Thursday, June 9, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, June 9, 2011


God is great...

Beer is good...

And people are crazy...
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1 comment:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576373471663390208.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* BY KARL ROVE (ADMITTEDLY AN A--HOLE HIMSELF... BUT FACTS ARE FACTS.)

Barack Obama told his staff the day after he was inaugurated that "transparency and the rule of law" would be his presidency's "touchstones."

(*FALLING TO THE FLOOR LAUGHING*)

[T]hey haven't been.

* DUH!

* FOR EXAMPLE...

Mr. Obama has ignored a law requiring he send Congress a plan to strengthen Medicare's finances - even though members of his own cabinet have reminded him in writing of his duty to do so.

* A BIT OF HISTORY:

Medicare was originally designed to be paid for mostly by special dedicated taxes. Yet it has become increasingly dependent on general revenues as expenses have far outrun both projections and Medicare tax receipts. By 2024, according to the annual report of the Medicare trustees, the hospital insurance trust fund will be exhausted.

* AND BTW... THERE REALLY IS NO "TRUST FUND." IT'S AN ACCOUNTING GIMMICK.

To force Washington to take action before Medicare overwhelms the federal budget, fiscal experts wrote a presidential obligation into the Medicare Reform Act of 2003. Under that provision, if Medicare's trustees forecast that general revenues will be required for 45% or more of the program's outlays within a seven-year period, then the president must propose legislation to correct the problem within 15 days of his next budget submission. Congress then has to give the proposal expedited consideration.

In their annual report this spring, Medicare's trustees - who include four members of Mr. Obama's cabinet as well as two outside experts - said "the threshold was in fact breached" during the last fiscal year and "a Presidential proposal is required by law in response."

(As, indeed, one was required in 2010 as well.)

(The Democratic majority waived the requirement during the last Congress, but it remains in force this year.)

The president has continued ignoring the law, failing to send Congress a plan to fix Medicare's finances.

* IS THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU'RE HEARING ABOUT THIS, FOLKS? I'LL BE HONEST... IT'S THE FIRST I'M HEARING ABOUT IT!

Obama has also ignored the War Powers Act's requirement that the president seek congressional approval for any military action lasting more than 60 days.

The president, a former University of Chicago lecturer on constitutional law, sees the statute books as a legal cafeteria from which he can pick laws he will and won't follow. A largely compliant media and acquiescing congressional Democratic allies let him get away with making a mockery of his pledge of "transparency and the rule of law."

June 9, 2011 at 9:49 AM

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