United Liberty

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is getting a sweet deal of this own in the health care bill that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve. Three counties in his state are getting an exemption from cuts to Medicare:

H/T: Club for Growth

There is yet another score from the Congressional Budget Office for ObamaCare (it hasn’t been released to the public). According to the Wall Street Journal, the legislation will cost $849 billion in the first ten years and also cut budget deficits by $127 billion. Oh, and it contains a government-run option:

All Americans would be required to carry health insurance, either through an employer, a government plan or by purchasing it on their own. The Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people would be significantly expanded.

The bill would set up new insurance marketplaces — called exchanges — primarily for those who now have a hard time getting or keeping coverage. Most people buying coverage through the exchanges would get tax credits to help cover the cost of premiums. They would be able to pick private coverage or a new government health insurance plan.

However, the government plan may not be available all across the country. Mr. Reid would allow individual states to opt out.

As I’ve noted in posts on previous scores, the CBO always adds that each score is “subject to substantial uncertainty” because these estimates are almost always inaccurate.

The word this afternoon was that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was “very pleased” with the score. Peter Suderman says there is a good explanation for that:

Glenn Thrush digs deep into the House health care bill and finds a bit of Nanny Statism:

Buried deep in the House health care bill is a provision, likely to raise nanny-state hackles, requiring fast-food chains and vending machine owners to notify customers of calorie counts — by conspicuously posting nutritional information on menus or machines.

The provision — Section 2572 — requires retail food establishments “part of a chain with 20 or more locations” to list calorie counts “on the menu board including a drive-through board,” as is currently required in New York City and other localities.

A “vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button” that includes similar data.

Exemptions include items that will be on the menu for less than 60 days — and limited test runs of food products.

It merges the language of Sen. Tom Carper’s LEAN Act the MEAL Act, sponsored by Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), earlier this year.

(…)

The idea is popular among progressives and public health types who think it could reduce obesity, hypertension and diabetes rates — particularly among inner-city folks whose diets are disproportionately composed of cheap, tasty, calorie-loaded Big Macs, Whoppers and Chalupas.

The protests in Iran echo struggles for democracy in decades past:

AT LEAST seven protesters were reported to be dead, and many others injured, after shots were fired, apparently by security forces, into a huge crowd of demonstrators in Tehran on Monday June 15th. Three days since officials announced the result of a presidential election in which the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was handed an implausible landslide victory, furious residents took to the streets and the rooftops of the capital city. Protesters shouted that the election result was fraudulent. Hundreds of thousands of people ignored government orders to disperse, putting on a display of anger and defiance not seen since the revolution of three decades ago.

China, the largest holder of United States’ debt, is expressing concern over the our economy:

The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, spoke in unusually blunt terms on Friday about the “safety” of China’s $1 trillion investment in American government debt, the world’s largest such holding, and urged the Obama administration to offer assurances that the securities would maintain their value.
[…]
“President Obama and his new government have adopted a series of measures to deal with the financial crisis. We have expectations as to the effects of these measures,” Mr. Wen said. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.”

Blackwater, the contractor that has the blood of innocent Iraqis on its hands, has changed its name:

Blackwater Worldwide, the contractor that emerged over the last few years as Exhibit A for ugly Americans in Iraq, has decided that the best response is to … change its name.

And check out the name they picked: “Xe.” (Apparently it’s pronounced like the letter ‘Z.’ Raising the question: Why not just call it “Z”?)

They’ve also renamed Blackwater Lodge & Training Center, the subsidiary that does much of their controversial overseas operations. It’s now the “U.S. Training Center Inc.” (Which doesn’t exactly mesh with “Xe,” but whatever.)

President Barack Obama’s skin color clouds one other progressive aspect of his presidency: he is the first post-Baby Boomer elected to the nation’s highest office. This is a cause for celebration, as the Baby Boomers may likely have done more harm to America than any previous generation.

Don’t believe me? Here is a list of the sins of the Boomers, or as I call them, “the Worst Generation:”

The Worst Generation’s crowning achievement is Woodstock. They’re actually proud of the fact that they spent their youth dressed like transients and having sex in the mud. The Greatest Generation’s crowning achievement, on the other hand, was defeating fascism on the beaches of Europe.

Whereas divorce was frowned upon by the Greatest Generation, the Worst Generation left millions of children fatherless and directionless.

The Worst Generaton has left us with a Social Security time bomb.