President Obama addresses the nation as Iraq mission changes

President Obama spoke this evening. Unfortunately, I missed it but here is the link to the full transcript in case you missed it as well: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/31/transcript-president-obamas-oval-office-speech-iraq/.

Here are the headlines.

Obama Salutes Bush While Noting 'Huge Price' Paid in Iraq – Fox News.com

Obama: Iraq combat mission 'is over' – MSNBC.com

Obama Declares End to U. S. Iraq Combat – Nytimes.com

'It Is Time To Turn The Page' – Huffington Post.com

Obama marks end of combat in Iraq – Chicago Tribune.com & LA times.com

Obama Marks New Focus in Iraq, at Home – The Wall Street Journal

 

I did catch the tail end of MSNBC wrap up and one may have thought Obama was a Republican by their responses. What did others think of what was said?

Sarah Palin: What is the liberal media worried about?

I just do not get it. My hope is that while I write that logic or reason will seep in that enables me to understand the liberal media's quest to soil Sarah Palin. No one had heard of the former Alaskan Governor prior to Sen. McCain's decision to add her to the Republican Presidential ticket. Since that time she was quit as Governor and written a new book called "Going Rogue". Today she is at Fort Bragg signing books. At first there was not going to be media allowed then outcry came from the liberal press to which a change was made to allow media attendance at the book signing. It is a book signing, yet the liberal media is doing what it can to discredit and discount Governor Palin. Why?

The latest issue of Newsweek had Sarah Palin on the cover. The photo on the cover had Sarah Palin in a jogging suit that was originally shot for a different magazine. Newsweek posed the question "How Do you solve a problem like Sarah?" on the cover with the tag line of "she's bad news for the GOP – and for everybody else, too." I still don't get it. What is it about Sarah Palin that scares the liberal press? Perhaps the Augusta Chronicle editorial staff member has it right as to the hysteria of media probing of Palin by stating, "We understand the media's fear. Sarah Palin embodies a conservative values system that horrifies liberals. But what's really frightening is how the media take those values and reflect them in a funhouse mirror back to the public, trying to pass that off as the truth"(http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/11/23/edi_556743.shtml).

Over the weekend the Senate finally moved forward on health care reform by voting to allow the bill to the floor. So, why is that not the hot topic of the day? Why is the liberal media not digging into the bill to vet it, to bring to light the amount of new taxes, to investigate the purpose of the Health Benefits Advisory Board, or why the bill, if passed, does not establish a public option until 4 or 5 years later? Instead the media is spending a lot of air time to the Sarah Palin book tour. In reading the news articles about Sarah Palin, I may have found my answer in a blogger on The Huffington Post. Eric Boehlert posted "Palin's book and Obama's bow: A media week to forget" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/palins-book-and-obamas-bo_b_367325.html). Mr. Boehlert lashes out at the mass media as reporting on "pointless, vacuous 'news' stories" because it is "easy, lazy, and safe thing" to report on.

President Obama has not even been in office a year, yet the media is doing what they can to discuss the faults of Sarah Palin. Can the media please get back to solid, investigative reporting of the news of the day? All this addiction by the liberal press to cover the Palin book tour does is distracting the public from the real news of the day. Well I guess I did get my answer to my original point. Journalism is dead in the United States and people are not really interested in items that will affect our lives like health care reform, increase taxes, mounting debt, printing of money by the Fed, and the elephant in the room; inflation.

Humana Gag Order: Abuse of Power or Warranted?

Humana is under investigation for sending out communication to their Medicare Advantage clients. The Huffington Post obtained a copy of the Humana mailing and can be viewed here: http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/humanamailer.pdf. I read the mailing sent by Humana and found nothing outlandish or misrepresentative of the reform being discussed on Capitol Hill but I suggest everyone to read the mailing to judge for themselves. The mailing does warn that "Some in Washington want to cut billions of dollars out of the Medicare Advantage program" and outlines changes that Humana will be forced to make if the cuts take place. Sen. Baucus took exception to Humana's mailer to their clients. "It is wholly inappropriate for insurance companies to mislead seniors regarding any subject – particularly on a subject as important to them, and to the nation, as health-care reform. The health-care reform bill we released last week strengthens Medicare and does not cut benefits covered under the Medicare program – and seniors need to know that," stated Sen. Baucus.

While I agree with Sen. Baucus that no company ought to mislead the public, did Sen. Baucus forget what was written in his bill? The bill calls for $123B in cuts to Medicare Advantage over the next ten years. Instead of recalling this fact Sen. Baucus complained to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The CMS in turn ordered Humana on last Friday to cease and desist because their mailer was "misleading and confusing". Again, I suggest everyone to read it. The kicker is that Humana, and others, have supported ObamaCare with the exception of Advantage cuts and the public option (Wall Street Journal). So, why the gag order Sen. Baucus?

Americans see the warning here? The complaint by Sen. Baucus is a prime example why Government cannot be a participant and referee in any industry. Filing the complaint to the CMS is an abuse of power and a blatant attempt to restrict the communication of what is going on in Congress. The America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, expressed their outrage to the gag order by saying that proposed cuts "will have a devastating impact on the health security of the more than 10 million seniors enrolled in the program. If these cuts are enacted, seniors will face premium increases, reduced benefits, and, in some parts of the country, will lose access to their Medicare Advantage plan altogether" (www.npr.org). Again, why is the Obama Administration allowing a gag order on information being sent out to those that are impacted?

The Medicare Advantage program receives additional reimbursement rate which cost taxpayers an additional 14% per enrollee (www.courier-journal.com). Now if Sen. Baucus cuts ($123B) or President Obama cuts ($177B) to Medicare Advantage rates takes place the logic step of those provided the insurance option will need to cut back benefits in order to maintain margin expectations. All Humana, as I can tell from reading the mailer, is guilty of is warning their clients of how changes in reimbursement rates will affect their coverage. If Sen. Baucus or President Obama has trouble with that then offer an explanation on how Humana is incorrect in their assessment. Do not sick the CMS on them or others in the insurance industry to place a gag order on them. It is their right to communicate to their clients.

Don't take my assessment as gospel; rather read the mailer (link above) and determine for yourself if Humana violated any laws as to stating any misleading or confusing information. After you read it and make your own assessment call your Senators and Representative to voice your opinion. I wonder how long the CMS will take to determine if laws were violated.

Cap and Trade: Ponzi Scheme

While President Obama is in Italy, one of his goals was to build upon the Cap and Trade notion to curb emissions. Major push back came from India, China, and other developing countries that see high-carbon emission energy sources as a requirement to assist in creating economic development in their countries. Dr. James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wrote in his article G-8 Failure Reflects U.S. Failure on Climate Change on the The Huffington Post:

“For all its "green" aura, Waxman-Markey locks in fossil fuel business-as-usual and garlands it with a Ponzi-like "cap-and-trade" scheme. Here are a few of the bill's egregious flaws:

• It guts the Clean Air Act, removing EPA's ability to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants.
• It sets meager targets -- 2020 emissions are to be a paltry 13% less than this year's level -- and sabotages even these by permitting fictitious "offsets," by which other nations are paid to preserve forests - while logging and food production will simply move elsewhere to meet market demand.
• Its cap-and-trade system, reports former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs Robert Shapiro, "has no provisions to prevent insider trading by utilities and energy companies or a financial meltdown from speculators trading frantically in the permits and their derivatives."
• It fails to set predictable prices for carbon, without which, Shapiro notes, "businesses and households won't be able to calculate whether developing and using less carbon-intensive energy and technologies makes economic sense," thus ensuring that millions of carbon-critical decisions fall short.”

I agree with Dr. Hansen that “Cap and Trade” is a Ponzi scheme being played out in Congress. The day that the House of Representatives discussed the bill it was comical to watch the wheeling and dealing being done on the House floor to gain the votes needed to pass. Also, there were about 300 pages of change that passed the Rules Committee at the wee hours of the morning on the day the bill came to the House floor. Representatives on the House floor all but admitted that they had not seen nor read the 300 pages. An official copy wasn’t even put together until the debate was nearly done.

If Congress and Obama’s administration are serious about reducing “Green House” gasses than scrap the Cap and Trade notion. There will need to be a transition period from fossil fuel to renewable energy. So let’s plan for that. Phase out coal, natural gas, and oil over the next 15 years.

Over the next 15 years as the fossil fuels are phased out, America opens up our country for oil exploration and place tariffs on foreign oil and natural gas. Wind and solar are not the only uses of power that needs to be explored. During the 15 year phase out, America can build nuclear power plants and remove the executive order put in place by President Carter that prohibits the re-using of spent rods in nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power is reliable and safer than 20 years ago. Nuclear power creates jobs and builds communities. As I wrote in Obama short sighted on summer job program posted June 8th, nuclear power plants creates between 1,400 and 1,800 jobs while establishing between 400 to 700 permanent jobs which are “36 percent more than average salaries in the local area (per NEI).” The Cap and Trade bill does not account for nuclear power in the 1500 pages of legislation. President Obama and Congress scrap the bill and replace with a program that includes and pushes nuclear power. As we phase out the coal plant, we can build nuclear power plants across the street.