Schumer wants TARP czar for 9/11 fund

House Takes First Step Toward Healthcare Repeal
WASHINGTON— House Republicans cleared a hurdle Friday in their first attempt to scrap President Barack Obama's landmark Health Care overhaul, yet it was little more than a symbolic swipe at the law. The real action is in states, where Republicans are using Federal Courts and governors' offices to lead the assault against Obama's signature domestic achievement, a law aimed at covering nearly all Americans. In a post-election bow to tea partiers by the new GOP House majority, Republican la...

Gates goes after military health care
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates is betting that the nation’s frustration with a ballooning Deficit will allow him to trim the Military’s $50 billion-a-year Health Care system. Gates’ proposal, announced this week, would raise fees only on military Retirees under the age of 65, who presumably have access to Health Care in their civilian jobs and haven’t seen a rate increase in more than 15 years. But Gates has tried and failed to push similar proposa...

Ken Feinberg Eyes Return as 9/11 Fund Boss
The former 9/11 compensation fund czar Ken Feinberg wants the job again with the new fund set to open this summer, and New York's senior senator is pushing for him to get the job. Sen. Chuck Schumer sent a letter today is asking U..S. Attorney General Eric Holder to name Feinberg special master of the new $2.8 billion fund after Feinberg informed Schumer the day the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and compensation Act passed that he'd be willing to do the job again for free. “We must ens...

Stewarts Rock n Roll Gillibrand Reference
“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart lavished praise on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand last night, calling her “instrumental” in passing several major bills - from a 9/11 Health Care act to the Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” - despite spending just two years in the upper house. And she did it all, he noted, while under the shadow of Sen. Chuck Schumer, whom Stewart described as “being made of spotlight-eating Bacteria.” Both Stewart a...

At Swearing-In, Schneiderman Touts Plans, Alec Baldwin Floats Him for Governor
"Who the hell's idea was it for me to follow Schumer and Cuomo?" grumbled Alec Baldwin last night at the swearing-in ceremony for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. "I told them I only agreed to come here if I went first." The 30 Rock star was standing at the podium inside the cavernous Great Hall at Shepard Hall on the City College campus, a room that Mark Twain opened 103 years ago. Baldwin had been a surprise star on the dais, sharing the stage and the microphone with Senator Chuck Schumer...

Baltimore man pleads not guilty in recruitment center plot
NEW YORK | Fri Jan 7, 2011 4:21pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Baltimore man accused of plotting to detonate a vehicle bomb at an Armed Forces recruitment center in Maryland pleaded Not Guilty on Friday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland said. Antonio Martinez, also known as Muhammad Hussain, was charged with Attempted Murder of federal officers and employees and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, according to the indictment filed in a Federal Court in Baltim...

The real CBO numbers on ObamaCARE repealing would reduce the deficit by $540 BILLION
The real CBO numbers on ObamaCare - repealing would reduce the Deficit by $540 BILLION When the CBO is given numbers from Democrats, that ignore important costs of ObamaCare such as the doctor fix, you’re going to get numbers that show ObamaCare would reduce the deficit. The CBO isn’t fixing any numbers, they are basically just a calculator and crunch numbers based on what they are given. However, when the CBO gets the full set of numbers, and doesn’t count 6 years of s...

House Takes First Step Toward Health Care Repeal
Friday, January 07, 2011 By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press Washington (AP) - House Republicans cleared a hurdle Friday in their first attempt to scrap President Barack Obama's landmark Health Care overhaul, yet it was little more than a symbolic swipe at the law. The real action is in states, where Republicans are using Federal Courts and governors' offices to lead the assault against Obama's signature domestic achievement, a law aimed at covering nearly all Americans. In a post-...

Ongoing increases in healthcare
Blue Shield of California announced yesterday that they planned to raise rates once again as much as 59% for some of their customers.  The company gained worldwide media attention as they represented the problem with rising Health Care costs in America, in February 2010, when they announced that the company was raising rates on some policy holder by as much as 39%. Fortunately, the company was forced to hold off the increase but in August 2010 they were allowed to increase their rates for c...

Pedro Espada to be charged with tax evasion
Former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. will be socked with a new indictment charging him with Tax Evasion, a Federal Prosecutor said Friday. Espada and his son Pedro G. Espada were charged last month with looting over $500,000 from non-profit health clinics in The Bronx for personal expenses including tickets to Broadway shows and sports events, dinners and a luxury car. Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Colleen Kavanagh said the government expects to file a new indictment in the next four to si...

DiNapoli To Hold Public Inauguration
State Comptroller Tom Dinapoli shared the stage with Governor Cuomo during his low key swearing-in on January 1st. But like Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, he’s also holding his own personal, more elaborate inauguration ceremony. The Long Island native will deliver remarks on Sunday at the Cooper Union in Manhattan to mark the beginning of his first full term in the office. He’ll be joined by US Sen. Chuck Schumer, Nassau Co. DA Kathleen Rice (who lost in the primary to AG Schnei...

Work place enforcement of immigration laws will be issue for Holder
Image via Wikipedia Byron York: With Republicans now in control of the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Eric Holder and other Justice Department officials are going to be answering a lot of questions in the next two years. "We're going to start fast," promises Rep. Lamar Smith, new chairman of the committee, as he lists a bunch of priorities: Immigration, National Security, the constitutionality of ObamaCare, Lawsuit abuse, Intellectual Property, and more. There are many areas in wh...

Mt. Soledad Cross War Monument ruled unconstitutional
A two-decade fight over the Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial in San Diego took a solemn turn when an appeals court ruled the towering tribute to American War Veterans is Unconstitutional and favors the Christian religion. The War Memorial overlooks San Diego and contains six concentric walls that contain 3,200 black granite plaques, purchased by Donors, etched with the names and photographs of war Veterans. Built in 1952 on public land, the cross at the War Memorial has been ground-zero ...

GOP may lose health care repeal battle, but war will rage on
WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House of Representatives will vote Wednesday to Repeal President Barack Obama's Health Care law — and that will settle nothing. Rather, it will be but one more battle in a long political war that will go on for at least two more years, one which either side may win. The Democrats won the first battle when they enacted the sweeping new law last year. The Republicans won the second, when they rode a backlash against the law to take over the House i...

Blue Dogs Show Their True Colors: Vote For HCR Repeal Despite Its Deficit Increases
Blue Dogs Show Their True Colors: Vote For HCR Repeal Despite Its Deficit Increases Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn is reporting that four Democrats who voted against Health Care in March, also voted in favor of the rules package to repeal the Affordable Care Act, suggesting that the GOP’s push to undermine reform will have a Bipartisan flavor. Three of the members — Reps. Dan Boren (OK), Mike Ross (AR), and Mike Mcintyre (NC) — are all part of the hyper-deficit-sensitiv...

Schock Justifies His Government Health Insurance: Im Actually Lowering The Premiums For Older Congressmen
One of the first orders of business in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is a move to Repeal the landmark Health Care reform law that was passed last March. However, following Rep. Andy Harris’s (R-MD) infamous rant about the delay in his congressional Health Care coverage, the media is beginning to question whether the GOP is hypocritical for decrying the specter of “government-run health care,” yet accepting government-sponsored Health Care plans for themse...

Econ 101: The GOP and The CBO
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its estimates on the costs that would accompany a full Repeal of Healthcare Reform.  The New York Times reports that [t]he nonpartisan budget scorekeepers in Congress said on Thursday that the Republican plan to Repeal President Obama’s Health Care law would add $230 billion to federal budget Deficits over the next decade, intensifying the first legislative fight of the new session and highlighting the challenge Republicans face in p...

Medicaid threatens budgets of states: governors
"Every Governor, Republican and Democrat, will face unprecedented Budget challenges in the coming months," the 33 governors and governors-elect said in a letter to congressional leaders and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. They added that efforts by federal health agencies "to regulate state operations impose greater uncertainty on our budgets for oncoming years." Medicaid, which is partially reimbursed by the Federal Government, is one of the biggest spending pressures for states and can eq...

Popular trial of Posada Carriles, live on Internet
Source: Radio Cadena Agramonte Popular trial of Posada Carriles, live on Internet Havana, Cuba, Jan 7- Prominent American personalities will participate in the "People's Court" trial against the international Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, to be celebrated Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Community of El Paso, and will be broadcasted live on Internet. Organized by the American National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the popular view claims true justice for the Victims of the Terrorist ac...

House Fixes Votes-Without-Oaths Problem
Pete Sessions (Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images) The House officially took action today to right a wrong committed in the first days of the new Republican House of Representatives. On the very first day of the 112th Congress, three members were missing when Speaker John Boehner administered the oath of office to members-elect. One Democrat, Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR), had an excused absence because of a meeting in his district about a local Veterans Hospital. Two Republicans just flat-out ...

New at Reason: Katherine Mangu-Ward on the Dangers of Bipartisan School Reform
We are in for a season of grisly partisan bloodletting—or at least some pretty fierce jello wrestling—over Health Care, budgets, and pork, if the coverage of the opening days of the 112th Congress is any indication of things to come. But when it comes to education policy, politicians and pundits are inexplicably full of sunny optimism. Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward brings some rain to the Bipartisan parade. View this article. ...

Secret Service Visits Martial Arts Fighter Who Said He Wants to Take On Obama
It wasn't exactly a smackdown, but a Mixed Martial Arts fighter who trash-talked President Obama got a visit from the Secret Service this week. After winning his match at UFC 125 last Saturday, Jacob Volkmann was asked by a reporter who he'd like to fight next. At first Volkmann said he didn't care, but after thinking about it for a second, he added, "actually, Obama." Criticizing the president's Health Care plan, Volkmann said Obama is "not too bright" and that "someone needs to knock some sen...

Palin: Obamas deliberately trying to weaken America by raising the debt ceiling
I can’t tell if she’s being serious or just making a rhetorical point to rub his face in his Senate vote against raising the ceiling back in 2006. Quoth The One at the time: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s Debt Limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies

Alvin McEwen: Birther Arrested in Congress Connected With Anti-Obama, Anti-gay Rally
You know that zany birther who had the nerve to interrupt Thursday's Congressional reading of the Constitution? She is 48-year-old Theresa Cao of New York. She was arrested on charges of unlawful conduct, disruption of Congress. Cao was processed at Capitol Police headquarters and released. No doubt, we will probably being hearing more about her. But I ran across something regarding Ms. Cao that I find very interesting. The first part of the video clip below is her talking and as you can see....

Rick Horowitz: A Presidential Rebound?
So here's what we know: The president's job-approval rating is back up again, higher than it's been in months. And here's what we don't know: Why? There are plenty of theories, of course, and here at the Punditocracy Clearinghouse, we've been busy little beavers, trying to catalogue each and every one of them. If Barack Obama has made it back to the magic 50-percent mark -- as he did in the Gallup poll just this week -- there's a perfectly good reason for it, right? Or even two perfectly good...