News and Views on Politics, Policy and More
Last week, the campaign arm of the White House -- “Organizing For Action” -- sent out an email asking folks to “join Team Obamacare!” All you have to do is submit your personal information and they’ll send you a FREE bumper sticker! (Think of the information-submission part as a dry run for what lies ahead.) Assuming you can still afford to drive a car under Obamanomics, that’s a swell deal. Oh, and I forgot to mention that to join “Team Obamacare,” you have to sign a petition … [Read more...]
I'm out of town this week, so Dan took the wheel this week on the podcast. He sat down with Glenn Gallas, an Arkansas conservative activist who's leading the charge to repeal the 'private' option via referendum. This is great stuff -- you won't want to miss it. Enjoy the show and don't forget to subscribe in the iTunes Store if you haven't yet. Relevant news stories: Referendum petition receives approval from attorney general Surgeon General Joe Thompson's testimony before Congress … [Read more...]
Senator Mark Pryor has released a new, much anticipated television ad! It’s really super. It really taught me a lot. Like that Mark Pryor listens to Arkansas, not Washington or New York! Well, um, not including his votes for Obamacare, the stimulus, background checks, the assault weapons ban, and higher deficit spending! Actually, this ad is horrific. It’s like watching a car wreck. Or train wreck. You just can’t look away. I challenge anyone to watch it without falling asleep and then, … [Read more...]
While you were enjoying time with your family around the fireplace on the first weekend of May, Senator Mark Pryor was working hard for YOU! In fact, on the new political talk show Capitol View yesterday, Rep. Darrin Williams (former chief of staff for Pryor) said, “Arkansas always comes first with Mark.” And when asked about Pryor’s recent stances on gun issues -- which clearly conflict with previous stances -- Williams said he thinks Pryor stands “with Arkansans.” For once, I can … [Read more...]
Yesterday, the state Senate completed a deal to fund Medicaid expansion in Arkansas. Today, they're considering a bill, HB1508, to setup state-run health insurance exchanges. Under Obamacare, states must either setup insurance exchanges or allow the federal government to do so. Two-thirds of states have declined to set one up themselves, thus leaving exchange creation to the feds. The latest paper from the Advance Arkansas Institute outlines five reasons why this is the wrong path for the state … [Read more...]
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you two news items that could change the shape of the Medicaid expansion debate happening at this very moment in Little Rock. First, you must read this article by Michael Cannon of Cato Institute that reveals: 1. The PPACA is not likely to reduce uncompensated care in 2014. 2. The PPACA won’t reduce the deficit. 3. Hospitals can stop crying poverty. 4. States don’t need to expand Medicaid to protect hospitals. How do we know all of this? … [Read more...]
X-Files fans are familiar with the poster in Fox Mulder’s office. If you weren’t an X-files watcher, you probably don’t know that Mulder, an investigator of paranormal phenomena, gradually uncovered an interplanetary alien conspiracy to take over our planet. It’s a free country: people are entitled to believe in interplanetary alien conspiracies, or indeed to believe in whatever they want. But if Fox Mulder were in the Arkansas state senate, that would be a problem. When people who are … [Read more...]
Here is some video I grabbed from the Medicaid town hall meeting in Benton last night. Two videos of Advance Arkansas Institute President Dan Greenberg, one of the Manhattan Institute's Avik Roy, and one with some comments from Rep. John Burris and Senator David Sanders, sponsors of Medicaid expansion: … [Read more...]
