What Blogs are Saying

Stop The ACLU

A Federal Dept. Advocating for a Political Cause?

Where is the Obama administration's sense of propriety? Apparently it's wrapped up in victory-at-any-cost mode if the website for the federal government's Health and Human Services is concerned. For, if you go to the HHS.gov website, you'll see a banner that advertises for a political issue, instead of a legitimate government "service."

There you'll see a banner/button pushing the political cause of nationalized health care. Worse, clicking on that button takes you to a faux petition style email page where you can "state your support" to the president for his "commitment to health care reform." This is basically the president giving the public a fake place to tell him to support his own cause. There is also a link to healthreform.gov which is little else but an Obama issue advocacy campaign website and not really a legitimate government site at all.

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Focus on the Family

Daschle draws opposition from Focus on the Family

"Tom Daschle is a disaster appointment, the opposite of a national protector of health and human services," pro-life blogger Jill Stanek told the Catholic News Agency. "Daschle ardently supports abortion %85 and he disdains abstinence education.

"The only reason Obama appointed Daschle was to assure Obama's radical support of the abortion industry would be extended through HHS."

Concerned Women for America

6/4/2003 - South Dakota Family Leader Blasts Sen. Daschle's 'Gutter Politics'

Does the Senate Minority Leader understand Christian redemption?

The following is adapted from a "Special Alert" sent out by South Dakota Family Policy Council Executive Director Robert Regier, via e-mail on June 3:

Family Research Counsel

Change Watch Backgrounder: Tom Daschle

Many believe wrongly that we have the best health system in the world . . . One of the most urgent priorities in this nation is making its health system accessible and affordable for all." Daschle. Thomas, Paying "More but Getting Less: Myths and the Global Case for U.S. Health Reform," Center for American Progress, November 2005.

"Daschle's solution lies in the Federal Reserve Board, which has overseen the equally complicated financial system with great success. A Fed-like health board would offer a public framework within which a private health-care system can operate more effectively and efficiently-insulated from political pressure yet accountable to elected officials and the American people. Daschle argues that this independent board would create a single standard of care and exert tremendous influence on every other provider and payer, even those in the private sector." Excerpt: "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis," by Senator Tom Daschle with Scott S. Greenberger and Jeanne M. Lambrew, February, 2008

"For the most part, Daschle's views on health-care policy are predictable for a Democratic politician with long service in the Congress . . . the toolbox he is looking through is the same one other Democrats are also reaching for:

* mandates on individuals and businesses to buy or offer coverage;

* new government-run insurance options for the under-65 population;

* a national governmental agency offering anyone who wants it to sign up for insurance outside of work;

* large new subsidy programs;

* and much more government involvement in determining what is and is not effective medical care

. . . Daschle is no free-market reformer. He believes the solution is to entrust government-run health care to people more trustworthy than HHS bureaucrats or elected members of Congress

. . . In Daschle's vision, such a board would be charged with making the big and controversial decisions - like what should or should not be covered by insurance plans - without having to answer to the public. Of course, this would be a nightmare scenario for those fearful of government intrusion into the practice of medicine. Once up and running, such a Board would inevitably accrue more power and authority, becoming the choke point for all crucial decisions. And the public would have little recourse to ever undo it." Capretta, James, "Daschle's Health-Care Plan," National Review, August 27, 2008.

Jeff Emanual

Tom Daschle's philosophy on health care, condensed

As I pointed out at the time it became known that Daschle would be the HHS Secretary nominee, the move has all the hallmarks of an attempt to enact the disastrous HillaryCare plan of 1994, but to do it far more cleverly than the tone-deaf, politically clumsy First Lady was able to do at the time.

Since being booted from the Senate by the voters, Daschle has been a fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he has agitated for a total overhaul of the U.S. health care system that is centered on the implementation of a "private system within a federal framework."

Daschle envisions this nationalized system, which is being described in doublespeak because Daschle, et al know there is little appetite in America for a total government takeover of health care, as being overseen by a health care equivalent of the Federal Reserve which utilizes the power of the government to "ensure harmonization" within American health care. (Yes, he actually said "ensure harmonization.")

usnews.com

How Tom Daschle Might Kill Conservatism

The GOP strategist had been joking about the upcoming presidential election and giving his humorous assessments of the candidates. Then he suddenly cut out the schtick and got scary serious. "Let me tell you something, if Democrats take the White House and pass a big-government healthcare plan, that's it. Game over. Government will dominate the economy like it does in Europe. Conservatives will spend the rest of their lives trying to turn things around and they will fail."

And it turns out that the fearsome harbinger of free-market doom is the mild-mannered ex-U.S. senator with the little, red glasses, Tom Daschle. He'll be the guy shepherding President Barack Obama's healthcare plan through Congress via his probable role as secretary of health and human services. At the core of Daschle's thinking on the subject is the creation of a "Federal Health Board that would resemble our current Federal Reserve Board"

Weekly Standard

1997 partial-birth abortion issue: TOM DASCHLE may no longer call himself a Catholic ...

... Much of the discussion about Daschle's standing has gone on in private over the last few years, although Bishop Carlson and Senator Daschle had a very public spat about partial-birth abortion in 1997. During the run-up to a Senate vote on the issue, Daschle proposed what he called a "compromise," banning the procedure while allowing exemptions for any woman who claimed mental or physical health reasons for having such a late-term procedure. Pointing out the way the exemptions gutted the ban, Carlson called Daschle's proposed compromise a "smokescreen" designed solely to "provide cover for pro-abortion senators and President Clinton, who wanted to avoid a veto confrontation." ...

Hyscience

Obama Intends To Ration Your Health Care - "people are indeed the policy ... know exactly what Obama intends"

As Sally Pipes points out at WSJ Opinion Journal, now that President-elect Barack Obama has named Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services and Melody Barnes as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, we can predict both the strategy and substance of the new administration's health-care reform. And since people are indeed the policy, we now know exactly what Obama intends to do with our health care: He fully intends to ration it - and the American people are not going stand for it.

Judicial Watch

Tom Daschle conflict of interest as Secretary of Health and Human Services

... The multi million-dollar lobbying firm, which represents pharmaceutical companies, health care providers, nursing homes and nursing trade groups, touts Daschle's credentials as a veteran lawmaker knowledgeable on the inner workings of public policy.

Daschle also serves on the board of the Mayo Clinic, a huge and world-renowned health care provider and research institution that also receives lots of government grants. ...

Michelle Malkin

The bigger tax problems of Kathleen Sebelius

A group of conservative leaders including reps from the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, the American Conservative Union, and others released the following statement this morning regarding the HHS nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Yes, the back taxes issue is aggravating. But this is worse:

Gov. Sebelius May Not Pay Her Own Taxes, but Has no Qualms about Using Tax Dollars to Pay for Others' Abortions

"Disclosures that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, faces tax problems provides yet one more example of the incompetence that has characterized the Obama administration's transition process. By disclosing that she was forced to pay over $7000 in back taxes after her nomination, Gov. Sebelius joined the ranks of Obama nominees who thought they were above paying taxes, a group that includes her predecessor as nominee for HHS, Sen. Tom Daschle.

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Dakota Voice

Sebelius Abortion Record Glossed Over at Hearings

Confirmation hearings for Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Kathleen Sebelius opened on Tuesday much to the disappointment of pro-lifers who want the Kansas governor's abortion record spotlighted.

In a hearing chaired by Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sebelius pledged to make healthcare reform her mission. That same day, she revealed that she recently paid more than $7,000 in back taxes.

Little was revealed about her abortion stance.

"Americans -- and women in particular -- deserve answers about Governor Sebelius' ties to the abortion industry," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life network. "As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius will wield great influence with regard to national abortion policy, particularly the use of taxpayer funds to provide and promote abortion on-demand."

Since President Barack Obama announced Sebelius as an HHS Secretary nominee, pro-life groups have vowed to block her confirmation.

Over 16,000 Susan B. Anthony List activists have sent letters to their Senators, urging opposition to the Sebelius nomination ...

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Michel Malkin

Another day, another Obama nominee with tax problems

... Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's nominee to become Health and Human Services secretary, said in a letter obtained by the Associated Press that she made "unintentional errors" on her taxes and has corrected her returns from three different years.

In the letter, which was sent to senators and dated today, Sebelius wrote that she had made changes related to charitable contributions, business expenses and the sale of a home, according to the AP.

The wire service reports that she and her husband paid just over $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest, for the years 2005-2007. ...

ProLifeBlogs

Oppose Sebelius - outrage pro-life and Catholic groups throughout the nation

... Yesterday Archbishop Joseph Naumann continued his remarks calling Sebelius to repudiate her public position on abortion and embrace the cause of life. He told her she should refrain from receiving Holy communion until she makes a public statement and abandons her public pro-abortion position. ...

... The abortion industry is relentless. Not content with plying its trade, it wants government to subsidize it. Not content with having own in the courts, it wants to force its acceptance upon the American people. The time for complacency is over. The time to protect our children is now.

Susan B. Anthony List

Stop Obama's Pro-Abortion Nominee Kathleen Sebelius

... Governor Sebelius has a long track record of extreme pro-abortion stances. She vetoed a bill in Kansas, that would have expanded informed consent measures and protected women from coerced late-term abortions. In April 2007, Sebelius honored notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller and his staff in the Governor's Mansion. The state was not reimbursed for the cost of this political event for over a year. According to records obtained by the Associated Press (AP), photographs from the event show Sebelius pointing with a smile toward Tiller, who is holding a Sebelius campaign t-shirt. Tiller is currently charged with 19 counts of performing illegal late-term abortions, and his trial begins this month. ...

Jill Stanek

NARAL nervous: Recruiting phone bankers to bolster Kathleen Sebelius, Dawn Johnsen

Is NARAL worried about the Senate confirmations of Dawn Johnsen and Kathleen Sebelius?

Clearly, yes, since NARAL is recruiting supporters to do phone banking in support of nominees who "are having a tough time being confirmed by the Senate" on April 15, 16, 20, and 21. Listen to NARAL's voicemail here.

President Abortion nominated Johnsen to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, but Fox News reported April 7 Republicans are chattering about filibustering Johnsen due to her radical comparison of pregnancy to "slavery" when a NARAL attorney.

And we all know the trouble Sebelius is in, first for revelations she underpaid taxes and then that she underreported the amount of donations late-term abortionists George Tiller has given her or her PAC. Here's Laura Ingraham on Fox & Friends this morning discussing Sebelius' trouble.

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Moonbattery

Sebelius Lied About Payoffs From Late-Term Abortionist

There may be more to Kathleen Sebelius's rabid support for abortion than a dread of the patter of little feet. The tax cheat Abortion Queen was paid more for her fanatical stance than she's been willing to admit:

... President Barack Obama's health secretary nominee, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, got nearly three times as much political money from an abortion doctor as she told senators.

In response to questions from the Senate Finance Committee, Sebelius wrote that she received $12,450 between 1994 and 2001 from one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers, Dr. George Tiller.

But records reviewed by The Associated Press show that Tiller gave at least $23,000 more from 2000-2002 to a political action committee that Sebelius established while state insurance commissioner to raise money for fellow Democrats. ...

According to Health and Human Services, this wasn't a lie, but an "oversight."

Jill Stanek

Kathleen Sebelius in The Bulletin

"My Catholic faith teaches me that life is sacred. Personally, I believe abortion is wrong."

~ Quote by KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in The Bulletin, February 20, included in a story reporting her as the front-runner for President Barack Obama's pick for the Dept. of Health and Human Services secretary.

Sebelius made that statement before vetoing a bill that would have required documentation justifying the performance of late-term abortions. The Bulletin also reported:

Not only has Ms. Sebelius -- governor in a battleground state on the abortion issue -- repeatedly vetoed any measures that would limit or regulate abortion that came across her desk, she also has ties to an abortionist with a history of performing risky abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy [George Tiller].

Nice Deb

Tiller's Governor" Kathleen Sebelius Obama's Pick For HHS

... Sebelius isn't just your average, run of the mill pro-abortion Democrat, though. She has twice vetoed legislation that would have regulated abortion clinics. And she's known by Kansas pro-lifers as "Tiller's Governor" because of the tens of thousands of dollars she's accepted in donations from the infamous late term abortionist . ...

Dakota Voice

Daschle Out. America Cares.

Daschle announced his withdrawl from his nomination as Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has admitted failing to pay taxes in excess of $100,000 but insists it was an innocent mistake and no penalties were accrued (Gee, I wonder if the IRS would be so nice to me?). The budget for HHS was in excess of [...]

Obama Noms

Daschle in 1998: "Make no mistake, tax-cheaters cheat us all."

See Tom Daschle in a May 7th, 1998 speech demanding tax-cheaters be punished.

Michelle Malkin

WH spokesman on Daschle: "Nobody's perfect"

... ABC News's Jake Tapper, who broke the story late Friday night, pressed Gibbs on whether Daschle's ethical messes undercut Obama's squeaky clean agenda. Several other reporters questioned the Team Obama talking point that Daschle was the "best" suited nominee to handle the job given his cloud.

Gibbs was glib: "Nobody's perfect." ...

Strata Sphere

Daschle Hid Tax Debt, Was He Trying To Be Like Rep Rangel (D)?

...Today's revelation is that Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader and nominee for a cabinet position, tried to sneak by paying over $100,000 in taxes he owed (which is more than most people make in a year). I mean, how else can anyone explain the fact he knew for a year he had to pay the taxes and failed to pay?

"President Obama's choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, was aware as early as last June that he might have to pay back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, but did not inform the Obama transition team until weeks after Mr. Obama named him to the health secretary's post, senior administration officials said Saturday."

Invincible Armor

Obama's National Health Care Champion Tom Daschle

Even a stake through the heart won't keep the meddling "I know better than you" Tom Daschle out of our lives and our health.

Hillary tried her socialized medicine and now Obama will try his hoping his first term popularity will give the federal government the right to destroy our great medical care in this country.

Director Blue wrote about Daschle's plan, which Obama has endorsed, to hoodwink voters into giving a Democratic Politburo in Washington the right to over ride in Peoria the decisions made by a doctor and a patient.

This is a read you should make.