Gotta have your KGB: Homeland Security accused of witness tampering, political manipulation of FOIA requests, and the attempted theft of Congressional committee documents.
So this is why they lobbied for the crappy bill: AARP’s billion dollar Obamacare windfall.
Almost half of the $500 billion in ObamaCare’s Medicare cuts come out of Medicare Advantage. The cuts don’t kill the program, but they mortally wound it. CBO estimates that the Medicare Advantage program will be cut in half, causing over 7 million seniors to lose their health care coverage. They will be forced to return to traditional Medicare and, in most cases, will need to purchase Medi-Gap coverage.
Using very conservative assumptions (AARP keeps its current share of the Medi-Gap market and premiums don’t rise), this increase in the Medi-Gap market will generate more than $100 million a year in additional license fee revenue for AARP. Over a billion dollars every decade. Keep in mind, this revenue is simply for using AARP’s name, so it is almost pure profit.
Now CNN reports a deal in Congress calling for $73 billion in cuts for this year.
Once again, though these amounts are minuscule, I like the political trend, which is blowing increasingly in the direction of cuts, and cuts only.
The reckoning is about to arrive: The federal treasury is down to $58.6 billion in cash with only $130.5 billion in borrowing authority.
Meanwhile former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos reports that a tentative deal between the parties in Congress will finalize the cuts from last year’s budget at $33 billion.
As I said, the reckoning is about to arrive.
A quick summary of the legal situation in Wisconsin.
Are they blinking finally? Harry Reid (D-Nevada) suggested yesterday that the Democrats might be willing to compromise in budget talks.
Repeal the goddamn thing already! It appears that Louisiana will be the ninth state to seek a waiver from Obamacare.
Congressmen rack up unpaid parking tickets.
As Glenn Reynolds would say, laws are for the “little people.”
The pigs rule! Congress to NASA: follow the authorization act.
In other words, Congress wants NASA to spend money (Pork!) on a rocket it can’t complete for the cash provided.
How the IRS harasses and oppresses.
The Defense and Transportation departments have slammed the FCC over its approval of a new broadband service that they think will interfere with GPS.
More leftwing civility: Wisconsin Republican legislators continue to face threats.
“Protesters have congregated at the homes of Republican legislators, surrounded their cars and jeered at them as they walk to work, Mr. Jefferson said,” the Journal reported.
He has a point: Fred Barnes argues that the Republican incremental approach to cutting the budget makes sense politically. Key quote:
The end zone is far away, however, and impatience won’t get Republicans there. Impatience is not a strategy. It may lead to a government shutdown with unknown results. To enact the sweeping cuts they desire, Republicans must hold the House and capture the Senate and White House in the 2012 election. Then they’ll control Washington. Now they don’t.
More proof of media partisan bias: A Democratic President, and suddenly the press isn’t interested in a military murder scandal in Afghanistan.
Frenzy in Washington grows over nation’s debt.
I like the headline alone, because it suggests the political tide might finally be turning in the direction of actually cutting down the size of federal spending. And the article itself reinforces that sense.
Budget negotiations — and the possibility of a shutdown — are coming to a head.
The pigs continue to squeal: Five anti-hunger organization leaders plan open-ended fasts to protest proposed cuts.
Another example of the great disconnect: Just when you think they finally get it.
An critique of NASA: No vision equals no innovation.
That NASA (and our government) lacks vision is not necessarily a bad thing. For the first time in decades, this is leaving room for new and independent companies to move in and fill the vacuum left by NASA. In the end, I think we will be far better off.
Repeal the damn bill! The top ten failures of ObamaCare after one year.
Now this change I can support! Several Democrats have broken ranks with their party and appear willing to consider some sort of Social Security budget reform.
Certain IRS officials should go to prison for this: The IRS now admits it specifically targeted the political enemies of Bill Clinton for audits and harassment.
Subsidies to the Ariane 5 rocket to keep it afloat.
Something is seriously wrong with any operation (like Ariane) that dominates the market and still loses money the past two years.
The first death in space.
The mess from the NASA space war spreads: Three European space science missions are now on their own after the U.S. the space agency pulls funding.
A man has won $15K in a lawsuit after police seized his gun illegally in a Denver park.
A judge has blocked Wisconsin union law.
Isn’t it interesting how often laws that the left dislikes get thrown out by unelected judges?
