business rules for the electronic exchange of health information to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens and costs.
• Encouraging Provider Collaboration. Establishes a national pilot program on payment bundling
• Limiting Health Flexible Savings Account Contributions.
• Increased Threshold for Claiming Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses.
• Medical device excise tax. Establishes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of a medical device by a manufacturer or importer.
• Limiting Executive Compensation.
• Fee for patient-centered outcomes research.

2014

• Reforming Health Insurance Regulations.
• Eliminating Annual Limits.
• Ensuring Coverage for Individuals Participating in Clinical Trials.
• Establishing Health Insurance Exchanges. Opens health insurance Exchanges in each State to individuals and small employers. This new venue will enable people to comparison shop for standardized health packages.   Local hack politicians are lining up for jobs right now.
• Providing Health Care Tax Credits. E
• Ensuring Choice through Free Choice Vouchers.
• Promoting Individual Responsibility.
• Small Business Tax Credit.
• Quality Reporting for Certain Providers.
• Health Insurance Provider Fee. Imposes an annual, non-deductible fee on the health insurance sector allocated across the industry according to market share.

2015

• Continuing Innovation and Lower Health Costs. Establishes an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit proposals to Congress and the private sector aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, lowering health care costs, improving health outcomes for patients, promoting quality and efficiency, and expanding access to evidence-based care.
• Paying Physicians Based on Value Not Volume. Creates a physician value-based payment program to promote increased quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.

2018

• Excise tax on high cost employer-provided health plans becomes effective. Tax is on the cost of coverage in excess of $27,500 (family coverage) and $10,200 (single coverage), increased to $30,950 (family) and $11,850 (single) for retirees and employees in high risk professions.

Gosh, Mr. President, I can see why you can’t understand why the never-ending spider’s web of new government bureaucracies and excessive taxation that you and your Democrat minions in Congress rammed down our throats and gloated about has been met with such resistance.  After all, you did it for our own good, didn’t you?…Regardless of the fact that Government-run Healthcare has been a miserable failure wherever it has been tried.

Is Obama sorry that he stuffed this turkey of a bill down Americans’ throats at the cost of the 2010 Midterms?  I doubt it.  He said last night:

But I think that in terms of how I operated on a day-to-day basis, when you’ve got a series of choices to make — I think that there are times where we said let’s just get it done instead of worrying about how we’re getting it done. And I think that’s a problem. I’m paying a political price for that.

Gosh, Scooter.  Ya think?

President Barack Hussein Obama, First Lady Michelle, and an entourage the size of a small nation arrived in India’s commercial hub of Mumbai on Saturday, getting the heck out of Dodge after Americans issued a Midterm referendum on his failed leadership and socialist policies.

In a display of grandeur not seen since Julius Caesar, the first couple arrived with the following:

• A cadre of 9 accompanying warships off the coast of India
• 45 limousines, including “the Beast”, the nickname for the heavily-armoured limousine that the president will travel in.
• 250 businessmen, who have been instrumental in the announced trade deal with India.
• 600 Secret Service agents, who formed a ring around the president as he entered the Taj Mahal Hotel.

Three very interesting accommodations were made for this 9 day trips.  The first accommodation made was to remove all the coconuts from the trees.  The second was to build a kilometer long above-ground  tunnel in order for the Obamas to visit the Mani Bhvan Museum in Mumbai.  The tunnel will measure 12′ X 12′ , with air conditioning, closed-circuit television cameras, and numerous guards at each point.  It will be constructed so that the president’s motorcade can drive right on through it.

The third accommodation made for  Obama was the installation of TOTUS (the teleprompter of the United States) in the Indian Parliament.  This is the first time a teleprompter has ever been used by a statesman there.  He will be speaking to 780 Ministers of Parliament on Monday.

A official, who did not wish to be identified because of security restrictions, said:

We thought Obama is a trained orator and skilled in the art of mass address with his continuous eye contact.

Imagine how Americans felt after this guy got elected.

Last week, an Indian government source told the NDTV channel of Delhi:

The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit.

 Since then, the White House has denied the accuracy of that figure, saying the cost was wildly inflated.

Yeah, right.

Yesterday, Obama spoke to a meeting of Indian officials and the 250 U.S> businessmen he brought along on his trip.  He announced that Trade agreements had already been struck between the two nations.  He stated that the deals – including the sale of military transport aircraft, civilian airplanes, mining equipment and jet engines – are worth $10 billion and support 54,000 jobs in the United States.  Among the businessmen that Scooter brought along were the CEO of Honeywell, David M. Cote and Obama’s personal advisor, Jeffery Immelt, the CEO of General Electric.

I’m shocked. Aren’t the majority of jobs in those industries that will benefit Union jobs?  Hmmm.

Oh, Scooter also brought along 6 University Presidents, so he would have somebody to talk to.

Later, Scooter and Michelle (ma belle) cut a rug with the children of Holy Name High School in South Mumbai. They also lit ‘diyas’ (earthen lamps), swayed to the traditional Koli folk music and attentively listened to their presentations on environment and global warming.

The Obamas mingled freely with the children signing autographs, posing for pictures with them and their parents.

A student, obviously excited by the first couple being there, said:

This was a golden opportunity for us and the school.

I’m surprised that he didn’t bring Chubby Checker along with him for this photo op.  Heck, he brought everybody else.

This morning, Obama on Sunday spoke to students of St. Xavier’s College. Answering a student’s question about his feelings concerning jihad, he said that he regretted that the “great religion” of Islam has been distorted by a few extremists to justify violence towards innocent people and called for isolating these elements.

Scooter also said that people will have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is the way to mediate differences among them:

I think all of us have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is the way to mediate our differences.

I think all of us recognise that this great religion (Islam) in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified.

So, one of the challenges the world faces is how to “isolate” those who have these distorted notions of religious war…and reaffirm those who see faces of all sorts whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian and a Jew or any other religion that we can all treat each other with respect and mutual dignity.

Well, gosh. Why don’t Moderate Muslims start speaking against jihad?  If these extremists are as isolated as you say, Scooter.  After all, all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Meanwhile, back in the country that Obama is supposed to serve and protect, over 1/6th of American citizens remain on food stamps.  Our monthly unemployment numbers remain at 9.6 %, and that’s not even counting those who don’t receive unemployment compensation any more and those who have just flat given up trying to look for a job.

Nero fiddled.  Obama danced.