Daschle Officially Named HHS, Will Head New White House Office of Health Reform

In his book, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis", Daschle writes "Most of the world’s highest-ranking health-care systems employ some kind of 'single-payer' strategy - that is, the government, directly or through insurers, is responsible for paying doctors, hospitals, and other health-care providers."

Is this socialized medicine that has given mixed results to Canada and many European countries?

View Daschle's voting record on health care. You decide.

What is single-payer health care?

Will the Senate Vote Down Auto Bailout?

The latest news from Reuter's

It is our opinion that one of the last acts of the current Congress should be a "No" Vote on the current plan.

$15 Billion is money better spent other places. The White House won its battle that the money come from an already existing bill for energy-efficient cars.

The bailout of the banks and financial institutions was a necessary evil to avoid a complete credit collapse that would have doomed the economy even worse than current conditions.

Government involvement in private industry can only spell trouble. We do not need central-planning!

See related post.

Sen. Bob Corker's Republican alternative (from CNNMoney.com) include the following points:

• GM and Chrysler must reduce their debt by two-thirds by March 15, or file for bankruptcy. This would allow them to renegotiate their debt with lenders and bondholders.

• The United Auto Workers union would have to accept significant equity in the companies to help offset future retiree health care payments, instead of cash or other assets the companies were to contribute to union-controlled trust funds that will pay those claims in the future.

• The union would have to accept pay cuts for GM and Chrysler workers to levels paid at the U.S. plants of overseas automakers.

This is what we've argued all along. Why does it cost The Big 3 upwards of 60% in labor to produce a car? The Union contracts MUST be renegotiated through bankruptcy. Tax dollars should not be used as an appeasement to the unions -- or $15 Billion in votes for the Democrats.

Obama/Blagojevich Connection: The Myths. The Facts. The Lies

Sweetness-Light.com/Article from KHQA The article was removed from KHQA website on Wednesday December 10th

• QUINCY, IL — Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled. That's one of Obama's first priorities today. He's meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss it.

A November 8th story from KHQA alludes to the same.

• QUINCY, IL -- Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
  Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There’s already been speculation about his selection…from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth.
  

Retraction of the story from KHQA

• KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama’in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.

Michelle Obama's Involvement.

Jesse Jackson Jr on the offensive of his defense.

Is the Liberal Elite Media covering for Mr. Obama again? Why is Blago so upset at Obama in the tapes?

Essay From The New Yorker, July 2008

• That year, he gained his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a message of reform. Rahm Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago and a friend of Obama’s, told me that he, Obama, David Wilhelm, who was Blagojevich’s campaign co-chair, and another Blagojevich aide were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory. He and Obama “participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor,” Emanuel said. “We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two.” A spokesman for Blagojevich confirmed Emanuel’s account, although David Wilhelm, who now works for Obama, said that Emanuel had overstated Obama’s role. “There was an advisory council that was inclusive of Rahm and Barack but not limited to them,” Wilhelm said, and he disputed the notion that Obama was “an architect or one of the principal strategists.”

America, we beg you, fight for the truth. What did Obama know?

http://change.gov/page/content/openforquestions (A new open forum on the Transition Team website, but questions about Blagojevich are being "labelled inappropiate" and not readily visible.)

Our guess is that he is not personally involved in the corrupt "Pay to Play" Chicago Way but he knows a lot. But, he did come from the Chicago Political Scene.

****Please check this out from Volokh.comThe Blagojevich Timeline: Everything Fits Easily Except Obama's Monday Denial****

Prove us wrong.

Axelrod Endorsed Trading Jobs For Political Favors!

In a 2005 Chicago Tribune op-ed, President-Elect Obama's advisor and "mis-speaker" David Axelrod alluded that Quid Pro Quo politics is acceptable.

• "The democratic process is often messy. Diverse constituencies fight fiercely for their priorities. Their elected representatives use the influence they have to meet those needs, including sometimes the exchange of favors--consideration for jobs being just one."

The op-ed was in response to Fitzgerald's anti-corruption efforts where a number of aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley were indicted for conspiracy to give city jobs as political favors.

• Axelrod also wondered if a “system free of political influence … is really desirable.”

From Politico.com

Advisor David Axelrod: "I know he (President-Elect Obama) has talked to the governor."

Did he or didn't he?

Obama Advisor David Axelrod said this on November 23rd:

• "I know he has talked to the governor. There's a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced. And he has a fondness for a lot of them."

President-Elect Obama said this on Tuesday:

• "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening. But as I said it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don't think it's appropriate to comment."

Axelrod retracted his statement after the charges were filed yesterday against Governor Blagojevich, saying he "mis-spoke".

Someone is not telling the truth.