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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries from March 31st, 2010

FDA reviewing whether to ban menthol cigarettes – Are Breathmints to follow?

March 31st, 2010 · Government Control

By Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Federal officials began grappling Tuesday with one of the thorniest issues surrounding the regulation of tobacco: whether to ban menthol, the most popular cigarette flavoring, which is smoked by millions of Americans every day.

The issue carries great importance for public health advocates and tobacco executives. But it also has racial implications, since menthol cigarettes are overwhelmingly popular among African Americans.

A scientific advisory panel that will advise the Food and Drug Administration on regulating tobacco opened a two-day meeting Tuesday and began reviewing hundreds of published studies on menthol cigarettes. The panel, largely made up of scientists, physicians and public health experts, has a year to make a recommendation to the FDA on menthol cigarettes, which are used by about 26 percent of smokers and make up almost one-third of the $70 billion U.S. cigarette market.

Menthol cigarettes are especially popular among young smokers. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 62 percent of middle-school students who smoke begin with menthol cigarettes, whose minty taste can mask the harshness of tobacco.

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Public Law Update

March 31st, 2010 · Public Law Update

H.R. 4872 / Public Law 111-152
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
(Mar. 30, 2010; 124 Stat. 1029; 55 pages)

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Public Law Update

March 30th, 2010 · Public Law Update

H.R. 4938 / Public Law 111-150
To permit the use of previously appropriated funds to extend the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program, and for other purposes.
(Mar. 26, 2010; 124 Stat. 1026; 1 page)

S. 3186 / Public Law 111-151
Satellite Television Extension Act of 2010
(Mar. 26, 2010; 124 Stat. 1027; 2 pages)

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Public Law Update

March 30th, 2010 · Public Law Update

H.R. 3433 / Public Law 111-149

To amend the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to establish requirements regarding payment of the non-Federal share of the costs of wetlands conservation projects in Canada that are funded under that Act, and for other purposes.
(Mar. 25, 2010; 124 Stat. 1025; 1 page)

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Homeland Security IG in conflict with agencies on corruption probes

March 30th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Government Control, Homeland Security, Immigration, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama Nominees, Terrorism from Within

By Andrew Becker – Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Offices charged with ferreting out corruption among U.S. border and immigration employees are engaged in a turf battle that has delayed some investigations and threatens to undermine a host of enforcement actions, records and interviews show.

The conflict pits the inspector general’s office in the Department of Homeland Security against the agency’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division and the FBI.

The turf battle came to a head about a week before a failed Christmas Day terrorist attack aboard an airliner,when Assistant Inspector General Thomas M. Frost ordered the top internal affairs official at CBP to drop any investigations underway outside the inspector general’s supervision.

In a Dec. 16 memo, Frost ordered James Tomsheck, the CBP commissioner for internal affairs, “to cease criminal investigations of any matter involving a DHS program or employee.” Frost also ordered CBP to stop participating in task forces or sharing information with other agencies unless coordinated through the inspector general’s office.

Some investigators think the order contradicts calls by the Homeland Security Department, Congress and the White House demanding increased agency cooperation. But an IG official said it was meant to improve internal-affairs inquiries.

Frost declined to comment, but his deputy, James Gaughran, said having too many investigating agencies risks intelligence leaks that can jeopardize investigators’ safety.

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Anti-U.S. views rise in Indonesia – rumored birthplace of Obama*

March 30th, 2010 · Foreign Policy

* Reference: The Fraud Of Barry Soetoro (a.k.a. Barack Hussein Obama); From Barry to Barack

Some in Indonesia praise, seek to replicate China’s fight against United States

ByAndrew Higgins Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 29, 2010

Amid cries of “God is Great,” the former chief of staff of the Indonesian army joined hard-line Muslim activists in a Jakarta ballroom last week to denounce the United States — and praise China as a model of how to stand up to Washington.

“We should do what China has done; America must follow our rules,” declared retired Gen. Tyasno Sudarto. Veiled women and bearded men, seated separately to avoid mingling of the sexes, shouted praise for Allah and jabbed their fists in the air. Another speaker hailed China for defying Washington’s “neo-liberal” economic creed.

The boisterous event, organized by an Islamic organization called Hizb ut-Tahrir, brought together two groups of Indonesians that don’t usually mix — fervent champions of an Islamic state and zealous secular nationalists. What united them was a shared fury at Washington and the hope that Beijing can put America in its place.

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Washington Post poll finds split on health-care law remains deep

March 30th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government Control, Healthcare, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Terrorism from Within, Treason

By Jon Cohen and Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 28, 2010

Americans overwhelmingly see the new health-care law as a major shift in the direction of the country, but they remain as deeply divided today over the changes as they were throughout the long congressional debate, according to a Washington Post poll.

In the days since President Obama signed the farthest-reaching piece of social welfare legislation in four decades, overall public opinion has changed little, with continuing broad public skepticism about the effects of the new law and more than a quarter of Americans seeing neither side as making a good-faith effort to cooperate on the issue.

Overall, 46 percent of those polled said they support the changes in the new law; 50 percent oppose them. That is virtually identical to the pre-vote split on the proposals and similar to the divide that has existed since last summer, when the country became sharply polarized over the president’s most ambitious domestic initiative.

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The ObamaCare Writedowns – The corporate damage rolls in, and Democrats are shocked!

March 27th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government Control, Greed, Healthcare, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Treason

It’s been a banner week for Democrats: ObamaCare passed Congress in its final form on Thursday night, and the returns are already rolling in. Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what has become a wave of such corporate losses.

This wholesale destruction of wealth and capital came with more than ample warning. Turning over every couch cushion to make their new entitlement look affordable under Beltway accounting rules, Democrats decided to raise taxes on companies that do the public service of offering prescription drug benefits to their retirees instead of dumping them into Medicare. We and others warned this would lead to AT&T-like results, but like so many other ObamaCare objections Democrats waved them off as self-serving or “political.”

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CBO Upate

March 27th, 2010 · CBO Update

The following has been added to CBO’s Web site (www.cbo.gov):

  • Federal Climate Change Programs: Funding History and Policy Issues
    http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11224
  • H.R. 553, Reducing Over-Classification Act
    Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on November 4, 2009
    http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11427
  • S. 1703, A bill to amend the act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes
    Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on December 17, 2009
    http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11428
  • S. 2989, Small Businesd Contracting Revitalization Act of 2010
    Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on March 4, 2010
    http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11425
  • S. 148, Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act
    Cost estimate for the bill as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on March 18, 2010
    http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11424
  • Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010
    Pay-as-you-go estimate for the bill as provided by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
    http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11426

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Doctors divided on how new health-care law will affect them

March 27th, 2010 · Healthcare, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within

By Rachel Saslow Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 27, 2010

Physicians’ reactions to President Obama’s health-care legislation are as complicated and varied as the bill itself and depend largely on the type of medicine they practice.

Primary-care physicians will “absolutely” benefit from the bill, said Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She said she is particularly looking forward to a 10 percent Medicare bonus for primary-care physicians for the next five years.

“There is still a two-to-three-times payment discrepancy between primary-care doctors and other medical specialties, so 10 percent is the proverbial drop in the bucket,” Heim said. “But it’s the start that we need.”

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