Dallas Medicaid patients have trouble finding doctors

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, July 20, 2009

From the Dallas Morning News:

As the state seeks ways to trim Medicaid, an increasing number of doctors frustrated with reimbursements are opting not to see new Medicaid patients. As a result, Medicaid patients often grow sicker while hunting for a doctor.
“The inability to find a Medicaid doctor drives up the cost for everyone because they [...]

Jared Polis makes an impression

by Rossputin | 12:37 am, July 20, 2009

You have to hand it to Jared Polis: For a freshman Congressman to be quoted in the the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal within 24 hours (and not for some misdeed) is an achievement.

Polis, who represents my district, is no doubt a “Boulder liberal”, but I nevertheless give him credit for having a better-than-average understanding of economics (for a Democrat, at least) and a willingness to stand up for his views. It took some courage for Polis, along with 21 other Democrats, to sign a letter (which I believe Polis wrote) explaining to Nancy Pelosi that trying to pay for health care “reform” with large surcharges on personal income taxes for incomes above $350,000, $500,000, and an especially large tax on income over $1,000,000 could be extremely damaging economically because so many American businesses are organized as S-Corporations which pay tax based on the personal, rather than the corporate, income tax schedules.

While it is unfortunate that Congressman Polis begins his letter to Pelosi by saying that the Democrats’ health care bill “could not come at a better time” (obviously false, since any later time would be a better time, with never being the best time) and ends his letter by saying that with some modifications the bill “should be good for small business” (in the way that cancer is good for a human?), it’s too much to expect a Boulder Democrat (much less a freshman) to call out ObamaCare for the fascist enterprise it really is.

Still, despite his flawed premise about the value of government-run health care overall, Polis makes some accurate and very important points in his letter (the following are all quotes from the letter):

• Small businesses create 60 to 80 percent of new jobs, which is even more important when times are tough.
• According to the IRS, 64 percent of households filing individual tax forms with AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) above $250,000 filed as an S-Corporation or partnership or filed a Schedule C sole proprietor tax form. Further, of all small businesses, 75 percent are S-Corporations where the business income is passed through to the businesses owners’ individual tax return, increasing the chances that it will be impacted by the proposed surcharge.
• The proposed surcharge will also have a direct negative impact on manufacturers…
• A surcharge would tax income above $1 million at a new rate of 45 percent. Combined with state taxes, many successful small businesses – the very kind of business that should lead in creating new jobs and help us emerge from this recession – will be taxed at over 50 percent.
• (And finally, this extremely important point) The proposed surcharge would put successful family-owned companies and closely held midsize S-Corp businesses at a major tax disadvantage to their larger corporate competitors which would continue to enjoy the favorable 35 (sic) corporate tax rate. Multinational corporations will be paying 35 percent for the same economic activity and profit that a family owned S-Corp would be paying nearly 45 percent federal taxes on.

Think about that. The US has the second highest corporate tax rate in the OECD (and only about 1/4% from being the highest) and Polis can accurately say that if Pelosi’s plan passes as written, US corporations paying that exorbitant rate will have an advantage over other American businesses!

Consider this “Fiscal Fact” from the Tax Foundation (from August, 2008), with emphasis added by me):

Amid rising concerns about the state of the U.S. economy, new data compiled by economists at the OECD shows that for the 17th consecutive year the average rate of corporate taxes in non-U.S. countries fell while the U.S. corporate tax rate stayed the same. As a result, the overall U.S. corporate tax rate is now 50 percent higher than the OECD average.

Combined with another new OECD study that calls the corporate income tax the most harmful type of tax for economic growth, the implications for U.S. policy are clear. The long-term prospects of the U.S. economy are at risk as long as our corporate tax rate remains out of step with the rest of the world.

The U.S. continues to have the second-highest combined federal-state corporate tax rate among industrialized countries at 39.3 percent. Only Japan has a higher overall corporate tax rate at 39.5 percent. By contrast, the average corporate tax rate among OECD countries has fallen a full percentage point in the past year, from 27.6 percent to 26.6 percent.

So not only would Pelosi’s proposed surcharge make many thousands of US small and mid-sized businesses uncompetitive versus larger American C-corporations (the standard type of stock-based ownership structure, including almost all companies which trade on stock exchanges), but it would also make these thousands of mostly family-owned businesses absolutely uncompetitive versus foreign competition.

I presume Congressman Polis is sincere when he begins and ends his letter with praise for the concept of government-run medicine. And I surely hope I have the opportunity to discuss the issue with him and disabuse him of the notion that what is essentially a massive increase of our Medicare system – a system that is already well on the way to bankrupting the nation – is in any way a good idea.

But I have to give him credit, not least because he’s a freshman from a rather left-wing district despite the fact that the district includes me, for leading a charge against the most job-destroying aspects of the current Democratic plan and for having the courage to vote his convictions, being one of only three Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee to vote against the bill as written. (Three Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee also defied Pelosi.)

Jared Polis’ policy positions are far from perfect, but I’m pleased to see his leadership on this extremely important issue. It’s probably too much to hope that his uber-liberal Boulder constituency will see the critical economic arguments Polis is making rather than being blinded, as Boulderites tend to be, by a desire to “soak the rich.” Seeing “soaking the rich” as a lofty ideal is one thing; but destroying your own job opportunities in the pursuit of that soaking is just senseless.

Special Report re-broadcast: Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold reprise on Backbone Radio 7PM Sunday 19 July

by CTBC Director | 10:00 am, July 19, 2009

Reprising Thursday’s broadcast “Under The Dome” special report, Clear The Bench Colorado director Matt Arnold appears on Backbone Radio (710 KNUS in Denver, 1460 KZNT in Colorado Springs, and on http://www.710knus.com) at 7PM Sunday evening.  From the original station promo:
“A campaign is underway to vote down Colorado’s chief justice and three of her colleagues on [...]

Friday Funnies – “inspirational” life story no basis for confirming Sotomayor (or anyone) to lifetime Supreme Court appointment

by CTBC Director | 10:33 pm, July 17, 2009

Following “three days of grueling questioning” (including such hard-hitting gems as “what was the publisher of  the encyclopedias your working-class mother bought you because she so strongly believed in the value of education” and “Perry Mason won all but one of his cases – what was the one case that he lost?“), Sonia Sotomayor is set to [...]

SENATOR Barbara Boxer, Ma’am

by wesley | 5:11 pm, July 17, 2009

Consider this your Friday afternoon chuckle. All of us remember the respect that SENATOR Boxer recently showed United States Army General Michael Walsh after he referred to her as “Ma’am”. Contrast that with yesterday’s hearing and count the number of times Harry Alford, the President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, refers [...]

Video: Health Administration Bureau Wants to Ration “The Best” for You

by Ben DeGrow | 12:47 pm, July 17, 2009

The YouTube hits bashing the serious problems with Obama Care just keep on coming. First, there was the Independence Institute video of the problem with health care mandates for the young, with the scene of Justin’s bike getting hit by the bus. Then there was Steven Crowder’s hilarious 20-minute undercover documentary of the tremendous deficiencies [...]

Free Rifle with Every Truck Purchase

by zombiehunter | 12:07 pm, July 17, 2009

***UPDATE*** Anyone who doubts the ignorance of the Main Stream Media “journalists” should take a look at the AP “news” article. Here’s your homework: read the “news” article and if you can find the 3 blatant errors, you get a gold star. _____ Earlier this morning, a CNN Anchor Babe interviewed Mark Muller, owner of [...]

Unemployment over 10% in 15 states

by Rossputin | 11:42 am, July 17, 2009

Fitting in well with my persistent theme that we’re living “Atlas Shrugged” and that things must get worse for the voters before they get better – because it will take things getting worse for voters to rebel against The One, Pelosi, Frank, Dodd, Schumer, etc – is today’s news that unemployment is now over 10% in fifteen states plus the District of Columbia:

Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, DC.

A few of these states are very important politically, particularly Ohio, Florida, and Indiana – all places where Democratic congressmen (and to a lesser degree Senators) could be very vulnerable in 2010.

As unemployment rises, it will become increasingly difficult for Democrats to justify voting for job-killing measures such as “cap and trade”, health care “reform”, and the Administration’s soon-to-come proposals for modifying the tax code, particularly as the changes relate to corporate income tax.

This news increases the chances that Democrats, even those generally considered to the left of “Blue Dogs” will oppose ObamaCare and that Senate Democrats will be very hesitant to bring cap-and-tax to a vote.

While I don’t enjoy news of millions of Americans being out of work, I take solace in two thoughts: First, people get the government they deserve. It’s just too bad that those people who were smart enough not to be hypnotized by Barack Obama have to suffer along with the majority who were. And second, I’d rather the nation have some bad tasting medicine now than die of the disease of Democratic economic and regulatory policies later. We are indeed living “Atlas Shrugged”.

Government Broken? It isn’t working the way the founders intended that’s for sure.

by Mr. Bob | 9:54 am, July 17, 2009

#tcot #freedom #redco #socialist

I and others like me have been criticized for using the word “socialist” to describe the direction America has taken but there is no other word for it unless you want to call it Marxist. However the soldiers aren’t manning the barricades just yet so we will use the former. Leveeing high taxes doesn’t make the government socialist, it makes it tyrannical or despotic, but it is how it pays for its socialist programs.

Here are some sobering facts from an article by Pat Buchanan this week.

Obama’s first budget will consume 28 percent of the entire GDP; state and local governments another 15 percent. While there is some overlap, in 2009, government will consume 40 percent of GDP, approaching the peak of World War II. (empasis mine)

The deficit for 2009 is $1.8 trillion, 13 percent of the whole economy. Obama is pushing a cap-and-trade bill to cut carbon emissions that will impose huge costs on energy production, spike consumer prices and drive production offshore to China, which is opting out of Kyoto II. The Chinese are not fools. Apparently we are.

Obama plans to repeal the Bush tax cuts and take the income tax rate to near 40 percent. Combined state and local income tax rates can run to 10 percent. For the self employed, payroll taxes add up to 15.2 percent on the first $106,800 for all wages of all workers. Medicare takes 2.9 percent of all wages above that. Then there are the state sales taxes that can run to 8 percent, property taxes, gas taxes, excise taxes and “sin taxes” on booze, cigarettes and, soon, hot dogs and soft drinks.

Now on the doorstep is nationalized healthcare, to be paid for with guess what…more taxes. Then comes the carbon tax based on environmental extremists (who are anti-capitalists and pro marxists) claims we are all going to die if we keep eating beef and driving cars…to be paid for with..of course taxes on any company that produces carbon…hitting energy producers the hardest. I knew that Obama would over reach, but I had no idea he would actually succeed at moving us off the cliff so far we could not recover. Now I am watching it happen.

Pat continues;

While the hardest-working and most productive are bled, a third of all wage-earners pay no U.S. income tax, and Obama plans to free almost half of all wage-earners of all income taxes. Yet, tens of millions get Medicaid, rent supplements, free education, food stamps, welfare and an annual check from Uncle Sam called an Earned Income Tax Credit, though they never paid a nickel in income taxes. Oh, yes. Obama also promises everybody a college education. Emphasis mine. Read the rest

I’ve never been an alarmist folks, I didn’t fall for y2k, but this is a tsunami of proportions that will destroy this country as we know it, we have become that which we fought against, a socialist nation who takes from those who produce, gives to those who do not.

Our founding fathers believed that there a few God given rights the government should make sure its people can secure most specifically…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Our current government believes you don’t just have the right to pursue it, but you actually have the right to happiness itself and they are going to provide to you whether you want them to or not.

And they will provide it by taking it from those who have worked for it themselves and giving it to those who have not. More “rights” are being added each day to the litany of responsibilities socialists want to have OVER your life , there’s the human right to health care, human right to internet access, human right to a “living wage” even for grocery store bag boys, a human right to get a job even if you don’t qualify for it…where does it stop? A right to a clean bathroom, a right to not be offended, a right to never be hurt, a right to a good marriage, a right to a God made in my own image?

If you are on the “taking” side of this equation, you are swinging the hammer of destruction on the greatest country in the world. Perhaps this is God’s plan for our country, we got too big for our britches and started bragging about how “WE” did it, so God is showing us it was HIM that blessed us with the wisdom to build a free country, he can remove that blessing and boom…we are all stupid.

from Powerlineblog; At each stage, in consequence, our civic associations have also become less vigorous. And since the 1960s, as the federal government assumed a providential role, religion in American gradually lost its hold, and the social institutions through which individuals in the past managed their lives deteriorated. Divorce became commonplace; the birth rate dropped dramatically; and a growing proportion of the children brought into the world came to be born out of wedlock. In the world of social security and welfare, human beings tend to go it alone.

We are now, in effect, without the shield that we protected us from fully falling prey to inquiétude in Tocqueville’s day, and, as Rahm Emanuel has openly acknowledged, the Obama administration is now intent on exploiting our present difficulties for the purpose of radically extending the scope of the administrative state. “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste,” he candidly remarked. “it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” READ THE REST

CBO says Dem health bill to increase health care costs

by Rossputin | 6:49 am, July 17, 2009

This Washington Times article discusses yesterday’s CBO testimony that current Democratic health care “reform” plans “would not lower skyrocketing costs and would drive up government spending, undermining one of President Obama’s chief arguments for the overhaul.”

see “CBO: Health care reform to increase federal cost”, Washington Times, 7/17/09
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/17/health-care-reform-said-to-increase-federal-cost

Time Magazine says that CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf’s testimony “could be devastating” for the Democrats’ plans. Let’s hope they’re right.

Michael Bennet’s health care confusion

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, July 17, 2009

From 9 News:
[Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado)] says people can’t handle the double-digit health care cost increases they are seeing each year and that the people who have insurance can’t keep covering the costs of those who don’t and who are then treated in the emergency room which he called “the most expensive brand [of health [...]

ObamaCare coming to a clinic near you

by Rossputin | 1:09 am, July 17, 2009

(H/T Rusty Staff)

Obama’s upcoming tax attack on US multi-national corporations

by Rossputin | 1:01 am, July 17, 2009

In May, the Obama Administration announced their proposals to modify the way American companies are taxed on foreign-earned income (and related expenses.) The measures, likely to come before the House of Representatives after their August recess, represent a direct threat to the economy’s nascent recovery and are likely to be extremely damaging to employment in Colorado and across the United States.

Given the Administration and the Democratic leadership’s tendency to give members of Congress a few hours to read thousand-page bills (meaning nobody reads them before voting), I offer a few thoughts on these upcoming proposals so that our Representatives and Senators might have thought about the probable damage to their constituents if the measures pass.

Before we get to the details of the likely proposals, there is a myth that needs to be destroyed: It is the myth that “outsourcing” of jobs has been bad for our nation. (It’s similar to the myth that free trade has decimated employment and industry even though our employment levels and industrial production rose consistently for years after the implementation of NAFTA.)

A 2004 report by the McKinsey Global Institute offers a “conservative estimate” that the “value potential to the US from $1 of spend offshored to India” is $1.12 – $1.14 and creates $1.45 – $1.47 in total global value. They also note that in the 20 years ending in 2003, 2 million manufacturing jobs had been lost due to “offshoring” while 43 million new service jobs were created, in part to support the outsourced jobs. And, if you wanted to fully compensate displaced workers for their job losses, it would only require 4%-5% of the savings produced by outsourcing. Furthermore, the US has far more “insourced” jobs than outsourced jobs, with those insourced jobs paying substantially more than the average job nationwide. A US Chamber of Commerce study also covers this topic well.

It must also be noted that the US has the second-highest corporate income tax in the developed world, putting our companies at a serious competitive disadvantage even before the Obama Administration’s misguided attempts to find revenue by raising corporate taxes. Before concluding that this is “free money”, our elected representatives would do well to consider the Congressional Budget Office’s conclusion that “domestic labor bears slightly more than 70 percent of the burden of the corporate income tax.” As free-market commentators are fond of saying, “Corporations don’t pay taxes”, by which they mean that companies need to generate a certain return on investment to justify being in business. As tax increases take their net returns below that threshold, they simply raise prices and pass the tax cost on to customers, or fire workers to cut costs. To the extent that they can’t raise prices, for example because of foreign competition, they simply go out of business (also not a good way for the government to generate revenue.)

The US is one of the only nations that claims the right to tax its citizens and corporations on income earned anywhere in the world. Typically, that income is subject to the tax of the foreign country, with that amount credited against the calculated US tax. Currently, corporations are allowed to defer paying the US tax on income earned overseas until they repatriate the money (bring it back into the US.) This deferral provision allows US companies to be fairly competitive with non-US corporations (particularly since almost 90% of what US companies produce outside our borders is sold outside our borders.).

It has been estimated that ending this deferral would cost anywhere from several hundred thousand to two million US jobs and tens of billions of dollars in investment in the US. And while the Administration is not proposing outright repeal of deferral, what they appear ready to propose will be nearly as devastating.

First is the Administration’s intent to eliminate the “check the box” business classification. This is a very technical area of tax law and I’ll try to explain in English: It is sometimes possible for a business to financially separate a foreign division for tax purposes. The Administration estimates that ending this option will raise $86.5 billion during the relevant budget period (in this case from 2011 to 2019). A CCH report on the tax proposals says that “Changing the check-the-box rules will impact almost every multi-national entity.” As a report by law firm McDermott, Will, & Emery notes, “If this proposal were enacted, many corporate structures would need to be unwound and redesigned, at tremendous cost to taxpayers. It also bears mentioning that a similar proposal included in the Joint Committee on Taxation’s 2005 “Options” report was estimated as raising only $1.2 billion over a similar effective period. Recent data do suggest that deferred earnings of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies have increased significantly in recent years, but even accounting for such data, there would appear to be a large gulf between the administration’s revenue estimate and the prior congressional estimate.”

Second, the Administration intends to change the way in which US-based companies can deduct expenses for their overseas divisions. It appears that a formula will be created which would allocate some portion of a company’s expenses to the foreign operations and not allow those expenses to be deducted except against foreign income when that income is repatriated. This would place an enormous burden on companies with high levels of debt, and especially on companies with have interest debt while running at a loss in a foreign division. The Administration expects this provision to raise $60.1 billion during the budget period, but like all of the revenue estimates would likely come in far lower as companies do what they must to be competitive, even if it means moving their ownership domicile overseas and technically no longer being an American company.

Third, the Administration will propose “pooling” of foreign tax credits, eliminating much of the rationale for having a low-tax overseas operation, as well as implementing a technical change to prevent a firm from claiming a credit for foreign taxes paid on income which is not taxable by the US. These two provisions are predicted by the Administration to raise $43 billion during the budget period…with my same warning as above.

Other “minor” provisions which would make a non-accountant’s eyes glaze over (but which you can read about if you’d like in this report by Ernst and Young) are optimistically estimated to raise another $21 billion between 2011 and 2019.
In total, the international tax provisions will look to extract over $200 billion from an American corporate sector which is already the world’s most highly taxed.
Allow me to spend some time discussing the likely effect of these measures if they were to be enacted.

A Bloomberg article from May of this year notes that both GE and Microsoft say that “Obama’s tax proposal won’t create US jobs.” And in June, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that if these measures pass. The company would be “better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.” Other software companies agree.

The Business Roundtable’s analysis of the value the deferral policy and of American multi-national companies to our economy notes that:
• U.S. companies with foreign operations pay American workers more than comparable U.S. companies without foreign operations
• Harvard economist Martin Feldstein has estimated that each dollar of foreign investment increases U.S. income by $1.72 in present value.
• A “rare ‘controlled’ experiment”: In 1986, deferral was eliminated entirely for foreign shipping income. These cutbacks in deferral led to a substantial contraction of the U.S. shipping industry, fewer jobs, and reduced U.S. income tax revenue on shipping income. The contraction in American shipping occurred at the same time that foreign carriers were growing substantially. Fortunately, legislation enacted in 2004 has restored deferral for shipping income. The U.S. shipping industry is again on the rebound.

And this interesting comparison:
Consider a U.S. foreign subsidiary operating in the European Union:
• The average statutory corporate tax rate within the EU was 23.6% in 2008, including local income taxes.
• In contrast, the U.S. federal corporate tax rate is 35% (and the tax rate is more than 39% including state and local income taxes).
• For every $100 earned in a representative EU country, a U.S.-owned foreign subsidiary would have $65 left to reinvest after paying the local country tax and U.S. federal income taxes (net of the foreign tax credit), while a foreign competitor operating in the same location would have more than $76 left.
• The 17% higher after-tax return earned by the foreign-owned company would allow it to reinvest more, raise funds for new investment more easily, and sell its products at lower prices than the U.S.-owned subsidiary.

This month (July, 2009), the Business Roundtable released a study of the state of Virginia showing that 50% of the state’s jobs and 57% of its payroll came from “worldwide American companies,” and that the average Virginia-based worker for a US-based multi-national company earned over $70,000 in salary and benefits in 2007. Furthermore, “Worldwide American companies supported an additional 550,300 jobs in Virginia in 2007 through their purchases of goods and services from suppliers in Virginia” and “Consumption spending by the employees of worldwide American companies and their suppliers supported an additional 659,200 jobs in Virginia in 2007.”

These are not small numbers, and this is just one state. Colorado, like Virginia, has a very technology-based economy and is thus especially sensitive to changes in international tax law, in part because it’s very easy to offshore technology jobs when the tax environment because too oppressive.

Specifically regarding deferral, the US Chamber of Commerce makes the point clearly:

This issue is about jobs in America and the competitiveness of American companies. Deferral has been mischaracterized as a ‘tax break’ but is actually a vital mechanism providing relief for American businesses from double taxation.

The United States is the only major industrialized country which double taxes the overseas earnings of our companies. Since other countries don’t subject their companies to double taxation, U.S. companies need deferral to stay competitive in the global marketplace.

When you limit deferral, you limit the ability of U.S. companies to compete, you impede growth in the U.S. economy, and you cause the loss of jobs – both at the companies directly impacted and companies in their supply chains.

Tax increases that hurt U.S. companies’ global competitiveness hurts U.S. workers here at home. A huge tax hike on U.S. employers is not the way to stimulate our economy. Congress should reject this approach.

The Obama Administration’s poorly conceived efforts to raise revenue by increasing the tax burden on the world’s most over-taxed corporations, as well as increasing the complexity of the tax code, will cost Colorado thousands of jobs and cost the state and federal government many millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. The provisions will of necessity generate far less revenue than the Administration claims simply because they must. For example, the amount the Administration wants to take is nearly equal to the entire amount of dividends paid by S&P 500 companies in 2008, more than 2.5% of all S&P profits that year (and far more than 2.5% this year.) As explained before, companies will not simply absorb the tax bill. They may try to raise prices, but that will be difficult in a recession. So they will cut costs, primarily by firing wide swaths of American workers.

It’s one thing for a Democratic Congressman to go along with a marginal bill (or even a somewhat worse than marginal bill) in order to get along with a very popular President and the (unpopular) House or Senate leadership. But it’s another thing entirely to do so while sacrificing the economic lifeblood of his or her constituents. I strongly urge each member our Colorado House delegation and both of our Senators to vote a resounding “No!” on the Administration’s job-destroying plans.

When is a “fee” not a tax? When the Mullarkey Court says so…

by CTBC Director | 10:54 pm, July 16, 2009

In a little-noticed ruling issued November 3rd, 2008 (yes, great time to avoid attention, don’t you think?) the Mullarkey Majority on the Colorado Supreme Court quietly handed down an extremely far-reaching decision designed to permanently end-run TABOR and undermine the Colorado Constitution.  Like most people, I missed the significance of this case (Barber vs. Ritter) both at the time [...]

Dig out your cameraphones people!!!

by John West | 8:03 pm, July 16, 2009

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” I really have nothing to add to that, I just want you to think about the words. With those words, please do not reach for you guns when TSHTF. Reach for your videocamera. Don’t cooperate with your captors or your would-be [...]

CBO: No Net Federal Cost Savings in Dem Health Plans

by Brian Schwartz | 7:28 pm, July 16, 2009

From ABC News:
Here’s a blow to President Obama and Democrats pressing health care reform.
One of the main arguments made by the President and others for investing in health reform now is that it will save the federal government money in the long run by containing costs.
Turns out that may not be the case, according to [...]

An Even Stronger Statement from Walker Stapleton’s Fundraising Take

by Ben DeGrow | 5:48 pm, July 16, 2009

This past quarter’s fundraising numbers look even better for Colorado GOP treasurer candidate Walker Stapleton than I reported a couple days ago. His $138,211 take was not just a record for non-incumbents, but a record for any candidate ever in a Colorado treasurer’s race.
Incumbent Democrat treasurer Cary Kennedy was blown away by more than two-to-one [...]

Over $70,000 in campaign contributions (bribes) changed hands in the house the DAY before Cap and Trade

by Mr. Bob | 1:59 pm, July 16, 2009

#tcot #house #redco #gop

LINK: Did “Walking-Around Money” Help Cap and Trade Vote?

criminals.
no incumbents should remain after the next election.

Illegal Aliens Racing Kill Innocent Driver in Aurora – Colorado

by Mr. Bob | 12:28 pm, July 16, 2009

#tcot #redco #illegals #aurora #denver

Both men could now of course be deported but it is too late for the driver minding his own business. This accident happened right where I used to live so this hits very close to home. Democrat or Republican, we should be removing all incumbent elected officials who show no action on this issue.

A car race about 10 p.m. Tuesday on the streets of Aurora ended in a severe accident that killed an innocent driver, said Lt. Chuck DeShazer, spokesman for Aurora police.

“It was in the top five worst accidents I’ve ever seen,” DeShazer said. “It was probably closer to No. 1 or No. 2.”

The two men involved in the race, Benny Sitinjak, 34, and Jose Hernandez-Castellanos, 28, have been charged with Class 3 vehicular homicide and each is being held on a $50,000 bond, DeShazer said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on both men, DeShazer said.

The detainer means both men could be deported….READ the Rest at the Denver Post

Cary Kennedy can’t even manage her campaign’s finances

by RMR | 8:10 am, July 16, 2009

We recently posted excerpts from Cary Kenendy’s end-of-the-quarter fundraising email which consisted mostly of odd rambling. One line from her email takes on even more significance in light of the paltry $66,000 in fundraising she is reporting for the quarter.

Cary’s trying to hit the $100,000 fundraising mark by midnight June 30, but she can’t do it without your help.

Not only did she fall far short of her own goal, she ended up being outraised 2-1 by the lone GOP candidate Walker Stapleton. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would realize that you shouldn’t raise expectations about your campaign in this manner. This suggests that she and her campaign were doing an awful job keeping track of their finances and had no idea where they were at or they were vastly over-estimating their ability to take in cash. Neither is a quality that is especially desirable in a treasurer.

We’ll leave with you this thought: your state treasurer honestly believed she was going to be able raise around $40,000 in 48 hours by sending out an email that started with "We are not going to let Dick Wadhams bully us around."

Buck and Frazier Fundraising Numbers: Be Not Dismayed, but Pick Up Pace

by Ben DeGrow | 8:04 am, July 16, 2009

Fundraising numbers are out in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race. While the indecisive Michael Bennet has awed observers once again with his million dollar-plus cash intake, numbers for the two most highly-touted Republican challengers Ken Buck ($330,000) and Ryan Frazier ($140,000) were significantly less overwhelming.
Given their different positions, statuses, and backgrounds, one cannot reasonably hold the [...]

Health Care Rations and You

by wesley | 7:27 am, July 16, 2009

In response to some of the Partisan Propaganda against ObamaCare, the Health Administration Bureau has just released a Public Service Announcement explaining the value of health care rations and how they will relate to you. Remember, it’s your patriotic duty to give a little more and take a little less. Because less is more!

New August Appleseed Added to Schedule

by wesley | 6:58 am, July 16, 2009

Got a rifle? Know how to shoot it? Yeah? Can you hit a 20″ target at 500 yards on the first shot? No? How would you like to learn to? In an earlier post, I mentioned that The Appleseed Project has come to Colorado this year. What is Appleseed you ask? Appleseed is a project [...]

Chart of ObamaCare

by Rossputin | 5:02 am, July 16, 2009

Thanks to the Republican Staff of the Joint Economic Committee for creating this chart. It pretty much says everything you need to know about the Democrats’ health care “reform” plans.

(CLICK HERE or on the chart to see a LARGER VERSION.)

Please pass this note around as widely as you can. We have too much at stake here to assume people will just figure out what’s about to be done to them.

Ed Perlmutter’s “green” conflict of interest

by Rossputin | 2:05 am, July 16, 2009

The Washington Times reported yesterday that Colorado’s 7th CD Congressman, Democrat Ed Perlmutter, added a provision to the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade (cap-and-tax) bill which is likely to benefit a bank owned by himself, his family, and donors to Perlmutter’s campaign.

While the Times describes Permutter’s action as apparently benefiting “a donor”, my search of the Federal Election Committee database for contributors who list New Resource Bank as their employer reveals four names and a total of $4,500 in contributions to Ed Perlmutter’s campaign (as well as more than $6,000 in contributions to other Democrats, and none to Republicans) while directly affiliated with the bank. But that understates the financial connections. For example, a search of the name of one of the Bank’s founders and its former Chairman, Daniel Yohannes, shows over $8,000 in contributions to Perlmutter beginning in 2006 and continuing through this year. At least one other founder of the bank has also contributed to Perlmutter.

The text of the Perlmutter self-dealing provision (see Section 299e in the TEXT of Waxman-Markey) begins by requiring that “The Federal banking agencies shall prescribe guidelines encouraging the establishment and maintenance of ‘green banking’ centers by insured depository institutions to provide any consumer who seeks information on obtaining a mortgage, home improvement loan, home equity loan, or renewable energy lease…” It should come as no surprise that New Resource Bank is involved in all of those businesses (with the possible exception of renewable energy leasing, whatever that means) with additional “green versions” such as “Solar Home Equity Financing.”

While Ed Perlmutter is probably no more corrupt than the average Congressman, he’s clearly no smarter either. He certainly should have known that at least the appearance of a conflict of interest would be found no matter how sneaky his methods of air-dropping the provision into the bill. And to be clear, this is not just an appearance. This is an obvious conflict of interest and likely an unethical action by the Congressman. As David Harsanyi points out,

According to the House Ethics Manual’s guidance on outside employment and income: “Although the term ‘conflict of interest’ may be subject to various interpretations in general usage, under federal law and regulation, this term ‘is limited in meaning; it denotes a situation in which an official’s conduct of his office conflicts with his private economic affairs.’ The ultimate concern ‘is risk of impairment of impartial judgment, a risk which arrises whenever there is a temptation to serve personal interests.’”

It’s not surprising that Perlmutter might want to strengthen his and his friends’ investments in New Resource: Last month, New Resource Bank received a “cease and desist” order from the FDIC which criticizes the bank for:

(a) operating with management whose policies and practices are detrimental to the Bank;
(b) operating with a board of directors which has failed to provide adequate supervision over and direction to the active management of the Bank;
© operating with a high percentage of poor quality loans;
(d) engaging in unsatisfactory lending and collection policies;
(e) operating in such a manner as to produce operating losses;
(f) operating with inadequate policies and practices regarding liquidity management; and
(g) operating in violation of Section 22(h) of the Federal Reserve Act, 12 U.S.C. § 375b, and section 215 of Regulation O of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 12 C.F.R. § 215, made applicable to state nonmember banks by section 18(j)(2) of the Act, 12 U.S.C. §1828(j)(2), as more fully described in the ROE as September 30, 2008, dated November 10, 2008.

It’s also not surprising that a group of people who run a green bank and only give money to Democrats “operate in such a manner as to produce operating losses.” Nor that those “green bankers” would think it’s OK to use government to funnel taxpayer dollars into their money-destroying projects because they have such nice earth-hugging intentions. After all, while the bank’s leadership does have finance experience, they also appear to be committed ideologues: The Chairman of the Board is primarily interested in “social finance.” The Vice-Chairman serves on the Boards of two environmentalist organizations. And the President (also CEO) is a self-described “longtime finance executive and environmentalist.”

But their so-called good intentions can’t mask the blatant self-dealing and cronyism of Ed Perlmutter whose unethical actions are the obvious and necessary result of giving politicians dominance over our economy and the ability to choose winners and losers within the economy. Nobody should be surprised when the proposed winners happened to have contributed to the party in power.

Knife Nuts

by ToxicHypoxic | 10:05 pm, July 15, 2009

Well, it just keeps getting stranger all the time. Like they told me in grad school, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional”. And so our government introduces this latest bit of foolishness that seems to be par for the course of late. Seems that some pocket knives are having their turn in [...]

Ethically Challenged Ed Perlmutter?

by Ben DeGrow | 5:27 pm, July 15, 2009

Hats off to the Washington Times for the scoop on what my representative in Congress has been up to:

Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado inserted a provision into the recently passed House climate change bill that would drum up business for “green” banks, such as the one he has invested in and his family and a [...]

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold appearing on “Under The Dome” special report Thursday 16 July at 7PM

by CTBC Director | 5:00 pm, July 15, 2009

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is appearing on a Backbone Radio “Under The Dome” special report this Thursday evening at 7PM (710 AM KNUS).
From the KNUS 710 station promo:
“A campaign is underway to vote down Colorado’s chief justice and three of her colleagues on the 2010 ballot.  What are the pros and cons? [...]

Ryan Frazier To Make Senate Run Official In Coming Weeks

by elpresidente | 3:46 pm, July 15, 2009

From a press release this afternoon (no link yet):

“In a little over two months, we undertook efforts to weigh support for our positive and forward-looking vision. Since that time, we have gained momentum from people responding to our direction because they are looking for positive change. A New Way Forward is resonating with families and small businesses across Colorado and across party lines.

Our campaign is built on ideas, not personalities or tired insider politics, and will surge ahead as we meet more people and offer better solutions. Because of the early support and enthusiasm we’ve generated during past two months, I intend to make an announcement on my official candidacy in the weeks ahead. My family and I are grateful for the enthusiasm of hundreds of new volunteers and a promising financial start towards building a strong and effective campaign,” said Frazier.

‘often wrong, but never in doubt.’ Dr. John Holdren, Obama’s Science Fiction Czar

by Mr. Bob | 1:01 pm, July 15, 2009

#tcot #science #mmgw #whitehouse

Having a gullible, politically motivated scientist in charge of the White House Office of Science and Technology sounds downright scary, but that is exactly who Obama has put in charge.

David Harsanyi’s article this week points out correctly that Dr. John Holdren has wrongly fallen for nearly every “EOTWAWKI”** scenario since the early 70′s. Not only that, he has used it to manipulate people, including advocating some rather evil practices.

Here are some excerpts from Obama’s Science Fiction Czar;

you can read excerpts from a hard-to-find book co-authored by Holdren in the late 1970s, called “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment,” online.

In it, you will find the czar wading into some unpleasant talk about mass sterilizations and abortions.

In the book, you find that Holdren and his co-authors believed strongly that “global cooling” was an impending disaster as were having too many people on the planet. Now of course he has tempered that forced sterilization thing a bit, but still advocates government telling us to have less children…and of course man made global warming.

Holdren was asked about his penchant for scientific overstatements, he responded that “the motivation for looking at the downside possibilities, the possibilities that can go wrong if things continue in a bad direction, is to motivate people to change direction. That was my intention at the time.”

“Motivation” is when Holdren tells us that global warming could cause the deaths of 1 billion people by 2020. Or when he claimed that sea levels could rise by 13 feet by the end of this century when your run-of-the-mill alarmist warns of only 13 inches.

“Motivating” — or, in other words, scaring the hell out of people - READ THE REST at Real Clear Politics

**EOTWAWKI; End of the World As We Know It

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