Regarding mandatory "volunteerism" on campus

I guess the agenda-crats in charge of Big Education think that student slave labor disguised as volunteering" as a requirement for certain tax-favored treatment, is a great way to advance their beloved "social justice" agenda items.

Excerpt:

"Molly Corbett, president of the American Council on Education, in a letter to Treasury written on behalf of the council and 20 other higher-education organizations, pointed out that mandatory community service would harm the very low-income students that the tax credit was designed to help, by forcing them to spend precious spare time that could be used to earn money to help support themselves or their families instead volunteering for no pay.

Corbett wrote: 'Contrary to the popular image of undergraduates, part-time, older and low-income students make up a large portion of today's college students....Working students, particularly those with families, have very little free time. Requiring community service to access student benefits would therefore force some to choose between work and volunteer activities....Given that nearly one out of four college students who drop out do so for financial reasons; it is unlikely that students will sacrifice work for community service hours.' Ironically, Corbett noted, wealthy students who might actually have the free time to spare for volunteering would essentially be able to buy their way out of community service because they wouldn't need or might not qualify financially for the tax credit."

And then we have this distinct possibility:

"The potential for interfering with particular colleges' religious and moral visions is vast. Should a Catholic college be obliged to give community-service credit to a student who volunteers for Planned Parenthood? Conversely, how would the politically liberal professors and deans at secular colleges feel about their students' working for an organization opposed to same-sex marriage? Allowing college adminstrators or federal regulators to draw up lists of which volunteer activities are acceptable and which are not would create serious constitutional and other legal problems."

Is there any doubt that a majority of those projects college administrators (or faculty members) or federal bureaucrats would put on such lists would beone that advances some "social justice" agenda item?

On a related note, I'm compiling information for a story about how one of our local "progressive" institutions of higher education sanctions "progressive' agenda indoctrination of students by way of faculty that design a "research" project with a pre-ordained conclusion supporting a "progressive" social agenda talking point.

Bad News for the "Just Give Them Some Condoms" Crowd

Abstinence based sex education works:

"'I think we've written off abstinence-only education without looking closely at the nature of the evidence,' said John B. Jemmott III, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the federally funded study. 'Our study shows this could be one approach that could be used.' "

But wait, there's more:

"The Obama administration eliminated more than $150 million in federal funding targeted at abstinence programs, which are relatively new and have little rigorous evidence supporting their effectiveness. Instead it is launching a new $114 million pregnancy prevention initiative that will fund only programs that have been shown scientifically to work. The administration Monday proposed expanding that program to $183 million next year."

Imagine that!

What do you suppose we will hear from Obamaland in light of the new evidence? Revoke Professor Jemmot's federal funding, and give it to Michael Mann, instead?

Nothing's out of the question with the set of.......people who currently hold power in Washington.

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"You not only have a constitutional right for abortion, but you have a God-given right.”

Unbelievable!

Red State has details, and asks:

".....where, exactly, does this guy get his information that there’s a 'God-given' right to an abortion? It certainly isn’t in the Bible. It isn’t in any recognized religious tradition I’ve ever heard of (and I am at least relatively well-versed on this subject). Apparently, this 'minister' Veazy feels that he has the plenary power to declare what God-given rights are, based on whatever he feels politically at the moment. In this case, he has declared, based on his (self-professed) ultimate authority to speak on behalf of God Almighty, that God has given women an inherent right to kill children growing in their wombs."

The Nutroots are getting antsy over their beloved public option's fate

....as well they should be.

This post says the votes are not there to get the "Medicare For All" stupidity into the final House version.

Of course this could be all sandbagging, but it smells like desperation.

(Hat tip: Dan Riehl)

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Seniors need a health care Bill of Rights

As well we know, seniors' health care and well being are seriously threatened by many the obnoxious provisions proposed in each of the versions of Obamacare now being considered.

Here's a list of items proposed by the Republicans which must be part of any health care "reform" package" before it is made into law:

PROTECT MEDICARE AND NOT CUT IT IN THE NAME OF HEALTH CARE REFORM:

President Obama and Congressional Democrats are promoting a government-run health care experiment that will cut over $500 billion from Medicare to be used to pay for their plan. Medicare should not be raided to pay for another entitlement.

PROHIBIT GOVERNMENT FROM GETTING BETWEEN SENIORS AND THEIR DOCTORS:

The Democrats' government-run health care experiment will give patients less power to control their own medical decisions, and create government boards that would decide what treatments would or wouldn't be funded. Republicans believe in patient-centered reforms that put the priorities of seniors before government.

PROHIBIT EFFORTS TO RATION HEALTH CARE BASED ON AGE:

The Democrats' government-run health care experiment would set up a "comparative effectiveness research commission" where health care treatment decisions could be limited based on a patient's age. Republicans believe that health care decisions are best left up to seniors and their doctors.

PREVENT GOVERNMENT FROM INTERFERING WITH END-OF-LIFE CARE DISCUSSIONS:

The Democrats' government-run health care experiment would have seniors meet with a doctor to discuss end-of-life care that could mean limiting treatment. Republicans believe that government should not interfere with end-of-life care discussions between a patient and a doctor.

ENSURE SENIORS CAN KEEP THEIR CURRENT COVERAGE:

As Democrats continue to propose steep cuts to Medicare in order to pay for their government-run health care experiment, these cuts threaten millions of seniors with being forced from their current Medicare Advantage plans. Republicans believe that seniors should not be targeted by a government-run health care bill and forced out of their current Medicare coverage.

PROTECT VETERANS BY PRESERVING TRICARE AND OTHER BENEFIT PROGRAMS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES:

Democrats recently proposed raising veterans' costs for the Tricare For Life program that many veterans rely on for treatment. Republicans oppose increasing the burden on our veterans and believe America should honor our promises to them.

"Now I'm free, I'm free falling "

More:

"Two observations: first, while poll results bounce around from day to day, Obama's trend is obvious. He does not appear to have reached bottom yet. Second, for some time now a plurality of respondents--the largest group by a considerable margin--has strongly disapproved of his performance. In recent weeks, that plurality has been around 40 percent. It continues to grow.

It seems doubtful that many of those who now strongly disapprove of Obama's performance will ever become 'approvers,' even if Obama changes course a bit. So the radical measures that Obama tried to ram through Congress in the early weeks of his administration have likely mobilized a solid core of opposition against which the President will have to contend for the rest of his term."

The true costs of "global warming" hysteria

Just a reminder, in preparation for the necessity to defeat the Cap n' Trade scam that's going to be brought up again in Congress this Fall.



Hat tip: Fred Gregory.

A new perspective regarding America's illegal immigration problem

Hat tip: Lynn, my old high school girlfriend

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About that recent Obama Puff Piece

Vanderleun, as is his wont, has the definitive word.

Noteworthy:

"How stoned am I? Look into my eyes, dude. I mean, man, check it out. This is visionary weed, man. I can see, see the future. I see myself as, whoa, President of the United States, man. How far out is that? Hey, don't bogart that...."

Now I hear all you non-vipers, you 'we don't do no chronic, no how' dope-virgins, all saying, 'Uncle Gerard, how do you know?' I know because I KNOW. And all my fellow vipers, active or in retirement, know the same thing.

The good news here is that, maybe, the Federal Government will get out of the War on Dope and concentrate on crack, coke, and crank. The bad news is that the Federal Government may get into the cultivation and distribution of 'Official' weed. If they do, it will be the methadone of marijuana: You won't get sick. You won't get high. You'll just stay on it."

Obama as The Pusher. That wouldn't be a stretch, given the recent history of Obama, The Pusher of Agenda-Driven Big Government Power and Control.

Vanderleun missed this Steppenwolf classic for his collection of appropriate song lyrics. It's particularly appropriate for seniors, if we're stupid enough to let the currently proposed version of Obamacare live. It's also in the style of Jerimiah Wright, too.

"You know I've smoked a lot of grass
O' Lord, I've popped a lot of pills
But I never touched nothin'
That my spirit could kill
You know, I've seen a lot of people walkin' 'round
With tombstones in their eyes
But the pusher don't care
Ah, if you live or if you die

God damn, The Pusher
God damn, I say The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man"

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An experience in Canadacare

Hat tip: cheripicker.

Over in Usual Suspect land, the "progressives" are restless.

They can't compete on the merits of the issue, and they're getting brutalized in the court of public opinion, so they've resorted to the usual tactics of babble, dribble, drool, and spew in their desperation to salvage something, ANYTHING from the burning carcass of Obama's signature policy issue.

It's hard to feel sorry for their failure, and the failure of their cherished New World Order, isn't it?

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Obama union thugs "astroturf" black conservative to the hospital

These SEIU thugs were invited to "Get in their faces", by the Thug-in-Chief himself, in yet another attempt to tell opponents of The Agenda to shut up and obey.

Here's what the Chief Thug had to say about these tactics previously:



The whole presence of the Obama thugs was a set up.

First hand testimony on the attack:

"I was at the event. My name is David Brown. I am an atty in St. Louis. My friend, Kenneth Gladney, who is black, was passing out Don’t Tread on Me Flags and Tea Party buttons at the end of the event to Tea Party supporters and conservatives. He was then called a racial slur by two SEIU members. He was then attacked by two black males (SEIU reps) and white male, another SEIU rep., and a white woman. The punched him in the face and he fell to the ground. He was then kicked and punched by all four. One fled on foot, and three were arrested. Kenneth was taken to St. John’s Mercy Hospital to the emergency room. He has suffered numerous injuries. For more information, please contact me at PHONE NUMBER EDITED OUT. Thank you."

So let's see: When shall we hear the outrage from Al Sharpton and Je$$e Jack$on about this hate crime?

Confederate Yankee sums up the entire Obamathug scenario.

Excerpt:

"And yet if you look to the media or the blogosphere or the government itself, you see a very well-coordinated message going out that 'right wing mobs' are responsible for opposing a bill that a simple majority of the country opposes as the wrong solution to the problem.

There has always been gamesmanship, bias, and even flat-out lying in American politics, but I've been simply amazed at the messaging orchestration between the media, left-wing activist groups, liberal bloggers, and senior Democratic Party politicians all the way up to and including the Senate Majority Leader, Speaker of the House, and the President of the United States himself.

These socialists—let's call them what they are—are pushing hard for a version of health reform that a majority of Americans simple do not want. They are pushing for a complete gutting of our health care system, even though 74-percent of us rate our care as 'good' or 'excellent.'

They are pushing a plan that 50-percent of Americans believe will lead to a decline in the quality of their coverage, and that 78-percent know will lead to higher taxes on the middle class.

Democrats in Congress can pass this legislation without a single Republican vote, just as they did the stimulus bill. They hold a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate, and have a President itching to sign the nationalization of health care into law.

But the simple truth of the matter is that conservative and moderate Blue Dog Democrats know the stench of a rotten bill when they smell it. It is Blue Dog Democrats that have joined independents and Republicans in opposing a plan that the majority of the country does not expect to benefit anyone other than those who want to increase the size of government, and to insert the power of the government even further into your life.

The radical left wing of the Democratic Party, their activist groups and their adoring co-conspirators in the media seem to be doing everything in their power to demonize and shout down the majority of Americans unhappy with their scheming. They've resorted to slander. They've resorted to libel. They've lied unabashedly and outrageously. And now it seems they've resorted to physical thuggery in an attempt to silence their opposition."

If the violence grows more widespread, we can put the blame EXACTLY where it belongs: On the miserable excuse for a president, his thugs throughout his power base, and the arrogant insufferable "progressives" who continue to support this shameful example of an oppressive Democrat thugocracy.

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Exposing a traffic scam

In North Carolina, we got rid of the potential for scams like this several years ago.

Excerpt from the Chicago Tribune article, which quotes a revenue hungry local bureaucrat in a rare moment of candor:

"When the very first red-light camera was planted in the suburbs at 25th Avenue and Harrison Street in Bellwood, it instantly became more than just a traffic control device.

It became a cash machine.

That one device generates $60,000 to $70,000 a month in revenue from traffic fines for the western suburb, Bellwood Comptroller Roy McCampbell once declared as he likened the camera to “Lotto or casino type operations.”

'That intersection is a guaranteed amount of money,' McCampbell boasted to an Illinois Municipal League seminar in a 2007 presentation that was recorded and posted on YouTube. '… It just keeps popping.'

The reason is simple: The camera guards an entrance path to the Eisenhower Expressway and snaps away as cars and trucks make rolling right turns on red with astounding frequency.

....In his municipal league talk, McCampbell said he and other Bellwood officials lobbied for the new law. He aid the driving force was the deaths of four people in a July 2005 crash that involved red light running at Mannheim Road and Madison Street.

Bellwood has eight traffic cameras, but none at that intersection.

Let's make sure red light cameras NEVER come back to North Carolina, and let's make sure we stop any kind of talk of implementing this type of outrage before our North Carolina Vast Democrat Culture of Corruption money sucking vampires get their fangs out.

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Dr. Obama, Dr. Pelosi, and Dr. Reid have this new prescription in mind for you

Next on the Obamanation agenda: Tax hikes for the middle class confirmed by Geithner

What?

Don't tell me you actually thought Obama "would not raise taxes on the middle class"?

Little Timmy Tu-Tu spills the beans.

Excerpt:

"Then Stephanopoulos asked: 'The president has said that taxes won't go up for any Americans earning under $250,000. But it doesn't appear he's going to be able to keep that promise if you're going to bring the deficits down.'

'George, again,' said Geithner, 'we can't make these judgments yet about exactly what it's going to take and how we're going to get there. But the very important thing, and no one is going to care about this more than the president of the United States, is for people to understand that we do not have a choice as a country. That if we want an economy that's going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it's going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform. But that's necessary but not sufficient. We're going to do some other things as well.'

Stephanopoulos then tried to get Geithner to rule out a tax increase, which Geithner would not do.

'So revenues are on the table as well?' asked Stephanopoulos.

'Again, we're not at the point yet where we're going to make a judgment about what it's going to take,' said Geithner.

'But you're not ruling it out. You can't rule it out,' said Stephanopoulos.

'Well, I think that what the country needs to do is understand we're going to have to do what it takes,' said Geithner. 'We're going to do what's necessary.' "

Notice how Timmy repeats the lie that Obamacare is going to bring the deficits down?

The Obamanation scenario is clear: The "Rich" and seniors will pay for Obamacare, and the middle class will pay for deficit reduction.

Future Obamanation lies will be forthcoming as necessary, cloaked as "policy adjustments".

Got it....

And, of course, all the above does not include any discussion about who will bear the burden for Cap 'n Trade, or the costs of imminent illegal immigrant amnesty benefit package, or the reparations scam that's sure to come along sometime in the future.

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Which one of the Obamacare scenarios is a lie?

Obama, interviewed at a Center for American Progress/ SEIU health care forum in 2007:

"But I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process."

Obama, at the AMA's national conference, 6/15/ 2009:

“If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”

Which scenario do you think is the eventual one actually intended in an Obamanation?

You get three guesses, and the first two don't count.

(hat tip: Sweetness and Light)

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'It's all a misunderstanding!'

Don't be fooled by the health care 'co-op' tags

It's just another way to hide the loathesome "public option" provision of Obamacare.

Noteworthy:

"If by health care 'co-op,' Congress means allowing private associations to collectively buy health insurance for their members or operate a health insurance exchange, or allowing people to buy health insurance from a non-profit, member-owned private insurer, then those would be positive, pro-consumer developments.

However, simply slapping the word 'cooperative' onto a new 'insurer,' but then specifying that the government — not the policyholders — picks the board of directors (as Sen. Schumer wants), or that taxpayers will subsidize it, or that it has to pay doctors and hospitals at Medicare rates, would just be an exercise in trying to disguise a 'public plan.' "

This is just another attempt at "progressive" smoke and mirrors, put forth in an effort to keep you poor and stupid when it comes to "health care reform" in the Obamanation.

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Obamacare: 'Reform' at the expense of quality health care for Seniors'

Details:

Losing Your Doctor:

"Under the current system, more and more seniors are discovering that it is becoming harder and harder to find and keep doctors who will accept Medicare patients. A 2008 survey found that 29% of the Medicare beneficiaries it surveyed who were looking for a primary care doctor had a problem finding one to treat them, up from 24% the year before. This problem is compounded by the fact that our nation is facing a growing shortage of doctors. Obamacare promises to only make these problems worse. First, Obama plans to pay for up to a third of his plan by cutting $313 billion in Medicare reimbursements to health care providers over the next 10 years. This will only force more doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients. Second, Obama’s public “option” could decrease the annual net income of hospitals by $36 billion, while the annual net income of physicians could drop by $33.1 billion. Facing a sharp reduction in their pay, more doctors will retire early and more bright students will elect to pursue other careers, thereby reducing access and ensuring lower quality health care for future generations as well."


Losing Your Coverage:

"22% of all Medicare patients, which translates to 10.5 million seniors, are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. These health plans cover all of the traditional Medicare benefits and much more, including coor­dinated care and care-management programs for enrollees with chronic conditions as well as additional hospitalization and skilled nursing facility stays. President Obama has proposed killing this program entirely. A new study for the Florida Association of Health Plans found that, because Medicare Advantage plans have richer benefits and lower deductibles and co-payments than traditional Medicare, seniors in that state would face dramatically higher payments if forced to give up their Medicare Advantage plans. Cost increases would range from $2,214 a year in Jacksonville to $3,714 a year in Miami."


Rationing Your Care:

"Another centerpiece to Obamacare is the creation of a federal health board that will ration your health care. Obama supporter and infanticide advocate Peter Singer made the case for rationing health care recently in the New York Times, writing: 'The task of health care bureaucrats is then to get the best value for the resources they have been allocated.' Conservatives in Congress have given Obamacare supporters every opportunity to disavow government-rationed health care, but Obamacare supporters have voted down every anti-rationing amendment proposed. Make no mistake, Obama plans to pay for expanded coverage for the young and healthy by denying treatments to the old and sick. Americans can do better."


Here's the truth about Obamacare, in response to the Obamanator's "town hall" meeting yesterday:





If the Obamacrats don't lose the "public option" from any of the various plans being floated, health care reform is DEAD.

If you are really concerned about achieving some measure of health care reform, tell your elected Federal officials to insist that the public option disappear post haste.

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More Cambridge police officers speak out

We continue to hear the "progressive" sources' desperate attempts to distract attention away from Gates' bad behavior by coming up with any little distraction that will focus attention on Sgt. Crowley.

And still no apology to Crowley from Gates, Obama, Patrick, and Cambridge Mayor Simmons.

Why is it that the "raaaaaaaacism" and "hate crime" thing only works one way?

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Next up for the Obamanation: Wide open borders, and completely unchecked illegal immigration

"The Administration is under great political pressure not to have an effective immigration policy. The fact is there's huge political pressure coming from the extreme Left that wants open borders and do not want illegal immigration to be stopped."



Hat tip: Washington News Observer.