Monday, March 10, 2014
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
Unions vs. Obamacare
Conservatives have warned for years that Obamacare would be expensive, lead to lost hours and pay for workers and generally fail to live up to its promises. Such concerns were dismissed by liberals who glibly insisted that we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.
Since 2010, the critics have largely been proven right. Now even some groups on the left are admitting it.
One such group is Unite Here, a labor union representing 300,000 workers in the hospitality industry. Unite Here recently conducted its own analysis and is warning that Obamacare “threatens the middle class with higher premiums, loss of hours, and a shift to part-time work and less comprehensive coverage.”
The report also warns that just as the left is trying to reset the national debate from Obamacare’s disastrous rollout to income inequality, Obamacare will itself cause greater income inequality.
In a letter to members of Congress, Unite Here President Donald Taylor wrote: “I enter this entire debate about the consequences of the ACA with a deep reluctance. Yet facts are facts, and Obamacare will cost our members the equivalent of a significant pay cut to keep their hard-won benefits. [Obamacare] will inevitably lead to the destruction of the health care plans we were promised we could keep. And, as a result, it will lead to greater income inequality ”
But Taylor shouldn’t worry too much. I’m sure Obama is getting ready to issue another executive order decreeing that Obamacare does not cause greater income inequality.
Why The Silence On Life?
As we have often reported, many in the donor wing and consultant class of the Republican Party will privately assure individuals that they share their pro-life values and are in favor of normal marriage. But then they cite polling regarding changing attitudes on marriage to justify ignoring the issue. I’ll explain later why this polling is deceptive. Meanwhile, the voters of 35 states have voted on the issue and 31 have voted to preserve the meaning of normal marriage.
But why do so many supposed conservatives avoid the sanctity of life? Americans reject abortion on demand. A CNN poll released last week found that a 58% of the country favors making abortion illegal or limited to only a very few circumstances. Most politicians would love to win an election with 58% support.
But because of the silence on life, the public doesn’t understand how extreme some on the left really are. For example, theCNN poll found that only 27% of Americans support the view that abortion should be legal at any time and for any reason. And if someone can’t afford to pay for their abortion, many liberals want taxpayers to foot the bill — another idea the public overwhelmingly rejects.
Fiscal conservatives will fight tooth-and-nail when it comes to certain economic issues, even when they are on the wrong side of public opinion. For example, a January Quinnipiac poll found that 71% of Americans, including 52% of Republicans, support raising the minimum wage.
Some congressional leaders continually bring up plans to reduce Social Security benefits. Such proposals are politically toxic. A November poll conducted for the Associated Press found that only 21% of Americans 50 and older (the very demographic most likely to vote) support changing the formula so that future retirees get less in benefits.
There is no logical or political explanation for politicians being willing to fight to death for unpopular economic ideas, while cowering on a values issue (the sanctity of life) when polling is on their side.
Abbas, Obama And Israel
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C., for a series of high-profile speeches and meetings. President Obama welcomed him with one of the most critical interviews aimed at a foreign leader in the history of modern diplomacy.
Obama’s anger about the slow pace of the Middle East peace process was not directed at the thugs in the Palestinian Authority, but against our staunch ally Israel. Among other things he said during the interview, Obama insisted that the Palestinians were ready for peace but that Netanyahu was standing in the way.
So Prime Minister Netanyahu threw down the gauntlet. At the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., last week, Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to peace and called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Days later Abbas responded. He told members of his Fatah Party, “They are pressing and saying, ‘no peace without the Jewish state.’ There is no way. We will not accept.”
Once again, we see that Obama is living in a make believe world. The Palestinians are no more ready for peace than Obama is ready to confront evil in the real world.
The Mystery Of Flight MH370
We are closely following news of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The flight took off from Kuala Lumpur and disappeared over the Gulf of Thailand early Saturday on its way to Beijing. At the time of this writing, there are virtually no clues as to what happened to the plane and its 239 passengers and crew.
Naturally terrorism is a major concern. Reports indicate that two people on board the flight had stolen passports and that five more individuals checked in but failed to board. Nearly two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, and China is still reeling from a vicious terrorist attack at a train station in Kunming.
Big Media largely downplayed the event, but 29 people were killed and more than 140 were injured when gang of Uighurs, Chinese Muslim separatists, stormed a train station slashing at their victims with knives and machetes.
One witness reported that the attackers “mostly went for the head and the shoulders, those parts of the body to kill.” Why would they do that? Perhaps they were acting in accordance with Koranic verses that call on jihadists to “strike off the heads” of infidels.
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