Obama Watch... 11/2/09
A Chronicle of the Socialization of America
The American People: Mugged!
Headlines …
Sen. Hatch Questions Constitutionality of Obamacare: If Feds Can Force Us to Buy Health Insurance ‘Then There’s Literally Nothing the Federal Government Can’t Force Us to Do’
Monday, November 02, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief
(CNSNews.com) - Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has served in the Senate for 33 years and is a longtime member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not believe the Democrats’ health-care reform plan is constitutionally justifiable, noting that if the federal government can force Americans to buy health insurance “then there is literally nothing the federal government can’t force us to do.”
Both the House and Senate versions of the health-care reform plan would force all individuals who are citizens or legal residents of the United States to buy health insurance. [Alleged] President Obama has endorsed this provision.
Hatch said if the federal government starts ordering Americans to purchase specific products without being able to plausibly justify that mandate through the Commerce Clause of the Constitution which empowers Congress to regulate interstate commerce, it will mean “we’ve lost our freedom, and that means the federal government can do anything it wants to do to us.”
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56447>
Harry Reid’s Sleight-of-Hand Healthcare Bill Tactics
| Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:15 PM By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann | |
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had two problems: How to get the healthcare bill out of the Senate Finance Committee without revealing the glaring potential fissures in his party over the public option on healthcare, and how to apply a thin veneer of bipartisanship to a one-party bill.
He couldn't allow a vote on final passage out of the committee with a public option in the bill because he knew that he would lose Democrats and would have no GOP support. But real compromise was always out of the question.
He wanted his public option, so he evolved a strategy where the only bill that would be voted on in committee would be one that did not have a public option, all the while planning for the final product to have one.
So he used the bait of a bill with no public option to hook moderate Democrats like Blanche Lincoln and the gullible Republican Olympia Snowe.
When the bill emerged from Finance, by a lopsided 15-9 vote, it restored to healthcare reform the momentum that had stalled due to the public outrage so evident during the August recess.
Then the dexterous Reid capitalized on that momentum to put the public option back into the bill, reversing the commitment to compromise that allowed the bill to clear the committee in the first place.
This bait-and-switch tactic offers a taste of what Reid will attempt on the Senate floor. He obviously hopes to replicate these tactics in getting the bill through the Senate.
As he did in the Finance Committee, Reid has opened his gambit on the Senate floor by embracing a public option.
He does this for two reasons: First, he wants to send a signal to the House and Senate militants that his heart is in the right place and that the final bill will probably have a public option.
Then, he needs to have room to compromise so the final Senate version attracts the moderates he needs.
First he veers left in order to then swing right.
His next move is predictable. As he awaits House action, he stands firm in backing the public option. And as he nears the point of a Senate floor vote, he will pretend to modify that option in order to attract moderates and perhaps a few stray Republicans.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/morris/harry_reid_public_option/2009/10/29/279051.html>
Obamacare Threatens U.S. Medical Education System
Sunday, November 1, 2009 6:18 PM
By: David A. Patten
The federal government will expand its role in training new doctors and nurses under the Democrats' healthcare reform proposals to the point that one prominent surgeon is warning of a federal "takeover" of medical education.
The HR 3962 reform bill unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week provides billions in medical-education grants.
Some of those grants would help future doctors and nurses pay for their degrees in return for their participation in specific disciplines or programs.
Other grants would pay organizations to create educational and training programs under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Democrats say the programs are a necessary aspect of bringing another 36 million individuals into the U.S. healthcare system.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_healt_care_doctors/2009/11/01/280124.html>
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Public school nurses give swine flu vaccine to kids without parents' OK, sends child to hospital
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Republicans Aim for Rival Health Plan in House
<http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/obamacare_GOP_version/2009/11/02/280240.html>
Joe Wilson: Obama Should Be ‘Held Responsible’ for Swine Flu Vaccine Shortage
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56426>
Bishops: All Catholics To Be Told To Urge Congress to Ban Abortion-Funding In Health Bill
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56421>
43 Democrats Will Vote against Health Care Bill Unless Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Language Is Removed, Group Says
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56401>
Domestic ...
Administration
Mother of all carry trades faces an inevitable bust
By Nouriel Roubini
Published: November 1 2009 18:44 | Last updated: November 1 2009 18:44
Since March there has been a massive rally in all sorts of risky assets – equities, oil, energy and commodity prices – a narrowing of high-yield and high-grade credit spreads, and an even bigger rally in emerging market asset classes (their stocks, bonds and currencies). At the same time, the dollar has weakened sharply , while government bond yields have gently increased but stayed low and stable.
This recovery in risky assets is in part driven by better economic fundamentals. We avoided a near depression and financial sector meltdown with a massive monetary, fiscal stimulus and bank bail-outs. Whether the recovery is V-shaped, as consensus believes, or U-shaped and anaemic as I have argued, asset prices should be moving gradually higher.
But while the US and global economy have begun a modest recovery, asset prices have gone through the roof since March in a major and synchronised rally. While asset prices were falling sharply in 2008, when the dollar was rallying, they have recovered sharply since March while the dollar is tanking. Risky asset prices have risen too much, too soon and too fast compared with macroeconomic fundamentals.
So what is behind this massive rally? Certainly it has been helped by a wave of liquidity from near-zero interest rates and quantitative easing. But a more important factor fuelling this asset bubble is the weakness of the US dollar, driven by the mother of all carry trades. The US dollar has become the major funding currency of carry trades as the Fed has kept interest rates on hold and is expected to do so for a long time. Investors who are shorting the US dollar to buy on a highly leveraged basis higher-yielding assets and other global assets are not just borrowing at zero interest rates in dollar terms; they are borrowing at very negative interest rates – as low as negative 10 or 20 per cent annualised – as the fall in the US dollar leads to massive capital gains on short dollar positions.
Let us sum up: traders are borrowing at negative 20 per cent rates to invest on a highly leveraged basis on a mass of risky global assets that are rising in price due to excess liquidity and a massive carry trade. Every investor who plays this risky game looks like a genius – even if they are just riding a huge bubble financed by a large negative cost of borrowing – as the total returns have been in the 50-70 per cent range since March.
Read more <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9a5b3216-c70b-11de-bb6f-00144feab49a.html>
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Stimulus Saved, Created 650,000 Jobs, Gov't Claims
<http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/us_stimulus_jobs/2009/10/30/279752.html>
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<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/blue_book_clunkers_edmund/2009/10/31/279981.html>
Video: Biden Admits Job Numbers Not Accurate
<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/joe_biden_stimulus_jobs/2009/10/31/279959.html>
CIT Group Files For Bankruptcy
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/cit_bankruptcy/2009/11/01/280147.html>
Dollar Falls as Manufacturing Grows; Oil, Copper, Gold Rally
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGYpGVQ8NdkA>
Politics
Limbaugh: 'Radical' Obama Won't Be Re-Elected
| Sunday, November 1, 2009 10:40 AM | |
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh warned in a TV interview of unprecedented "radical leadership" in the White House and called [Alleged] President Barack Obama a narcissist who is "immature, inexperienced, in over his head."
Limbaugh, who regularly rails against the administration in his weekday radio program, said the healthcare overhaul working through Congress would become "the biggest snatch of freedom and liberty" ever seen in the United States.
In an interview taped for "Fox News Sunday" nearly a year after the presidential election, Limbaugh derided Obama's recent visit to Dover Air Force Base to observe the return of 18 service members' remains from Afghanistan. He called it a "photo op" designed to "create the impression that he has all of this great concern" while he dithers over a new strategy for the 8-year-old war.
"He really has no experience running anything. He's very young. I think he's got an out-of-this-world ego. He's very narcissistic. And he's able to focus all attention on him all the time," Limbaugh said.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/rush_limbaugh_obama/2009/11/01/280066.html>
Boehner Says GOP Wants Moderates
| Sunday, November 1, 2009 10:10 AM | |
House Republican leader John Boehner says the GOP wants moderates in the party and calls the special election for a New York congressional seat an unusual situation.
The Republican nominee in an upstate New York district dropped out of the race Saturday, just days ahead of the Tuesday election. Moderate GOP candidate Dierdre Scozzafava (skoh-zuh-FAH'-vuh) had been losing support to the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, a former Republican.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/boehner_moderates_GOP/2009/11/01/280064.html>
Independents Hold the Key in N.J. Gov. Contest
| Sunday, November 1, 2009 7:19 PM | |
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey - An independent candidate stressing New Jersey's economic woes is attracting surprising voter support in the governor's race, which features an unpopular Democratic incumbent and a Republican challenger with ties to former President George W. Bush.
The independent, Chris Daggett, is a former federal environmental official who is not expected to win Tuesday's election for governor in New Jersey, which backed President Barack Obama in 2008, but he could affect who does.
Daggett said at a campaign appearance this week he has found unhappy voters across New Jersey, the nation's most densely populated state.
Read more Pasted from <http://www.newsmax.com/politics/corzine_independents/2009/11/01/280131.html>
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<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56423>
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International ...
Terrorism
Ship Built With WTC Steel Comes to Namesake City
| Monday, November 2, 2009 3:25 AM | |
NEW YORK -- A Navy assault ship built with steel from the World Trade Center is heading to the city that bears its name.
The USS New York is scheduled to sail up the Hudson River Monday morning. It will stop beside the World Trade Center site for a 21-gun salute.
The ship will dock at Pier 88. The official commissioning will take place Saturday.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/us/us_uss_new_york/2009/11/02/280189.html>
Russia
Russia 'simulates' nuclear attack on Poland
Russia has provoked outrage in Poland by simulating an air and sea attack on the country during military exercises.
By Matthew Day in Warsaw
Published: 4:37PM GMT 01 Nov 2009
A Russian military tank in action in Georgia Photo: Getty Images
The armed forces are said to have carried out "war games" in which nuclear missiles were fired and troops practised an amphibious landing on the country's coast.
Documents obtained by Wprost, one of Poland's leading news magazines, said the exercise was carried out in conjunction with soldiers from Belarus.
The manoeuvres are thought to have been held in September and involved about 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops.
Poland, which has strained relations with both countries, was cast as the "potential aggressor".
The documents state the exercises, code-named "West", were officially classified as "defensive" but many of the operations appeared to have an offensive nature.
The Russian air force practised using weapons from its nuclear arsenal, while in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which neighbours Poland, Red Army forces stormed a "Polish" beach and attacked a gas pipeline.
The operation also involved the simulated suppression of an uprising by a national minority in Belarus – the country has a significant Polish population which has a strained relationship with authoritarian government of Belarus.
Read more <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/6480227/Russia-simulates-nuclear-attack-on-Poland.html>
Korea
North Korea calls for direct talks with U.S.
By Jack Kim
Sunday, November 1, 2009; 11:02 PM
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea called on Monday for direct talks with its long-time foe, the United States, and gave the clearest signal so far it was ready to return to nuclear disarmament talks it has boycotted for almost a year.
The comments follow last week's rare visit by a North Korean official to the United States and what has been a "charm" offensive by the ostracized state which some analysts say is looking increasingly desperate for finance and aid.
"The conclusion we have reached is that the direct parties, which are the North and the United States, must first sit down and find a rational solution," a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
"Now that we have shown the generosity of stating the position that we would be willing to talk to the United States and hold multilateral talks including the six-way talks, it is time for the United States to make a decision."
Read more <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102376.html?hpid=sec-world>
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China
Beijing's first snow of season 'artificially induced'
AFP - Monday, November 2
BEIJING (AFP) - – Chinese meteorologists covered Beijing in snow Sunday after seeding clouds to bring winter weather to the capital in an effort to combat a lingering drought, state media reported.
The unusually early snow blanketed the capital from Sunday morning and kept falling for half the day, helped by temperatures as low as minus 2 Celsius (29 Fahrenheit) and strong winds from the north, Xinhua news agency reported.
Besides falling in the northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and the northern province of Hebei, the eastern port city of Tianjin also got its first snow of the autumn, the report said.
"We wont miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought," the report quoted Zhang Qiang, head of the Beijing Weather Modification Office, as saying.
Chinese meteorologists have for years sought to make rain by injecting special chemicals into clouds.
Read more <http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20091101/tap-china-weather-beijing-snow-8d4ea94.html>
Opinion …
Last Days of the Republicans: Part 24
By John Batchelor on October 31, 2009 8:50 PM
On Saturday, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava suspended her bid in the special election, citing a lack of funds. John Batchelor on the ugly food fight for a New York House seat and why the cynical celebrity endorsements of Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, and the Club for Growth will hurt the GOP.
The Last Days of the GOP
by John Batchelor
The news arrived this morning like the report of a mugging that the Republican Party choice for the 23rd, the sturdy, dull, dutiful Dede Scozzafava, was quitting the campaign for Congress and releasing her supporters without a recommendation. Scozzafava's late decision, with less than 66 hours until the polls open, hints at backstairs deals, whispered pay-offs, promises from Albany, all of which is likely untrue and romantic rubbish.
Scozzafava leaves the race and returns to her New York Assembly seat as a Republican. Not a Club for Growth libertarian "Too Big to Fail!" Republican; not a Tea Party "Mad as Hell!" Republican; not a Fox News or talk radio "We report!" Republican. Just a Republican like me and a few others who pay mind to the fact that the party comes from a philosophy that is tolerant, obedient, respectful, curious, generous, kind, liberty-loving, and not much in fashion just now.
"No one pretends that the celebrity endorsements of novice Doug Hoffman have much to do with the people of the hardscrabble North Country of the (NY) 23rd. The district could be South Waziristan, and the game would be played just as cynically."
What happens to the 23rd? The Democratic Party announced last eve it is sending in Vice President Joe Biden to campaign for Democratic candidate Bill Owen. The Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele overnight endorsed the "business person" Doug Hoffman. The two big dogs, the Republican right-wing and the Obama administration's executive, look to be throwing in cash, muscle, sparkle, and ground troops. There is still no good evidence that the cunning Club for Growth cares a tent peg for the North Country, and this seems appropriate. Whatever the 23rd was, it's a surrogate battlefield now, fought over by the lords and ladies of cynicism from long before there was a burden of party faithfulness and grace. Ronald Reagan called it the 11th Amendment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican," but that was then, when the party could win 49 states, and this is now, when the party can't win a rotten borough without dry-gulching, and maybe not even then.... (more)
Read more <http://johnbatchelorshow.com/jb/2009/10/last-days-of-the-republicans-part-24/>
Could America go broke?
By Robert J. Samuelson
Monday, November 2, 2009
The idea that the government of a major advanced country would default on its debt -- that is, tell lenders that it won't repay them all they're owed -- was, until recently, a preposterous proposition. Argentina and Russia have stiffed their creditors, but surely the likes of the United States, Japan or Britain wouldn't. Well, it's still a very, very long shot, but it's no longer entirely unimaginable.
Governments of rich countries are borrowing so much that it's conceivable that one day the twin assumptions underlying their burgeoning debt (that lenders will continue to lend and that governments will continue to pay) might collapse. What happens then?
The question is so unfamiliar that the past provides few clues to the future. Psychology is crucial. To take a parallel example: the dollar. The fear is that foreigners (and Americans, too) will lose confidence in its value and dump it for yen, euros, gold or oil. If too many investors do that, a self-fulfilling stampede could trigger sell-offs in U.S. stocks and bonds. People have predicted such a crisis for decades. It hasn't happened yet. The currency's decline has been orderly, because the dollar retains a bedrock confidence based on America's political stability, openness, wealth and low inflation. But something could shatter that confidence -- tomorrow or 10 years from tomorrow.
The same logic applies to exploding government debt. We have moved into uncharted territory and are prisoners of psychology. Consider Japan. In 2009, its budget deficit -- the gap between spending and taxes -- amounts to 10 percent or more of gross domestic product (GDP). The total government debt -- the borrowing to cover all its deficits -- is approaching 200 percent of GDP. That's twice the size of its economy. The mountainous debt reflects years of slow economic growth, many "stimulus" plans, an aging society and the impact of the global recession. By 2019, the debt-to-GDP ratio could hit 300 percent, says a report from JPMorgan Chase.
No one knows how to interpret these numbers. If someone had predicted 20 years ago that Japan's debt would rise so spectacularly, the forecast would doubtlessly have inspired this alarm: Japan will pay crushing interest rates as fearful lenders demand high returns to compensate for the risk that government might default or inflate away its debt. Instead, the opposite has happened. Japanese investors -- households, banks, insurers -- have absorbed 94 percent of the debt, reports JPMorgan. Interest rates on 10-year Japanese government bonds have dropped from 7.1 percent in 1990 to 1.4 percent now.
Read more <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110101704.html?hpid=opinionsbox1>
