David Freddoso

Rep. Brown-Waite's complaint against Recovery.gov

Republican Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida agrees with our editorial last month on the heavily redacted contract for redesigning Recovery.gov. The irony we noted more than a month ago was that the creation of a transparency website could be so opaque, with several sections and pages completely blacked out. What does the government have to hide about the making of the super-expensive website that has proven to be, as one computer-savvy blogger put it, "a kludgy beast of a site?" But Brown-Waite's gripe, which led her to file a formal complaint against Recovery.gov, is with the quality of the data, her spokesman told me. "Her complaint is that they spent $18 million in...

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One tip for using Recovery.gov -- Just don't use it.

I've written that I find the search interface at Recovery.gov to be useless, but some soul was kind enough to show me something I had missed -- a way of researching stimulus data that lets you avoid the web site's problems. If you go to this page and scroll to the bottom, then you can download an Excel file. (Don't be lured in by the links in the middle of that page, as I was originally -- go all the way to the bottom.) Once you have your Excel file, you can just sort through the useful data on your PC or Mac. This won't make up for the poor quality of the data itself, but at least you can avoid the frustrations of using the $18 million Recovery.gov website....

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The 'Making YOU Pay' tax credit (UPDATED)

President Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit was an idea he first set forward during his presidential campaign. Unfortunately, it will soon take many Americans unawares and hurt some financially. The credit has been administered as part of the stimulus package through a reduction in tax-withholding from workers' paychecks. But the reduced withholding, which began quietly this April, might cause up to 15 million Americans to underpay the IRS even though they did nothing wrong. Thanks to the government's mistake, some of these folks -- especially anyone who suddenly loses a jobs near the end of this year -- will find themselves without the cash to pay an unexpectedly high tax...

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Is Recovery.gov really as useless as I think it is?

ABC reports on jobs that Recovery.gov lists as created in non-existent Congressional Districts. There are several such cases. Although ABC claims an exclusive, Townhall had something on this earlier today. For all we know, these are real jobs and there was just a small mistake when the recipients reported their Congressional District. That's why we haven't added these to our Stimulus Inflation Map. But this is a very clear example of the low-quality job done in creating the Recovery.gov website. This is a data quality issue, and a much simpler issue than the question of whether the jobs are real. It isn't too hard to limit input fields so that non-existent Congressional Districts don't...

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News reports: So far, more than 10 percent of stimulus jobs doubtful or imaginary (UPDATED)

More than ten percent of the jobs the Obama administration has claimed were "created or saved" by the $787 billion stimulus package are doubtful or imaginary, according to reports compiled from eleven major newspapers and the Associated Press. Based only on our analysis of stimulus media coverage in the last two weeks, The Examiner has created this interactive map to document exaggerated stimulus claims. The map, which will be updated as new revelations appear, currently reflects an exaggeration by the Obama administration of about 75,000 jobs, out of the 640,000 jobs supposedly "created or saved." The map reflects reports from The Wall Street Journal, The Boston...

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For economic stimulus, California turns to...garter snakes?

California is facing fiscal insolvency, high unemployment, and a severe mortgage crisis. How can the stimulus help? Here's an idea: More garter snakes!...

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Jefferson put on ice for 13 years

For turning his public office into a criminal enterprise, former Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana -- known as "Dollar Bill" in New Orleans -- has drawn a 13-year prison sentence, the longest corruption sentence for any former member of Congress. Prosecutors had hoped for a 27-year sentence. Jefferson, who at one point famously stashed $90,000 in cash in his freezer -- had been convicted this summer on 11 federal corruption counts....

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Obama EPA silences employees

Remember James Hansen? As director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, he grabbed headlines by claiming the Bush Administration was silencing him on global warming. In fact, Hansen was so ruthlessly hushed that he gave about 1,500 media interviews on taxpayers' time while he was supposedly being silenced. This year, two veteran EPA employees made a YouTube video expressing doubts about whether a cap-and-trade scheme will work to reduce carbon emissions. And the Obama administration is actually silencing them. The EPA forced two of its career attorneys to remove the video, which they made on their own time in order to explain to the public the issues involved. One of the two...

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Hasan got less scrutiny than Al Gore

One of the most frustrating aspects of the Fort Hood shooting is how predictable it should have been, based on the prior actions of Major Nidal Malik Hasan. After years of tutelage under a known radical Muslim Imam, Hasan attempted to contact al Qaeda. He posted justifications of suicide bombing on the Internet and said several extremely disturbing things about "infidels" in front of his colleagues. Not only is he not arrested, but he doesn't even seem to have been monitored. And according to new regulations issued in June, he is permitted to carry a privately purchased gun on base, like all other personnel at Fort Hood, provided that it is properly declared at the access point....

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The next bailout: Airlines, again

Don't look now, dear taxpayer, but President Obama is dividing up more of your freedom and your money to feed another hungry industry. WASHINGTON - Prodded by labor unions, the Obama administration is taking its first step toward trying to fix the ailing airline industry, which could lead to a partial return to economic regulation...Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is holding a forum with aviation stakeholders on Thursday to discuss the state of the industry and ways government can help provide economic stability for air carriers. At worst, this becomes a true bailout in which newly borrowed government billions cover the airlines' poor business practices and excessive labor...

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Don't tread on my television

Perhaps you haven't heard about California's big screen television ban. This plan has been hatched by the unelected California Energy Commission, which will decide on Nov. 18 whether to ban the sale of many electricity-guzzling large-screen plasma televisions. On its website, CEC claims: No, the state is not banning any type of TV. Consumers have the freedom to choose any type and size of television that meets the efficiency standard. This is bureaucrat-speak for, "Yes, we are banning all televisions that don't meet the efficiency standard." The ban will affect plasma sets that tend to be more affordable but use more energy than the more expensive LCD models. CEC estimates...

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Don't buy those carbon credits just yet

Democrats' cap-and-trade climate change bill contains a provision that could suddenly render useless the carbon credits it creates, says Sen. David Vitter, R-La. Vitter will speak at a press conference later today on how the bill establishes emergency conditions requiring the president to step in and use all of his authority over relevant agencies to stop global warming. According to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which performs climate modeling analyses for the Department of Energy, the emergency conditions laid out in the bill would be triggered within months of its enactment. The cap-and-trade bill -- both the Senate version that passed the Environment and Public Works...

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Support for tort reform among doctors hits 92 percent

Trial lawyers contend that medical malpractice just isn't a big deal, but doctors on the ground aren't buying it. A new survey of nearly 2,000 doctors, conducted by Jackson Healthcare Solutions, found that 92 percent of them want medical malpractice reform. Fully 85 percent of the doctors surveyed reported that the threat of malpractice litigation is hampering their ability to practice medicine properly. The doctors in the survey supported a variety of solutions to the current health care payment system, with ideas from both the Left and the Right. For example, large numbers support the idea of ending coverage refusals based on pre-existing conditions. But 61 percent also want to let...

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On spending, Congress apparently has no priorities

Thanks to a 36-to-62 vote in the Senate today, the National Science Foundation will continue funding studies like this one, which concluded that congressmen can boost their approval ratings by holding Internet town halls. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., proposed an amendment banning the use of NSF funds for such political science studies. Nine Republicans voted to preserve the funding. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., was among those voting against it. You can see how your senators voted on Coburn's amendment here. The vote highlights the total lack of prioritization in federal spending. One would expect National Science Foundation money to go towardy...well, science. If this kind of flimsy study (it...

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Here's a shocker for you

The American Association of Retired Persons is endorsing the 2,000 page House health care bill....

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Even Jersey has a limit

The Associated Press projects that, for the first time in a decade, a Republican has won statewide in New Jersey. It took a perfect storm of corruption, deficits, and a lack of true job creation to bring about such a change, but it has happened. The Republican Governor's Association, which lustily promoted Christie's candidacy from early on, released a statement from its chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour: “Chris Christie secured a major victory for the Republican Party tonight. Defeating a deep-pocketed incumbent in a Democratic state like New Jersey is a tremendous accomplishment and signals the beginning of the GOP’s comeback.” What else to watch: Upstate New...

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At first, GOP expected no endorsement from Scozzafava

When Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race for Congress in New York's 23rd District, she issued what sounded like a conciliatory statement making peace with her party's base: I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my Party will emerge stronger and our District and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations. The following day, she endorsed the Democrat in the race against Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party nominee now backed by the RNC. Her action was in direct conflict with her statement. According to a GOP source, a Hoffman...

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Few lasting lessons from NY-23

Whether they win or lose today's election, Republicans will argue in vain against a news media eager to portray the party as intolerant of moderates. But here is an apt analogy for helping liberal reporters overcome their myopia and understand what's really going on: What if today's race had been in Georgia, and Democratic party leaders there had chosen Zell Miller as their candidate in some smoke-filled back room? Mainstream, rank-and-file Democrats would rebel at having such a nominee -- and rightly so. They would object that his issue positions are all conservative. They would argue that he had become the ally of Sean Hannity and conservative Republican leaders, and retains scarcely...

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Geithner 'burned billions' on CIT

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is directly to blame for taxpayers' loss of $2.3 billion in the CIT bailout, says professor William Black of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and a former federal bank regulator. "We put ourselves on the hook in a completely inept way where we lose first. We lose entirely as the taxpayers." Black specifically faults Geithner for negotiating an arrangement in which CIT can repay its senior creditors 70 cents on the dollar in bankruptcy, but taxpayers are completely left out in the cold for their investment. When Geithner pumped taxpayers' money into CIT this summer, "it's like he burned billions of dollars again in...

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The Republicans' odds for tomorrow

The GOP is counting on a few wins tomorrow after four years of losing. And futures market traders seem to favor them. At the Intrade futures market, they sell contracts that depend on election outcomes. If a candidate wins, his contract pays $100. If he loses, it becomes worthless. In the weeks leading up to an election, contracts are bought and sold between market participants, and the going price offers an indication of how the market views the race. In 2004, Intrade participants correctly predicted every state's presidential outcome. In 2008, they predicted them all correctly except for Indiana, which they gave to McCain, and Missouri, which finished as a coin-toss. Based on traders'...

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'I crash my car, you crash yours...'

Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. writes a fundraising pitch on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: David -- "I got mine, you get yours" seems to be the creed by which today's Republican Party operates. And, it is this Republican Party that has opposed every initiative, every policy and every program President Obama has proposed since assuming office in January. And he writes it as if it were a bad thing....

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California Republican tries to sweeten the deal in NY-23

Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. is now promising upstate New Yorkers that he will give Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman a seat on the Armed Services committee if he wins tomorrow's special election in New York's 23rd District. The district features Fort Drum, a massive installation in the far northern region of New York state, about half-way between Syracuse and Ottawa, Canada. McKeon became the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services committee just after after the resignation of Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., who was appointed Secretary of the Army. Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens are fighting for McHugh's old seat. McKeon's statement, delivered by the National Republican...

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Americans sour on U.S.-Muslim relations

A new Rasmussen poll shows that only 16 percent of likely voters expect American relations with Muslims to improve. That is down sharply from the 28 percent optimism right after President Obama's speech to the Islamic world from Cairo five months ago. At that time, only 21 percent expected U.S.-Islamic relations to worsen, but now 33 percent expect it. Rasmussen notes: The president's outreach effort to the global Islamic community was one of the primary reasons cited for his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Further evidence that one can win a Nobel Prize by talking a good game....

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Obama's 'demonstration projects' exclude malpractice laws that work

President Obama promised in his September 9 address to a joint session of Congress that he would include "demonstration projects" on malpractice liability in his health reform bill. The projects were supposed to encourage states reform their medical malpractice laws in order to curb health care costs. Unfortunately, two measures that have been proven to work are specifically excluded from the program contained in House Democrats' new health care bill, unveiled yesterday. On pages 1431-1433, the House bill provides financial incentives for states to implement malpractice reform laws, with the amounts for each state left up to Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human...

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Intrusive government is the FDA's oyster

How much damage can government do, how much fun can it destroy, and how much freedom can it take away in the name of public health and safety? We might find out in April 2011, when a new Food and Drug Administration rule on Gulf of Mexico oysters goes into effect. In order to prevent an extremely rare disease that affects 30 American oyster-eaters each year, the FDA will require that Gulf oysters harvested between April and October of every year be put through expensive processes that destroy their flavor and essentially preclude their being served raw. Vibro Vulnificus is a deadly but extremely rare bacterial infection that affects oysters in warm waters. It kills about 15 Gulf...

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Tax funding for study on how congressmen can approve their ratings

The polls are unanimous: Americans are fed up with Congress. Fortunately, members and staff on Capitol Hill who want to know why you're upset, and how they can make you like them more, will receive a presentation tomorrow afternoon of a study by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF). Their headline: New CMF Study Finds That Internet Town Hall Meetings Increase Constituent Trust, Perception of Lawmakers Approval Ratings Jump by 18% Average One other thing: You are paying for this presentation. You paid for the study being presented.Are you upset now? The National Science Foundation gave a grant of $161,522 for CMF to produce the study, which examined congressional Internet...

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'My Congressman is Nuts dot com'

For those following the extremely entertaining career of first term Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., a seasoned Republican campaigner sends along the following: Central Floridians today announced the launch of MyCongressmanIsNuts.com as a more appropriate alternative to CongressmanwithGuts.com. MyCongressmanisNuts.com was formed due to outrage and embarrassment within Central Florida over Alan Grayson’s liberal positions and childish approach in Washington, D.C. Alan Grayson’s recent self indulgent behavior has paralyzed his ability to serve as an advocate for the citizens of Central Florida. He has alienated every Republican, as well as reasonable Democrats, by proclaiming...

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Democrats skip out on Countrywide vote

Faced with a promised vote to subpoena documents on Countrywide Financial's "Friends of Angelo" program, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee fled a scheduled 2 p.m. markup today. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the Ranking Republican on the Oversight Committee, had promised to call for a vote at today's markup on whether to subpoena documents involved in the program that gave sweetheart mortgages to at least four Democratic government officials, including two senators. According to the Wall Street Journal, the program might have also benefitted the chairman of House Oversight, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. Even if it had been ruled out of Order, Issa's motion would have...

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Already healthy? Baucus bill insures you for two years -- for only $200.

The health insurance reform bill that passed out of committee yesterday does not include the public option, which insurers rightly insist will put them out of business with its dramatic underpayments to doctors and hospitals. So absent that provision, what could be so wrong with the bill from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that America's health insurers started dumping on it this week, even though they stand to reap huge profits from most of President Obama's other reforms? Insurers love the idea of compelling people to buy their product or else pay a fine. But the fine in Baucus's bill is so small that it creates a loophole. In 2013, when it takes effect, you could easily game the system...

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Birther leader Orly Taitz slapped with $20,000 fine

Thanks to her "frivolous arguments and disrespectful personal attacks" in court, the lawyer who leads the so-called "birther" movement has been slapped with a hefty fine today for abusing her privileges as a lawyer. In levying sanctions and a $20,000 fine against attorney Orly Taitz, Judge Clay Land wrote that Taitz's most recent court filing, meant to defend herself against sanctions, "is breathtaking in its arrogance and borders on delusional." Taitz had brought suit on behalf of two members of the military who did not want to be deployed under a supposedly illegitimate president. The purpose of the cases, as she made clear in several press conferences,...

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Malpractice from Manhattan

The Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy has released a new primer on medical malpractice reform that is worth a read if you haven't been following the issue. The report argues that tort reform would indeed take a bite out of medical costs, against the arguments advanced by the trial lawyers' main lobbying group. That case was better made by last week's Congressional Budget Office analysis, which estimates a $54 billion reduction in government medical costs over ten years. Although lawsuit reform will by no means solve the problem of medical costs, it is a relatively painless part of the solution, representing the low-hanging fruit in the process of "bending the cost...

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Poll: Again, no second stimulus, please.

Even after the first stimulus package's failure to turn around America's unemployment situation, voters have still had about as much stimulus as they can take, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports. Among the 1,000 likely voters surveyed, 62 percent oppose the idea of a second stimulus package. This number is largely unchanged from July, when 60 percent opposed a second stimulus package. Only 36 percent believe that the current $787 billion stimulus package has helped the economy, whereas 28 percent believe it has had no effect and 28 percent believe it has actually hurt the economy. Interestingly, this represents an all-time-high for public confidence in the stimulus package...

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'FIGHT REAGAN': ACORN's non-partisanship

A reader sends in an oldie but goodie, from...

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ACORN CEO has a heavy case of denial

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis had a message for everyone this morning: It's not her fault. As the leader of the embattled, taxpayer-funded group conducts what she calls her “set-the-record-straight” tour, Lewis points an awful lot of fingers outward, and shows a surprising lack of public penitence. In her morning presser at the National Press Club, Lewis made much of her efforts to fix ACORN after the million-dollar embezzlement scandal that rocked the organization last year. "I don't think it's fair to judge me," she says, “as I'm cleaning up after a previous administration.” But she hasn't purged the organization of the people who hid the embezzlement...

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This week only: Get your money back from Arlen Specter

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is closing the door on Republican donors who want their campaign contributions back after his party switch. His website announces a new October 15 expiration date for his promise to return the money of those who want their money back. Meanwhile, the Club for Growth announces that it has sent notices to 6,000 Specter donors, inviting them to seek refunds from the former Republican-turned-Democrat and providing them with a sample letter to send to Specter's campaign. Perhaps the two events are just a coincidence....

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Claim: ACORN theft was five times previously thought

ACORN was embroiled in scandal last year when it was revealed that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from an ACORN affiliate years earlier. According to news reports, a handful of ACORN officials covered up the embezzlement, keeping the information even from some of the group's directors, in order to prevent an episode embarrassing to the group's left-wing mission. But Louisiana's Attorney General is now alleging a theft of ACORN funds five times as great. A new subpoena, granted on Friday by Louisiana's 19th Judicial District, asserts that ACORN insiders have known for nearly a year that $5 million was embezzled, based on their own...

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Trial lawyers find a fund-raising bogey-man

It may be a phantom provision that no one expects to pass, but the American Association for Justice is raging over tort reform possibly making its way into President Obama's health care bill. In recent days, the group sent three urgent fundraising emails to members. But why are they fighting such a battle against a provision that no one believes will become law? One AAJ email, which asks for contributions and for members to contact their senators, asserts that "[l]iability restrictions will remain in play during the committee hearings and when a bill is on the floor of the Senate. The issue is not going away on its own. We urge you to help out. This is not a...

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Senate Finance Committee dumps Obama's tax promise

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, which is considering President Obama's health insurance reform plan, has voted down an amendment which provides that "no tax, fee or penalty imposed by this legislation shall be applied to any individual earning less than $200,000 per year or any couple earning less than $250,000 per year.” You might recall that President Obama promised no tax increases whatsoever, of any kind, on earners making less than those amounts. But don't bet on him to veto this bill. The committee vote on the amendment, proposed by Republicans Mike Crapo (Idaho) and Pat Roberts (Kan.), was 11 in favor, and 12 against. All Republicans and one Democrat voted...

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Yes, Toomey can win.

At the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP's camaign arm, the bean-counters and strategists claim that former Rep. Pat Toomey, the presumptive Republican nominee for Senate next year in Pennsylvania, runs very well in the House districts where they are expecting competitive races. They believe he will be an asset on the top of the ticket. And as it turns out, he could win statewide, as well -- as some of us have been saying for months. Another poll from Quinnipiac confirms that former Toomey is a real contender in the Keystone State's 2010 Senate race. His chances are only enhanced by the fact that he might face an opportunistic opponent who switched parties in...

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Amid new ACORN scandals, lawsuit revives an old one

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed two Freedom of Information lawsuits, one of which could re-open the strange case of alleged embezzlement in which ACORN's founder and former chief organizer kept an embezzlement scandal "in the family." Ten years ago, Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled nearly $950,000 from the ACORN affiliate that he headed, Citizen's Consulting Incorporated. When the theft was discovered, his brother Wade and a handful of other ACORN officials kept the matter secret not only from authorities but even from members of ACORN's board. According to The New York Times, they treated the money that Dale stole as...

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Senators preserve path to expand govt abortion funding

Does ObamaCare mean that the government subsidizes abortions, or doesn't it? And if it doesn't, then why did senators just vote down an amendment to the bill that bars the government from paying for abortions under the proposed new health insurance framework, except under the rare circumstances already permitted under current law? President Obama has unequivocally promised that his reforms will not create new government funding for abortion. But FactCheck.org has looked askance at Obama's promise on this all along. They note that the bill, as written in the House, at least, will indeed subsidize coverage of abortions, creating a more liberal funding regime than what currently exists. The...

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New poll: ObamaCare less popular than ever

Rasmussen Reports has a poll out today showing opposition to President Obama's health plan at 56 percent, and support at 41 percent. That's the lowest level of support so far this year. Some will argue that Rasmussen polls to the right of other firms (this might also be because most others have been polling "adults" on the subject instead of "likely voters"), but the trend matters no matter where the numbers are. The continuing decline of health care reform presents brand new problems for Obama as he tries to push a bill through the Congress. The strength of opposition among senior citizens should be particularly frightening for him and the members of Congress whom...

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Under Clinton, Medicare providers still had free speech

At the behest of Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Obama administration has barred insurers from communicating with their customers about the damage that Baucus's health reform bill could do to their Medicare Advantage plans. The decision was announced by one of Baucus's former staffers, who is now acting director of an agency within the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). But despite Baucus's pique over the insurers' mailers, no such ban on private Medicare providers' political speech existed in the past. In a 1997 letter sent by one of President Clinton's Medicare officials, insurers were told they could freely inform their Medicare customers about...

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Barney Frank, D-Mass: Time to de-fund ACORN

Just as the IRS cut its ties to ACORN, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., released a statement regarding the Sept. 17 House vote to defund ACORN, in which he did not participate. Frank's tenor in the statement that follows is certainly different from the one he adopted in May, when Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn. attempted to de-fund the group. At that time, Frank took the position that a mere indictment was not sufficient grounds for withholding funds. A number of factors, one of which in particular is my own fault, have contributed to my position on ACORN being unclear. My biggest error was to sign a letter to the Congressional Research Service which I had not...

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Trial lawyers watch as a new financial regulator is born

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made its case this morning to several reporters against House Democrats' bill to re-vamp federal regulation of the financial industry. The bill, HR 3126, would establish a new regulatory agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would consolidate some regulatory functions while splitting others apart -- it's the financial equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security. The bill is very complicated and contains many moving parts. Some of the Chamber's opposition is broadly based on the problems it could create in the credit market. Some opposition is based on more parochial concerns by various industries -- for example, the bill could lay...

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Big Green is a profitable enterprise

"Do you have a minute to save the planet?" Perhaps you've been asked this question recently on some Washington sidewalk by a young twenty-something. But where do you suppose the money goes if you accept his sales-pitch and make a financial pledge to his organization or one like it? One possible destination for your cash: huge salaries for top environmental non-profit executives. The chart below lists only the top beneficiaries of the Green non-profit culture. Among the honorable mentions is former Clerk of the House Jeffrey Trandahl, who made a mere $270,000 at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2007. For the purpose of comparison, Fred Smith of the pro-business...

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Updated/Corrected: Art$ groups learn the Chicago Way

Is the Obama administration corrupting the arts by funneling money to arts groups and then not-so-subtly asking them for political work in return? Big Hollywood Blog first ran late last month with the story of the August 10 National Endowment for the Arts conference call in which White House and NEA officials urged artists to create political pieces promoting health care themes. On paper, the conference call had been led by a government outsider, but that outsider stated during the call that it had been organized at the request of the Obama NEA and the White House. The call, itself a scandal, is just one sign of a dangerous trend -- the Chicago-ization of government in Washington, D.C....

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Here's your 'demonstration project,' Mr. President -- it's called Mississippi

Since passing tort reform in 2004, Mississippi has seen the number of medical malpractice claims plummet by 91 percent from its peak. The state's largest medical liability insurer dropped its premiums by 42 percent, and has offered an additional 20 percent rebate each year since tort reform went into effect. That is the story that Mississippi's Republican, governor, Haley Barbour, offered on Friday, speaking at the Heritage Foundation. He also made an observation about President Obama's decision to offer only token "demonstration projects" on lawsuit abuse rather than address it meaningfully in his health care reform proposal. "It's mysterious to me that the...

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More walls close in on ACORN -- a new $548,000 tax lien

The Pelican Institute's Steve Beatty reports that the federal government just filed a new $548,000 lien against ACORN for unpaid payroll taxes. This comes at the same time as Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell investigates the group for unpaid state payroll taxes. According to Beatty, his adds to the existing tax debt of more than $1 million....

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U.S. Chamber speaks out on malpractice reform 'demonstration projects'

The Chamber of Commerce has offered a statement regarding the tort reform "demonstration projects" that President Obama promised during his address to Congress last week. “While we are encouraged that the Obama Administration has made medical liability reform part of their overall health care package, the $25 million state grant program announced today amounts to about 1-40,000th of one percent of the cost of a one trillion dollar health care bill. “Studies have shown that meaningful medical malpractice reform can save from $120 billion to as much as $500 billion over a decade. But a small medical liability grant program will not be effective, and...

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White House defends czars, House to create yet another panel

This morning, the Obama administration is defending its "czars" online -- among other things, claiming there are no "czars" as such and also telling Republicans, "Bush did the czar thing, too!" Partisan bickering aside, if the real issue is the proliferation of low-profile functionaries who direct executive policy, dozens of whom are not confirmed by the Senate, then it's something in which both parties should be interested -- then, now, and in the future. Along those lines, House Democrats will today pass a bill that creates a brand new federal government panel on "Green Schools." "The Advisory Council on Green, High-Performing Public...

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Jimmy Carter's racist campaign of 1970

Former President Jimmy Carter has created a stir today by alleging that those protesting and opposing President Obama's health care bill -- by some measures, up to 55 percent of the country -- are doing so because they cannot accept the idea of a black man in the White House. As The New York Times put it: He lamented the tone of disrespect toward the current president, adding: “Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care. It’s deeper than that.” Setting aside the much greater disrespect shown by the Left at nearly every moment of former President George W. Bush's presidency, it is not...

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Sen. Rockefeller: I will not vote for Baucus bill

"There is no way in its present form that I will vote for it." That's what Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., says of the health care reform plan currently sef forth by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Without a government-run public option insurance plan, Rockefeller said, he cannot support the health care reform bill. Rockefeller's statement, made in the middle of a conference call with the liberal Campaign for America's Future just moments ago, demonstrates just how complex a task Democratic leaders face. Tweak it one way, and you lose moderate Democrats. Tweak it another way, and you lose liberal Democrats like Rockefeller. Even worse, a failure to pass any bill...

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Obama's statement that 14,000 lose their insurance daily is ridiculous

I referred earlier the incongruity of President Obama's statement that 14,000 people lose their insurance daily, but I fear that I understated the case for just how ridiculous it is. Not only does it mean that 15 million more people would be uninsured by the time his bill goes into effect in 2013, but it would also mean that nearly every one of the 46 million uninsured persons in America today -- a number which includes illegal immigrants, Medicaid-eligible persons, and wealthy people who refuse coverage -- became uninsured in the last nine years. In other words, every single uninsured person in America appears to have lost their insurance under the administration of George W. Bush....

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Obama's speech was full of chronic deceptions

During his health care speech last night, President Obama incorrectly guaranteed that no public money would go toward abortion, and that illegal immigrants could not get coverage under his plan. He cannot make either promise, based on the existing legislation. Obama also made the deeply misleading promise that "not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan." Of course it won't. That's because the Medicare Trust Fund is already running an operating deficit and will do so indefinitely, according to last year's report from its trustees. Every single dime of the fund, plus some, is going to pay Medicare claims, leaving nothing for any other purpose. It's...

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Trial lawyers versus the Supreme Court

A ruptured catheter. A fraudster beaten in jail. A shady cable deal. A powerful phone company. An tire-maker who might have discriminated. Between the five, there is only one thing in common: Each was recently the subject of a Supreme Court case that trial lawyers are now working to overturn. This might be the first time anyone has tried to overturn five Supreme Court cases in a single Congress. It is a testament to just how much money the Roberts court is costing plaintiff's lawyers, and how powerful the industry believes itself to be in Democrat-controlled Washington. For the trial lawyers, ably represented by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), now is the time to act on...

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Study: Malpractice lawyer ads skyrocket

In 2004, personal injury lawyers spent $3.8 million on television ads like this one to attract clients for medical malpractice contingency lawsuits. In 2005, they spent ten times that amount: $38 million. As of September 1, 2009, they had already spent $46 million, and they will have spent about $62 million on such ads by year's end. The numbers come from a study released today by the Chamber of Commerce, based on a study of the ads run by more than 560 network affiliates and major independent stations nationwide. Given the trend so far this year, medical malpractice lawyers are expected to run 166,000 such spots in markets nationwide. Medical malpractice law has been a growth...

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Audio: McDonnell discusses Deeds, ribs the Washington Post

Former Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell, a candidate for governor of Virginia, gave his take on opponent Creigh Deeds' success in the Democratic primary, and the Washington Post's coverage of his controversial Master's thesis. Of Terry McAuliffe: "His negatives were always higher than his positives. I almost started rooting for him in the last month, because anybody who's got negatives as high as he did, I thought would probably be a good target." Of Brian Moran: "Brian moved so far left during the course of the primary, to try to attract base voters in the Democratic party, that I think even the more activist Democrats thought there's no way this guy could win....

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In 16 years, docs evolve from 'professionals' to tonsil-thieves

Just a thought on health care. Here is a quote from President Clinton's address to Congress in 1993, ahead of his administration's push to reform health care: “We're blessed with the best health care professionals on Earth, the finest health care institutions, the best medical research, the most sophisticated technology. My mother is a nurse. I grew up around hospitals. Doctors and nurses were the first professional people I ever knew or learned to look up to. They are what is right with this health care system.” Contrast that with President Obama's approach in his last health care press conference: “The doctor may look at the reimbursement system and...

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Obama has it exactly backwards on health costs

Last night's (extremely civil) debate between the two Pennsylvania Senate challengers, former Republican Rep. Pat Toomey and Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, also featured the e-mail fact checks and press releases that have become typical of political debates. The Toomey camp sent out one detailed release on the issue of whether the public option insurance plan will pay Medicare rates to providers. Sestak said erroneously that the rates would be negotiated. According to HR 3200, the bill that Sestak voted for, the rates are Medicare rates for the first three years of the public option's operation. It seems like an obscure, insider's issue, but the release raises a much broader...

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Strike three for White House on Internet information

President Obama's White House does not exactly have a stellar record when it comes to personal information and the Internet. In less than one month, the president's new media team has come under fire for asking citizens to report "fishy e-mails" about Obama's health care reform plan and for e-mail messages from David Axelrod that somehow went to people who did not sign up for them. So when the Executive Office of the President seeks a contractor to archive the usernames and possibly other data from social network users, it is certainly worth asking them why. We did. We have not heard back from the White House yet. The National Legal and Policy Center's Ken Boehm has written...

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Bad polls? MoveOn blames the media.

Conservatives are usually the first to complain about the media's ideological bias -- and their narrative on the topic is very strong. Witness, for example, the way the media embraced Barack Obama's presidential campaign; his self-created autobiographical description as a high-minded reformer. Another example: as the health care debate progresses, reporters and news anchors from every major network fall all over themselves to explain away "misconceptions" about President Obama's health insurance reform plan. I often wonder how Bush's Social Security reform plans of 2005 would have fared if the media had run nightly segments pouncing on the disinformation spread about it. But...

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ACORN quick to collect from feds, but slow to pay taxes

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is perhaps best known for its volunteers' habit of signing up fake voters. This has resulted in numerous state investigations and convictions of ACORN members for voter fraud activities. But the group is also a tax scofflaw to the tune of more than $1 million, according to documents unearthed by another Louisiana-based non-profit, the Pelican Institute. Pelican researcher Steve Beatty has come across dozens of outstanding and released tax liens against ACORN and ACORN affiliates, headquartered at two addresses in New Orleans. Although some of the liens have been paid, Beatty found that several are still outstanding,...

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Read the CRS report on ObamaCare's treatment of illegal immigrants

Mark Tapscott noted yesterday that a new Congressional Research Service report is being discussed by Republican members of Congress. It says essentially that notwithstanding all the rhetoric to the contrary (including, most recently, that of Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.), there is really nothing in the House health reform bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting subsidies from the federal government for their insurance premiums under the plan. Because CRS reports are generally hard to come by, The Examiner has obtained a copy for your reading pleasure. In its subsection on health insurance subsidies (known as "affordability credits"), HR 3200 does state, "Nothing in...

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FEC okays 'friendly reminder' from Club for Growth about Specter

By a vote of four to two, the Federal Election Commission decided today that the Club for Growth is within its legal rights to contact Sen. Arlen Specter’s donors in an effort to have them request refunds. The draft advisory opinion of the FEC can be accessed here. The Club had asked for the advisory opinion because it wants to mail people who contributed to Specter's re-election campaign before his April party switch. The mailings will remind donors that Specter offered refunds to those who request them. “Upon request, I will return campaign contributions contributed during this cycle," Specter said in a press release the day he switched from Republican to Democrat this...

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We'll Read the Bill: Four reasons there's no level playing field for the public option

You may have heard some opponents of ObamaCare discuss how a government-run public option health insurance plan will drive private insurers out of business. On the other hand, the same folks tend to argue that government generally offers services inferior to and less efficient than those offered by the public sector. The two claims, taken at face value, appear to be contradictory. But a look at what goes into the health care bill offers some needed context. In fact, there are more than a dozen specific factors that might allow the government-run plan to price itself artificially below market. Here are four of them: (1) Reimbursement of Providers Section 223 of the House Democrats'...

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Still no health bill to read

Do you wonder whether your Congressman is telling the truth when he says ObamaCare won't put taxpayers' money toward abortions? (FactCheck.org says it might.) Or when he says that it won't give illegal immigrants health insurance subsidies courtesy of the taxpayer? You might think you could figure it out by looking for a current copy of the Democrats' health care bill. Unfortunately for you, no such copy exists. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted on a final version of HR 3200, the health insurance reform bill sought by President Obama, on July 31. About 50 amendments were added to the bill that had been published earlier in July. Nearly a month later, there is still no copy...

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Government conference spending gone wild!

Remember the last time your boss gave you the week off with pay and $1,800 to attend a training conference in another city? You don't? You're obviously working for the wrong company. The federal government does this for its employees every year. And you're paying for it. You may have read recently about the Social Security Administration's big boondoggle in Arizona. The administration, whose solvency is in dire condition, spent about $770,000 in early July to send, put up, and dazzle 675 of its managers with a multimedia presentation at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. The three-day conference included private dance recitals, paid motivational speakers, and an optional,...

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UPDATED2: No, Obama's VA did NOT pull so-called 'Death Book' from website

UPDATE: Earlier today, I noted that the "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet had apparently been removed from the VA site. The Department of Veterans' Affairs was kind enough to get back to me several hours after I called, in order to clarify what happened today on their website. Spokeswoman Katie Roberts informs me that although the "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet was removed this morning from the URL I had linked to, there has been no policy change by VA. The document removed this morning had simply been hosted in the wrong place all along, on a regional part of the VA website. Links to that document should have pointed to the same document on a different part of va....

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Why the Post Office will never make money (and a lesson for health insurance)

Consider this letter, sent Friday by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. to the Postmaster General. Dear Postmaster General Potter: I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the recent announcement that the United States Postal Service (USPS) is considering closing 37 post offices in Pennsylvania. I am well aware of the financial challenges that the USPS faces, and I am committed to working with the Postal Service to overcome these challenges while preserving jobs and the services on which thousands of Pennsylvanians depend.... Casey's letter could be viewed as either a kind offer of help or a threat. Either way, it represents a non-market pressure on the business dealings of...

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Obama's 'Wither on the vine' moment

The White House recently floated a trial balloon when Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said that a government-run "public option" in health care was not essential to President Obama's reform. The response from liberals, who view the public option as a critical step toward a non-profit and perhaps government-run health insurance system, was ferocious. It was so negative that now the White House is backing the public option once again. Today, the Washington Post writes that Obama's White House is shocked that the public option is such a big deal for the Left. This is not the way the President's campaign team treated the issue, though. In September 2007,...

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Robert Novak, RIP

Novak, my old boss and dear friend, passed away this morning....

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Enough Obama on TV

You probably saw the part about voters saying they want to repeal the stimulus, and the part about how they oppose President Obama's health plan. But here is something from that recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll that you might have missed. Note especially the change in answer among independents since March. What does this mean for President Obama's recent attempts to save health care reform by making the case himself in...

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No new fishy emails, but Cornyn wonders about the old ones

Mike Allen writes at Politico that the White House has disabled the flag@whitehouse.gov e-mail address, the destination for reports on "fishy e-mails" about the president's health care bill. But the White House is still accepting tips on "disinformation" about President Obama's health care plan, through the White House website. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., who had originally voiced concerns that the White House was using flag@whitehouse.gov to collect information on political enemies, is not satisfied with this development, spokesman Kevin McLaughlin tells The Examiner. "He's wondering what they're going to do with the information they've already collected...

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Ross: 'I might not support the health care bill I voted for'

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a leader of the moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats, held a town hall meeting in Arkadelphia on Friday over the issue of health care. Local coverage pegged attendance at between 700 and 800, with partisans on both sides in attendance. Of the town halls held so far, this one was particularly interesting, and not just because Ross was such a central figure in the health care debate prior to the August recess. Most interesting was Ross's use of an excuse that I'd anticipated but which, especially in his case, makes no sense. He pleaded that he had yet to endorse any particular bill; that there was no final bill yet; that he would still make up his mind as to...

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Trial lawyers seek return on contributions to Senate Democrats

In February, just two months before he became a Democrat, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania made a passionate plea for a special tax break for plaintiffs' trial lawyers. His bill, S 437, would allow trial lawyers to deduct immediately on their taxes up-front expenses they incur when investing in contingency lawsuits. The tax break is reportedly worth $1.6 billion to trial lawyers. If Specter’s amendment passes, this single provision would more than repay the legal industry for its roughly $762 million in political contributions to Democrats...

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Don't blame conservatives for LaRouche's Obama=Hitler signs

Seton Motley of NewsBusters has the full story on the news networks (CNN, MSNBC, NBC) that failed to distinguish Obama's conservative critics from the far-left supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. It is the LaRouche supporters whose signs compare President Obama to Adolf Hitler, as anyone could have figured out with a bit of research. In other "Hitler" news, White House spokesman Bill Burton claimed in an interview this morning that people are showing up at health care town halls "dressed up as...

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UPDATE: White House offers no explanation for Hitler costume claim

White House spokesman Bill Burton's statement on television earlier today that people are showing up at health care town halls dressed up as Hitler was outlandish enough that I had to call the White House and ask if there is anything to substantiate it. As of this evening, the White House has offered no explanation for this bizarre claim....

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On health care, Obama's facts don't add up

Today's town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. offers a perfect example of why Obama is faring poorly in the polls with his efforts to convince Americans on his health care plan. He keeps making promises he cannot keep (such as "You'll be able to keep the coverage you have") and saying things that do not appear to be true (such as his assurances that the plan will not increase the deficit). Asked about the possibility of his health care plan leading ultimately to a single-payer system, President Obama said, "I have not said that I was a single payer supporter." Considering that he was caught on tape in 2003 stating, "I happen to be a proponent of a single...

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Clunker program remains opaque

"We are forbidden from releasing any government files that contain personally identifying information," said Ray Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is the Department of Transportation's explanation for why it will not release detailed data on the Cash-for-Clunkers program. The government has been selective about the data it releases. At various intervals, the department has released top-ten lists for cars traded in and purchased under the program. It has also released a complete breakdown of purchase information by brand. But DOT has not released information on the makes of trade-ins -- data which would clarify, for example, whether...

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New poll: Put the brakes on Cash 4 Clunkers

The federal government's Cash for Clunkers program is often referred to as "wildly popular." And it probably is "wildly popular" for those receiving free money at everyone else's expense. But you might be surprised to learn that most Americans think the Cash for Clunkers program is a lemon that should be crushed like an old Chevy Blazer that gets 12 miles to the gallon. Fifty-four percent of the public oppose Congress's move to put more money into the program, according to a new poll by Rasmussen, and only 33 percent support it....

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On health care, Obama tries winning by whining

A new poll from CNN shows that "[l]ess than a quarter of Americans with private health insurance think that [President] Obama's proposals would help them personally. Most people on Medicare and Medicaid also don't think that the Obama plan will help them," either. A new poll from Quinnipiac finds that 41 percent believe Obama's plan will hurt the quality of health care in the United States, and 14 percent believe it will make no difference. Only 39 percent believe it will improve the quality of health care. Similar, disappointing numbers for ObamaCare are cropping up in several polls -- by NPR, by Rasmussen, and by Gallup. Despite this, the White House is whining about the...

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Did Secretary LaHood lie to Congress? (Updated with better audio)

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member on the Government Oversight Committee, has written White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel requesting information about whether Emanuel coordinated a political multi-agency response to Republican criticisms of the stimulus. Specifically, the question is whether he put four cabinet secretaries up to writing bullying letters to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, R. The letters asked whether Arizona wanted its stimulus funds cut off, shortly after Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., suggested repealing the stimulus package. In this Politico story by Jonathan Martin, two administration officials have confirmed Emanuel's involvement in demanding that the secretaries...

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Free money still popular in Indiana; Obama's policies, not so much.

The South Bend Tribune reports that President Barack Obama, on his swing through Northern Indiana, just pledged $39 million in electric car grants to the Navistar company during a speech at the company's RV plant. The paper describes the scene thus: The president received a standing ovation from the crowd when he announced the federal stimulus money. But less than half the crowd stood up when the president started talking about his other initiatives, including health insurance reform. A new Quinnipiac poll finds that 72% of voters don't believe in Obama's promise to reform health care without increasing the deficit, and also that they disapprove of Obama's handling of health care by...

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U.S. may be walking back support for Zelaya

The State Department has sent a letter to Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., regarding the administration's policy toward Honduras. They appear to be walking back President Obama's quick condemnation of President Manuel Zelaya's ouster. From the State Department's letter: "The events of June 28 were preceded by a political conflict between President Zelaya and the other institutions of Honduras' government. We energetically condemn the actions of June 28. We also recognize that President Zelaya's insistence on undertaking provocative actions contributed to the polarization of Honduran society and led to a confrontation that unleashed the events that led to his removal. For this reason, our...

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Does this Congress have transparency problem?

Our editorial today questions the delay in posting the the House health care bill -- the one which passed committee on Friday and which will receive a vote on the House floor after the August recess. After all, how are we supposed to discuss what's in the bill during the August recess if we cannot even refer to a canonical text? The same problem exists in the Senate, where the committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) passed its health care bill on July 15. We still don't have a copy of that text, and this has been a source of consternation for Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, the ranking Republican on the committee. Enzi penned a letter last Wednesday to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.,...

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Birthers? Why didn't the Truthers get all this attention?

Twenty-eight percent of Republicans believe President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States, and 30 percent are "not sure," according to this poll. But before liberals begin to smirk, here's a poll from 2007, in which 35 percent of Democrats said that President Bush knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks, and 26 percent were not sure. So if 58 percent of Republicans are living in a delusional fantasy world because they are out of power, then 61 percent of Democrats were doing the same thing until just recently (perhaps they still are). It's a clean, apples-to-apples comparison with a clear lesson: People get a bit kooky when they're out of power,...

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Reid's short memory: Obama created that deadline

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., washed his hands yesterday of the August deadline that everyone has been talking about for passing a health care reform bill. In fact, he even blamed the media for creating it. "You folks have created a deadline, we haven't, Reid said. So who set the deadline? President Obama did, of course. "This window between now and the August recess, I think, is going to be the make-or-break period," Obama said two months ago, on June 2. "This is the time where we've got to get this done."...

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Lobbyist: Sneak trial-lawyer tax break through Congress

"You cannot have a stand alone bill to help lawyers … so we have to tuck it into something." This is the sort of thing lobbyists usually keep private when they discuss legislation in Congress. But according to Legal Newsline, Washington's top lobbyist for trial lawyers said it in a public forum while discussing a billion-dollar tax break she wants Congress to pass on behalf of her industry. Linda Lipsen, senior vice president of public affairs for the American Association of Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), was in San Francisco addressing a group of trial lawyers at an AAJ conference when she outlined this strategy of attaching the tax...

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