What IRKS or INTERESTS You?

He said “big money” has trumped politics and principles in the push for “amnesty.” 

“I think a number of elected Republicans are taking a look at their donors, and are listening to their consultants, and they are seeing that people that are donating big amounts of money to them want amnesty,” Limbaugh said on his show on Monday. 

He named Republican consultants like Frank Luntz, Mike Murphy, and Steve Schmidt as those establishment Republicans who do not know any better. He said these consultants tell politicians that money will dry up if they do not support amnesty. Limbaugh then named prominent Republican donors, who often work with these consultants, that also want the immigration bill passed so they can get an influx of cheap labor. 

“All of the Republican major donors want this bill,” he said. “I’ll give you some names.  The Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson.  I mean, they want the bill, because they want the influx of new labor.  They want it. They’re not concerned with how anybody’s gonna vote down the line.  As long as these guys can stay aligned with whoever is running government, they’re in fat city.”

He said Republicans who support amnesty want the public to think “immigration reform” is about “ideas” and “politics,” but it is really about the crony capitalism that has made Washington, D.C. a boomtown. Limbaugh said, “there is a growing phenomenon in this country of crony capitalism taking place,” and moneyed interests and corporations actually support government.

He said big corporations never criticize government and don’t really care which political party is in the White House. 

“What they care about is being in bed with whoever is there …  If you can profit and profit big by being involved in the government, then you don’t need to be worried about government as an obstacle; they’re your partner,” he said. 

Limbaugh’s remarks ring truer in light of comments made by two aides to Sen. Marco Rubio in which they disparaged American workers to a New Yorker magazine writer by alleging there are Americans “across every sector”  that just “can’t cut it.” 

Limbaugh said he continued to believe “conservatism sells every time it’s properly explained” and that it is “attractive to everybody who hears it.” He emphasized supporting immigration reform was not the way to win over new voters and then noted the “big money” forces behind the immigration bill have never really cared about the long-term health of the conservative movement or the Republican party.

When Judicial Watch asked a MADD spokesperson if they would stand up against provisions in the bill that allow illegal aliens convicted of drunk driving to get amnesty, and therefore keep driving on America’s roads, that spokesperson simply responded that MADD “doesn’t get involved in immigration matters.”

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Breitbart News that MADD’s refusal to fight against convicted drunk drivers here is ludicrous. “We know already that Obama is releasing criminal illegal aliens onto the streets,” Fitton said in an email. “This new amnesty will further harm the public safety. In many states, a misdemeanor results in a citizen losing the right to vote. Yet under this amnesty bill, a ‘misdemeanor’ won’t stop an illegal alien from getting legal status and citizenship.” 

As Watchdogwire’s Marinka Peschmann detailed in an early June article, there are provisions in the Gang of Eight bill that allow drunk driver illegal aliens to get amnesty.

“On page 608 drunk drivers are welcome too if they have only been busted three times before the Gang of Eight’s bill is enacted,” Peschmann wrote, before citing the specific section of the bill text.

“‘(J) HABITUAL DRUNK DRIVERS.—An alien convicted of 3 or more offenses on separate dates, at  least 1 of which occurred after the date of the enactment of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, related to driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated is inadmissible.’’

As Judicial Watch noted in its piece, an illegal alien in New Jersey this weekend was allegedly driving drunk and killed a man and injured his two sons with his car. “The illegal alien, Manuel Gutierrez Vazquez, did not have a valid driver’s license yet had been arrested a few weeks earlier for driving drunk in another state, according to a local news report,” Judicial Watch wrote, citing a piece from NJ.com.

The Washington Examiner reports that under the 253-page rule, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) late Friday, protected health information (PHI) may be traded among agencies in order to confirm that applicants to the ObamaCare exchanges are receiving all the “essential benefits” in their health insurance coverage.

According to the rule:

The Exchange would submit specific identifying information to HHS and HHS would verify applicant information with information from the Federal and State agencies or programs that provide eligibility and enrollment information regarding minimum essential coverage. Such agencies or programs may include but are not limited to Veterans Health Administration, TRICARE, and Medicare. HHS will work with the appropriate Federal and State agencies to complete the appropriate computer matching agreements, data use agreements, and information exchange CMS-9957-P 73 agreements which will comply with all appropriate Federal privacy and security laws and regulations. The information obtained from Federal and State agencies will be used and redisclosed by HHS as part of the eligibility determination and information verification process set forth in subpart D of part 155…

Finally, we propose to add paragraph (b)(2) to provide that consistent with 45 CFR 164.512(k)(6)(i) and 45 CFR 155.270, a health plan that is a government program providing public benefits, is expressly authorized to disclose PHI, as that term is defined at 45 CFR 160.103, that relates to eligibility for or enrollment in the health plan to HHS for verification of applicant eligibility for minimum essential coverage as part of the eligibility determination process for advance payments of the premium tax credit or cost-sharing reductions. We intend for this provision to enable any health plan that is a government program within the scope of 45 CFR 164.512(k)(6)(i) to disclose the protected health information necessary for HHS to be able to verify of minimum essential coverage as required to conduct eligibility determinations for insurance affordability programs.

The rule states that HHS already has the power to exchange PHI without consent for a “government program providing public benefits,” and it implies that “government knows best” when personal information should be used to make sure individuals obtain the best insurance coverage for them.

According to the Examiner, one top congressional aide said, “This sounds as if HHS will have access to protected health info to me.”

Similarly, Americans for Tax Reform expressed concern that the IRS, which assumes significant responsibility in ObamaCare enforcement, and HHS will be sharing individuals’ PHI, which includes medical history, test and laboratory results, and other data.

When Regal Entertainment Group (RGC) in April blamed ObamaCare for the fact that it was cutting some of its workers’ hours, backers of the law mounted a furious backlash against the theater chain, among other things filling its Facebook page with boycott threats.

“Greed and selfishness make me sick,” one of them said.

Darden Restaurants (DRI) felt this intense heat last year after suggesting it might shift to more part-time work to minimize the cost of the law’s mandate that companies offer coverage to all their full-time workers. CEO Clarence Otis even blamed its lowered outlook for 2013 in part on “recent negative media coverage” over “how we might accommodate health care reform.”

President Obama gestures as he talks about the Obamacare in San Jose, Calif., on June 13, 2013. Obama’s health care law is called the Affordable Care… View Enlarged Image

Yet while private companies are getting all this unwelcome and hostile attention, local governments across the country have been quietly doing exactly the same thing — cutting part-time hours specifically so they can skirt ObamaCare’s costly employer mandate, while complaining about the law in some of the harshest terms anyone has uttered in public.

The result is that part-time government workers — many of them low-income — face pay cuts that can top $3,000 a year, and yet will still be left without employer-provided benefits.

Here is just a small sampling of local news reports about what local government officials are saying about ObamaCare, and the steps they’re taking to avoid or minimize its costs.

Phillipsburg, Kan.: “School administrators here say they are alarmed and confounded by the looming new costs they face with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” according to the Kaiser Health Institute News Service. Chris Hipp, director of a Kansas special education cooperative, warned that ObamaCare’s costs “could put us all out of business or change significantly how we do business,” adding that “we are not built to pay full health benefits for noncertified folks who work a little more than 1,000 hours a year.”

Dearborn, Mich.: “If we had to provide health care and other benefits to all of our employees, the burden on the city would be tremendous,” said Mayor John O’Reilly, explaining why the city is cutting its more than 700 part-time and seasonal workers down to 28 hours a week. “The city is like any private or public employer having to adjust to changes in the law.”

Indiana: “What I’m seeing across the state is school districts, unfortunately, having to reduce the hours that they are having some of their folks work, primarily so they don’t have to worry about the (ObamaCare) penalties, or they don’t have to provide them health insurance, which would be very, very costly,” said Dennis Costerison, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials. Ft. Wayne Community Schools, for example, are cutting yours for nearly three-quarters of its part-time aides.

NPR recently moved from Chinatown into its new 400,000 square-foot home on North Capitol, and they’re excited about it. Eager to show off the new facility, the organization offered a tour to members of the media Tuesday morning, starting with breakfast from their in-house chefs, along with some talking points from CEO Gary Knell, who outlined some impressive features of the space.

The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with the employees’ union on Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley says the bonuses should be canceled under an April directive from the White House budget office.

The directive was written by Danny Werfel, a former budget official who has since been appointed acting IRS commissioner.

“The IRS always claims to be short on resources,” Grassley said. “But it appears to have $70 million for union bonuses. And it appears to be making an extra effort to give the bonuses despite opportunities to renegotiate with the union and federal instruction to cease discretionary bonuses during sequestration.”

The IRS said it is negotiating with the union over the matter but did not dispute Grassley’s claim that the bonuses are imminent.

• It is a good thing the Fed is unconcerned about inflation these days. The CPI was, again, a phony report. Riddle me this? How can the BLS report that owners’ equivalent rent (a big component of the CPI report) was only +2% when home prices are rising by nearly 11% and rental rates by a like amount? And, did I mention that the BLS, in the most recent CPI report, had medical costs up by only 2.9% year over year and actually down month over month (sequentially) for the first time in 38 years. And, by the way, the BLS had food +0.6% in the PPI but down by -0.1% in the CPI!
• As the costs of the necessities of life rise, real average hourly earnings fell by -0.2% in May. This is what I have described as screwflation of the middle class.

You’ve most certainly heard of the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh and his comments about the college student professional “reproductive activist“.  In speaking of her statement regarding contraception (she her friend needs $3,000 to pay for it over three years), he called her a slut and a prostitute.   Rush has since apologized yet it’s not good enough for her. 

Liberals are going ballistic and calling for Rush to be taken off the air.  They have succeeded in having multiple advertisers withdraw from his show (for the time being).

George Soros’ strongarm Media Matters is all over this, including providing a daily posting of those who advertise on his program and those that have withdrawn.  Huffington Post is calling for a boycott.  The DNC has chimed in, of course, stating, “The attacks coming from the GOP on women’s health are way over the line — and very dangerous.”

There are even two petitions on the tax-funded Whitehouse website that people created.  One calls for the FCC to investigate Rush Limbaugh for making intimidating statements.  The other calls for Rush to be removed from Armed Forces Radio for his abusive, divisive, and insulting language.

Yet I have to wonder, why are these outlets so silent when it comes to trashing conservative women?  Here’s just a few examples:

• Keith Olbermann calls Michelle Malkin a lipstick meatbag
• Bill Maher calls Sarah Palin a “dumb t*at”
• Ed Schulz calls Laura Ingraham a right-wing slut
• Sandra Bernhard issues “gang rape” warning to Sarah Palin
• Sly Sylvester (talk show host) said “…I had heard at one point Rebecca Kleefisch (Republican Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin) pulled a train, but that must have been a different story I was reading about.”
• David Letterman calls Sarah Palin a slut
• Keith Olbermann implied that female conservative commentator S. E. Cupp should never have been born
• Jimmy Fallon’s drummer played “Bit*ch” song during Michele Bachmann’s appearance on his show (ABC called it “quite the trick”)
• Cloris Leachman calls Sarah Palin a slut on the Wendy Williams show

You get the idea…

Not once did I ever hear about Media Matters, Huffington Post, the DNC, or for that matter, President Obama, calling for these people to be boycotted and removed from the air/media for their abusive, divisive, and insulting language.

Double standards.  If it wasn’t for those, liberals wouldn’t have any standards at all.

DCG