The left hates corporations while Obama makes friends

Many of my left-thinking friends hate corporations. They don't trust corporations. They think corporations are the root of evil. They think that corporations represent everything wrong with government and society. My only question is: "why is your philosopher-king so pro corporation?"

Obama hates AIG, but just how does he feel about GE Capital? You know, the financial subsidiary of GE that was able to sway Obama on his financial sector reform. You know, the company that makes health care equipment. Oh, yeah, don't they make wind turbines and F-35 jets too? Don't they own Olbermann, Maddow, and Matthews? Haven't they been lobbying more than normal? Maybe GE is special? Maybe they are the uncorporation corporation? After all, their CEO does sit on Obama's economic council (read more here).

So what's your excuse for PhRMA? Hat tip to Left Coast Rebel.

The joys of socialized medicine

Huge hat tip to William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection for the following ABC report on Canadian health care. Those wanting single payer, I have only one question...why?



Here is an excellent article from Canada about how the Canadian health care system is Imploding!

Please make sure to read the comments. Some of them are quite sobering, like:

Maisie42 wrote:
I, personally, have been waiting a year for a colonoscopy. After the fax was sent to the surgeon, I didn't hear anything for 4 months, then finally saw a doctor 3 months later. I will have the colonoscopy in September almost a year after my family doctor applied to see the specialist. While in hospital for another emergency, I heard of 2 other cases, where the diagnosis had been diverticulitis, but turned out to be cancer of the rectum. These people had only X-rays, which do not show the rectum. Only a surgeon can spot that with a scope-like instrument. Apparently they had not been sent to a specialist! I watch my neighbour Harry limping from his house to car. His knee surgery was cancelled last winter, when the QE2's operating budget was over the limit. He is in his mid 70's and should be enjoying a better quality of life. I believe that maybe a two-tier system is ok, but budgets of hospitals should not be limited in dollars where some people cannot get the operations they need. Instead the budget should depend on the number of patients who receive operations. Health care in Nova Scotia is badly lacking!

I love the following quote at the very end of an AP article that is defending the UK health care system:

British officials acknowledge that their system has been struggling to cope and faces a 15 billion pound ($24 billion) deficit. Hospitals are often overcrowded, dirty and understaffed, which means some patients do not get the care they are promised.

I'm so excited to see government trying to bring us closer to these kinds of health care system. Finally, someone's going to start a line for us to stand in, I was getting tired of just walking in and getting access

I want to know when...Time, Date and Place as much as Eric Cantor

I wish we had the news media that existed from 2000-2008. You know, the one that would report, rereport, and print the Presidential opposition's talking points and quotes all over the print media. The following was a response from Eric Cantor to Obama's claim that the Republican's are just trying to recreate 1994 elections by opposing his health care bill and that they refuse to work with him on the bill.

"We would love to know when, exactly — time, date, place — the president or his staff reached out to Republican leaders?" said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Republican leaders in May sent Obama a letter outlining the GOP's principles and asking to collaborate.

"And the president's response?" Dayspring said. "Meeting? Nah. Work together? No thanks. Further discussion? Nope. Instead, they went with, 'Thanks for the letter.'"

That's right lefties. We on the right either: a) have no plans, no solutions, no ideas, in fact, we do nothing but vote no and hang out at our yachts. Or b) can't get the left wing media or the left wing administration or the left wing controlled congress or the left wing controlled senate to listen to our ideas. It just makes me all wee wee'd up.

Genius of a Genius and where is our Milton Friedman

I never thought ten years ago that I'd be here today explaining the failures of socialism, the virtues of capitalism, and the tyranny of government. The topic has been debated brilliantly by far better. Here is one such man who left the world in 2006.

I give you Nobel Prize winner and economist Milton Friedman.



I wish we had a young Friedman now.

The NCG - LComment Health Care Debate: Argument One, Cost

Despite all the leftist spin about how US health care is poorly performing against the socialize systems of the world, there is only one category in the WHO report that the US scored the worst out of all nations and that category was cost per capita. Cost is a serious concern regarding heath care, perhaps the most important concern we face today. This is why Obama keeps stating that we are headed for a “health care cost crisis” and today’s level of spending is “unsustainable.” Cost is an excellent argument for reform and I only have one problem with the argument in relation to HR3200, the current health care legislation does nothing to stifle the increasing cost of health care (see my post regarding the cost curve).

Now we need to keep something straight when talking about cost before we broach the subject and that is the difference between deficit neutral and the cost curve. Deficit neutral talks about whether or not the government will generate enough cuts or revenue in the federal budget to pay for the total costs of a program over ten years. The cost curve refers to the fact that health care costs are expected to inflate faster than GDP for decades to come. These concepts are independent of each other. The 2007 CBO graph estimating health care cost increases to GDP is below.



Here is an illustration. An example of the cost curve would be that today your health care expenses take up 15% of your yearly income and in 30 years, despite bonuses and raises your health care costs will take up 95% of your yearly income. An example of deficit neutral would be that today health care costs take up 33% of the budget, but despite increasing total revenues because of GDP growth, in 30 years it will consume 150% of the budget, but good news, by increasing taxes and taking everyone’s money away we can pay for it! The devil is not in how we pay for it, although it is very important. No, it’s in how we keep costs from ballooning in the future.

Now we have promises from Obama time and time again that his health care plan will reign in skyrocketing health care costs. When asked directly at a recent town hall meeting how he planned to do this without health care rationing he said he would accomplish it through fundamental cuts to Medicare to eliminate waste and create savings. The problem? The question was about how to bend the cost curve and the president answered with deficit neutral talk. The sheer fact that Obama couldn’t understand or articulate the difference is disturbing as is the legislation creating a government structure that Obama hopes to run.

Well, it turns out that not only is Obama’s ignorance scary when it comes to bending the cost curve, HR3200 is also a terror of its own when it comes to cost cutting. Any economist will tell you that flooding the emergency rooms with 47 million new insured is not a recipe for cost savings. The reason why is because supply and demand are directly related to price. When demand goes up and supply is constant, price goes up. Furthermore, when supply is held constant the cost to each additional person is exponential. Cost is directly associated to access and you will not see cost magically flatten as you try to increase access. Especially when there is a shortage of doctors. There are things that must be done to hold costs down. Things like, rationing. It’s a principle seen time and time again. We see is in MA and we’ve seen it in TN, both have public options (by the way, the public option in MA negatively impacted the poorest the most). I don't know how many times we have to try this before we learn our lesson. This is why the director of the nonpartisan CBO said in congressional hearing that the bill lacked the fundamental changes necessary to bend the cost curve. In fact, it will make it worse. He also has serious doubts regarding proposed health care savings Obama has touted.

The idea that the bill currently is not deficit neutral only highlights the danger of the legislation. If we pass a bill that has no provision for bending the cost curve and that bill doesn’t even cover the costs over ten years when they are at levels lower than they will be in twenty, then we are sending ourselves over a cliff for a ten year health care binge. One in which we will wake $1 trillion poorer, trapped in a health care system bleeding our federal budget and a larger majority of American’s depending on that dying system for quality care.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot, cost is also important, because we have no money. Below is my favorite little graph showing Obama policy costs versus Obama policy revenue.



Follow the debate below:

C Gen's Opening Remarks








The Law's Opening Remarks

The NCG - LComment Health Care Debate Begins: C Gen's opening remarks

We need to enact reforms of our health care system. I think there are few that would argue otherwise, on the right or left. Health care costs are projected to outpace GDP for the next few decades creating a cost crisis. There are many good things about the way our health care works, but individuals need to have greater control and choice over their health decisions. However, passing no legislation is better than passing poor legislation. I intend to lay out arguments that will convince your average American that HR3200 is not the solution to our health care issues. Those arguments will show that private reforms, not sweeping government intervention, will be needed to improve health care for all Americans.

How will I do all this? I’m going to point to the left’s holy grail of health care assessments, the World Health Organization’s 2000 report that ranks nation’s health care systems, and show that by analyzing the report, we can glean that sweeping government intervention would make our health care worse off and not better. Yes, I know that the WHO report was written by those that promote socialized medicine and therefore biased. However, it is still a method for measuring health care. All measures have their problems. Recessions by definition cannot be determined until we’ve been in a recession for six months and the unemployment rate does not include those unemployed, but not looking for work. We can still obtain valid points on how to reform our health care from WHO.

When we take a look at the WHO report and many other reliable sources, I’ll show:

• That HR3200 does not fix the cost crisis, but make it worse,
• That our current health care providers are not letting American patients down as is argued by the left
• That the American system has many aspects that lead and not lag behind the rest of the world and HR3200 will diminish our system’s advantages,
• That our government and specifically our current administration has no credibility in taking a larger role in our health care system, and
• That market based solutions will promote the personal responsibility that is the key to many of our health care problems

Health care is too important to get wrong and it affects too many people to allow the government to try the same failed, leftist policies that are already destroying the health systems of other countries as well as several states in the US. It’s time to try something bold, something that is sacred and part of tradition in America. It’s time to unleash the genius of the individual and not the tyranny of the government.

The Health Care Debate is On!

As the health care debate grinds forward, the polls show that the right is winning the debate with regard to Obama's health care reform legislation. However, I feel we need to be doing more in the debate. At the end of this debate, if our only accomplishment is that we have stopped poor legislation from passing, we will only have won a battle not the war.

The polls show that there is a lot of room for convincing as well. We need to do more than show why Obama's plan is a bad idea, we need to convince people that this type of legislation is not appropriate for America so that we are not fighting the same legislation ten years later. I plan to do my part.

I just received word from "the Law," author of The L Comment, that he has accepted an offer to hold a debate on health care between our blogs. The Law is a good friend of mine, a true credit to the progressive movement, an outstanding author and model blogger. It will be a traditional debate with opening remarks, rebuttals and conclusions. We will be posting the debate all next week starting Tuesday and concluding on The Law's new radio program on Sunday.

Please stop by, participate, send questions and make points. Remember that we are all Americans and be respectful of everyone's views (no matter how wrong they may be...sorry tL, couldn't help myself ;). The debate is on!

Obama goes to NH to sell suckers and health care Part 2

Since my post yesterday, I’ve since had a chance to read the transcript from the NH town hall. You can read it here. I wish I could say that I was surprised by the lies the silvertongue was peddling, but every single broken promise, every half-truth and every slanted syllable that I debunked yesterday was incorporated into his siren's call. I can see why many, disarmed and poorly informed, would have defended every word of the propagandist and chief. What was being told sounded far better than what was being sold; suckers and health care.

Today, I pick up where I left off and will continue to give you an honest perspective on HR3200. Today, we look at Obama’s contemptuous statements regarding taxes, death panels and the AARP.

Obama says: “Health care legislation will be paid for by taxing Americans making more than $250,000 and by creating savings from reforming Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP.”

THIS IS AN EMPTY PROMISE, A LIE, AND A HALF TRUTH ALL IN ONE. As I pointed out yesterday, the bill is not deficit neutral. To say that the bill is being paid for and not mention that there is a large unfunded portion is a lie by omission. Since Obama has already signed legislation that would remove the health bill from Pay-Go, I think it’s clear Obama will sign the bill even if it should appear on his desk with a large deficit in tow.

To believe that the White House can and will create the amount of savings they project requires a leap of faith. Recently, the director of the CBO has stated his skepticism regarding the amount of savings that the White House is projecting.

Obama has also promised that health care reform will be paid for by taxing those that make $250,000 or more. Of course, this is not the whole story regarding these taxes. Obama’s promise on the campaign trail was that he would simply repeal the Bush tax cuts. Fast forward to today and the top bracket is not paying 39.5% in income taxes, which was what they were under Clinton, but 45%. The “soak the rich” taxes are not the only taxes in HR3200. There’s an 8% tax on employers who drop or don’t offer insurance (that means the labor will be getting pinched). There is a tax on those that use tax free health care accounts to buy medication and a 2.5% tax on those that have the old, non-government sanctioned plans. These new taxes are a far cry from simply repealing Bush tax cuts. Yes, many of these taxes will be felt by those making less than $250,000.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said “I know I said that the bill would be paid for, but I lied. I know I promised that the bill would be paid for by creating savings from current government programs, this isn’t likely to happen. I know I promised that I would only repeal the Bush tax cuts on the rich, but I’m going to do twice that and more.”

Obama says: “The idea that my plan will install death panels is simply not true.”

MOSTLY, TRUE. The assertion that the government will create death panels comes from section 1233 of the bill in congress and the comparative effectiveness board established in the stimulus bill and expanded in HR3200. The bill describes a provision that would have people consult a health care practitioner regarding end of life planning. I do want to point out that one reaps what one sows. If you write a 1,000 page bill chalked full of programs that are invasive to one’s personal decisions (like provisions related to parenting, Chuck Norris to fill you in) you are likely to be alarmed.

Obama stated in the town hall meeting that the purpose of this section is to inform people about health care proxies, advance directives and living wills. However, this is not all the section talks about. Interestingly, health care proxies, advance directives and living wills are covered in two lines of the section. The rest was devoted almost entirely to end-of-life planning and does in fact contain specifics such as whether you will authorize the use of antibiotics, artificially administered nutrition and hydration when at the end of life.

Please keep in mind, the bill does specify that the conversation occurs between your doctor, nurse, or nurse practitioner and not some government bureaucrat.

The simple fact is that the bill doesn’t spell out exactly how these provisions will work. They are up to Obama to run. However, I do not believe section 1233 is setting up a "death panel." Primarily because the sessions are to be carried out by your doctor, nurse, etc. If your doctor is pushing euthanasia, you should find a new doctor.

However and I'll cover this in another post, there is also nothing in the health bill that guards against health care rationing. Implementation of programs will be up to the President, his Czars, and cabinet members.

What we do know is that there will be a board doing research to determine best medical practices and a health commissioner and panel that decides benefits. It is not out of the realm to think that this board will be hands off, but it may also be very imposing. This speaks to the crux of the matter. A simple question really, do you want to give the government the potential power of tyranny? Do you trust the government that much?

This will split down ideological lines. For most on the left, Obama is their Platonian philosopher-king who thinks only for his subjects and never his own interests. For us on the right it doesn’t matter, it’s none of Obama’s business. When, what, and why we want health care is none of the governments business. Leave research to the academics. We should be free to do what we want even if it is a low-percentage treatment.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said “You have no reason to believe anything I have to say regarding how I will run the provisions in the bill. They are intrusive.”

Obama says: “AARP supports my plan.”

THIS IS A LIE. The AARP has not endorsed any health legislation as of yet.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said “The AARP is so confident in how I’m going to run health care, they haven’t endorsed my plan yet.”

I have given you three more truths as I expose the sea of lies. I plan on continuing these types of posts until I have exposed all the misinformation from White House. With that said, I will be at this for a long time. I still plan on talking about health care rationing, government competition with the private sector and WHO 2000 report. Please let me know if there is anything else I should cover.

Related Articles:

Obama goes to NH to sell suckers and health care

Heritage Foundation debunks Obama lies (H/T to Lonely Conservative)

Robert Verdi at the 46 posts on Death Panel

Obama goes to NH to sell suckers and health care

Even as I write this, Obama is spinning, lying, half-truthing, and manufacturing his bumper sticker arguments for his suckers and his health plan. He’s set into motion the machinery that will either doom or actuate movement on his health care initiatives. Behold the silvertongue and his platitudes, his handshake promises without a handshake, his blurry and opaque “let me be clears”, and his mistaken “make no mistakes.” The right has their information and disinformation, some of which I agree and some that I do not. Deflate the emotions, restrain the outrage, and put aside the partisan and the only thing that is left is what is being asked on the right, “Dear God, let’s not move forward on this legislation.”

So here am I, with my own “Let me be clear.” I assure you that you will not get a more fair assessment on HR3200, certainly not from the state-run media and more certainly not from the propagandist-in-chief. This is sucker health care revealed.

Obama says: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”

THIS IS A LIE. The CBO shows that an estimated 23 million will lose their private insurance and will be forced on the public option. I believe that the Heritage Foundation estimates higher (around 85 million), but they are partisan so I’ll place them in the worst case scenario. Even if you have a private provider, those private insurance companies will need to have conforming plans that meet government standards. Therefore, you might still have private insurance but a government sanctioned plan. As I understand it, there is a grandfather clause, but in effect the legislation phases out non-government conforming plans.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said, “If you like your private health insurance provider, you have a one in ten chance of keeping them, but your plan is simply not going to be available for much longer.”

Obama says: “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

THIS IS AN EMPTY PROMISE. I may be misinformed and please correct me if I am, but there is nothing in HR3200 that mandates health providers to accept the government plan. This means, if you are forced onto the plan, you like your doctor, and your doctor will not accept the government option, then you will lose your doctor.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said, “If your doctor does not accept the public plan and you were forced onto the public plan because of the legislation I support, then you will lose your doctor.”

Obama says: “The rate of health care spending is unsustainable and this health care reform is needed to curb rising costs.”

THIS IS A HALF-TRUTH. The truth is that well thought out health care reform is needed to answer skyrocketing health care costs. Experts expect health care costs to out pace GDP growth for the next few decades. This means that as things currently stand in the do-nothing scenario, more and more of your income will need to be used to pay for your health insurance. Although the need to curb costs is real, HR3200 does nothing to curtail this problem. In fact, it makes the problem worse. This immutable truth has been voiced by the director of the CBO and the author of this blog.

The future cost crisis in health care is very real. Obama continually reminds us of this reality. The problem is that he is ignoring the issue, like he did the recession, in order to pass legislation that agrees with his ideology instead of his rhetoric.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said “The rate of health care spending is unsustainable and well thought-out reform is needed, but I’m not going to fix it. I have ideologies and special interests that are far too important for me and since I am President, I am entitled to have you pay for them, even if it costs you more money.”

Obama says: “I will not sign legislation that adds to the deficit”

THIS IS AN EMPTY PROMISE. As it stands, HR3200 is still adding to the deficit to the tune of about $239 billion according to the CBO. This is nearly 25% of the bill! The fact that congressional democrats have falsely claimed that the bill is deficit neutral speaks to their poor credibility.

If Obama was going to be honest, he should have said “I know I promised not to sign any health care bill that would add to the deficit. However, like my promise to refuse earmark laden legislation, I refuse to be bound by my promises.”

I have only covered four of the silvertongues forked statements and already my post is getting long. Tomorrow I will cover more. I intend to expose his promises on taxes, his untruths on WHO and the US health system, deaths panels, rationing health care, and more. More important than the truths exposed from the lies emerges a larger question that must be asked. If we can’t trust Obama to represent the truth in the health care debate, how can he expect Americans to trust his administration with the nation’s health care?

Dan Maffei’s arrogance is alienating his support

Last Saturday, Dan Maffei had a line drawn between himself and his constituents. Yes, he had a literal line put on the ground, which can be seen at the left, but the bigger line is the gulf of arrogance that is alienating his constituents (hat tip to Red, White, and Blue in the Face for the photo).

I’ve showed the video of Dan Maffei wagging his finger at constituents and lecturing them on why he can’t read bills, here. I came across the following video and report from Channel 9 WSYR regarding that particular town hall meeting and it looks as though the same arrogance that prompted his outburst is causing his support to erode (you can read about it here).



Maffei says he wants to hear from constituents when talking to the media, but that statement is inconsistent with his actions. Saturday’s town hall meeting was to be by appointment only, a way to hide instead facing those with concerns. Maffei should be applauded for holding a large session at the end so all could get time with their congressman, but that session should have been about Maffei listening and listening carefully. Instead, he lectured the crowd.

Maffei takes only some of the blame of course. Obama and Pelosi sent out orders for congressman to argue the case for Obamacare and if hit, hit back twice. It seems to me, Maffei is being a good soldier for the leftist cause. However, the correct response to concerned constituents is not arrogance, but attentiveness.

A Tale of Two Presidents

Big hat tip to Legal Insurrection for digging up this old Bush clip.

When Bush handled critics



When Obama handles critics



I'm not trying to dig up old wounds, I just find it interesting the stark contrast between how George W. and Barak Obama handled critics. People were angry at Bush for not listening and doing whatever his heart desired on issues. Obama does the same, but shouts you down at the same time. Just ask Joe the Plumber.

Dan Maffei has a melt down over reading bills at a recent town hall

Big hat tip to the Lonely Conservative, who has the scoop on Dan Maffei's latest town hall meeting. You can read about it here.

In the center ring is Dan Maffei, wagging his finger at his constituents while he pontificates on why he can't read congressional bills.

Eric Massa tries to quell Conservatives by moving Left

Yesterday I posted on Dan Maffei. I wish I had posted on Eric Massa. Then I would have realized that he was holding a town hall last night that I could have easily made and would be here today to fill you in on the details. The town hall made national news and the Politico reported on it.

As I stated, I missed the meeting, however the article appeared to be fair to both sides. If you were there and know otherwise, please let me know. In case you don’t have time to read it, here are a couple of points in the article.

There were people at the meeting that were both for and against the health care plan. A large majority were decidedly against the plan. There were no buses, people were not reading talking points, and if there were any who were organized it was on left side as there was at least one representative for Organizing for America.

On the Health Care issue, Massa is trying to have it both ways at the same time. To conservatives, he is trying to chastise angry concerns by reassuring them that he is “the guy who slowed the bill down.” Who can be mad at that? To the lefties, he is telling them that he’s a “no vote” because he supports socialized medicine and Obama’s public option is not far enough to the left. Believe me lefties, if you doubt him, there are few in congress more socialistic than Eric Massa.

This is what I have to say to my Congressman, Eric Massa.

Stop talking out of both sides of your mouth, Congressman. Stop trying to tell me that we need to reform health care and that although this bill falls far short of reforming health care, I should support the left because it is close enough. Stop expecting conservatives to give you a green light to do whatever your heart desires with health care. My concerns will not be chided or calmed because Obama’s socialized medicine is not socialistic enough for you.

People are not scared because they are misinformed. It is because your constituents want more control over their own health care and you are trying to tell them that what they need is more government control of their health care.

People are not scared because they are misinformed. It is because you and your liberal friends have lost your credibility and cannot follow through on the promises made regarding health care. We are being told that the bills in congress are going to be deficit neutral and will curb the cost curve so that health care will be affordable for future generations. This claim has been proven wrong by the CBO and others.

Your arguments are old, bumper sticker, campaign slogans and we demand better. It’s time to scrap this bill and start a new one. One with market focused reforms. If you can’t come to terms with this, then I and others will start working hard to campagne against you.

Dear readers, Eric Massa is currently a "No" vote on health care. He voted "No" on cap and trade because of constituent pressure, we need to keep turning up the heat on health care.

Here is Eric Massa’s Town Hall schedule. I’ll be at the one in Farmington!

Sunday, August 9th
2:00-3:30PM
FRANKLINVILLE CONSERVATION CLUB
3040 BAKERSTAND RD
FRANKLINVILLE, NY 14737

Monday, August 10th
5:00-6:30PM
PRATTSBURGH TOWN HALL
19 N. MAIN ST
PRATTSBURGH, NY 14873

Wednesday, August 12th
7:30-9:00PM
CANISTEO TOWN HALL
6 SOUTH MAIN ST
CANISTEO, NY 14823

Tuesday, August 18th
5:00-6:30PM
POTTER TOWN HALL
1226 PHELPS RD
MIDDLESEX, NY 14507

Monday, August 24th
5:00-6:30PM
ALMOND TOWN HALL
1 MARVIN LN
ALMOND, NY 14804

Monday, August 24th
7:00-8:30PM
WEST ALMOND TOWN HALL
2769 COUNTY ROAD 2
WEST ALMOND, NY 14804

Tuesday, August 25th
5:15-6:45PM
FARMINGTON TOWN HALL
1000 COUNTY ROAD 8
FARMINGTON, NY 14425

Thursday, August 27th
7:00-8:30PM
ERIN TOWN HALL
1138 BREESEPORT RD
ERIN, NY 14838

Thursday, September 3
5:00-6:30PM
HORNELL CITY HALL
82 MAIN ST
HORNELL, NY 14843

Town Halls for Upstate NY Dems

Dan Maffei

What: Congressman Maffei Hosts “Congress on Your Corner”

When: Saturday, August 8
10:30 AM- 12:30 PM

Where: DeWitt Library
3649 Erie Blvd East
Shoppingtown Mall
DeWitt

Please Note: Due to limited time, those who wish to schedule an appointment must call Sally Santangelo at 315 423 5657

Eric Massa

Sunday, August 9th
2:00-3:30PM
FRANKLINVILLE CONSERVATION CLUB
3040 BAKERSTAND RD
FRANKLINVILLE, NY 14737

Monday, August 10th
5:00-6:30PM
PRATTSBURGH TOWN HALL
19 N. MAIN ST
PRATTSBURGH, NY 14873

Wednesday, August 12th
7:30-9:00PM
CANISTEO TOWN HALL
6 SOUTH MAIN ST
CANISTEO, NY 14823

Tuesday, August 18th
5:00-6:30PM
POTTER TOWN HALL
1226 PHELPS RD
MIDDLESEX, NY 14507

Monday, August 24th
5:00-6:30PM
ALMOND TOWN HALL
1 MARVIN LN
ALMOND, NY 14804

Monday, August 24th
7:00-8:30PM
WEST ALMOND TOWN HALL
2769 COUNTY ROAD 2
WEST ALMOND, NY 14804

Tuesday, August 25th
5:15-6:45PM
FARMINGTON TOWN HALL
1000 COUNTY ROAD 8
FARMINGTON, NY 14425

Thursday, August 27th
7:00-8:30PM

ERIN TOWN HALL
1138 BREESEPORT RD
ERIN, NY 14838

Thursday, September 3
5:00-6:30PM
HORNELL CITY HALL
82 MAIN ST
HORNELL, NY 14843

Scott Murphy

Friday, August 7th
WHO: Congressman Murphy; Local Officials
WHAT: Granville Congress-On-Your-Corner
WHERE: Slate Valley Museum, 17 Water Street, Granville, NY
WHEN: 4 PM

Saturday, August 8th
WHO: Congressman Scott Murphy; Local Officials
WHAT: Valatie Congress-On-Your-Corner
WHERE: The Golden Harvest Farm, 3074 US Highway 9, Valatie, NY
WHEN: 11 AM

We are paying attention, Dan Maffei

In case you haven’t checked out my profile, I live in Upstate, NY. For the many readers who don’t know what I’m talking about, Upstate, NY is pretty much everything outside of NYC or in other words, most of the geographic area that encompasses NY. With the continual cramming of the Obama agenda and the 2010 elections only a little more than a year away, I wanted to express my intention to hold local Upstate congressional leaders accountable. I figured I’d start out with freshman Democrat Dan Maffei.

There are three freshman Democrats operating out of Republican strongholds, Dan Maffei, Eric Massa, and Scott Murphy. All three were standing with Blue Dogs to hold up the health care bill in the Ways and Means committee. All three are also in big trouble and better keep it that way. That is unless they don’t intend to get reelected.

Let’s take a look at Dan Maffei who represents a district chalked full of Republican voters. He voted for the stimulus package. If that isn’t bad enough, he was caught without knowing where or how the bill was affecting his district, here. He voted for cap and trade despite the fact his phone lines were burning up with voters demanding a “No” vote. Something Eric Massa was smart enough to pick up on. In case you were wondering Congressman, this is probably why your July town hall meeting was crammed with angry voters, which also had to be broken up by police, here. Maffei is a conspiracy theorist as well:

“The freshman congressman said he believed many of the disruptive people at Monday's meeting were representing special interests from outside of the Syracuse area.”

I hope you aren’t referring to the insurance company bussing people to town halls conspiracy, here?

Maffei has stated that although he is holding up the health bill, he’s willing to negotiate. That is in exchange for a little political power, here and quote Congressman Maffei:

“As long as I feel comfortable that I had the opportunity to address issues that I have raised, I am willing to take the tough vote,”

Here is Daily Kos, reminding Dan Maffei that his votes are bought and paid for by the far left. Something tells me that the lefties from Daily Kos, with special interests outside Danny’s district will in fact be heard by Congressman Maffei. Of course, there are 4 million reasons to listen to the left. That’s the amount of money spent on his two campaigns.

In the meantime, Dan’s going to shut the doors on his concerned constituents.

“Maffei, after returning to Washington on Tuesday, said he wants to come up with a format that will allow everyone to speak and discuss ideas in a respectful fashion -- without partisan bickering and heckling.”

If you are interested in having a discussion with Dan Maffei, here is the information for his next appearance.

What: Congressman Maffei Hosts “Congress on Your Corner”

When: Saturday, August 8
10:30 AM- 12:30 PM

Where: DeWitt Library
3649 Erie Blvd East
Shoppingtown Mall
DeWitt

Please Note: Due to limited time, those who wish to schedule an appointment must call Sally Santangelo at 315 423 5657

My thoughts on political strategy and Cash for Clunkers

The news is out that the Obama administration is delaying the release on the details for the Cash-for-Clunkers program. I’m reading and seeing a lot of speculation from the right that the reasoning for this delay is that the information proves the program was a failure. That the administration is holding onto the details so that it does not become a factor in the senate vote. This may be true, but I have a different theory.

I do not believe that the administration is withholding the figures because there is something to hide, but something they want to promote and promote big when the time is right. Unemployment data is coming out on Friday and this is usually the data that is thrown in Obama’s face every month. I believe that the Obama administration hopes to make the case that the Clunkers program was wildly successful in the hopes of quelling the stimulus doubts and trying to place a checkmark in their economic win column. Here is what I believe they will try and sell.

We haven’t heard much about GM and Chrysler bailouts lately. The takeovers were largely unpopular and very poorly executed. When they release the data, I expect to find out that GM and Chrysler’s sales are up (much like Ford’s, but far less). They will try and make the case that the program is stimulating the auto industry and that the government is doing an excellent job turning around the car companies.

Some other possibilities that are related to the future Clunkers propaganda might be:

- We hear news that because of the program, they are delaying some of the scheduled layoffs
- GM and/or Chrysler announces they will be able to pay the government back a portion of some of the money they received
- The administration starts touting some large number of jobs created or saved due to the program

Reuters had a great article talking about how the Clunker’s program is not going to stimulate the economy. I wanted to add my own economic thoughts on the program. The program is much like Bush’s June 2008 stimulus. It will get people to buy new cars. However, the point of demand side stimulus is to create an increase in purchasing that leads to an increase in business investment. In this case, the car companies know that the spending is limited and temporary. The program will not cause new factories to open, new jobs to be created, or new investments to be made. Therefore, the Clunker’s program does not stimulate anything.