The White House said Thursday it was assessing its options amid concerns the $1 billion budget for rebates for new car sales may have been depleted. The program officially began last week and has been heavily publicized by automakers and dealers.
Transportation Department officials called lawmakers earlier Thursday to alert them of plans to suspend the program as early as Friday.
The feds completely under-estimated the demand and cost of the program, and now are scrambling to "try to find additional funding for the program" after only a week.
Alan Helfman, general manager of River Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston, said he was worried that the government wouldn't pay for some of his clunker deals.
Think about this when you hear Obama and the Democrats talk about health care. If they can't administer a program for one million people, how will they handle 300 million people's health care? If they underestimated their ability to fund a $1 billion program, how can they deal with a $1.5 trillion health care system?
"There's no doubt I'm going to get hammered on a deal or two," Helfman said.
Alan, there is a lot more of that coming if Obama gets his health plan through.
Fresh off his Wednesday evening performance of insulting a police officer for doing his job while being verbally assaulted by a pretentious Harvard professor, Obama again shows his true colors in an interview with ABC news, where he shied away from using the term "Victory" when it comes to the war in Afghanistan.
"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur," Obama told ABC News.
Well, have no fear, Barack. Our enemies in Afghanistan and the rest of the world will not worry about using your very words against our country and our troops.
How many times have these words been used against Private Bowe Bergdahl, who is in Taliban custody as Obama speaks. You can only imagine how his captors have taunted and tormented Bergdahl with the notion that Obama doesn't care if we achieve victory.
Before any Liberal detractors tell me how Obama assured us "our goal is to make sure they can't attack the United States," take a few minutes to think about how Obama's words will be amplified throughout the region where hundred of our troops have been killed this year alone.
President Obama has no idea how to deal with a hostile enemy or foe of this country. From his weak-kneed dealings with known terrorist-supporting dictators, to his inability to respond to teenage pirates, to declaring the U.S. cannot win in Afghanistan, Obama has constantly sold out this country in ways no president in recent memory ever has -- or ever would.
Without using these exact words, President Obama signaled to the American people that he believes medical doctors routinely sacrifice proper medical care in favor of making more money for themselves.
When asked by Steve Koff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer if the American people would see a drop in service from doctors under the Obama plan, the president impugned all doctors by suggesting they make patient care decisions solely based on what they can charge.
Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. So if they're looking and you come in and you've got a bad sore throat or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, "You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out."
Does any serious, common-sense person out there truly believe that all doctors -- a majority of doctors, any number more than a couple of exceptions -- would intentionally look for the most expensive remedy for an ailment?
While I am certain that some may act this way, it is a tiny minority, not worth revamping 17% of the U.S. economy to stop.
Perhaps, too, there are some doctors who choose riskier, more "profitable" procedures out of hubris, to prove they can.
But, I highly doubt that the typical pediatrician has a price list on the wall and looks to super-size your care just so he can make that next payment on his new Hummer. If your doc does this, it is time to find a new doctor -- something allowed under 100% of health care plans.
Sorry Obama; just more lies, distortions, and rhetoric from the Hope and Change man himself.
I didn't want to comment on this, as the president was so obviously wrong to weigh in on this issue, but most of the commentary I have heard so far has not hit on this point.
Departing from his typically sprawling, incoherent answers, Obama matter-of-factly accused Sgt. James Crowley and the entire Cambridge, MA police department of acting "stupidly" in arresting Gates. That is, after he announced repeatedly that HE DIDN'T KNOW ALL OF THE FACTS!!
Obama was irresponsible on so many fronts with this charge it is hard to find where to start.
First off, he picked this question out specifically to answer, and to answer last. If, as he and Gates claim, the two are friends, Obama should never have fielded this question. It is a serious conflict of interest for a national public official of his position to comment on a matter involving a local police department and his friend.
Further, for him to levy such a blunt response to an issue for which he admittedly did not have all the information is a complete abdication of leadership. Any good leader would not take the question until he had all the facts. But, a leader, Obama is not.
Then, to aggravate the problem further, Obama rattled off a time line that was completely incorrect and devoid of many of the key facts in the event. Without my laboring over the well-documented facts, yet again, Obama uttered not one word about Gates' improper behavior, which he admits to himself.
For your edification, Mr. President, while it is possible that the initial 911 call was racially-motivated, the only time race truly entered this incident is when Gates started screaming Racism. From all accounts, the officer did nothing even slightly racial. It was Gates who acted racially the entire time.
Whether or not Gates should have been arrested is a matter for the police to sort out. But, the fact the our president would speak to the country -- to the entire world -- levying the charge of racism and incompetence about a police force that protected him while he was at Harvard University, is an utter embarrassment and a complete abdication of leadership.
I fear that Obama showed his true self last night. He is a man overly-conscious about race (remember his "typical white" grandmother) and racism who has serious issues with authority and anyone who might exert authority over him.
It is clear from his choosing to answer this question, his tone of voice, his willingness to dismiss relevant facts (ones that Gates himself acknowledges) in order to not just criticize the police, but insult them is telling. This is the true Obama, and he laid it out for all of us to see last night.
As the top law enforcement officer in the country, Obama should be ashamed this morning. I know I am.
During the campaign, President Obama promised that he and his cabinet would go "line-by-line" through the federal budget, looking for ways to save money.
That is why I will ask my new team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges.... We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.
In April, Obama boldly announced that his cost-cutting efforts would save $100 million, and in a mere 90-days (six months into his presidency), the administration would produce a report itemizing the results of these heroic efforts to guard our tax dollars.
"We've got to earn their trust. They've got to feel confident that their dollars are being spent wisely."
Well, 90 days has come and there is no report in sight. Not the best way to earn our trust.
Another way to earn our trust is to stop aggrandizing your desire to cut costs. Obama is patting himself on the back for saving $100 million -- out of a $3.6 trillion budget! His campaign pledge to delve line-by-line saved a whopping 3%.
Obama increased federal spending by $500 billion over President Bush's last bloated budget, then brags about cutting a measly 3%.
"Only in Washington, D.C., is $100 million not a lot of money," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
In the context of a $3 trillion dollar budget, an $800 billion "stimulus" bill, a $90 billion "supplemental" budget, a $1.5 trillion health care proposal, and innumerable bailouts, $100 million dollars in cost-cutting is not a lot of money. But, it is a huge insult to the American taxpayer.
Senator Mitch McConnell said it best:
"Any amount of savings is obviously welcome," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in April. "But [$100 million is] about the average amount we'll spend every single day just covering the interest on the stimulus package that we passed earlier this year."
(The USDA) purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191 million, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound. In terms of the dairy purchase referenced, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) purchased 837,936 pounds of mozzarella cheese and 4,039,200 pounds of processed cheese. The canned pork purchase was 8,424,000 pounds at a cost of $16,784,000, or approximately $1.99 per pound.
According to the Recovery.gov website (rounded up nicely by Matt Drudge), these purchases amounted to nearly $30 million of food stuffs.
The USDA reports that the food will be used for distribution to local organizations that assist the needy – including food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens. A noble goal to be sure.
But, isn't the "stimulus" money supposed to be going to help kick-start the economy? How does provid(ing) food to those hardest hit by these tough times help the economy?
Oh it does, assures the USDA:
...the purchases also provide a modest economic benefit of benefiting Americans working at food retailers, manufacturers and transportation companies as well as the farmers and ranchers who produce our food supply.
Thirty million dollars for a modest benefit to the economy? I hate to see what the Obama administration would want to evince a significant benefit. Oh yeah, $800 billion!
In Boston, folks are often charged with being racist. The allegation comes from old misunderstandings and misrepresentations -- and from the Boston Globe!
Earlier today, esteemed (and whack-job) Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested for apparently trying to break into his own home.
Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates... had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.
He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.
Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because "I'm a black man in America.''
Sounds like a straight-forward case of Arrested for Being Black, right?
The arrest of such a prominent scholar under what some described as dubious circumstances shook some members of the black Harvard community.
An officer ordered the man to identify himself, and Gates refused, according to the report. Gates began calling the officer a racist and said repeatedly, "This is what happens to black men in America."
Officers said they tried to calm down the 58-year-old academic, who responded, "You don’t know who you’re messing with," according to the police report.
These sound like the actions of a stable, respected individual don't they?
(The 911 caller) said she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpaks on the porch (of the house)...
Office James Crowley noted that he stood in plain view of the man... I asked him if he would step out on the porch and speak with me. He replied: "No, I will not."... I asked Gates to provide me photo identification so I could verify he resided (in the house). Gates initially refused...
I could hear Gates demanding my name (for a third time) I again told Gates that I would speak to him outside. His reply was: "Ya, I'll speak with your mama outside."
For what reason could the Boston Globe have for omitting all these details about Gates' action leading up to his arrest? Gates wasn't arrested for breaking-and-entering, he was arrested for Disorderly Conduct. He wasn't arrested for being black, he was arrested for being a pain in the ass.
Why do I have the sense that Officer Crowley will face more of a reprimand than will Gates?
A man -- any man -- is trying to pry open the front door of a house with a crowbar, refuses to identify himself, refuses to provide proof that he lives in the house, and gets belligerent with the police; damn straight they better arrest him.
"15 year-old Braden will need a spinal fusion. in Canada, he has to get on a list -- and that's only to get a surgeon's name. And then, he has to get on another list for that specific surgeon. And then, he has to wait, could be years ... living in excruciating pain. (In the U.S.), Braden could get the surgery done in days... -- Mike Huckabee
His mother has the same congenital condition. At 28, she could not get surgery. She was told "I was too young; I had not suffered long enough; I hadn't been in pain long enough; there were people older than me ... who would get the surgery first."
"In the Canadian health system, I was forced to deteriorate to a point where I was addicted to morphine, I used a walker to get around; I was using diapers because I had no control of my bladder because of the nerve to my bladder. I could not get a date for surgery."
Hukabee - If he stays in Canada, how long will it take to get the care (your son) needs.
Braden's mother --" I would say 2-3 years. I can't even get the name of a surgeon that will see him."
In the words of Canadian medical physician Dr. David Gratzer, "What goes on in Canada or Britian, or Sweden, is that people wait for basic care. According to the (Canadian) government's own statistics... for every two people who require urgent cancer surgery, one person will get it in a timely manner.
People are waiting or suffering. To use the words of the Supreme Court of Canada -- not my words, the Supreme Court of Canada's -- some people simply die.
... (I know) a person sued the government for the right to opt out of the system because he has waited over a year with chronic hip pain for hip replacement, and he is growing addicted to morphine. Is that the kind of healthcare you want for your uncle, your father?"
Not me, Dr. Gratzer. I want better for my family, for my children. The U.S. as the best health care system in the world, by far. The health care reform will put an end to high-quality of medical care in this country -- and it will financially devastate the economy.
It came after a family night of celebrating America and freedom with a fireworks show at Firestone Stadium. Marshall, his family and two friends were gathered outside a friend's home in South Akron.
Out of nowhere, the story continued, the mob "confronted" the family and started shouting racially-loaded statements at the Marshall, for no apparent reason.
The Marshalls...say the crowd of teens who attacked them and two friends June 27 on Girard Street numbered close to 50.
'My thing is,'' Marshall said, ''I didn't want this, but I was in fear for my wife, my kids and my friends. I felt I had to stay out there to protect them, because those guys were just jumping, swinging fists and everything.
''I'm lucky. They didn't break my ribs or bruise my ribs. I thank God, they concentrated on my thick head because I do have one. They were trying to take my head off my spine, basically.''
Marshall was the most seriously injured. He suffered a concussion and multiple bruises to his head and eye. He said he spent five nights in the critical care unit at Akron General Medical Center.
''This was almost like being a terrorist act,'' Marshall said. ''And we allow this to go on in our neighborhoods?''
A wandering gang of nearly fifty teenagers assaulted these 6 people, two of whom were young teenagers, taunting the family with racist speech. The response from the Akron police department?
Right now, the case is not being classified as a racial hate crime.
Here is the problem with hate crime legislation. It requires an immeasurable level of judgment for someone to come to the conclusion a crime is motivated by racial hate. It requires investigating and criminalizing thought. And, it allows for far too much political and societal pressure to slant law enforcement decisions.
You see, Marshall and his friends are white; the attackers are all African-American. It wasn't White Power slogans that the attackers were chanting; rather Black Power;
Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ''This is our world'' and ''This is a black world''...
Do you think for a second, were this a swarm of white kids assaulting a half-dozen black kids, all the while screaming This is our world or This is a white world that the Akron police department would say "they aren't ready to call it a hate crime."
Maybe, Marshall and his friends started screaming racists rants at the black kids first. We have only his side of the story. Would Marshall be guilty of a hate crime?
There is too much need for judgment and, yes, prejudice for racial hate crimes to be fair or effective. Call off the Thought Police and slam these kids in jail for assault, causing mayhem, public disturbance, or whatever else you can.
But, don't pretend you are doing anyone any favors by prosecuting ideas and opinions -- no matter how stupid and ignorant those ideas are.
