Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.
Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it “Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold.”
Yes, you read that right. If you don’t buy health insurance, you will be forced to pay a $1900 fine to the federal government. If you do not pay that fine, you will face up to a year in jail and $25,000 in fines.
Does anybody really wonder why the senate dems don’t want the current bill read before it comes up for a vote?
The expansion of the American welfare state continues as those who actually produce the wealth are forced, under the threat of incarceration and at the barrel of a government gun, to pay for it.
OK, ok, I know that the title of ’sleaziest person in the Obama White House” is really about a 50-way tie, but deputy press secretary Bill Burton is a real piece of work…..the kind of guy who offends by his very presence, whose very demeanor says “yeah, I know I’m the biggest lying sack of shit you’ve ever seen - aside, of course, from the big guy - and you can’t do a thing about it’ … to the point that you just want to punch his lights out. To put it simply, Burton is pure 100% unadulterated Washington douchebag.
Watch this video of Burton being interviewed by Juan Williams (a lib I actually have a modicum of respect for) on O’Reilly this evening, lyingthroughhisteeth about cap and trade and healthcare, and tell me if his smug condescension doesn’t want to make you puke. On your way to the shower.
And then remember that this is who Barack Obama, your president, has chosen to speak for him to the press and the American people.
Today, Andrew Wilkow called Robert Gibbs a ’spud’, as in a potato….a moron. Wilkow is right.
Robert ‘Spud’ Gibbs. I like it. It’s a keeper.
Here, Spud gets laughed at by the press corps after bumbling through a response to a question about Obama backtracking on his pledge not to raise taxes on those making under $250,000.
Sorry, that’s all I’ve got today…….unless I can figure out how to properly express ‘just dumbfounded and incredulous at the degree of damage done by this administration over the past four months and wracked with anxiety over what’s yet to come” before I go to bed.
Today, I’m heading down to an impromptu protest at the office of Congressman Bob Etheridge here in Raleigh. Etheridge was one of North Carolina’s six Democrat ‘Aye’ votes on cap and trade; why his office is being singled out is unclear to me, but it doesn’t matter. Neither does the probability that nobody will be in the office, or that the turnout will be light. This is a rallying point for us, and that’s all that concerns me on this particular day.Every step, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction, and even if only a handful of us show up, that is a handful more saying to these sons of bitches that we will not take their total disregard for the wishes of their constituents for onemoresecond.
I know the psychology here, and that is that they think we’ll eventually go away. Well, here’s a news flash for all the congressmen, senators, presidential staffers and even the precedent himself:
We aren’t going anywhere. You are.
All day yesterday and into today, stories were pouring in via talk radio, the internet and television about people calling their congressmen/women and not being able to get through because the lines were jammed, or of people whose congressmen/women told them point-blank (via staffers manning the phones) that although the calls they had been receiving were overwhelmingly against cap and trade, they were voting in favor of it anyway.
How’s that for representative government?
Make no mistake, a large, large number of our representatives have gone rogue and are no longer even pretending to represent the wishes and concerns of their constituents. It;s all about the deal and the payoff - what’s in it for them, who owes what to whom, and - this has been coming out over the last couple of days - who has their money invested in ‘renewable energy’.
Concentrate on things that are important, like those who are pushing this energy bill stand to gain the most from it:
• Nancy Pelosi has $50,000 to $100,000 in Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
• Rep. Edward Markey — hmm, why does that name sound familiar? — has investments between $51,000 and $115,000 in the Firsthand Technology Value Fund (which as three solar-energy manufacturers)
• Al Gore — Mr. “Inconvenient Truth” himself — his venture capital firm is heavily invested in a new software company that’s making software to help companies track their carbon footprint. He, and companies like his, will make a fortune.
Not only will this bill make politicians rich, it will increase their power as well.
This is a government out of control. This is government stealing from its people. This is a government that, unless stopped, will continue to attack our liberties, our freedoms, our free enterprise system, our very way of life until our American greatness and exceptionalism - you know, the two things that Obama has been traveling the world apologising for - are destroyed.
The future of our country is in our hands. We DO have the power to stop this - they haven’t taken that away from us yet - but we need to commit to action. If there’s a tea party event you can attend today, next weekend, whenever, then go. Stay informed and engaged. Cap and Trade goes to the Senate next, and it’s never too early to start letting your senators know where you stand and how you expect them to vote. Healthcare and immigration reform amnesty are next, and God only knows what else is coming down the pike. The point is, be ready.
Anyway, before I get off track, here are the North Carolina Democrats who voted against cap and trade. I’ve personally called both their offices and thanked them:
HR2454 American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009, AKA the ‘cap and trade’ bill, passed the house this evening 219 to 212.
Once again, they didn’tevenread it.
You would think that maybe, just maybe, with the new information regarding the suppression of an EPA report that cast serious doubt about the validity of government’s current views on ‘global warming’, that congress would at least delay the vote until this information could be looked into. However, that would mean putting their country ahead of their own agenda and self-interest, something that these lying, thieving scum that infest congress are completely incapable of.
8 Republicans sided with the liberal left against the American people to pass this bill by 7 votes. They are:
Chris Smith (NJ): Phone: 202-225-3765
Fax: 202-225-7768
I’ve added their contact info for those who might be inclined to voice their displeasure.
Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois actually had the balls to post a video of himself on YouTube ostensibly ‘reading’ the bill. Being a man of great courage though, he has disabled comments on the video. Luckily for us, someone actually re-posted the video with comments fully enabled. Please feel free to share your feelings about his vote: Mark Kirk video on YouTube
It’s important to point out that 44 Democrats voted against this stinking pile of crap. Regardless of our philosophical differences, on this particular day, these Democrats - along with the Republicans who stood their ground - are patriots.
Michelle Malkin was live-blogging this thing all day, and it looks to have been a real circus, with Waxman reportedly soliciting and cutting deals right on the House floor. There are simply no words to describe the lack of respect these lowlife creeps show for the people’s house.
Did you know they actually had a moment of silence for dead child-molester Michael Jackson? Shortly after, Rep. Tom Price asked for a moment of silence for all those who would lose their jobs under this bill. His request, of course, was denied.
Wall Street Journal: The Cap and Tax Fiction
Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill.
“Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Even Democrats can’t repeal that reality.”
When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill’s restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.
Note also that the CBO analysis is an average for the country as a whole. It doesn’t take into account the fact that certain regions and populations will be more severely hit than others — manufacturing states more than service states; coal producing states more than states that rely on hydro or natural gas. Low-income Americans, who devote more of their disposable income to energy, have more to lose than high-income families.
Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won’t pinch wallets, behind the scenes they’ve acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them. more…..
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Human Events: Waxman’s Economy Killer The House of Representatives will vote Friday on the so-called “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” — a.k.a the “Waxman-Markey” global warming bill. But whatever you want to call this legislative atrocity, if enacted into law, it will go down in history as the death knell of the American standard of living and way of life. If you hate America, this bill is for you. more…..
Barack Obama says he doesn’t want government-run healthcare. Barack Obama is lying. Government-run healthcare is exactly what he wants.
Why?
It all comes back to the Cloward-Piven strategy, which, in my opinion and as I’ve stated several times before, is the driving force behind practically every single major social and economic change Obama has made, is making or is proposing.
Picture this: The Obama administration achieves its goal of universal healthcare and then follows it up with amnesty for 20 million illegal aliens - which, by the way, is next on the agenda - what do you suppose will happen to our economy at that point?
On June 15th, the Congressional Budget Office released its projections of what just ONE section of the Kennedy healthcare proposal would cost: 1 TRILLION dollars from 2010 to 2019, and this is without the cost of a government-run insurance plan (the ‘public option’) figured.
The attached table summarizes our preliminary assessment of the proposal’s budgetary effects and its likely impact on insurance coverage. According to that assessment, enacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010–2019 period. Once the proposal was fully implemented, about 39 million individuals would obtain coverage through the new insurance exchanges. At the same time, the number of people who had coverage through an employer would decline by about 15 million (or roughly 10 percent), and coverage from other sources would fall by about 8 million, so the net decrease in the number of people uninsured would be about 16 million.
So, according to the CBO;
By 2019, 39 million people would be covered by the government plan
In the same time frame, approximately 23 million people would lose their current insurance coverage from employer or other private sources
When all is said and done, only 16 million people would have benefited from the new healthcare reform.
Total reform and overhaul of the world’s best healthcare system just to bring health insurance to 16 million people?
Doesn’t the fact that we’re getting another classic Obama “rush rush rush, we have to do this NOW or there’ll be no turning back om the certain destruction that awaits us!” raise any red flags with anybody?
Based on what’s been coming out of congress recently, the above CBO numbers are rosy at best, as they seem to assume that the private insurance industry would still be up and running, when it fact it would more than likely be completely decimated under any of the current health care proposals, - both official and unofficial - coming out of Washington. As the following videos will illustrate, total decimation of the private health insurance industry is, in fact, this administration’s end game.
For example, here is Rep Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - the committe currently debating the healthcare bill. Pay very careful attention to what she has to say in this video:
Next up is a video of Barack Obama, UC Berkeley professor Jacob Hacker, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) all pushing the virtues of a single-payer universal healthcare system. Watch this one all the way to the end, as the closing comments by Obama himself will leave you with no illusions whatsoever about what his plans are.
Let’s look at what else has been proposed to date:
Make health insurance mandatory. You will be insured whether you want it or not.
Require employers to provide a minimum level of insurance, which may actually be a higher level than the employer currently provides or can afford, causing the employer to stop providing insurance altogether
Require employees with employer-provided health benefits to pay tax on those benefits (Union members will be exempt from this tax)
Force private insurers to accept customers with preexisting conditions. This alone may be enough to put private insurers out of business. At the very least it will cause private insurance rates to skyrocket. Can you imaging crashing your car and then going out the next day and buying collision insurance from your auto insurance provider and then expecting them to cover your crash? How many times do you think they could do that before going broke?
From Fox News:
“Obama also said he’s changed his mind on the issue of whether individuals can purchase private health insurance — an idea he was resistant to during his presidential campaign.
“This is an area where people have made compelling arguments to me, that if we want to have system that drives down cost for everyone, we have to have healthy people not opt out of the system,” Obama told ABC.
Apparently, that does not include healthy union members. Under a proposal by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), union members and their families would be exempt from paying into the new system via taxes on their union health benefits, or any other way.
A rational person is, at this point, is probably asking his/herself what exactly is so wrong with the current healthcare system that a complete overhaul is required?
Is it cost?
No, because there are other simpler and much more direct ways to start controlling costs. At the top of the list is tort reform, which if implemented properly, would drastically reduce the cost of malpractice/liability insurance all across the healthcare industry, thereby driving down healthcare costs for all.
Is it because our president really wants what’s best for me and my family?
Don’t make me laugh. Barack Obama has demonstrated - not necessarily through his words, but absolutely through his actions - that he couldn’t care less about non-union, non-minority working Americans beyond that we’re a source of funding for his ’social justice’ programs.
This is about amassing power. Period. This is about expanding the welfare class - and make no mistake, universal healthcare paid for by the producers in our society will be the biggest expansion of the welfare class ever - and bringing about the final destruction of a free market economy, individual liberties and individual freedom. Yes, I know it sounds extreme, but just look at what’s happened to our country in only four short months.
Every last one of Obama’s past associates - from the Wrights to the Ayers’ to the Dorns to his Alinsky-steeped ideology, to the corrupt Chicago political machine that spawned him - all these have shaped and influenced who he is, and are manifesting themselves in his attack on the country he now leads. Obama is a radical, and the sooner the country comes to terms with this fact, the sooner we can shut his agenda down once and for all.
It is the Cloward-Piven strategy, all the way. There is simply no other rational explanation on God’s green earth for what he is doing.
God help us all.
-Cnation
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Update: Both Michelle Malkin and hotair.com have open threads on this evening’s Barack Obama healthcare infomercial on ABC
Michelle Malkin: Who’s funding the Obamacare Astroturf campaign? My syndicated column today investigates the deep pockets behind the “grass-roots” campaign for Obamacare. Chicago crony/White House senior adviser David Axelrod is, of course, the master of astroturfing. So it certainly comes as no surprise that left-wing puppetmasters are behind the government health care takeover lobby. But an informed citizenry needs to know the nitty gritty details.
Will the ABC “All Barack Channel” News health care infomercial tell viewers about the cabal at 1825 K Street (a far Left office complex/headquarters that is the Washington DC analogue of the 1024 Elysian Fields ACORN headquarters in New Orleans, which I first reported on in August 2008)?
I provided a link to the piece by Kevin Mooney at the Examiner on Monday in my post focusing on Project Vote/ACORN’s lawsuit against whistleblower Anita Moncrief.
The link was a sidebar to my main story, but I should have spelled out the facts on the name change more clearly, and so should everyone who has mischaracterized the story and glossed over the real reason for the name change: more…..
Note - this article has been ’stickied” to the top of the front page. Newer posts from today 6/25/2009 appear below.
While we’ve all been preoccupied with the looming healthcare reform legislation, the push for a national energy tax in the form of “cap and trade” has been steadily advancing. The latest word as of this writing is that it may be voted on in the house as early as this Friday, June 26 2009.
H.R. 2464: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, otherwise known as the “cap and trade” bill, will further harm an already deeply troubled economy in the form of higher energy prices (gasoline, electricity, natural gas, etc…), higher prices across the board for goods and services, higher unemployment due to the increased economic burden on businesses large and small. This increased burden will undoubtedly cause businesses already on the edge to fail, and others to simply close up shop and relocate to more business-friendly parts of the world like India, Ireland and China.
The job loss estimates are in the millions. The estimated direct costs to Americans, working or not, range anywhere from $1000 to $3000+ per year per household.
The Tax Foundation has provided a Household Cap And Trade Burden Calculator to help you determine how much Cap and Trade might cost you and your family on a yearly basis
Here’s Barack Obama in his own words describing how ‘cap and trade’ will cause electric rates to ‘necessarily skyrocket’:
Many Americans find the debate in Washington over adopting a cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon dioxide a bit confusing. It works like this: Policymakers set a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that can be omitted into the atmosphere. Each power plant, factory, refinery, and other regulated entity will be allocated allowances (rights to emit) six greenhouse gases. However, only a certain percentage of the allowances will be allocated to these entities. The remaining percentage will be auctioned off or distributed to other emitting entities. Most emitters will need to purchase at least some allowances at auction. Emitters who reduce their emissions below their annual allotment can sell their excess allowances to those who do not–the trade part of cap-and-trade. Over time, the cap would be ratcheted down, requiring greater cuts in emissions
Put simply, it’s a tax on energy consumption. In fact, it would act as a huge tax. If enacted, cap-and-trade will be one of the government’s largest revenue sources within the next decade. Since 85 percent of our energy demand is met through fossil fuels, increasing the costs of energy will have significant economic consequences.
Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax is a massive job-killer. According to a National Black Chamber of Commerce study, the devastating plan will cost 2.5 million American jobs thanks to the higher energy costs it will force consumers, small businesses, and other employers to pay. The impact will be felt from coast to coast – literally. The following chart shows the projected job loss in every single region, with especially large job losses in areas of the country already hit hard by the recession:
It is time to pick up the phone and tell your congressman in no uncertain terms to vote NO on HR 2464 !
