Is Obama's $789 billion buying votes instead of jobs?

Studies show 'stimulus' spent on Democrats, not unemployment

A pair of studies analyzing U.S. jobs and the effects of President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act suggest the so-called "stimulus" bill has boosted partisan interests far more than employment figures.
White House projections in February claimed the $789 billion in spending would "create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years" and that over 90 percent of those jobs would be in the private sector.
One year into the two-year projections, however, the studies show that not only has the money failed thus far to deliver on either of those promises, but it also has been doled out disproportionately to districts with Democrat representation.
The first study, conducted by the Republicans of the House

Ways and Means Committee, compares the White House's projections to actual U.S. Department of Labor statistics on a state-by-state basis.
The numbers show that 49 of the 50 states have actually lost jobs since the stimulus was passed in February, and that the only state to gain jobs, North Dakota, still has more than halfway to go to meet White House projections.
And while calculating how many jobs the stimulus package has "saved" is highly contentious (the administration estimates it has created 640,000 jobs), the Republicans compare the promised 3.5 million jobs the stimulus package was supposed to boost to the net 2.6 million jobs the U.S. has lost since the ARRA was passed.


Read the rest here. 

Isn't it interesting how our taxes are being spent on motivating the Democrats to pass Obama death care, rather than to create jobs?

Pelosi wants to ram the pro-abortion health care bill through the House

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Ca.) is planning to try to ram the massive health care bill (H.R. 3200) through the House on short notice, without allowing consideration of a critical pro-life amendment.  National Right to Life is urging every pro-life citizen to immediately TELEPHONE the office of his or her representative in the U.S. House of Representatives with a clear and firm message urging a NO vote on the so-called "rule," which is the procedural vote that would allow passage of H.R. 3200 with no amendments allowed, and also to vote against the pro-abortion bill itself.

Even if you have already called and written your representatives in Congress about the health care bills, it is critical that you call again now.  This will just take a few minutes.  For guidance on how to make your call, click here.

Once there, you will see a box labeled "CALL NOW."  Once you enter your zip code in that box, you will be shown the name and phone number of your representative in the U.S. House, along with suggested "talking points" that will help you deliver a crisp, clear message to your representative's staff person in Washington, D.C.

Sarah Palin refuses to drop 'death panels' term

And why should she? Given the track record of Ezekiel Emmanuel, the president's advisor on health care, who favors euthanasia, she better keep that term fresh in our memories. Look at the euthanasia already taking place in the UK, and you are viewing the future of Obamacare. Wesley Smith has a piece in First Things which explains where the death panels originated.
Sarah explains how the death panels fit into the plan of Obamacare.
"Now look at one way Mr. Obama wants to eliminate inefficiency and waste: He's asked Congress to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts charged with containing Medicare costs. In an interview with the New York Times in April, the president suggested that such a group, working outside of "normal political channels," should guide decisions regarding that "huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives . . . ."
Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels? Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans. Working through "normal political channels," they made themselves heard, and as a result Congress will likely reject a wrong-headed proposal to authorize end-of-life counseling in this cost-cutting context. But the fact remains that the Democrats' proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make decisions affecting life or death health-care matters. Such government overreaching is what we've come to expect from this administration. "
Read the entire story in the Wall Street Journal.

End of Life Kills Obamacare?

Democrats have spent the past two weeks trying to convince elderly American voters that only right-wing whackos could believe that Obamacare will lead to rationed healthcare or “death counseling” to convince those over 65 that they should help cut health care costs by, well, dying.

Section 1233 of H.R. 3200, the House bill that facilitates a government takeover of America’s health care system, has recently come under fire for including so-called “end of life” counseling in a “cost cutting” measure. The Senate has pulled the language from their latest version of the bill. (Stay tuned: there’s as many new versions every day as aircraft taking off from Reagan National Airport.)

Are these fears real? Perhaps the answer can be garnered from the past activities of the key drafters of the House Obamacare bills.

Read the rest here. Article

Obama's Health Rationer-in-Chief

The following is an article by Betsey McCaughey for the Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health adviser to President Barack Obama, is under scrutiny. As a bioethicist, he has written extensively about who should get medical care, who should decide, and whose life is worth saving. Dr. Emanuel is part of a school of thought that redefines a physician’s duty, insisting that it includes working for the greater good of society instead of focusing only on a patient’s needs. Many physicians find that view dangerous, and most Americans are likely to agree...

Read the rest here

Why Catholics Should Oppose Obama Care

USCCB Criteria for Health Care Reform

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have issued the following criteria for reform of our health care system and their key policy priorities:

Criteria for Reform

Respect for Life. Whether it preserves and enhances the sanctity and dignity of human life from conception to natural death.

Priority Concern for the Poor. Whether it gives special priority to meeting the most pressing health care needs of the poor and underserved, ensuring that they receive quality health services.

Universal Access. Whether it provides ready universal access to comprehensive health care for every person living in the United States.

Comprehensive Benefits. Whether it provides comprehensive benefits sufficient to maintain and promote good health; to provide preventive care; to treat disease, injury, and disability appropriately; and to care for persons who are chronically ill or dying.
Pluralism. Whether it allows and encourages the involvement of the public and private sectors, including the voluntary, religious, and nonprofit sectors, in the delivery of care and services; and whether it ensures respect for religious and ethical values in the delivery of health care for
consumers and for individual and institutional providers.

Quality. Whether it promotes the development of processes and standards that will help to achieve quality and equity in health services, in the training of providers, and in the informed participation of consumers in decision making on health care.

Cost Containment and Controls. Whether it creates effective cost-containment measures that reduce waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary care; measures that control rising costs of competition, commercialism, and administration; and measures that provide incentives to individuals and providers for effective and economical use of limited resources.

Equitable Financing. Whether it assures society's obligation to finance universal access to comprehensive health care in an equitable fashion, based on ability to pay; and whether proposed cost-sharing arrangements are designed to avoid creating barriers to effective care for the poor and vulnerable.

Does The Obama Care Plan Meet This Criteria?

NO

The Obama Health Care Reform Plan violates the Catholic criteria of upholding the sanctity and dignity of human life from conception to natural death.

The bills approved so far by House and Senate committees include mandated abortion coverage and abortion funding. (Via the USCCB)

Obama Care promotes euthanasia:

Pages 425-430: "end-of-life" counseling and courses will be obligatory in this heinous bill- the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically called Compassion and Choices) has admitted to working with members of congress on this section of the bill;

Page 429: nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants can have authority to write end-of-life orders.

Of the 31 occurrences of the word "planning" in the text of this massive bill, fifteen of them are in the sections dealing with death planning (always called "advanced care planning"), nine are in the sections on "family planning" (code words for abortion, sex education and contraception) and the other seven are about government bureaucratic functioning. Isn't it strange that a society which has worshipped "freedom of choice" for so long is now on the verge of surrendering its freedom and choices to government planners?

Obama Care fails to respect and protect the conscience rights of medical personnel and health care providers.

Obama Care rations medical care for the weak, sick, and disabled.

Page 29: healthcare will be rationed by government regulators;

Pages 30 and 42: government committees will be set up to decide what healthcare we can and can't have - a "Health Choices Commissioner" (Commissar?) will be in charge of these decisions;

Page 239: the government will limit and reduce physician services for Medicaid which means that the dependent elderly and those most unable to access other services will suffer;

Page 341: the government will be able to disqualify Medicare Part B and HMOs if they don't get with the program, which means that they can effectively put them out of business as competition; and no one will be able to sue the government for a de facto monopoly on healthcare or for price-fixing (p. 124);

Obama Care violates the principle of equitable financing as well as the religious beliefs and consciences of individuals.

Low-income Americans opposed to abortion will be “forced by the federal government” to pay for abortions when they purchase the public plan, which means that practicing Catholic non-white poor women will be forced to pay for the abortions of rich white women—women who equate abortion with a root canal. (Via The Catholic League.)

More Information:

From Family Planning to Death Planning -- by Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International

Fr. Frank Pavone, Director of Priests for Life: Health Care Alert

American Health Care Reform: A Good End Does Not Justify Evil Means -- Commentary by Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro Carámbula

United States Conference Catholic Bishops Health Care Reform Website

Letters from bishops:

August 11 letter from Cardinal Rigali to House of Representatives
July 29 Letter from Cardinal Rigali to House Energy and Commerce Committee
July 17 Letter from Bishop William Murphy to Congress
Statement of Bishop William Murphy to Senate Committee on Finance
March 26 Joint Letter to the Senate

STOP THE ABORTION MANDATE