Obama and Abortion Rights Part Two

It seems that President Obama has sold Democratic women out, to get health care reform through the House the President has caved on the demands by anti abortion Congressman, Rep. Stupak. The White House has released the most shameful of press releases, the White House states the following, " Today, the President announced that he will be issuing an executive order after the passage of the health insurance reform law that will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion. While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards to ensure that the status quo is upheld and enforced, and that the health care legislation’s restrictions against the public funding of abortions cannot be circumvented. The President has said from the start that this health insurance reform should not be the forum to upset longstanding precedent. The health care legislation and this executive order are consistent with this principle. The President is grateful for the tireless efforts of leaders on both sides of this issue to craft a consensus approach that allows the bill to move forward. A text of the pending executive order follows:

EXECUTIVE ORDER - - - - - - - ENSURING ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (approved March __, 2010), I hereby order as follows:

Section 1. Policy. Following the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“the Act”), it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), consistent with a longstanding Federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde Amendment. The purpose of this Executive Order is to establish a comprehensive, government-wide set of policies and procedures to achieve this goal and to make certain that all relevant actors—Federal officials, state officials (including insurance regulators) and health care providers—are aware of their responsibilities, new and old. The Act maintains current Hyde Amendment restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to the newly-created health insurance exchanges. Under the Act, longstanding Federal laws to protect conscience (such as the Church Amendment, 42 U.S.C. §300a-7, and the Weldon Amendment, Pub. L. No. 111-8, §508(d)(1) (2009)) remain intact and new protections prohibit discrimination against health care facilities and health care providers because of an unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions. Numerous executive agencies have a role in ensuring that these restrictions are enforced, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Section 2. Strict Compliance with Prohibitions on Abortion Funding in Health Insurance Exchanges. The Act specifically prohibits the use of tax credits and cost-sharing reduction payments to pay for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) in the health insurance exchanges that will be operational in 2014. The Act also imposes strict payment and accounting requirements to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services in exchange plans (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) and requires state health insurance commissioners to ensure that exchange plan funds are segregated by insurance companies in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, OMB funds management circulars, and accounting guidance provided by the Government Accountability Office. I hereby direct the Director of OMB and the Secretary of HHS to develop, within 180 days of the date of this Executive Order, a model set of segregation guidelines for state health insurance commissioners to use when determining whether exchange plans are complying with the Act’s segregation requirements, established in Section 1303 of the Act, for enrollees receiving Federal financial assistance. The guidelines shall also offer technical information that states should follow to conduct independent regular audits of insurance companies that participate in the health insurance exchanges. In developing these model guidelines, the Director of OMB and the Secretary of HHS shall consult with executive agencies and offices that have relevant expertise in accounting principles, including, but not limited to, the Department of the Treasury, and with the Government Accountability Office. Upon completion of those model guidelines, the Secretary of HHS should promptly initiate a rulemaking to issue regulations, which will have the force of law, to interpret the Act’s segregation requirements, and shall provide guidance to state health insurance commissioners on how to comply with the model guidelines.

Section 3. Community Health Center Program. The Act establishes a new Community Health Center (CHC) Fund within HHS, which provides additional Federal funds for the community health center program. Existing law prohibits these centers from using federal funds to provide abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), as a result of both the Hyde Amendment and longstanding regulations containing the Hyde language. Under the Act, the Hyde language shall apply to the authorization and appropriations of funds for Community Health Centers under section 10503 and all other relevant provisions. I hereby direct the Secretary of HHS to ensure that program administrators and recipients of Federal funds are aware of and comply with the limitations on abortion services imposed on CHCs by existing law. Such actions should include, but are not limited to, updating Grant Policy Statements that accompany CHC grants and issuing new interpretive rules.

Section 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this Executive Order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) authority granted by law or presidential directive to an agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.(b) This Executive Order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.(c) This Executive Order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

The above throws women under the bus, the Democrats have no shame.

Obama and Abortion Rights

RCP Blog: Has the Executive Order by President Obama that restricts US Government support for the right of women to have aid for Abortion. As stated days ago health care reform was going to happen, but it seems the Obama Chicago mob are willing to sell women down the river so Obama, Pelosi and Reid can look good to conservative Democrats. It is not that surprising that Obama would sell women out, the Democrats always expect women groups to defend an errant Democrat but are the first to be sold out by that leadership when its in their interest. Thus Obama will have his " historic moment " one can argue that LBJ would be impressed with the fact that Obama got his historic moment but the difference between Obama and LBJ is the fact that LBJ knew with his Great Society that there would be a political cost, thus Republican Presidents or moderate Democrats after 1968, Obama might be under the illusion that history will be kind to him, not if the Democrats are out of power for two generations.

Iran and the USSR

LA Times: Reports on President Obama's policy toward Iran, the Obama White House has stated its opposition to Iran getting the bomb, the article states the following on this policy, " The....administration's goal is still to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But like many of the president's worthy aspirations, this one may be unattainable. " As noted in many news reports the USA has placed missile defences in countries around Iran, very much like the old NATO policy during the Cold War when it came to the USSR. Thus we come to the point of the article, the main argument is for a Cold War policy of containment, but this would be a disaster for the Middle East, the rest of region would be forced in to arms race, the countries would ask themselves would Obama or his successors really defend them if the balloon went up, these countries would have seen how Obama has appeased Russia at the expense of Poland and the Czech Republic, and for what, nothing in return, Russia and China are opposed to strong UN sanctions against Iran. The idea of containment is an old policy that worked on the whole for Europe, but the USA still had to fight communist threat in other parts of the globe, in the case of Iran the Tehran Regime would use its support of terrorists such as the Taliban in Afghanistan to cause problems for NATO and any American President. As the Sunday Times reported today the Tehran Regime has a three month terrorist training plan for the Taliban, a nuclear armed Iran would be more of a threat to the region and the West. Thus there is one actor that has the final say that is Israel, at the end of the day if Obama is weak then Israel will have to attack Iran and Obama will have to support the move, at the rate he is going he will be a one term President, but he wants a fighting chance in 2012, thus he will have to support Israel, if he does not the Congress of the USA will, its that simple and brutal, that is Chicago politics D.C. style.

The Taliban and Iran

Fox News: Reports on a article in the UK Sunday Times that reports how the Taliban of Afghanistan have had training from Iran on how to attack NATO forces in Afghanistan. As stated it wont be HCR that will bring down President Obama, it will be his own arrogance when it comes to Iran. The President believes that his own rhetoric will somehow be reality, the difference is that Iran has told Obama to get lost, he does come across as a love sick puppy, who has been told by girl to get lost, he does not get the message, thought that was called a stalker. It comes down to one simple fact, Iran wants the bomb, it does not care if Obama goes on his knees to Iran; he has bowed that far to the Emperor of Japan; the regime in Tehran gets the fact that while its in a war of words with the USA it can suppress the internal opposition and make a play to lead the Middle East. Also we have the wild card of Israel, since Obama seems happy to attack the allies of the USA while allowing Russia off the hook, the Government of Israel might return the favour and attack Iran before the Mid Term Congressional Elections. That would be ironic folks.

Historic Day - Health Care Reform

The New York Times: Reports that Speaker Pelosi will have a narrow win in the House to pass health care reform, the NYT states the following, " the margin of victory would likely be razor thin even under their most optimistic scenario. Republicans.....still held out hope of derailing the legislation. ". Whatever you think about the process the Obama White House will have a major win, it will have shown that Obama has the same presence as LBJ when it comes to getting laws through Congress. On other hand POTUS might just find that he has won the battle but lost the War. After 1968 for the most part it was Republicans in the Oval or moderate Democrats, in the UK after 1945 and after the Labour Government it was the Conservative Party that was the Party of Government. The seeking of the prize is sometimes more important than the prize itself, thus Obama will get HCR but the cost might be that he will lose the House in 2010 even the Senate and he will be a one term President after 2012. But President Obama will have his win, but lets recall it was not the Great Society of LBJ that bought him down it was Vietnam, and in odd way it might be Iran that brings Obama down, and why you might ask, simple they can tell President Obama to get lost.