Truth

Fool me once — Open science is the only science to be trusted. Climategate roils the world, truth is what? And how do you know?

“Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.” – President Dwight Eidenhower 1961

40 years later:
“The science is settled” – Al Gore

Is this what is going on? hmmmm

George Orwell’s classic 1984 ends with the hero Winston, who believes that truth is something external to mankind and unalterable by any human agency, being tortured by O’Brien, the head of the ruling party’s secret police. In Orwell’s own words:

O’Brien held up his left hand, its back toward Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.

“How many fingers am I holding up, Winston.”

“Four.”

“And if the Party says it is not four but five — then how many?”

“Four.”

The word ended in a gasp of pain [as O’Brien sent a strong electric current through Winston]. …

“How many fingers, Winston?”

“Four.” [Again O’Brien applied the current] …

“You are a slow learner, Winston,” said O’Brien gently.

“How can I help it?” he blubbered. “How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.”

“Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once.”

The Party — the political class of the world — does not want God to exist. Therefore, if the laws of physics and the laws of mathematics say He does, then the laws of physics and the laws of mathematics must be changed to whatever the Party wants.

What is the “uncaused first cause,” the thing we refer to as the big bang? If not caused by God, then what did it?

Bye Bye Granny

Senator Gregg: Updated CBO Estimate of House Bill Pulls Back the Curtain on Majority’s Intent to Grow Government by $3 Trillion

Below is a list of the cuts to Medicare contained within the abomination called Pelosi-Care:

• $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) which currently provides benefits to more than 11 million seniors.

o   The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts these cuts “could lead many plans to limit the benefits they offer, raise their premiums, or withdraw from the program.”

o   CBO also predicts 3 million seniors will lose the plan they currently have and the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) predicts these cuts will result in 1 in 5 seniors no longer having access to an MA plan;

• $143.6 billion in across-the-board cuts by instituting a new, permanent “productivity adjustment” to reimbursement rates for all hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), hospice, clinical laboratories, and durable medical equipment (DME);

• $56.7 billion in cuts to home health agencies by freezing payment rates in 2010, applying the productivity adjustment, and other reimbursement changes;

• $42.3 billion in cuts to the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) by imposing government price-controls for drugs.  As a result, CBO predicts seniors’ premiums will increase by at least 20%;

• $23.9 billion in additional cuts to SNFs by freezing their payment rates in 2010;

• $14.3 billion in provider reimbursement cuts by reallocating Medicare funding nationally;

• $10.3 billion in additional cuts to hospitals by slashing reimbursements designed to cover uncompensated care;

• $9.3 billion in yet further cuts to hospitals that have a high rate of readmitted patients;

• $8.2 billion in undisclosed cuts determined by the new, unelected “Center for Medicare Innovation;”

• $5.3 billion in cuts to inpatient rehabilitation facilities cuts by freezing payment rates in 2010;

• $3 billion in reimbursement cuts to providers who use imaging equipment (MRI, CT scans, etc);

• $1 billion cut to physician-owned hospitals, effectively legislating these hospitals out of existence.  In some communities, physician-owned hospitals are the only hospital in the community.

• $800 million in additional DME cuts (power wheelchairs); and

• Plus, $14.5 billion in additional miscellaneous cuts to the Medicare program.

Your Future, Standing In Line, Paying For The Privilege

The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) House Republican staff, which earlier this year created a chart mapping the bureaucratic complexity of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s original health care proposal (H.R. 3200), has combined similar analysis by the House Republican Conference with the earlier chart.  The analysis details new additions to the health care bureaucracy contained in the new version of the Speaker’s bill (H.R. 3962) that were not previously listed.  Let’s just say the Speaker’s vision for government-run health care hasn’t gotten any simpler.

“This is the blueprint for a taxpayer-funded mega-bureaucracy,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH).  “The new chart is an astonishing and unsettling glimpse of the future that awaits American health care, should H.R. 3962 be passed by the House and signed into law.”

The chart, completed at the direction of Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the committee’s ranking House Republican Member, shows that the Pelosi plan has grown even more complex in the months since it was originally unveiled by congressional Democrats.  The new bill – expected to be brought to a vote in the House as early as Saturday – contains all of the bureaucracy of the original plan, plus a whole lot more, the chart illustrates.  The full chart can be seen here:

A bigger, readable version of the chart is here:

Looking At Unemployment

We blew a trillion on this?

The ugly face of Obammunsim — While you are looking at the charts, show me the turnaround. Unemployment now stands at 17.5% when you take the government’s crap factors out of the equation. Maybe this chart is enough to draw comparisons, the current recession is the dark blue line, digging a hole:

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982. Setting new records, next stop, depression.

Then look at how the numbers have been fiddled for the last few quarters. See how the sag now ends up being right in line with the way it should have been. Looks just like the global warming hoaxers temperature graphs. Easy to spot the fudge. You can only hope things will change for so long, then you have to revert back to the truth.

Looks like that stimulus is really working doesn’t it.

Looks a lot like the way the ’saved jobs’ BS is pushed out to the ignorant people. You wonder why the stock market is going up? You checked what you get on savings accounts lately? That plus the 20% drop in dollar valuation, there is your answer.

Unemployment Rate Jumps to 10.2%; AP Reports ‘Economy Is Rebounding’

The October unemployment rate has just been released and it has jumped to  double digits at 10.2%, nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the worst rate since 1983. Any higher unemployment rate would make this the worst recession since the Great Depression.The full BLS press release is here.

So how is the Associated Press reporting the growing unemployment numbers? “The economy is rebounding.” I kid you not …

The economy is rebounding from its deepest slump since the 1930s, but it probably won’t seem that way when the government releases its monthly employment report on Friday.Employers aren’t expected to start adding jobs for several more months. Many are skeptical about the strength and sustainability of the recovery,

The nation’s economy probably lost a net total of 175,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent, according to a survey of Wall Street economists by Thomson Reuters. The Labor Department report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Most economists think the rate will eventually surpass 10 percent, a level last seen in June 1983.

The real unemployment number is available here and its now … 17.5% (table A-12, item U6). How’s that hopey changey thing working out for you?

Sarah Palin Posted This On Her Facebook Page: Quit Making Things Up: DNC

First read this — The Worst Bill Ever … so says the WSJ.

Lie cheat and steal, it’s all Democrats know. Taxes all over the place, $500 billion in medicare cuts, and more deficits that can never be repaid.

Death panels are back.

Illegals are back on the taxpayer dime.

Rationing is back.

And so is this strange thing, race preferences in the qualifications.

Add in about 111 new bureaucracies. That ought to help the GDP.

if you look at the CBO scoring, the tenth year the deficit goes to $260 billion plus. Multiply that by ten and you get the real costs of this abomination. About $3 trillion over ten years.

Obama Administration, The Stimulus is Done

Unemployment this week up an unexpected 531,000 new applications for unemployment compensation.

So do we get the money back now?

Awesome!

A top White House economist says spending from the $787 billion economic stimulus has already had its biggest impact on economic growth and will likely not contribute to significant expansion next year.Christina Romer, the chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said Thursday that the $194 billion already spent gave a jolt to the economy that contributed to growth in the second and third quarters of the year. She told a congressional panel that by the middle of next year, the impact of the stimulus will level off. Romer said spending so far has saved or created 600,000 to 1.5 million jobs but warned that unemployment will remain high, above 9.5 percent, through the end of 2010.

Let’s take a look at the results vs. predictions.

Well, that was $787 billion in taxpayer money well spent. And they say that 10% unemployment is the new normal.

What’s Another Trillion

This is confusing, isn’t it. But you need to know there is $500 billion of Medicare cuts, $400 billion of waste fraud and abuse recovery, and raising taxes on everything that says medical on the label. Otherwise the tab would be $1.4 trillion …

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang discovered what the state-run media won’t tell you. The Senator Baucus’ Fantasy Plan gets a clean CBO scorecard by raising your taxes:

Baucus Plan page 2 (pdf)

“This new CBO data makes it clear that our children and grandchildren will end up buried under a mountain of debt if we continue taxing, spending and borrowing at these dangerous levels,” —- House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said.

The federal budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion for the 2009 fiscal year that ended last week, congressional analysts said Wednesday.

The Congressional Budget Office estimate, while expected, is bad news for the White House and its allies in Congress as they press ahead with health care overhaul legislation that could cost $900 billion more over the next decade.

The CBO also estimated, without the real legislative language — Means it’s suspect to wild changes, likely up, — The Government rationed healthcare would cost Americans another $829 billion in debt over 7 years. The rate of climb levels off after 2020 at about $250 billion in costs per year. And that does not include the thousands people will pay per year for the ration care. Just disgusting what this Congress is doing to America.

Does it look like the whole thing is weasel worded, yeah, because it is. Somebody is going to pay what it cost, are they not? And oh yeah, there are still millions who won’t have insurance anyway, so you might be asking WHY?

Slavery by debt so large it can never be repaid. The Heritage Foundation estimates that all these stupid Obama programs will costs the average American family about $8,000 per year, in direct costs, taxes and hidden charges.

Next time someone wants to sell you something that is free, ask how much it will cost. Well in this case it will cost taxpayers $829 billion(likely a lot more_, but don’t worry it will save you money, just not the money you pay for it… It’s sort of like the Social Security Trust Fund, which it is, but it isn’t, no money, all spent on other stuff all gone, accounting gimmick.

Canadian Healthcare Rationing

More on the rationing of healthcare with the vaunted government run healthcare system in Canada:

Vancouver patients needing neurosurgery, treatment for vascular diseases and other medically necessary procedures can expect to wait longer for care, NDP health critic Adrian Dix said Monday.Dix said a Vancouver Coastal Health Authority document shows it is considering chopping more than 6,000 surgeries in an effort to make up for a dramatic budgetary shortfall that could reach $200 million.

“This hasn’t been announced by the health authority … but these cuts are coming,” Dix said, citing figures gleaned from a leaked executive summary of “proposed VCH surgical reductions.”

Government run healthcare, whatever you call it, involves reducing the amount of healthcare available by either rationing, allowing people to be forced to wait so long they die, or outright denying health care to needy people.

More here:

Understanding the Upcoming Deficit Numbers

The Mid-Session Review(2008) is a budget document released by the Administration each summer.  It updates the Administration’s economic and budget forecasts.  It shows the budgetary effects of any laws enacted since the President’s budget was released, as well as any new policies proposed by the President.

Normally it is released in early July, but since the cram down of healthcare was ‘game on’ without allowing people to read it, and Obama didn’t want any messy news to wreck things, it has been delayed this year. Doubtful this man it will be better than forecast in early FY2009.

Within the next week the Obama Administration will release the Mid-Session Review.  Next Tuesday morning the Congressional Budget Office will release their updated budget and economic forecast.

With the U.S. economy doing it’s best ‘John Galt‘ imitation in decades, I doubt the figures will be low.

More here:

The headline of the MSR is always the new deficit forecast.  CBO will update their forecast as well.  Here are the numbers to be updated:

	2009 deficit	2010 deficit
Administration (March forecast)	$1.75 trillion	$1.17 trillion
Congressional Budget Office	$1.67 trillion	$1.14 trillion

Deficit grew by $181 billion in July alone, times 12 would give $2.17 trillion deficit. Since treasury receipts are running about $300 billion short, a $2.1-2.3 trillion mid-session deficit projection seems about right.