<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Floyd and Mary Beth Brown</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/author/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2014 07:56:08 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	
	<item>
		<title>Predictions for 2012</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/predictions-for-2012/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=predictions-for-2012</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/predictions-for-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:02:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afternoon Edition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2012]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republican Party]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=117591</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Time to be bullish on GOP prospects? ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2012-New-Year-Wallpapers-New-Year-Pictures-New-Year-Images-10.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-117593" title="2012-New-Year-Wallpapers-New-Year-Pictures-New-Year-Images-10" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2012-New-Year-Wallpapers-New-Year-Pictures-New-Year-Images-10.gif" alt="" width="375" height="255" /></a></p>
<p>The first of every year, we encourage you to look around, set some goals and live intentionally. As a family we meet together early in the year, devour some quality Chinese Food and set our goals for the year.</p>
<p>As part of the process, we look around and take inventory of what we see. Part of the process is our annual predictions column. We have some big predictions for 2012, but first let&#8217;s review the record of what we said in early 2011.</p>
<p>Last year we said, &#8220;Economic growth will remain sluggish at best. Housing prices have not yet hit bottom and will definitely continue falling. Foreclosures will continue unabated and this will pressure the banking system.&#8221;</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t think we were far off the mark. We continued with, &#8220;The Federal Reserve, under the leadership of Ben Bernanke, has run out of tools to boost the economy. Continued quantitative easing will increase inflation while barely budging the unemployment numbers. &#8221;</p>
<p>Again we hit a bulls-eye. The Fed is out of ammunition. They risk serious inflation if they pump much more cash into the system. The only factor currently protecting us from inflation is the deflation in housing and real estate. All the money destroyed in the housing crisis is being restored by the Fed, but it isn&#8217;t circulating with us common folk because it is all being used to rescue insolvent banks and governments.</p>
<p>Our only real clunker of a prediction was, &#8220;Gasoline will trend upward to nearly $4.00 a gallon, and could even surpass it. Every additional gallon of oil pumped out of the ground is more costly than ever to produce. Rising gas prices will further drag the economy down.&#8221; They are up but not that much.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/predictions-for-2012/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s EPA Is Killing More Jobs than Economy Can Create</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-epa-is-killing-more-jobs-than-economy-can-create/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-epa-is-killing-more-jobs-than-economy-can-create</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-epa-is-killing-more-jobs-than-economy-can-create/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:14:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afternoon Edition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=102683</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The president's environmental extremists are out to shrink the economy.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/epa-sign100223.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-102684" title="epa-sign100223" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/epa-sign100223.gif" alt="" width="375" height="249" /></a></p>
<p>Obama says he will get focused on the jobs problem just as soon as he returns from his August vacation in Martha&#8217;s Vineyard. Like the more famous Hamptons, the Vineyard is a playground of the rich and famous out to find some summer enjoyment on the Atlantic shore. Just before leaving, Obama articulated his number one goal is to grow the economy.</p>
<p>But while Obama is playing jetsetter, back in Washington a crucial regulatory agency, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been captured by a group of extremists who actually believe the USA would be better off with a smaller economy.</p>
<p>In some of the economy&#8217;s most hopeful corners, these bureaucrats are wielding all of the levers of regulatory authority in their arsenal to kill growth. Just as the &#8220;green shoots&#8221; of recovery sprout, they come along with a can of herbicidal regulations and kill the sprout. As long as Obama leaves these extremists in charge of the agency, the economy is unlikely to recover and will suffer.</p>
<p>Having a reliable national electrical infrastructure is vital to new job creation.</p>
<p>Yet new EPA regulations will significantly reduce the amount of electricity generated from coal-fired energy flowing from our power grid. The EPA told the public that the agency was working with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to determine the impact of its regulations on the reliability of the nation&#8217;s electricity capacity. This was to include a joint modeling effort.</p>
<p>However, responses from FERC Commissioners to an inquiry from Congress regarding the degree of agency coordination on the impact of the agency&#8217;s new rules clearly shows the EPA statements were not truthful. Correspondence from the FERC chairman and commissioners revealed the commission is not working on a formal assessment of the impact of the EPA regulations on the ability of our power grid to reliably deliver electricity to the nation&#8217;s homes and businesses.</p>
<p>&#8220;The EPA&#8217;s deception of the public is outrageous and it exposes the agency&#8217;s underlying zeal to regulate without regard to the consequences of its actions. EPA&#8217;s actions may very well put the reliability of our electricity supply in jeopardy,&#8221; said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center for Public Policy Research&#8217;s Free Enterprise Project.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-epa-is-killing-more-jobs-than-economy-can-create/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>20</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Chicago Code</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/chicago-code/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=chicago-code</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/chicago-code/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democratic political machine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[double dip recession]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inner city youth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jec report]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joint economic committee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recession]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[show]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unemployment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[youth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=95950</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Destroying the lives of inner city minorities in pursuit of the socialist Utopia. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image6915194_370x278.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-95951" title="image6915194_370x278" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image6915194_370x278.gif" alt="" width="375" height="282" /></a></p>
<p>Some of the best TV in America comes and goes too quickly. This past year we enjoyed the short lived FOX police drama, Chicago Code. The show featured the battle for police resources in a city run by corrupt politicians with little more desire than to milk the system for perks, money and power. However, we didn’t expect to watch its sequel as a reality horror show on the nightly news.</p>
<p>The specter of mobs of marauding youths beating random Chicago residents and visitors makes us all feel vulnerable. With apprehension, citizens watch over their shoulders when on the street to see if they are next. The issues raised by this early summer nightmare are serious and need to be addressed.</p>
<p>First, this Obama recession/depression has devastated inner city job creation. Only 54,000 jobs were added in May as the Obama recovery is in slow- motion turning to the Obama double dip recession. There are still at least 14 million U.S. workers who can’t find jobs. When you add part-time or under employed workers who want full-time jobs, the total rises to 30.6 million who want more economic opportunity.</p>
<p>Blacks and inner city youth are the hardest hit by Obama’s policies. According to the US Department of Labor the percentage of black adult men with a job has fallen below 60% for the first time. The latest unemployment rate for black men is 16.1%. These unemployment numbers rocket higher when you study those formerly in jail or living in the most economically depressed big city neighborhoods like those in Chicago, formerly represented by Barack Obama.</p>
<p>According to the congressional Joint Economic Committee report: “The youth unemployment rate of 19.6% is the highest for the age group since the government began tracking the data in 1947.” In the U.S. 16-24 year-olds make up 13% of the labor force, but they represent 26% of the unemployed, according to the JEC report.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/chicago-code/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama Economy Is Making You Poor</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obama-economy-is-making-you-poor/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obama-economy-is-making-you-poor</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obama-economy-is-making-you-poor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2011 04:03:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afternoon Edition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[car]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dangerous cliff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food stamps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recession]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[royal weddings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[store]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[victory laps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wheat meat]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=92708</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The disaster of Obamanomics. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/obama-worried.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-92709" title="obama-worried" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/obama-worried.gif" alt="" width="375" height="289" /></a></p>
<p>While Barack Obama spends his time running victory laps around the country over the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the American economy is careening toward a dangerous cliff. Royal Weddings, Obama’s multiple birth certificates, and absurd arguments about the NFL lockout dominate the news while daily Americans get poorer.</p>
<p>Obamanomics is a disaster. A greater disaster hasn’t been visited on the United States in our economic history because we are taking no substantial steps toward recovery. The real news, which should be screaming from every television and newspaper isn’t pro Obama, therefore, it is ignored.</p>
<p>Here are the stories on which we should be focusing. The US dollar has slumped to a record low against major currencies. Since we have devastated our manufacturing base over the last two decades, this will result in Americans paying substantially more for goods on the store shelves in retailers from Walmart to Costco.</p>
<p>The outlook for the recovery has diminished to almost zero. If you subtract the impact of inflation, many economists believe we are actually still in a recession. When I talk to my friends and neighbors outside of Washington DC, we unanimously agree we are still in recession.</p>
<p>Here are some statistics which will help you understand the pain. More Americans are on food stamps today than at any other time in history. That’s right—the most in history. The number of persons on food stamps is 44.2 million according a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.</p>
<p>Those not on food stamps feel a different pain when they buy groceries. We see unbelievably high prices at the grocery store. The cost of living in the U.S. rose at its fastest pace since December 2009 in the 12 months ended in March. Wheat, meat, vegetables and other grains are all surging in price.</p>
<p>But if you don’t have a job, it is hard to shop for groceries.</p>
<p>Bloomberg reported this week, “Applications for jobless benefits jumped by 43,000 to 474,000 in the week ended April 30, the most since August, Labor Department figures showed today.” This is a serious darkening in the employment clouds just as the recovery was supposed to be broadening.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obama-economy-is-making-you-poor/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Will It Be Goodbye for John Boehner?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/will-it-be-goodbye-for-john-boehner/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=will-it-be-goodbye-for-john-boehner</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/will-it-be-goodbye-for-john-boehner/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 04:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afternoon Edition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cannot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federal government expenditures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Boehner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pat toomey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power elites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=91284</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The speaker of the House cannot afford to capitulate to Obama again and raise the debt ceiling. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Boehner-at-presser.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-91287" title="Boehner-at-presser" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Boehner-at-presser.gif" alt="" width="375" height="340" /></a></p>
<p>John Boehner will be writing his own political obituary if he capitulates again to Barack Obama and raises the debt ceiling of the US government.</p>
<p>Boehner says he wants to cut spending, but he will be exposed as a liar if he increases the debts currently smothering our economy. This issue is very clear, and Americans understand this crisis because so many of us have faced similar financial difficulties ourselves. We know what it means to have spent more than we can afford.</p>
<p>America cannot continue to feast on an orgy of credit and spending. Easy money given to the political establishment is the cause of the current crisis. George Bush spent more money than was prudent or necessary, and Barack Obama has doubled down. The debts now are greater than 14 trillion. How much debt will be enough?</p>
<p>The scare mongering by the media and power elites should be ignored. If we don&#8217;t extend the debt ceiling, America need not default on current debts. Quite the opposite is true. If we continue to increase our debts we are moving minute by minute closer to a future default. No debtor improves his situation by increasing borrowing.</p>
<p>As Senator Pat Toomey(Rep-PA) recently stated: &#8220;In fact, if Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling, the federal government will still have far more than enough money to fully service our debt. Next year, for instance, about 6.5% of all projected federal government expenditures will go to interest on our debt&#8230; why would we ever default?&#8221;</p>
<p>Boehner repeatedly says he wants to use the debt ceiling crisis to force a cut in spending. The best way to force votes to cut spending is to not add new debt. No passage of the debt ceiling guarantees that the Obama Administration will be forced to actually cut. Priories will come into focus when the limitless flood of money ends. Until then Washington will never change.</p>
<p>The use of words in Washington needs to accurately reflect reality. Spending is greater in 2011, than it was in 2010. Government spending is continuing to grow month by month even with Republicans and Democrats claiming they have cut it.</p>
<p>If a family or a business has a decrease in income they are forced to cut spending to bring the budget back into balance. Washington has ignored the warnings of economists and prudent leaders too long. The word compromise in Congress has actually become a code word for capitulation to the relentless special interests fleecing America.</p>
<p>If we don&#8217;t raise the debt ceiling we have an opportunity to engage in an honest discussion about priorities. Maybe bombing Libya isn&#8217;t justified if we understand that it will cause a suspension of Social Security payments.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/will-it-be-goodbye-for-john-boehner/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s New Term for Tax Increases</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-new-term-for-tax-increases/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-new-term-for-tax-increases</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-new-term-for-tax-increases/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:04:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=90441</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[An ingenious Newspeak marketing device.  ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/r-barack-obama-tax-cuts-large570-e1302643170903.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-90442" title="r-barack-obama-tax-cuts-large570-e1302643170903" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/r-barack-obama-tax-cuts-large570-e1302643170903.gif" alt="" width="375" height="293" /></a></p>
<p>Obama is a born again deficit cutter. He wants, according to his speech at George Washington University this week, to slim down the nation’s deficit by a whopping four trillion dollars in the next twelve years. To achieve this miraculous goal he has a top secret weapon. It is called the “tax expenditure.”</p>
<p>Now tax expenditures are not new, they have been around for many years, only we knew them by a different name. The old- fashioned name which is heretofore banned from the lexicon is: tax increase.</p>
<p>But everyone knows tax increases are bad, so Obama and his team must be thinking that if they changed the name the voters wouldn’t notice. There is a deeper philosophical reason for the changing language, and it has to do with the fundamental difference between his vision and the Republicans’ vision for the future.</p>
<p>If you assume that all money belongs to the government and the people are privileged to get back some of the product of their labor, then the money doled out to the pockets of Americans must be expenditures.</p>
<p>It works like this. You buy a home and pay lots of interest to the bank in the form of a mortgage. When at the end of the year we add up your income, you are allowed to deduct the interest you paid to the bank from that income. This lowers your overall income tax bill.</p>
<p>Republicans believe that the lower tax bill is your total tax bill. Obama believes that your tax bill was actually higher, and the government was giving you money to help pay the mortgage. Hence, when he takes away your mortgage deduction, he is actually cutting government “tax expenditure.”</p>
<p>So Obama is actually cutting government spending by increasing your taxes. You must credit the Obama team for this genius marketing of tax increases.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-new-term-for-tax-increases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Boehner Strategy on Budget Will Rescue Obama</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/boehner-strategy-on-budget-will-rescue-obama/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=boehner-strategy-on-budget-will-rescue-obama</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/boehner-strategy-on-budget-will-rescue-obama/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:01:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afternoon Edition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=88306</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The House speaker is falling into a trap. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Rep-Boehner-Holds-Post-Midterms-News-Conference1.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-88312" title="Rep-Boehner-Holds-Post-Midterms-News-Conference" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Rep-Boehner-Holds-Post-Midterms-News-Conference1.gif" alt="" width="375" height="284" /></a></p>
<p>House Speaker John Boehner is falling for a trap, hook, line and sinker&#8211;and the Republican presidential nominee will reap the results of Boehner’s folly. The single biggest issue facing America is the inability of the Federal Government to pay its bills. The Deficit for the month of February was $ 222.5 billion dollars. That is a record $7.9 billion day. And how does John Boehner respond?</p>
<p>First Boehner makes it clear he wants Republicans to raise the debt ceiling. Then he strong arms Republican members of Congress to pass a continuing resolution because he fears a government shutdown. The price he pays for his peace with Obama is insignificant budget cuts. Finally, to make himself look tough after being a wimp on spending, Boehner is talk, talk, and talk about entitlement reform. Changing the contract on Social Security is the single least popular budget cut and it places him squarely opposed to Obama on the one issue the President knows he can use to demagogue himself to re-election. Boehner is playing into Obama’s hands.</p>
<p>Americans want spending reform, and they want it quickly. Boehner should be willing to accept a shutdown of the Federal Government. The US Congress is given the purse and spending strings by the US Constitution and he should use them. Continuing resolutions are bad government policy because they fail to selectively reauthorize spending.</p>
<p>Conservative pundit Erick Erickson believes Boehner is actually “playing” conservatives. He explains it this way: &#8220;Conservatives are, therefore, getting played by Republicans leaders in the House. Compounding that, House Republicans are making insignificant spending cuts and refusing to pick a fight over Obamacare. They do not, under any stretch of the imagination, want a government shutdown. House Leaders know the only way to shut down Obamacare is to shut down the government and negotiate Obamacare out of existence. So they’d rather keep Obamacare.&#8221;</p>
<p>Instead of playing the political light weight, Boehner needs to stand and fight. He needs to stare down Obama and the Senate, furloughing federal workers just as has happened to state and local government workers. Boehner should send the US Senate a series of appropriations bills to keep important agencies operating in the name of public safety while allowing spending to lapse for nonessential and unconstitutional government programs.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/boehner-strategy-on-budget-will-rescue-obama/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A New Year of Republican Mistakes</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/a-new-year-of-republican-mistakes/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-new-year-of-republican-mistakes</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/a-new-year-of-republican-mistakes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:02:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=80363</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Predictions on the political road ahead. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/resolutions-11.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-80364" title="resolutions-11" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/resolutions-11.gif" alt="" width="375" height="305" /></a></p>
<p>When it’s nearly time to flip the calendar to January, we take stock of the past 52 weeks and look ahead. It is an annual tradition we encourage all to adopt. Why? It helps you to plan and live intentionally.</p>
<p>Our wish is that 2011 will be better for most Americans. While we are pessimistic in the short run, for the long term, we remain optimistic. Here’s why:</p>
<p>The year ended with a flourish of editorials and news coverage hailing a resurgent Barack Obama. Republicans rescued him during the lame duck session, agreeing to billions in stimulus pork in exchange for extending the Bush tax cuts. Republicans will live to regret their accommodation.</p>
<p>Incumbent leaders returned to the head of Republican caucuses in the House and Senate. These are the same leaders, who in 2006 and 2008, destroyed the prospects for Republicans. We predict they will continue to appease Obama in the New Year. Their vacillating leadership will alienate disgusted voters and makes Obama look presidential.</p>
<p>Republicans in Congress showed their disdain for the Tea Party when they rejected the bid of Representative Michele Bachmann to join leadership. She is the best spokesman for Tea Party ideas on the national landscape. Watch as the hard left attempts to marginalize Bachmann as they have attempted with Sarah Palin. Strong conservative women threaten the left.</p>
<p>The compromise Republicans made with Obama will not spur economic growth. If the tax increases proposed by Obama had been adopted, America would now be headed into a new recession. The compromise legislation should help forestall an immediate double dip, but it will increase hardship when economic restructuring finally is allowed to take place.</p>
<p>Economic growth will remain sluggish at best. Housing prices have not yet hit bottom and will definitely continue falling. Foreclosures will continue unabated and this will pressure the banking system.</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve, under the leadership of Ben Bernanke, has run out of tools to boost the economy. Continued quantitative easing will increase inflation while barely budging the unemployment numbers.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/a-new-year-of-republican-mistakes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How the New Stimulus Will Damage Recovery</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/how-the-new-stimulus-will-damage-recovery/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-the-new-stimulus-will-damage-recovery</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/how-the-new-stimulus-will-damage-recovery/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:06:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=79595</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The exchange for tax cuts may do more harm than good. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1432082081.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-79596" title="1432082081" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1432082081.gif" alt="" width="375" height="310" /></a></p>
<p>The lame duck Congress and President Obama are retarding the recovery. It’s tough medicine to swallow&#8211; ending unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for three years&#8211; but it is necessary if we want recovery.</p>
<p>The official U.S. unemployment rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009, and it is unlikely to dip until much of the currently unemployed take jobs paying lower wages and benefits. Back in 2000, 7.2 percent of blue collar workers were either unemployed or underemployed. Today that figure is a staggering 19.5 percent.</p>
<p>When 2007 began, over 1 million Americans were unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans unemployed for half a year or longer. Since 2000, we have lost 10% of our living wage jobs. In the year 2000 there were approximately 72 million living wage jobs in the United States, but today, there are only about 65 million jobs capable of supporting a middle class lifestyle</p>
<p>When comparing 1940 with 2010, the United States now employs about the same number of people in manufacturing. Considering the fact that we had 132 million people living in this country in 1940, and well over 300 million people living in this country today, this is a very sobering statistic.</p>
<p>The real culprits in the unemployment problem are over 1) regulation&#8211; which retards growth, 2) high taxes &#8211; that encourage multinationals to move factories abroad, and 3) illegal immigration&#8211; which depresses entry level job wages.</p>
<p>We agree that now is a bad time to increase taxes, but to keep taxes at the current level, the Republicans accepted failed Obama stimulus policies that will continue to retard growth. Republican leaders should have waited until January and sent Obama a bill minus the Christmas tree of failed stimulus programs attached.</p>
<p>Currently the US economy is dealing with too much debt and too much spending.</p>
<p>We are like a family over extended on the credit cards, but we are refusing to cut spending. This situation can end one of two ways. The family can adjust the lifestyle, cut up the credit cards and pay down debt over time, or the family can be forced to adjust their lifestyle after the banks freeze the credit cards, the home is foreclosed, and the car is towed away.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/how-the-new-stimulus-will-damage-recovery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s Post-Election Attack Plan</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-post-election-attack/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-post-election-attack</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-post-election-attack/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:03:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=74452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The White House prepares to bunker down, but not back off. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/090515_obama87_ap_297.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-74457" title="090515_obama87_ap_297" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/090515_obama87_ap_297.gif" alt="" width="375" height="308" /></a></p>
<p>Just in case you have not heard the news, Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are gearing up for the mother of all battles just after the election. They know that the American people are about to go to the polls and hand them a massive repudiation of their left-wing agenda, and they&#8217;re not happy.</p>
<p>Refusing to accept defeat, these three are planning a counter attack. Instead of taking to heart the unmistakable message of the American people, they&#8217;re moving, full steam ahead, in the opposite direction.</p>
<p>Digging in with unprecedented and arrogant defiance, they&#8217;ve planned a legislative blitzkrieg during the coming lame-duck session of Congress in order to shove as much of their radical agenda, as humanly possible, down your throat before the new Congressmen and Senators can be sworn into office.</p>
<p>Barack Obama says there&#8217;s going to be &#8220;hand-to-hand combat.&#8221; As David Karki with The North Star National writes: &#8220;He [Obama] is not going to make like President Clinton in 1995 and move to the center to survive. He will force upon us everything else he can, whatever way he has to.&#8221;</p>
<p>To put it in the words of columnist Charles Krauthammer: &#8220;How then to prevent a runaway lame-duck Congress? Bring the issue up now &#8211; applying the check-and-balance of the people&#8217;s will before it disappears the morning after Election Day.&#8221;</p>
<p>Can it happen? You better believe it. Krauthammer cautions: &#8220;They could then vote for anything &#8211; including measures they today shun as the midterms approach and their seats are threatened &#8211; because they would have nothing to lose. They would be unemployed. And playing along with Obama might even brighten the prospects for, say, an ambassadorship to a sunny Caribbean isle.&#8221;</p>
<p>As scribe Ben Johnson points out, the threat doesn&#8217;t end even with the lame-duck session: &#8220;All indications are, if Obama cannot get his legislative agenda enacted by the lame-duck Congress, he will impose it by decree.&#8221;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-post-election-attack/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Battling ObamaCare</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/battling-obamacare/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=battling-obamacare</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/battling-obamacare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:03:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=68908</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The fight over the health care overhaul bill heats up. Is repeal within reach?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/aaaaaPH2009020903275.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-68911" title="aaaaaPH2009020903275" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/aaaaaPH2009020903275.gif" alt="" width="375" height="283" /></a></p>
<p>When Missouri voters attempted to stop ObamaCare at the ballot box via the initiative process, the national news media took notice. In the August 3 vote, 7 in 10 voters in the &#8220;Show Me State&#8221; supported Proposition C, which overturns government mandates requiring health insurance. Proposition C actually bars penalties against people who pay their own health bills without insurance.</p>
<p>On August 2, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled against a U.S. Justice Department request to throw out a lawsuit brought by Virginia against ObamaCare. Virginia is arguing in the lawsuit that the U.S. Congress had unconstitutionally exceeded its powers by forcing individuals to buy insurance.</p>
<p>Hudson wrote, “While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulate &#8212; and tax &#8212; a citizen’s decision not to participate in interstate commerce&#8230;”</p>
<p>Hudson continues by saying there is, “some authority arguably supporting the theory underlying each side’s position.&#8221; Hudson&#8217;s decision sets up the opportunity to have appellate and eventually the Supreme Court decide these issues.</p>
<p>But our personal favorite of the many lawsuits challenging ObamaCare is from Arizona. Yes, the land of immigration enforcement could also be the site of a major constitutional battle about ObamaCare. The citizens of Arizona are restless with their Washington, D.C. overseers.</p>
<p>The Goldwater Institute, a public policy outfit named for Arizona&#8217;s most famous son, is taking a different swing at the question.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/battling-obamacare/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s Financial Reform Failure</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-financial-reform-failure/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-financial-reform-failure</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-financial-reform-failure/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:08:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=68241</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Time to foreclose on the sub-prime housing giants, yet Obama bails them out instead.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/aaatp-frank-dodd-obama-6316717.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-68276" title="aaatp-frank-dodd-obama-6316717" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/aaatp-frank-dodd-obama-6316717.gif" alt="" width="375" height="229" /></a></p>
<p>On July 2, President Obama declared, &#8220;And finally, because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. (Applause.) There will be no more tax-funded bailouts &#8212; period. (Applause.) If a large financial institution should ever fail, this reform gives us the ability to wind it down without endangering the broader economy. &#8221;</p>
<p>The occasion of his bold statement was the signing of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.</p>
<p>So imagine our surprise when less than two weeks later Fannie Mae requested $1.5 billion more from the U.S. Treasury. This request came after the 12th quarterly loss by Fannie, and with this money Fannie&#8217;s take from the taxpayers’ wallet will grow to a whopping $86.1 billion for one company. Together with its twin Freddie Mac the bailout package is over $200 billion.</p>
<p>Fannie Mae, aka the Federal National Mortgage Association, was created in 1938 as a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) to bolster the housing market by increasing Americans’ access to cheap home loans during the last Great Depression. Freddie Mac, aka the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., was created in 1970 to end Fannie’s monopoly in the secondary mortgage market. Both are mandated by Congress to help increase home ownership.</p>
<p>The problem we have with this housing mandate is that not all Americans deserve, nor are they responsible enough, to go deep into debt to purchase a home.</p>
<p>Everyone understands that mortgage debt stands at the center of the ongoing financial crisis. Responsible analysis concludes that too much credit was extended to too many un-credit-worthy buyers of homes. At the center of this debacle stand these government-sponsored private financial firms named Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Neither of these firms were &#8220;reformed&#8221; by the so-called Reform Act.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-financial-reform-failure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Blood on Obama&#8217;s Hands</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/blood-on-obamas-hands-2/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=blood-on-obamas-hands-2</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/blood-on-obamas-hands-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:07:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=67766</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How the administration's incompetence causes needless American casualties in Afghanistan. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/afghan.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-67767" title="afghan" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/afghan.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="267" /></a></p>
<p>With the deaths of three additional U.S. troops on July 29, July officially became the bloodiest of the nine-year conflict in Afghanistan. The death toll for July was 63 and it captured the record as the deadliest month for Americans so far.</p>
<p>We all need to understand that the increase in deaths is directly the result of Obama&#8217;s personal mismanagement of the war. The blood of our servicemen is on his hands.</p>
<p>Why? Upon taking management of defense policy, the Obama administration intervened to change the rules of engagement. Ralph Peters explained it this way in the New York Post: &#8220;Unless our troops in combat are absolutely certain that no civilians are present, they&#8217;re denied artillery or air support. If any civilians appear where we meet the Taliban, our troops are to &#8216;break contact&#8217; &#8212; to retreat.&#8221;</p>
<p>Peters concludes, &#8220;When our own moral fecklessness murders those in uniform, it&#8217;s unforgivable. In Afghanistan, our leaders are complicit in the death of each soldier, Marine or Navy corpsman who falls because politically correct rules of engagement shield our enemies.&#8221;</p>
<p>Obama dithered in adopting a new policy in Afghanistan deep into 2009. This led to criticism from even a left-wing dove like Sen. John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. Of Obama&#8217;s indecision, Kerry said in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, “At the very moment when our troops and our allies’ troops are sacrificing more and more, our path and our progress seem to be growing less and less clear.”</p>
<p>Next came the wrongheaded announcement of our deadline for withdrawal. Obama basically told our enemies the date of our leaving; now they are emboldened by foreknowledge of our defeat.</p>
<p>And who can forget the Stanley McChrystal firing and all the interruption to the chain of command and subsequent uncertainty over policy?</p>
<p>Now we face the Wikileaks scandal, and even this cannot focus the foreign policy team lead by Obama. Obama is downplaying the importance of this leak of thousands of classified secret documents.</p>
<p>But he won’t be able to laugh off the latest allegations. We have now learned that with quick action he and his White House staff may have been able to limit the damage, but they were too incompetent to act.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/blood-on-obamas-hands-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>24</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s Dangerous Expedition</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-dangerous-expedition/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-dangerous-expedition</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-dangerous-expedition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:01:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=66950</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The administration's debt commission unleashes a new path of destruction. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/debt.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-67013" title="debt" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/debt.jpg" alt="" width="394" height="305" /></a></p>
<p>Obama debt commission member, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, launched a scary trial balloon on ABC News. Gregg suggested the debt commission will likely recommend a massive $26.7 trillion tax increase. Here are Gregg&#8217;s actual words:</p>
<blockquote><p>Everything has to be on the table – there’s no question about that&#8230; Erskine Bowles, one of the co-chairmen of the commission, has suggested a 75-25 split &#8212; 75 percent of the savings being in spending, and 25 percent in revenues&#8230; I think it&#8217;s likely that there will have to be a revenue component, but it should be significantly, dramatically &#8212; and a 3-1 ratio is pretty dramatic &#8212; dramatically less than the initiatives in the spending side of the ledger.</p></blockquote>
<p>According to an analysis by Americans for Tax Reform if Bowles wants $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes then the tax increases will be larger than anyone expects:</p>
<blockquote><p>Bowles and Gregg can only be talking about cutting $3 in promised Social Security and Medicare benefits in exchange for $1 in tax increases. In other words, 1/4 of the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare would be paid for with tax hikes. So how big is that? According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare Actuaries&#8217; Report, the long-run insolvency of the Social Security and Medicare systems is $106.8 trillion (with a &#8220;t&#8221;) over the infinite horizon. To close this gap with one-quarter tax hikes is, therefore, to raise taxes by $26.7 trillion. Of course, this number is undoubtedly higher since the Obama Administration is sitting on (read: hiding) the 2010 version of the report (it&#8217;s nearly six months overdue).</p></blockquote>
<p>On the heels of a huge tax increases included in the over-2000-page ObamaCare package, together with over-2000-page so-called &#8220;Financial Reform Package,&#8221; together with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Obama&#8217;s economic policies have guaranteed a double-dip recession.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-dangerous-expedition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>ObamaCare: Is Repeal Within Reach?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamacare-is-repeal-within-reach/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamacare-is-repeal-within-reach</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamacare-is-repeal-within-reach/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:01:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=66340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Will new taxes and regulations doom the health care overhaul? ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/aObama-Healthcare.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-66350" title="aObama-Healthcare" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/aObama-Healthcare.gif" alt="" width="375" height="310" /></a></p>
<p>Get ready for your life to change. The so-called benefits of ObamaCare don&#8217;t start until 2014, but the tax increases, misallocated resources and federal regulations start now.</p>
<p>Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said the night of ObamCare&#8217;s passage, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it …” The emerging picture is frightening.</p>
<p>ObamaCare dramatically alters the already-overregulated health insurance market. The federal government will now manage your health care decisions. The law creates a maze of mandates, federal directives, price controls, tax increases and subsidies.</p>
<p>We all begin paying ObamaCare taxes this year. The law includes at last count at least 19 new taxes. As Americans begin to reap the personal financial burden of Obamacare, the movement to repeal it is mounting.</p>
<p>Individuals must pay an annual penalty of $695, or up to 2.5 percent of their annual income, if they don&#8217;t purchase an approved health insurance plan. Penalties on families include an annual penalty of $347 per child, up to $2,250 per family, if parents don&#8217;t purchase an approved policy.</p>
<p>Most of us have heard about the penalties on employers. Business owners must buy a government-approved health plan or pay a penalty of $2,000 per employee if they have 50 employees or more.</p>
<p>Investors get whacked hard. ObamaCare imposes a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for individuals making $200,000 or more and on families making $250,000 or more. The investment tax is not indexed for inflation, so as time passes more people will be expected to pay. Seniors on fixed incomes and pensioners with IRAs and 401(k) plans will be hit hard.</p>
<p>The so-called &#8220;Tax on &#8216;Cadillac&#8217; health plans&#8221; imposes a 40 percent tax on health care plans valued at $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamacare-is-repeal-within-reach/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Duck-and-Run Obama &#8211; by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/duck-and-run-obama-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=duck-and-run-obama-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/duck-and-run-obama-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abortion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[admiral mullen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advantage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[answer sessions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[approach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[athletic prowess]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cambridge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cambridge Police]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[campaign]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[campaign promise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chinese president hu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Director Anita Dunn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[duck and run]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[front]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Funding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Great]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[great communicator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Henry Louis Gates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Henry Louis Gates JR.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[house]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[isn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joint session of congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[July]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Office]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[open microphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policy positions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Press]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[press conferences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[professor henry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prowess]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rhetorical skills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Gibbs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[running one]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Secretary Gates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Secretary of State Clinton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taxpayer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[team]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TIME]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transparency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trip to asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united-states]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white house communications]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=41876</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Obama White House has become like a bad reality TV show.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41878" title="obama" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/obama1.jpg" alt="obama" width="450" height="367" /></p>
<p><span><span>President Obama’s athletic prowess is becoming a real advantage in office as he recently has taken the duck-and -run approach to the media. Instead of defending himself in front of the open microphone, he is dispatching his cronies to defend his policy positions. Our commander-in-chief isn’t living up to his campaign promise of presidential access and transparency.</span></span></p>
<p>Obama hasn’t held a formal press conference since July 22. At that event he infamously gaffed that Cambridge Police had acted stupidly when confronting Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at his home. Since that time, Obama has avoided off-the-cuff question and answer sessions, preferring to rely on his teleprompter for scripted remarks. On his recent trip to Asia, Obama limited questions at his joint press conferences to one each from a U.S. reporter and a foreign journalist. At his “joint press statement” with Chinese President Hu Jintao, no questions were allowed.</p>
<p>This is all shocking given the hyperbole that was spewed during the campaign from the media, who referred to Obama as the ‘Great Communicator.’ While the press were admiring Obama’s rhetorical skills, behind the scenes, handlers were scripting all events and carefully controlling the message.</p>
<p>Rather than running one of the most open and transparent administrations ever, team Obama is running one of the most disingenuous and scripted. As White House Communications Director Anita Dunn boasted, “We controlled the media coverage of the campaign.”</p>
<p>Obama is running a charade. If he were genuine about what he is trying to accomplish, he would not be so afraid to face tough questions. Obama fears that if he makes himself available to the press, he will make another blooper and be caught in his lies.</p>
<p>This past week, Obama again practised deception. After pointedly declaring in his speech to the joint session of Congress that “my plan will not include taxpayer funding of abortion,” Obama lobbied Congress in support of abortion funding in the health reform bill. His administration has even lobbied against the pro-life amendments to these bills. Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs argued that these health bills are not the president’s, therefore “his plan does not include taxpayer funding of abortion.” This is a laughable explanation at best, and one that Obama clearly does not want to say himself. Therefore he is avoiding a press conference like the plague.</p>
<p>The American people are catching on and it is one reason why his approval rating is down to 47 percent in the most recent Gallup poll.</p>
<p>After his speech on Afghanistan left many questions unanswered, team Obama dispatched aides including Defense Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, Secretary of State Clinton and many others to explain what Obama meant to say in his speech. In his speech, Obama stated that we would withdraw from Afghanistan in July, 2011. His advisors are back-tracking for him and have since clarified that he didn’t really mean what he said. Advisors clarified versions reads: We will examine the conditions and may begin drawing down our troop levels, not begin a withdrawal then. Obama himself has remained mum on the subject after the speech. Great Communicators don’t usually make vague pronouncements and let their subordinates clumsily explain the details, but that is exactly what Obama is doing.</p>
<p>Obama even recently closed from the media a meeting with federal employees to discuss transparency and public information requests. His underlings have also held high-profile negotiations with pharmaceutical companies behind closed doors, even though he promised during the campaign that he would televise meetings like these on CSPAN.</p>
<p>The Obama White House has become like a bad reality TV show. Obama is maintaining his appearance of celebrity and his face is everywhere, but at the same time he is refusing to answer tough questions from reporters. Obama is just a performer dressed as President of the United States.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/duck-and-run-obama-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Con Artists of Climategate &#8211; by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/the-con-artists-of-climategate-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-con-artists-of-climategate-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/the-con-artists-of-climategate-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[al gore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Bolt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anonymous person]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[australian sun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[billi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bully]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate research unit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climategate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collusion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[confidential files]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copenhagen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[curtain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dissent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[east anglia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[England]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global temperature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming hysteria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green revolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hyperbole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hypocrisy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hysteria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[information]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[junk science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mainstream]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[manipulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Professor Richard Lindzen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Propaganda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[propagandist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[propagandists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restructuring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sarah Palin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scandal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shysters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[side]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spinsters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ted Koppel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[temperature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[university of east anglia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[venture capital firm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wizard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wizard of oz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=40339</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The liars behind global warming. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40341" title="GlobalWarming" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/GlobalWarming.jpg" alt="GlobalWarming" width="450" height="468" /></p>
<p><span><span>Just like in the Wizard of Oz, the curtain was torn back and leading proponents of anthropogenic (people-caused) global warming have been caught lying.</span></span></p>
<p>Called Climategate, the scandal exposes the global warming shysters who are conning the public into a massive restructuring of the global economy, while attempting to silence any dissent. But don’t expect to see this in our mainstream media, because they are the spinsters who promote this manipulation of data and propaganda.</p>
<p>It all began when an anonymous person hacked into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit in England, releasing 61 megabytes of confidential files, including 1079 e-mails and 72 documents onto the Internet. These files are a wealth of information.</p>
<p>The most damning indictment of proponents of global warming hysteria is a long series of communications discussing how best to squeeze dissenting scientists out of the peer review process. The e-mails even included fantasies of violence against those who question anthropogenic global warming. These e-mails show disturbing patterns of “conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organized resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more,” says Australian Sun’s Andrew Bolt.</p>
<p>Man-made global warming hysteria has long been fueled by people using junk science, fear and hyperbole to support an agenda that they personally profit from. As they attempt to lead the world into a green revolution, these propagandists are hiding the truth that the average global temperature has fallen since 1998.</p>
<p>The leading profiteering propagandist is Al Gore. After losing the presidential election in 2000, Al Gore became the leader of the hysteria movement. However, this “Eco-Prophet” has hidden a few inconvenient truths of his own. He just happens to be involved with a venture capital firm that has invested approximately a billion dollars in green companies that stand to make a bundle if Cap-and-Trade becomes law.</p>
<p>Reports state that Gore’s net worth now stands at $100 million, when it was $2 million when he left politics. He’s laughing all the way to the bank.</p>
<p>Al Gore has a history of playing loose with the facts.</p>
<p>Recently on TV, while discussing geothermal energy, Al Gore made the outrageous claim that “the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees.” However, the actual temperature here on earth is between 5,000 and 9,000 degrees. This is a gaffe that if Sarah Palin had made, the media would ridicule as her stupid.</p>
<p>Speaking of hypocrisy, Al Gore is a living embodiment of it. As he lectures the world on energy use, and lobbies Congress to regulate productive American companies out of business, Gore consumes more than twenty times more energy than the average American, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. This doesn’t count the energy consumption of his jet.</p>
<p>Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” is full of instances where he plays loose with the facts. A 2007 British court ruled that Gore&#8217;s film has nine significant refutable errors. These are examples of Gore’s scare tactics to induce the public to take radical action (to his financial benefit).</p>
<p>Not only is Gore prone to hyperbole, hypocrisy and blatant distortions, he is also a bully. Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT wrote about scientists being &#8220;in the crosshairs&#8221; of Gore, who &#8220;tried to bully&#8221; them into changing &#8220;their views and supporting his climate alarmism.&#8221; Lindzen also refers to a failed Gore effort to &#8220;enlist Ted Koppel (then a TV host) in a witch hunt to discredit anti-alarmist scientists.&#8221;</p>
<p>When one side tries to shut another side out of the debate, it is typically because they feel their arguments won’t stand up to scrutiny.</p>
<p>These propagandists use various tactics. A favorite is to make people feel guilty if they don’t jump on the “green” bandwagon, and those who do are praised for helping the environment.</p>
<p>With the Copenhagen meetings just around the corner, expect to see “green” propaganda exponentially increasing. Open your eyes to these manipulators of data and people, who while acting like do-gooders, see great (green as in money) gain.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/the-con-artists-of-climategate-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>42</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s Rose-Colored Glasses &#8211; by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obama-must-face-reality-to-protect-america-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obama-must-face-reality-to-protect-america-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obama-must-face-reality-to-protect-america-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=37166</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How will the administration protect us against terrorism if it denies the reality of Ft. Hood?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-37173" title="USREPORT-US-TEXAS-SHOOTINGS-OBAMA" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/obama3.jpg" alt="USREPORT-US-TEXAS-SHOOTINGS-OBAMA" width="399" height="298" /></p>
<p><span><span>President Obama needs to throw his &#8220;Muslims can do no evil&#8221; rose-colored glasses off and see the real world. After listening to remarks by Barack Hussein Obama in Fort Hood, Texas, we were struck by how unemotional he is to tragedy. That is, Obama appears to be genuinely mourning the victims of the brutal jihad-inspired massacre that left 13 dead; but even now, he refuses to understand the gravity of the events and underlying reasons that led to this terrorist attack on America&#8217;s valiant soldiers.</span></span></p>
<p>To Obama, terrorism and Islamist jihad are words stricken from his presidential lexicon. Without these words, you cannot adequately understand these brutal events on America&#8217;s homeland. Jihad flows from very specific Islamic teachings. This attack was a premeditated act of unspeakable terrorism, including the ritual pre-jihad (pre-attack) cleansing routine caught in part on convenience store cameras. Politically correct denial of Islam&#8217;s role in this bloodletting is foolish and dangerous. And Obama and his administration will not be able to protect us against further similar acts if they continually refuse to admit reality.</p>
<p>What is the evidence to substantiate our claims?</p>
<p>The FBI knew that Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had communicated with a radical, extremist imam nearly a year before the attack. Yet, they wrongly determined the Army officer was no threat. Why was he categorized as no threat? What official or officials cleared him? For what reason did they clear him?</p>
<p>We have learned from Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, that the Obama administration knew months ago that Hasan and the radical Yemeni imam &#8220;had exchanged 10 to 20 e-mails.&#8221;</p>
<p>The imam influencing the Muslim shooter is Anwar al-Awlaki. He was released from a jail in Yemen last year. Al-Awlaki writes an anti-American blog that repeatedly denounces the war on terror. He presided at the mosque in Falls Church, Va., that Hasan attended, a center known for radical Islamic teaching.</p>
<p>When will these radical mosques on American soil be shut down? We expect radical pro-jihad teaching and Islamic-fascism in the Middle East, but we don&#8217;t need to accept it in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. We all enjoy freedom of religion, but not the freedom to incite others to violence, which is exactly what is happening in some American mosques.</p>
<p>The news that FBI Director Robert Mueller ordered &#8220;an internal investigation into whether the agency mishandled an &#8216;assessment&#8217; of Hasan&#8221; is not enough. This investigation shouldn&#8217;t be handled internally. We need an independent investigation to assess why the Obama administration&#8217;s intelligence was so inadequate. No cover-ups to protect themselves this time. They&#8217;re paid to protect American citizens, not themselves.</p>
<p>Why was no FBI agent still tracking Islamic extremist Hasan&#8217;s activities and Web site postings?</p>
<p>Another scary thought. What other targets of investigations have been ruled nonthreats by these same officials who misjudged Hasan?</p>
<p>The Army is under intense pressure from liberals to become politically correct proponents of Islam and other so-called downtrodden minorities. Servicing pet causes of the Washington elite is not, nor has it ever been, the proper role of the military. They are a fighting machine with the very specific job of killing enemies. It is imperative that Americans be better informed about how the Obama administration is changing the military and allowing it to be infiltrated by Islamists.</p>
<p>A number of complaints were made to commanding Army officers about Hasan. What officer in the Army ignored those complaints and cleared Hasan for duty? Since Hasan is a psychiatrist, what was he saying to American soldiers when he counseled them?</p>
<p>According to The Washington Post, Hasan &#8220;warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half ago that to avoid &#8216;adverse events,&#8217; the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims. As a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic of his choosing as a culminating exercise of the residency program. Instead, in late June 2007, he stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan.&#8221;</p>
<p>Clearly, the Army cannot say they didn&#8217;t know his views. The innocent souls murdered at Fort Hood will only rest in peace when the politically correct thought police who protected Hasan are court-martialed by the Army &#8212; and Obama trashes his rose-colored glasses while he is president.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obama-must-face-reality-to-protect-america-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama&#8217;s War on FOX &#8211; by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-vindictive-and-personal-war-on-unbiased-news-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-vindictive-and-personal-war-on-unbiased-news-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-vindictive-and-personal-war-on-unbiased-news-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:03:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=32969</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The President drags the Oval Office into the mud.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-32995" title="obama_lg" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/obama_lg.jpg" alt="obama_lg" width="450" height="362" /></p>
<p><span><span>By launching coordinated, fully-blown warfare on Fox News, as is their style, the Obama administration is stopping far beneath the dignity of the office of president. The recent round of attacks became particularly intense as White House communications staff, senior advisors, and even the president himself each took their turns at lobbing potshots at the top cable news station.</span></span></p>
<p>This conflict began brewing during the presidential campaign with Obama cracking jokes and complaining about Fox News, continued through the early months of his presidency, and then increased their momentum to reach the unprecedented crescendo of the recent bombardments. The first new round of shots was fired when Obama visited five Sunday morning shows in one day, including the big networks, CNN, and Univision, but clearly neglecting to appear on the leading cable news station, Fox.</p>
<p>The real battle began on October 12, when Communications Director Anita Dunn defined Fox News as &#8220;a wing of the Republican Party” then mocked and belittled it by saying, “But let&#8217;s not pretend they&#8217;re a news network the way CNN is.” She continued her diatribe by calling Fox News &#8220;opinion journalism masquerading as news.&#8221; This statement is most ironic given that CNN dubbed legitimate tea party protesters “tea baggers” and whose own reporter shouted down protesters, lecturing them about how wonderful Obama’s policies are for them. In a recent recording, Dunn brags about how the Obama campaign controlled their message and their media coverage. Evidently, Anita Dunn abhors Fox News because they refuse to be lapdogs like the rest of the media. Dunn pridefully declared that no one from the Obama administration will be appearing on Fox for at least the rest of this year.</p>
<p>The attacks intensified when White House senior advisers Valerie Jarrett, David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel played their roles by hitting the Sunday talk-show circuit with their disdain for Fox News. They repeated the same prepared lines from the White House, stating that Fox was not a news organization. Evidently Emanuel and other team members are upset that Fox covers newsworthy stories, including ACORN and Van Jones, while the mainstream, liberal media barely mention them. Fox represents a voice they don’t control. Consequently, Team Obama is engaging in the tactics of Obama’s extremely radical, left-wing mentor, Saul Alinsky, to isolate and discredit them.</p>
<p>The assaults sunk to new lows this week when President Obama personally entered the scene. Illustrating just how thin-skinned our commander-in-chief is, he pronounced that Fox News is “operating basically as talk radio,” meaning, talk radio allows people to criticize Obama. It is particularly telling when a president stoops to the level of criticizing a news organization, because it reveals how desperate, frightened and threatened he truly feels.</p>
<p>The lapdog media have responded as expected to this unprecedented assault on free speech and a news organization. Only Jake Tapper of ABC and Helen Thomas, dean of the press corps, have stood up and argued that the White House is using outlandish, reprehensible tactics. Outside of these two, the lapdog media remain passive and mum. In a column for Newsweek, Jacob Weisberg is even calling for a media boycott of Fox News, claiming that the organization is “Un-American.”</p>
<p>The hypocrisy and double standard displayed by these media types is truly unbelievable. If Bush or a Republican candidate for office had ever criticized MSNBC and declared it to be a wing of the Democratic Party, the criticism would never end. The worst hypocrite of all is Keith Olbermann.</p>
<p>In 2008, White House Counsel Ed Gillespie sent a letter to the president of NBC accusing the network of selectively editing Bush’s answers to distort the president’s position. Olbermann later blasted Gillespie in his “Worst Person in the World” segment, accusing Gillespie of “whining like a high school sophomore.” What is Olbermann doing now? He is out front cheerleading the Obama administration’s attacks on Fox and attended a meeting with Obama this week in a summit for fellow liberal influencers including Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson and Maureen Dowd.</p>
<p>Lapdog Olbermann the Doberman is an outspoken bigot, evidenced by his own words: &#8220;Mr. Bush, shut the hell up!&#8221; &#8220;You&#8217;re a fascist! Get them to print a T-shirt with the word &#8216;fascist&#8217; on it!” “George W. Bush is ‘psychotic’ with ‘blood on his hands,’” and calls the GOP the greatest terrorist threat in America. The liberal double standard is out in full force. Thankfully, Americans are ignoring President Obama’s pettiness and attacks by tuning into Fox for the unbiased story in record numbers. The American people know bias when they see it, and they want to know the truth.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/obamas-vindictive-and-personal-war-on-unbiased-news-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Hidden Costs of ObamaCare &#8211; by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/the-hidden-costs-of-obamacare-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-hidden-costs-of-obamacare-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/the-hidden-costs-of-obamacare-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:05:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Floyd and Mary Beth Brown]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=31183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why aren't we allowed to know the cost beforehand?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-31184" title="costs" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/costs.jpg" alt="costs" width="450" height="299" /></p>
<p><span><span>How much is this going to cost? This is a simple and reasonable question to ask before signing a document stating that you are responsible and will pay any amount not covered by your medical insurance when having a procedure done. Try asking it the next time you have an x-ray (or any other procedure.) A family member of ours did recently when he was experiencing back pain, and when registering, asked the woman working at the radiology company how much an x-ray of the back cost. The x-ray was ordered by his doctor. The woman said she couldn’t tell him the price because it varied and the rate was going to be worked out later with his insurance company. “Can’t you give me a rough idea how much an x-ray of the back costs?” he said. “Isn’t there a set rate for each procedure that I can see?” “No,” she said, “there is no way of knowing the price right now. I’m sorry.”</span></span></p>
<p>Just imagine having any other service or purchasing a product and being told you couldn’t know the cost beforehand, although you are required to blindly sign a legally binding contract saying you will pay whatever they later decide to charge you. That’s unethical and ridiculous you’d say. Well, welcome to the American health care system.</p>
<p>Not letting a consumer know the price before a service is performed would not be allowed in any other business except health care. This is a major reason the system and its escalating costs are out of control and so high. Medicare patients are charged one amount, Medicaid another and each private insurance company and individual policies are charged yet another rate for the very same procedure.</p>
<p>As an expert in antitrust and healthcare, Professor Clark Havighurst of Duke University Law School often speaks of restoring the “price tags” to health care. In The Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. wrote regarding Havighurst’s theory: “Now that’s a concept that the public could actually make sense of.”</p>
<p>“The public is not as dumb as it’s made out to be,” says Jenkins. After the public options died in the Senate Finance Committee, Jenkins claims, “What’s left is a package of ‘reforms’ that are mere trite extensions of what we’ve been doing for decades… piling up mandates on private insurers and then lying that this somehow isn’t driving up the cost of health insurance,” and “piling up subsidies for health consumption and then lying that this isn’t responsible for runaway health-care spending.”</p>
<p>The proposal to amend the anti-trust McCarran-Fergusson Act, Professor Havighurst says, leads to no improvement because at the end of bill, it “declares that state regulators would retain authority to engage in ‘information gathering and rate setting.’” It boils down to simple common sense. Havighurst wrote in a 2006 Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, “[F]ew things are more foreseeable that that a trade or profession empowered to regulate itself will produce anticompetitive regulations.”</p>
<p>Let’s just follow common sense.  Allow health care to act according to the free market, like most other businesses.</p>
<p>Obama should been forthright in sharing with Americans how resources would be allocated if not by price. The left’s single-payer system still won’t allow consumers to have pricing information so some other mechanism will be used to ration care. A common sense approach would require all healthcare providers to post charges in the waiting room. But instead of putting the price tags on health care so consumers could decide instead, Obamacare complicates and adds new layers to an overly complex and monopolistic system. Obama has botched an opportunity for real progress.</p>
<p>President Obama, don’t under estimate the American public. We’re not dummies; we like to use common sense in making decisions for ourselves. Free the marketplace &#8212; don’t increase regulations.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/the-hidden-costs-of-obamacare-by-floyd-and-mary-beth-brown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

<!-- Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Object Caching 1464/1626 objects using disk
Content Delivery Network via cdn.frontpagemag.com

 Served from: www.frontpagemag.com @ 2014-12-31 07:38:09 by W3 Total Cache -->