Hoffa on taxing health care benefits

When your last name is Hoffa, people tend to listen.

One of the suggestions making its way through Democrat-controlled Washington is taxing employee health benefits--something Barack Obama ridiculed during last year's presidential election.

James P. Hoffa, is the president of the Teamsters Union. He doesn't like that idea, as explains in Roll Call:

Adding a tax onto an already crushing expense for employers and employees would create a huge disincentive to buy employer-sponsored health insurance.

It would mostly burden people who are older or sicker, women of childbearing age, employees of small businesses and residents of high-cost communities.

It would set off a stampede to the public plan. And the public plan would lose a major source of revenue.

In related news, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is floating a proposal to exempt unions from the proposed tax.

Eighty-eight percent of working Americans are not members of a union.

Labor has been a consistent source of campaign funds for Democrats since the 1930s.

Related post:

Union members: More equal than others in Obama's America

Technorati tags: government politics health care health universal health care health care reform Obama Barack Obama max baucus Montana labor unions news organized labor

Al Franken second biggest clown in Senate

Former comedian Al Franken, whose departure from Air America disappointed dozens, has been declared the winner in the Minnesota US Senate race. Republican Norm Coleman, the incumbent, conceded this afternoon.

This is a black eye for the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but then again, with numerous warning signs, the people of Illinois twice elected Rod Blagojevich as governor.

Speaking of Blago, the man he appointed to the US Senate, fellow Chicago Democrat Roland Burris, is still the biggest clown in the US Senate--even with Franken joining the circus.

Related post:

Hey kids! Make your own Roland Burris Pinocchio paper doll

Technorati tags: politics Democrats election Republicans Minnesota Norm Coleman Al Franken DFL Blagojevich Illinois Harry Reid Roland Burris

Skokie's second Obama stimulus "campaign sign"

The first Barack Obama economic stimulus 2012 campaign sign I discovered was in Skokie, Illinois. The Chicago suburb now has its second sign, this one is about a mile from my Morton Grove home. You can find it on Dempster Avenue, near the Chicago Transportation Authority Yellow Line stop.

Kaufman's Bagel and Delicatessen, an area institution, is within walking distance of the sign, you can see the Kaufman's placard in the lower right hand corner of the picture.

If you live in Chicago, my suggestion is that you take the Yellow Line to Skokie, walk to Kaufman's for a corned beef sandwich, and marvel at the fact that Skokie has two $300 Obama campaign signs--paid for by taxpayers such as yourself.

Related post:

This stimulus project has been brought to you by the perpetual Obama campaign

Technorati tags: photography photos Barack Obama Obama arra government Illinois Chicago democrat skokie

Pols bankrupted California

In less than three weeks I'll be traveling to California for a vacation and a fact-finding tour. As for the latter, I want to see for myself how screwed up the former Golden State is.

Besides surfing the internet, I'm reading Jack Cashill's "What's the Matter with California?: Cultural Rumbles from the Golden State and Why the Rest of Us Should Be Shaking."

Some mental midgets are blaming the Proposition 13 property tax referendum for California's fiscal problems, and of course, conservatives.

Prop 13 was put into effect 30 years ago. The mess in California is the fault of liberal state legislators, government unions, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger--who is not a conservative.

Carol Platt Liebau has a lot more to say about California.

Technorati tags: books Jack Cashill California politics liberal elections unions news labor

Arne Duncan calls education a civil rights issue

While speaking at the annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition convention, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan "the civil rights issue of our generation."

I'm not sure why that is, because no one is blocking the doors of schools preventing black children from entering.

However, as you'll see in a YouTube video I posted last month, the Democrats are preventing African-American kids in Washington DC from getting a better education.



Technorati tags: news government Obama politics Barack Obama education Washington DC arne duncanvouchers