Employers Blast Fees From New Health Law
All of those paying attention foresaw this coming. Makes one wonder why more employers weren't as outspokenly against this monstrosity when Democrats were ramming it down our throats? But the tally on this Leviathan is far from finished...it will just keep growing and growing and growing...until it sinks us. Sounds like a good reason to defund it now, don't you think?WSJ: Employers are bracing for a little-noticed fee in the federal health-care law that will charge them $63 for each person they insure next year, one of the clearest cost increases companies face when the law takes full effect.
Companies and other plan providers will together pay $25 billion over three years to create a fund for insurance companies to offset the cost of covering people with high medical bills.
The fees will hit most large U.S. employers, and several have been lobbying to change the program, contending the levy is unfair because it subsidizes individually purchased plans that won't cover their workers.
Ted Cruz vs. DiFi
Then, comes the man who is single-handedly taking on one Democratic Senator at a time, forcing each to explain themselves. Of course, most of the time, they can't...
First, his brilliant opening remarks...
...then the challenge, in which FrankenFeinstein (h/t Levin) proceeds to show her @$$, in an attempt not to answer the question...
...followed by some interesting commentary from Levin, defending Cruz's remarks from attacks on the right and left, and an insightful interview with Neil Cavuto...
(Catch that McLame apology? Pshhh...)
Proud to call this man MY SENATOR!
CPAC
And finally rounding out the week (and into the weekend), here were some of the great speeches from CPAC 2013...
Allen West:
Marco Rubio:
One of the two main fighters on Capitol Hill right now, Rand Paul!
My Governor, Rick Perry!
The last conservative standing of the presidential primaries, Rick Santorum!
A first conservative pick of the primaries, Michele Bachmann!
The doctor that dared to criticize Obama, to his face, Ben Carson!
The barracuda herself, Sarah Palin!
And then finally, the keynote speaker, and MY SENATOR, the other of the two fighters on Capitol Hill, Ted Cruz!
And then I can't forget to mention the expected straw poll winnings, as far as this blog figured.
There was of course much more here and there, but enjoy this encapsulation of last week's catch-up!
ADDENDUM: Oh! Of course getting wrapped up in the politics of things, almost forgot to mention...
We Have A Pope!
AL: Argentine Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope Wednesday and chose the papal name Francis, becoming first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.
He asked for prayers for himself, and for retired Pope Benedict XVI, whose stunning resignation paved the way for the tumultuous conclave that brought the first Jesuit to the papacy.
Bergoglio had reportedly finished second in the 2005 conclave that produced Benedict — who last month became the first pope to resign in 600 years.
After announcing "Habemus Papum" — "We have a pope!" — a cardinal standing on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday revealed the identity of the new pontiff, using his Latin name.
The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.
Tens of thousands of people who braved cold rain to watch the smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel jumped in joy when white smoke poured out a few minutes past 7 p.m., many shouting "Habemus Papam!" or "We have a pope!" — as the bells of St. Peter's Basilica and churches across Rome pealed.
