About Me

Name: Defend America
Email: guy.ratki@gmail.com Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Archives

Search

Obama Postpones His Trip to Asia Yet Again

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 1:13:09 PM
Obama postpones Asia trip to focus on health care
Mar 18 01:02 PM US/Eastern

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is postponing his trip to Asia until June so he can stay in Washington for a possible Sunday vote on his health care overhaul plan.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says Obama has called the leaders of Indonesia and Australia to express his regret that he will not be able to visit their nations. Obama had already pushed the trip back once, delaying his orginally scheduled March 18 departure until Sunday so he could help Democrats on Capitol Hill rally last-minute votes for the plan.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9EH5PA80&show_article=1


Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

This is Probably the Most Shocking Story of the Day

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 1:12:06 PM

Tehran accused of arming Taleban with weapons and explosives


Tom Coghlan

The Iranian Government has been accused by Afghan and Western officials of delivering tonnes of weaponry to the Taleban, including plastic explosives, mortars, grenades and technical manuals.

Weapons and documents shown to Channel 4 News indicate that more than ten tonnes of weapons have been intercepted at Iran’s desert border with Afghanistan in the past year, with a tonne and a half recovered in the past week.

The reports come as General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran also provided a base for al-Qaeda operatives. Afghanistan’s intelligence agency estimates that about 60 per cent of the weaponry it has intercepted from Iran has been supplied by the Iranian Government rather than black market dealers.

In a report on Iran’s weapons smuggling to the Taleban — to be aired by Channel 4 News this evening — one Afghan Taleban commander claims that the Iranian border is assuming greater importance than that into Pakistan.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7066239.ece



Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Looks Like Senator DeMint was Right, Health Care will be Obama's Waterloo

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:33:34 PM

President Obama's pitch: Fate of presidency on the line



By GLENN THRUSH | 3/18/10 4:55 AM EDT

President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with many skeptics in the room.

One caucus member told POLITICO that Obama won him over by “essentially [saying] that the fate of his presidency” hinged on this week’s health reform vote in the House. The member, who requested anonymity, likened Obama’s remarks to an earlier meeting with progressives when the president said a victory was necessary to keep him “strong” for the next three years of his term.

Another caucus member, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), said, “We went in there already knowing his presidency would be weakened if this thing went down, but the president clearly reinforced the impression the presidency would be damaged by a loss.”

Added Serrano: “He was subtle, but that was the underlying theme of the meeting — the importance of passing this for the health of the presidency.” 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34602.html




Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Budgeting Tricks Work Well When the Health Care Bill will Cost $17 Billion for the First Four Years and $923 Billiion in the Remaining Six Years

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:26:12 PM
Via Ed Morrissey:

Update (AP): Here’s the key table from CBO’s letter to Pelosi. Via Philip Klein, want to see what a shabby fraud these cost estimates are? Check out the line for “Gross Cost of Coverage Provisions”:

cbo


This is why they’re delaying the start of the program, of course. If it kicked in right away, the decade-long estimate would obviously be well into the trillions. So they simply stalled it for four years, incurring just $17 billion in costs — or 1.8 percent of the total 10-year estimate — through 2013 so that wavering Democrats could go back to their districts and tell baldfaced lies to their constituents about the pricetag. A perfect ending to this travesty.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/18/obama-pitch-my-presidencys-sunk-without-obamacare/

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Rep. Michael Arcuri, a Democrat Who Sits on the Rules Committee, will Vote No Both in Committee and on the House Floor

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:17:42 PM

Rules Panel Dem To Vote Against Bill

March 18, 2010 11:39 AM
By Erin McPike

A key House Dem has begun informing party leaders he plans to vote against health care legislation both on the House floor and in the rules committee, on which he sits.

Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY), a sophomore Dem who had a tougher-than-expected re-election bid in '08, has told the Dem caucus he will vote against the bill.

He becomes the 3rd member, along with Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), to have switched from supporting the first bill, in Nov., to opposing the Senate version.

Arcuri's vote will not hurt the bill's chances in committee, where Dems hold a 9-4 advantage over GOPers. The panel's other 8 Dems all voted for the first version of health care, and only Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) voted in favor of the Stupak amendment.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/03/rules_panel_dem.php


Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

CBO Releases their Report and Thanks to Budgeting Tricks, The Bill will Reduce the Deficit and Cost Less than $1 Trillion

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:36:15 AM
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/113xx/doc11355/hr4872.pdf
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

All House GOP Members will Offer Amendments at Rules Committee

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:21:12 AM

GOP leader: All House GOP members to offer amendments at Rules panel

By Bob Cusack - 03/18/10 09:37 AM ET
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said Thursday that all House Republicans are planning to go to the Rules Committee in an effort to amend the healthcare reform bill.

The move could significantly delay a final vote on healthcare reform.

During an appearance on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" show, Sessions noted that members are allowed to go to the Rules panel to make the case for amendments on the House floor.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/87565-gop-leader-all-house-gop-members-to-offer-amendments-at-rules-panel
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

One of Pelosi's Floor Whips, Rep. Stephen Lynch, Says He Could Not Support Passing Health Care Using the "Slaughter Option"

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:20:05 AM

Stephen Lynch calls health care vote plan ‘disingenuous’

Says procedural move would hurt Congress

By Jay Fitzgerald
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Even one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s floor whips, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, says a proposed parliamentary move to pass health-care reform would be “disingenuous” and harm the credibility of Congress.

In a sign of how tough it’s been for Pelosi to round up votes for the massive bill, Lynch - a South Boston Democrat who supported a House reform package last year - said he’ll probably vote against a key Senate version of the legislation, unless unexpected major changes are made soon.

Lynch, who serves as one of Pelosi’s key vote counters, said he also can’t support a proposed “deem and pass” procedure that would allow Democrats to vote to strip out controversial portions of the Senate bill and then “deem” that the entire package has passed without a second, direct vote.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1240545


Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

House Democrats Told Reporters of the Preliminary Score from the CBO and They have Started to Tout the Numbers, But Rep. Paul Ryan Says the CBO is Not Done Scoring the Bill

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:04:32 AM

Health Care Bill to Cost $940B, Reduce Deficit by $100B in First 10 Years

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer Confident of a Weekend Vote on Bill

By HUMA KHAN, Z. BYRON WOLF and DEAN NORLAND
WASHINGTON, March 18, 2010

 The controversial health care bill that the House is slated to vote on this weekend will cost $940 billion over ten years and reduce the deficit by $130 billion over the same period, Democratic House leadership told reporters today.

The numbers are preliminary, lawmakers said, since the Congressional Budget Office has yet to officially release their report. That public release of the bill is expected early this afternoon and it will set in motion a 72-hour clock until Democrats bring the bill to a final vote in the House.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/cbo-health-care-bill-cost-940-bill-reduce/story?id=10065306

Rep. Paul Ryan issued this statement:

House Budget Committee Ranking Republican Paul Ryan (WI) issued the following statement:

“The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that there is currently no official cost estimate.
Yet House Democrats are touting to the press – and spinning for partisan gain – numbers that
have not been released and are impossible to confirm. Rep. James Clyburn stated he was
“giddy” about these unsubstantiated numbers. This is the latest outrageous exploitation by the
Majority – in this case abusing the confidentiality of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Office – to pass their massive health care overhaul at any cost.”

http://house.gov/budget_republicans/press/2007/pr20100318cboleak.pdf

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (1) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Why Should Anybody Even Agree to be on if Amanpour Takes Over?

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 8:08:49 AM
March 17, 2010, 4:50 pm

ABC and Amanpour Close to Deal for ‘This Week’

By BILL CARTER

ABC News is close to concluding a deal to install the longtime CNN foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour as the new host of its Sunday political discussion show “This Week.”

The network’s interest in Ms. Amanpour — and her favorable response to the approach — has been widely speculated about for weeks. Now the negotiations are close enough to completion that an announcement may be made as early as Thursday, though an ABC News executive cautioned that nothing was final and a number of points in the deal had yet to be resolved.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/abc-and-amanpour-close-to-deal-for-the-week/


Tags: Media  
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Obama: Premiums will Decrease by 3000%

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 7:31:23 AM
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Another Wonderful Biden Mistake

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 7:29:46 AM
Biden mistakenly blesses Irish leader's mother

(AP) – 10 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden asked for God's blessing for the late mother of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen during a White House celebration of St. Patrick's Day — except the elderly lady is very much alive.

"God rest her soul," Biden said Wednesday night as he introduced Cowen and President Barack Obama. He quickly caught himself and noted that it's Cowen's father who is no longer living. Of the prime minister's mother, Biden said, "God bless her soul."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFNcC7dde6DREm6fdWhjfr3cqCDwD9EGNS980
Tags: BIDEN  
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Airport Body Scanners May Not Have Stopped Abdulmutallab

Posted by Defend America on Thursday, March 18, 2010 7:28:27 AM

GAO says airport body scanners may not have thwarted Christmas Day bombing

By Spencer S. Hsu
Thursday, March 18, 2010

President Obama's push to deploy body-imaging scanners at airports will cost U.S. taxpayers roughly $3 billion over eight years, congressional investigators report, but it is unclear whether the controversial devices would have caught the man who allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner with explosives hidden in his underwear.

The administration has cited the Christmas Day bombing attempt, with which alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is charged, in pushing to double its planned deployment of scanners at U.S. airports by 2014, when it hopes to have 1,800 of the machines in place. It also has cited the case to encourage foreign governments to use the same new technologies at airports that send flights to the United States.

"In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary. That's what these steps are designed to do," Obama said Jan. 8 in announcing increased aviation security and screening measures.

The machines create images outlining the unclothed human body by bouncing X-rays or radio waves off skin or concealed objects. But security experts say the advanced imaging technology, or AIT, has limits: The "backscatter" rays can be obscured by body parts, may not readily detect thin items seen "edge-on" or objects hidden inside the body, and require a human operator to decide whether to conduct additional questioning or a physical search.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031700649.html?wprss=rss_nation&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wp-dyn%2Frss%2Fnation%2Findex_xml+%28washingtonpost.com+-+Nation%29



Tags: Terrorism  
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous123456Next »