Wednesday Mashup (4/6/11)

Seriously, Tucker, give up (here)…

Two mainstream news organizations are receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Obamacare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) — a $5 billion grant program that’s doling out cash to companies, states and labor unions in what the Obama administration considers an effort to pay for health insurance for early retirees. The Washington Post Company raked in $573,217 in taxpayer subsidies and CBS Corporation secured $722,388 worth of Americans’ money.

“It is fine with me if they continue covering the ObamaCare debate,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, in an e-mail to The Daily Caller. “When NBC used to cover energy issues, they identified themselves as a subsidiary of General Electric. CBS and Washington Post just have to disclose that they are subsidiaries of the Obama Administration.”

I think, from now on, the next time Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn says something truly stupid, I’ll just embed this video in response and leave it at that.



Meanwhile, I give you the following in response (here)…

President Obama’s health department has paid out more than a half-billion dollars in health benefits to a temporary early retiree insurance program included in the healthcare reform law, the department announced Wednesday morning.

As of Dec. 31, 2010, almost 5,500 employers covering 61,000 people had been accepted into the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), which reimburses plan sponsors for part of health insurance costs for early retirees – typically people between 55 and 65 – and their families.

The story at The Hill tells us basically that the ERRP is a “bridge” of sorts for early retirees between now and the setup of the health insurance exchanges in 2014.

Of course, as noted here, Carlson has trouble with even the simplest concepts on the issue of health care reform (or any other issue, for that matter).

Next, this tells us the following about corporate media poster boy Paul Ryan (if I see one more picture of this guy looking earnest or like he’s actually trying to accomplish something truly bipartisan, I’m going to vomit – he’s as ruthless an ideologue as they come, as noted here)…

Don't worry about the scary-sounding federal budget proposed by House Republicans ever becoming law. Democrats who control the Senate--and the White House--will never approve it. But pay attention to the details anyway, because sooner or later, many of the deep cuts and other hardships envisioned in the plan are likely to happen.

[See how to survive tax hikes and spending cuts.]

The audacious Republican proposal, authored by (Ryan) of Wisconsin, is the first serious effort to tackle the mushrooming cost of government-funded healthcare for retirees and the needy.

Really? “The first serious effort”?

As noted here in a response to Mark Halperin (h/t Atrios), Obama proposed a budget plan for the next fiscal year in mid-February.

Lay palm open on desktop, then smack in the middle of forehead with brute force.

Further, John Stossel tells us here that NRA members should “have a right to privacy.” I suppose, but they never seem to be shy about advertising their membership with decals in the rear windshields of their vehicles (his column is based on the revelation of celebrities in New York who own firearms)…

People who want the lists (of gun owners) made public say the disclosure is necessary to assure that government doesn't issue permits to felons. They point to an AP report that gun permits were given to hundreds of felons in Florida, Tennessee and Indiana. So because government is not competent enough to obey its own rules, the rest of us must have our privacy compromised? I don't buy it.

Speaking of the Sunshine State, this tells us about the so-called “Florida gun loophole,” whereby a Philadelphia resident can be denied a permit in PA but receive one in the land where they worship the rodent in Orlando.

And in the matter of the total lack of gun-related legislative activity in the wake of the Tucson shootings, Amanda Marcotte tells us the following here.

In addition, Rob Mitchell, the press flak for “Mikey The Beloved” Fitzpatrick, authored this Guest Opinion yesterday in the Bucks County Courier Times (Mitchell took issue with complaints that Mikey wasn’t “accessible” made by Robin Stelly and Barbara Stakes, who participated in a gathering at Mikey’s Langhorne office to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act)…

We know that Stelly is a vocal, professional political operative and staffer for Penn Action. She is, therefore, more than a "Lower Makefield resident," which is the way she described herself at the congressman's January town hall.

And we should shine a light on Penn Action. The Philadelphia-based organization is billed as a progressive (read left-wing) advocacy group that involves itself in political campaigns and other activities, including public demonstrations - always in support of liberal-left causes. And it was reported last year that Penn Action was the recipient of funds from George Soros, the internationally known billionaire who promotes far-left politicians and causes.

I’ll tell you what – if you want to learn more about Penn Action, click here and decide for yourself, dear reader, how “far left” they are (and don’t forget OOGA BOOGA GEORGE SOROS GEORGE SOROS OOGA BOOGA GEORGE SOROS GEORGE SOROS OOGA BOOGA!!!!).

Continuing with Mitchell…

…the publication of last week's news article also gave me an incentive to reflect on the Affordable Care Act. In one year, small businesses have seen double-digit premium increases that put health care beyond the reach of more and more Americans.

As noted here, double-digit premium increases had been happening long before the advent of health care reform (and this tells us about projected premium savings by families and business when the exchanges begin operation in 2014 – that is, unless states run by Republican governors continue to try to opt out of coverage by legislative gamesmanship and pointless lawsuits).

Finally, former Laura Bush employee Andrew Malcolm plummets to a new low once again (here)…

After his 2004 upset win over the political powerhouse of substitute Republican candidate Alan Keyes, the new senator from Illinois built on his speaking reputation to create an almost immediate presidential candidacy.

With all of the stuff currently going on in this country and the world, leave it to Malcolm to rehash the U.S. senatorial campaign of President Obama seven years ago.

As noted here, the reason why Keyes was a substitute candidate was because the winner of the Republican Senatorial primary, Jack Ryan (not the Tom Clancy character, but a real person...no relation to "puppy-dog looking while holding the budget shiv" Paul, I believe) announced his withdrawal three months after winning the race — four days after the Chicago Tribune persuaded a California court to release child custody records. And when those records were released, it turned out that Ryan’s wife, actress Jeri Ryan, alleged that her husband had taken her to sex clubs in several cities, intending for them to have sex in public (“Seven of Nine” indeed).

And what did Keyes do once his campaign got started? Well, he referred to Obama as “a good house Negro,” said he had “the cadence of an Islamic person” (so that’s how all the Kenyan Marxist stuff got started!) ,and referred to Obama supporter Oprah Winfrey as “the whore of Babylon,” as noted here. And as the polls tilted more and more in candidate Obama’s favor, he ended up spending less time on his own campaign, knowing he was cruising towards victory, and campaigned for his fellow Dems instead.

And as far as blaming Obama for Libya (full disclosure: didn’t see speech – sorry), I think the following context should be noted from here (not that a pathetic, shameless partisan like Malcolm would ever provide intelligent context to anything on behalf of a Dem, I know).