Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party |
- Birth control coverage proposed for most health insurance plans
- Alabama still collecting tax for Confederate vets
- Colonel West vs Wasserman-Schultz: The American Hero vs the Hogan’s Hero
- Can Rick Perry be the GOP’s Tea Party candidate?
| Birth control coverage proposed for most health insurance plans Posted: 20 Jul 2011 02:22 PM PDT By N.C. Aizenman, The Washington Post Virtually all health insurance plans could soon be required to offer female patients free coverage of prescription birth control, breast-pump rentals, counseling for domestic violence, and annual wellness exams and HIV tests as a result of recommendations released Tuesday by an independent advisory panel of health experts. The health-care law adopted last year directed the Obama administration to draw up a list of preventive services for women that all new health plans must cover without deductibles or co-payments. While the guidelines suggested Tuesday by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine are not binding, the panel conducted its year-long review at the request of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In a statement, Sebelius praised the committee's work as "historic" and "based on science and existing literature." "We are reviewing the report closely and will release the department's recommendations . . . very soon," she added. Although generally expected, the committee's decision to put "the full range" of Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives and sterilization procedures on its proposed list ignited immediate controversy. Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the socially conservative Family Research Council, said that many Americans may object to birth control on religious grounds. "They should not be forced to have to pay into insurance plans that violate their consciences. Their conscience rights should be protected," she said. To read more, visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/birth-control-coverage-proposed-for-all-health-insurance-plans/2011/07/19/gIQAcqS7NI_story.html?hpid=z4 |
| Alabama still collecting tax for Confederate vets Posted: 20 Jul 2011 02:16 PM PDT By JAY REEVES, Associated Press MOUNTAIN CREEK, Ala. (AP) — The last of the more than 60,000 Confederate veterans who came home to Alabama after the Civil War died generations ago, yet residents are still paying a tax that supported the neediest among them. Despite fire-and-brimstone opposition to taxes among many in a state that still has “Heart of Dixie” on its license plates, officials never stopped collecting a property tax that once funded the Alabama Confederate Soldiers’ Home, which closed 72 years ago. The tax now pays for Confederate Memorial Park, which sits on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” in part because few realize it exists; one long-serving black legislator who thought the tax had been done away with said he wants to eliminate state funding for the park. These days, 150 years after the Civil War started, officials say the old tax typically brings in more than $400,000 annually for the park, where Confederate flags flapped on a recent steamy afternoon. That’s not much compared to Alabama’s total operating budget of $1.8 billion, but it’s sufficient to give the park plenty of money to operate and even enough for investments, all at a time when other historic sites are struggling just to keep the grass cut for lack of state funding. “It’s a beautifully maintained park. It’s one of the best because of the funding source,” said Clara Nobles of the Alabama Historical Commission, which oversees Confederate Memorial Park. Longtime park director Bill Rambo is more succinct. “Everyone is jealous of us,” he said. Tax experts say they know of no other state that still collects a tax so directly connected to the Civil War, although some federal excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol first were enacted during the war to help fund the Union. “Broadly speaking, almost all taxes have their start in a war of some sort,” said Joseph J. Thorndike, director of a tax history project at Tax Analysts, a nonprofit organization that studies taxation. To read more, visit: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiIQux2EyBGn5SgLYcmAjFpOoZ6w?docId=5f27efe74b1d43c1a6af3cdb57cfe23b |
| Colonel West vs Wasserman-Schultz: The American Hero vs the Hogan’s Hero Posted: 20 Jul 2011 02:01 PM PDT By Eric Golub, The Washington Times LOS ANGELES, July 21, 2011 — A pair of military personnel sparred in South Florida. Colonel Allen West is a decorated American hero. In contrast to this hero, Sergeant of the Guard Debbie Wasserman-Schultz truly does know nothing. This unfair fight was avoidable, but unfortunately Debbie Wasserman-Schultz follows her left-wing ideological bigotry manual. The manual requires demonizing all conservatives for existing and breathing air, with extra scorn to be heaped upon minority conservatives. Colonel West and Barack Obama both have a darker pigmentation than I do. Yet Colonel West is an accomplished retired soldier and a spellbinding speaker. Barack Obama is mediocre and boring with few skills outside of standing on street corners and agitating workers to riot. Colonel West knows what too few conservatives have the courage to say. To read more, visit: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tygrrrr-express/2011/jul/20/colonel-west-vs-dsw-american-hero-vs-hogans-hero/ |
| Can Rick Perry be the GOP’s Tea Party candidate? Posted: 20 Jul 2011 01:55 PM PDT By Stephanie Condon, CBS News Texas Gov. Rick Perry possesses the sort of showmanship and iconoclastic attitude that spurs him to boast about jogging with a pistol — the type of attitude that would presumably play well with the Tea Party. It turns out, however, that some in the largely conservative movement are turning a wary eye on the Republican governor. Perry told an Iowa newspaper last week he is starting to feel “called” to run for president. His possible presidential bid has prompted groups to take a closer look at his record as governor. Last month, as the Associated Press first reported, the New Hampshire Tea Party Coalitionpublished a litany of information about Perry that calls into question his reputation as a conservative. The coalition pointed out, for instance, that Perry in 2001 signed into law the Texas version of the Dream Act, an immigration measure opposed by conservatives. They point out Perry was a Democrat until 1989 and served as Al Gore’s Democratic chairman in Texas in 1988. They also link to a blog post entitled, “14 Reasons Rick Perry Would Be a Really Bad President.” Earlier this year, the AP points out, Texas Tea Partiers sent an open letter to the governor chastising him for failing to get a bill passed that would have outlawed “sanctuary” cities to protect undocumented immigrants. In the more than 10 years he’s served as governor, Perry has made other moves that don’t sit well with conservatives. For instance, in 2007, he issued an executive order making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. The executive order faced fierce opposition from conservatives, and the Texas state legislature voted to overturn it. Still, Perry has a strong conservative record overall and is often held up as the type of politician that could bridge the divide between the Tea Party and the GOP establishment. Even though the “sanctuary cities” bill did not pass, it was one of five ideologically-tinged bills he gave “emergency” status to this year, so that the state legislature had to make it a priority. Other “emergency items” included a bill to require a photo ID in order to vote, a bill indicating state support for a balanced federal budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and a bill requiring women to get a sonogram before having an abortion. To read more, visit: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20081047-503544.html |
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