Will Doug Bruce’s endorsement help Ali Hasan become Colorado’s Treasurer?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 5:46 pm, March 23, 2010

For weeks, Republican candidate for Colorado Treasurer, Ali Hasan, has been telling GOP audiences that he is to the right of Doug Bruce, the controversial author and defender of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) section of the Colorado constitution.
Bruce has returned the favor by endorsing Hasan as the GOP candidate who would do the best job of defending TABOR, which is under attack from tax and spend government contractors and Democrats.
The question is, will Bruce’s endorsement help or hinder Hasan’s campaign?
Will the endorsement make Hasan look any more fiscally conservative and qualified to be Treasurer than his opponents, J. J. Ament and Walker Stapleton? No. They’re much more qualified than he is.
Will the endorsement help Hasan win independents’ votes if he’s nominated? It may win him some independents’ votes.
Will the endorsement be taken by Treasurer Cary Kennedy and other Democrats as a gift that will never stop giving? Yes. If Hasan wins the nomination, Kennedy and the Democrats most certainly will use Doug Bruce’s long, controversial record in politics to attack Hasan even though he is a bright, hard working and very nice guy.
Will Bruce and Hasan do a good job of defending and strengthening TABOR? Both are adept at making headlines. Time will tell if they can defend TABOR. 
I think an endorsement by Doug Bruce is the last thing any Colorado Republican candidate should ever seek or accept. TABOR must defended, but Doug Bruce is hardly the guy to do it.

She couldn’t say no

by Amy Oliver | 2:33 pm, March 23, 2010

In the end, Congresswoman Betsy Markey could not say no to Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and the tax-and-spend lobby.
A couple of months ago during my weekly radio segment with Coloradoan editor Bob Moore, who has a good, working relationship with Markey’s office, I wondered that if push comes to shove, could Betsy Markey say no to Nancy [...]

Colorado Officials Fight for Health Care Freedom

by Mr. Bob | 2:20 pm, March 23, 2010

#redco #obamacare #socialism
Ben Degrow over at Mount Virtus and Joshua Sharf at View from a Height Have commentary and VIDEO of our Republican and conservative leaders urging support for the Defend Colorado from Obama Care ballot initiative. They are calling on Attorney General John Suthers to join the lawsuit of states’ attorneys general against the unconstitutional mandates in Obama Care.

Read the rest and see the video

Colorado Politics

What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?

by Jon Caldara | 12:32 pm, March 23, 2010

I help answer the perennial question now that Obama Care has been passed AND signed into law: What can we do to protect ourselves and our states from the monstrosity that is Obama Care?
Please take a listen to this quick 6 minute podcast on iVoices.org I did yesterday with Ben DeGrow.
Please join us in this [...]

Many Colorado Teachers Supporting Obama Care Whether They Like It or Not

by Eddie | 11:24 am, March 23, 2010

My parents have been acting kind of gloomy recently. You know, the whole nasty, arrogant government takeover of health care by Congress and the President. It might be part of the reason I didn’t put up anything on my blog yesterday. Things have started to cheer up a bit, though, since mom and dad learned [...]

20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms

by Brian Schwartz | 10:30 am, March 23, 2010

From David Hogberg in Investors Business Daily:
…It is worthwhile to take a comprehensive look at the freedoms we will lose [with health "reform" passed].
Of course, the overhaul is supposed to provide us with security. But it will result in skyrocketing insurance costs and physicians leaving the [...]

Catch Video of Colorado GOP Officials Fighting for Health Care Freedom

by Ben DeGrow | 7:51 am, March 23, 2010

Yesterday our elected Republican officials in Denver came to life with some mighty statements. First, state legislators joined my boss Jon Caldara to urge support for the Defend Colorado from Obama Care ballot initiative, called on Attorney General John Suthers to join the lawsuit of states’ attorneys general against the unconstitutional mandates in Obama Care. [...]

130+ Economists Agree…

by Jon Caldara | 6:12 am, March 23, 2010

Our resident economist, senior fellow, and professor at CU-Boulder Barry Poulson was one of more than 130 economists who signed a letter to President Obama and Congress outlining why Obama Care will be disastrous for our economy and our health. And let’s face it, they ought to take note considering over 130 economists actually [...]

Where have all the civil libertarians gone?

by Amy Oliver | 6:05 am, March 23, 2010

They’ve gone to Boulder to weigh in on the rights of free expression for a woman who wants to garden topless in her front yard right near an elementary school. According to Westword, the Boulder Chapter of the ACLU doesn’t think the city should ban exposed female nipples in the front yard.
Judd Golden, chair of [...]

Stupak’s disgrace

by Rossputin | 6:03 am, March 23, 2010

For today’s reading, may I suggest to you a piece that those who know me to be pro-choice might find surprising: My excoriation of Bart Stupak for caving in on his pro-life drive for ObamaCare.

Please see “Stupak Hits Historic Low“, Ross Kaminsky, HumanEvents.com, 3/22/10

The stock market initially misinterprets ObamaCare

by Rossputin | 5:21 am, March 23, 2010

More has been made than usual of one fairly dull day’s activity in the stock market following yesterday’s modest gains on the first trading day after what most Americans rightly perceive as an assault on our health care system.

The Associated Press noted that “Health care companies pull stock market higher“.

Although I also expected a more negative reaction (and the market did indeed open fairly sharply down before recovering), in hindsight the move makes sense for two reasons…but I also think that in the medium term the market may realize it made a mistake.

First, and commonly understood, is that the market generally likes getting rid of uncertainty.  So, some would argue that simply having the majority of the politics overwith now allows the market to move on to other things.

Second, and less commonly understood, is that it is quite possible that the structure of whatever comes from ObamaCare will be beneficial for many medical companies – with at least a one-for-one loss to consumers.  By that I mean that the bill will force tens of millions of previously unable or more frequently unwilling customers into the arms of health insurers.  Those people may see doctors more frequently and those doctors will prescribe pills.  The whole plan will also likely increase barriers to entry and reduce competition among insurers as it essentially turns the industry into a regulated monopoly.  The market must think that this means the companies are guaranteed profits, even if at a modest long-term growth rate.

A not dissimilar comparison could be with the Tobacco Master Settlement in 1998.  It was positioned by politicians as punishment but it really just created a regulated monopoly for the largest tobacco companies.  It hurt their growth rate a little bit – not as much as trends throughout much of the world against smoking) but basically protected them from everything else. The market is looking at this sort of history and thinking that ObamaCare will mean a similar outcome for health insurers.

But the market is wrong.

Politicians of all stripes have a very strong interest in gaining the tax income from cigarettes.  In a sense, many US governments are addicted to smoking.  It’s not as if the government is likely to put Big Tobacco out of business so Uncle Sam can start selling cigarettes and stogies.

Health insurance is something else entirely.  It is beyond debate that the true desire of the left wing of the Democratic Party, which is to say all of its current leadership, has a deep desire to end the private health insurance industry, not just tame it.

In that sense, ObamaCare’s passage increases long-term uncertainty exactly the opposite of the way the government created relative certainty for tobacco companies.

ObamaCare as passed is the camel’s nose under the tent, with the next step being a renewed push for a “public option”, code for “a government-run health insurance plan so heavily subsidized that no private company can compete with it.”

The long-run prognosis for private health insurers is bleak indeed if ObamaCare is not overturned.

And lest the pharmaceutical industry think they’re insulated from that sort of damage, remember that once government controls the health insurance industry, the only way they’ll be able to control costs (since they cannot do anything efficiently and will never cut salaries of government workers – all of whom will be unionized, I might add) is by rationing care, in particular by moving toward reliance on the least expensive drugs and generic versions of drugs.

There are a lot more shoes to drop over coming months and years.  It remains to be seen whether forces of capitalism and liberty can overturn ObamaCare.  Overturning an enormous new entitlement program has never been done before, but this is also an utterly new set of circumstances.

At the end of the day, strong stock prices for health insurers, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies will only be sustainable if ObamaCare is replaced by free market competition.  So, if the politics don’t change, these companies’ values certainly will – and not for the better.

All that said, a lot of people have lost a lot of money being too early on market calls of all types. Trying to play this sort of long-term macro event is generally not best attempted by the individual investor except to the extent that if I owned these stocks I’d consider taking profits.

(My caveat as always: Your trades are your responsibility…I’m just thinking out loud.)

Federal Healthcare Takeover re-awakens popular interest in constitutional limits on government power, role of courts

by CTBC Director | 2:09 am, March 23, 2010

The massive expansion of Federal government power that culminated in this last weekend’s “historic” vote for what is essentially a takeover of healthcare is an unprecedented intrusion into the most personal of human rights and decisions, in the face of overwhelming popular opposition and openly engaging in the worst kind of dirty machine power politics (arm-twisting, [...]

Colo. will join lawsuit to block health care bill

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, March 23, 2010

With a huge photo of Jon Caldara, The Denver Post reports:
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers is joining a national lawsuit to try to block federal health care legislation—over the objections of Gov. Bill Ritter and the Democrats who control the state Legislature.
Suthers said Monday he would join fellow Republican attorneys [...]

Four Corners Gang of Six Trip Pictorial

by Lu Busse | 9:35 pm, March 22, 2010

Our Four Corners Gang of Six from Durango area who answered the call to be in Washington DC to fight health care legislation on March 20th have arrived home safely after another over 30-hour drive. Once again we want to thank these 9.12  Project and Tea Party patriots for being our true representatives on Capitol [...]

20 Ways Obamacare Takes Away Your Freedoms

by Mr. Bob | 12:56 pm, March 22, 2010

#tcot #obamacare #teaparty
By Investors Business Daily.

Read it and weep.

Hat top Holycoast.com

Had Enough?

by Rob Natelson | 12:05 pm, March 22, 2010

If there were any doubt that our constitutional protection has been lost, that doubt should be removed by the congressional vote subjecting the personal health care decisions of every American to central governmental authority.
By an extremely narrow majority, the House of Representatives has crammed a profoundly unpopular and unconstitutional measure down the throats of the [...]

Watch health insurance premiums soar

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:09 am, March 22, 2010

Enactment of ObamaCare will open the floodgates for new federal mandates that insurers cover expensive wellness and alternative care services and send health insurance premiums soaring. While the New England Journal of Medicine says 50% of physicians will leave medicine because of ObamaCare, it’s more likely that the number of practicing physicians will shrink by 10% to 15% over the next five years. This will force Congress to boost payments to physicians to keep them in Medicine and to get them to accept more Medicaid and Medicare benefiaries. So taxes and Medicare premiums will rise even faster. ObamaCare encourages more people and employers to drop health insurance and game the system. Therefore, we’ll see as many uninsured Americans citizens who aren’t covered by various government programs as we see now. But they may be the higher-income folks who are smart enough to game the system.
Meanwhile, the hospitals who think that they will be the biggest winners because there will be fewer uninsured and few patients whose bills won’t be covered by the government will wind up the big losers. State and federal legislators will tax the not-for-profits and cut margins for the investor-owned hospitals to the bone. Long-run, they’ll lose physicians and money. Same for drug companies. Now that politicians control health insurance companies and markets more than ever, they’ll use the insurers and various forms of price and utilization controls to make the pharmas unprofitable.
Democrats who lose their seats in November will become rich lobbyists until Republicans take power and put them out of business.

Hugo Chavez and Barack Obama…same political manuvering

by Mr. Bob | 8:40 am, March 22, 2010

#peoplespress #tcot #teaparty
Obama and Pelosi just started a war in this country by using Chicago politics to make healthcare a supposed right rather than a commodity (as it always has been in this free country).

Again…government creates the problem, then proposes a fix by taking it over and controlling the money…standard operating procedure….for Hugo Chavez

Obama Care Passes… Now What?

by Ben DeGrow | 8:07 am, March 22, 2010

It’s the day after the 2700-page Obama Care monstrosity passed the Congress, proving there really is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat and that Leftist Democrat leaders were determined to shove the highly unpopular taxes, mandates and controls down the throat of the American people … now what?
Dr. Paul Hsieh at Pajamas Media lays [...]

Obama and the Doctors

by Rossputin | 6:56 am, March 22, 2010

For your reading enjoyment, may I suggest my article today for the American Spectator entitled “Obama and the Doctors” in which I pass along a fascinating (at least it was to me) reaction to Obamacare by a doctor I know who has long considered himself a liberal.

See “Obama and the Doctors”, Ross Kaminsky, Spectator.org, 3/12/10
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/03/22/obama-and-the-doctors

Obama’s original speech for Democrats on Saturday

by Rossputin | 4:32 am, March 22, 2010

Most readers of these pages know that Barack Obama addressed Congressional Democrats on Saturday. What is less well known is the content of the original version of the speech, as written by Barack Obama himself before his speechwriters altered it to what you heard on television.  Here, for the first time for anybody to see, is the original version of Obama’s speech:

Welcome and thank you so much to all my lemmings…I mean my fellow Democrats.  We are a day away from possibly enacting truly historic health care reform legislation.

Never in the history of our nation has such sweeping legislation been passed with single-party support and bipartisan opposition.

Never in the history of our nation has a political party been able to so skillfully manipulate the CBO’s fiscal impact scoring process, meaning that never in the history of our nation has a piece of legislation been given such an undeserved varnish of fiscal responsibility.

Never in the history of our nation have the leaders of a party had to stoop to so many bribes and threats to try to pass a single law.  If  you don’t like the Cornhusker Kickback, how about the exemption for North Dakota from the government takeover of the student loan business which we snuck into the House’s reconciliation package? By the way, props to Nancy Pelosi for that fantastically devious move.

And never in the history of our nation has one president been so dutifully served by a Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate who have seemed so willing to sacrifice their leadership positions or even their seats in Congress, along with sacrificing the political careers of dozens of Democrats, all for the sake of the legacy of l’il ol’ me.

Seriously, though.  While I want to thank members from Berkeley, Boulder, Manhattan, Chicago, and other districts where liberals could elect a ham sandwich, my deepest gratitude goes to members of the so-called “Blue Dog Coalition” like Allen Boyd of Florida and Betsey Markey of Colorado who have switched from “No” to “Yes”, probably costing them their careers in federal politics.  And Bart Gordon from Tennessee who is retiring because he realized sooner than most of you that he’d lose in November because of your devotion to Me.  Bart, I know I promised you the top job at NASA for your vote on this even though your own state’s Democratic governor asked you to vote against it, but it looks like Tom Coburn found us out, so I wish you luck on your upcoming years in the private sector. Maybe you and Harry Reid can start a business together.

What a brilliant scheme the “Blue Dog Coalition” was! The idea that Democrats would vote against big government when the vote really mattered!  It was all I could do not to laugh out loud in public every time I heard the idea.  The media believed you, the public believed you, even the Republicans believed you!  I suppose it’s not that big a surprise since the media and public believed me when I ran for president as a moderate. But I knew you lap dogs – I mean Blue Dogs – would come through for me.  I knew that being a Democrat means never having to say you’re sorry for supporting spending increases, tax hikes, and your president.  What a coincidence that the historic first black president is responsible for all the historic firsts about this legislation!  And I couldn’t do it without all of you and your remarkable agreeability to commit political suicide for me.

Also a special shout-out to Bark Stupak.  You’re pretense of opposing the bill because of being pro-life was brilliant.  And you’re absolutely right to bet that your constituents won’t know that any Executive Order I promise you will be overruled by existing law, a court challenge, or both.  Really clever stuff, Bart!  You made yourself look good and me look moderate at the same time, something many people would have thought impossible.  I’m sure glad you forgot my record on abortion in Illinois.

To my Republican friend Paul Ryan, whom I have full confidence will be the Chairman of the Budget Committee next year after the voters tell us what they think of our so-called “reforms” to the health care system:  You may see a new line item in the budget for plastic surgery and I wanted to explain it now so you don’t have to ask me later.  It seemed that every time I gave a speech about health care, my nose grew about 1/4 of an inch.  My personal doctor who would have fixed it up for free for me has quit medicine (he says it’s because our plan will kill his practice, but he’s always been a big kidder). So I had to go to an expensive clinic in Los Angeles…actually the same people who did Michael Jackson’s nose.  It wasn’t cheap but we can’t have a president looking like Pinocchio, can we?  I hope you don’t mind.  If you guys would have just gone along with me, I wouldn’t have had to give all those speeches and run up all those plastic surgery bills so you really have yourself to blame.   Anyway, what’s a a few hundred thousand bucks in the context of trillion dollar deficits?

So comrades, thank you again for your cult-like devotion to me and your Jonestown-like willingness to drink the Obamacare Kool-Aid, with similar effects on your electability in November.  It means so much to me to have friends and colleagues willing to sacrifice so much – it takes a special kind of person to so courageously ignore the wishes of his or her constituents – in order to save my presidency and my legacy as the next FDR.

And now, on to Amnesty and Cap & Trade!

Defend Colorado from Obama Care!

by Jon Caldara | 1:03 am, March 22, 2010

Statement by Independence Institute President Jon Caldara
March 21, 2010
On Sunday night the US House of Representatives passed what we call “Obama-care.” This is one of the darkest moments in American history. The federal government has taken a large step towards control of our healthcare, and with it control of our very bodies. The federal government [...]

Get ready for health insurance slumlords

by Brian Schwartz | 10:18 pm, March 21, 2010

My latest article at Pajamas Media begins:
If you dislike your health insurer now, just wait until politicians impose price controls that make your insurer act like a slumlord. Expect worse customer service, skimpier plans, and more claim denials.
Price controls on rental properties encourage landlords to become slumlords. [...]

219-212: Health Care Reform Open Thread; Repeal the Bill

by elpresidente | 8:52 pm, March 21, 2010

Discuss–is repeal possible? More thoughts from Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. Local grassroots and GOP chime in . . . From Lesley Hollywood, Northern Colorado Tea Party: Tea Party, 9-12 and other pro-liberty activists across the state of Colorado are outraged at the blatant disregard for the will of the American People. Betsy Markey, John [...]

Healthcare Vote Day, U.S. Capitol Lawn

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 6:20 pm, March 21, 2010

Whether we are moments away from shredding the Constitution or bitch-slapping the Botox out of Madame Speaker, it was a lovely day for politicking.  And, come what may, it has been heartening to see people getting worked up over politics. Democracy is the belief that the common man knows what he wants and deserves to [...]

Kill The Bill Rally at Colorado Capitol

by elpresidente | 4:54 pm, March 21, 2010

**Update–as usual, the legacy media drastically under-reports the numbers attending (the usually fair Denver Fox affiliate claims approximately 100 attendees). The picture posted below says it all. Approximately 500 folks attended a rather vocal vigil at the Colorado capitol today. Video after the jump . . .

Want To Get Away From It All?

by Chuck Moe | 2:00 pm, March 21, 2010

You may want to reconsider that camping get-away you have planned if you’re thinking of seclusion, getting away from technology, and getting “back in touch” with mother nature. Depending on where you are camping, the only touching that may be going on is the Federal Park Ranger touching the video camera controls aimed at your tent.
IslandPacket.com posted an article by…

PPC On the Scene in DC at the Kill the Bill Protests

by T.L. James | 1:40 pm, March 21, 2010

PPC’s Washington Bureau Chief Eileen Mahony sends these shots (and hopefully more later) from today’s protests at the Capitol against the federal nationalization of the healthcare industry. Three GOP representatives make an appearance on the balcony of the House wing, carrying “KILL THE BILL” placards A small (as in 30-odd people) crowd gathers near the [...]

Health care bill benefits insurance industry

by Brian Schwartz | 10:24 am, March 21, 2010

John Larson, the House Democratic Caucus chairman in a March 21 Bloomberg article:
The vote “comes down to whose side are you on.” Larson said. “Are you siding with the insurance industry or you’re siding on behalf of the people who’ve been waiting decades for this passage?”
More of the same bullsh*t.  As I’ve noted before, [...]

Updates on the Unconstitutional College Campus Gun Bans – headed for a showdown at the Colorado Supreme Court?

by CTBC Director | 9:12 am, March 21, 2010

Clear The Bench Colorado has previously noted that a recent decision by the CSU Board of Governors to deprive Concealed-Carry Weapons (CCW) permit-holders of their legal rights under Colorado statute on CSU campuses is virtually certain to be legally challenged and ultimately decided (as a matter of Colorado law, regulating concealed carry) by the Colorado Supreme [...]

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