MSNBC: We’re delighted with Chris Matthews and the NBC network. First it was the tingling up Matthews’ leg. Now it’s his apparent love affair revealed last Tuesday with “one of our heroes from the past, Saul Alinsky.” We here at the NIP wonder just who exactly he is talking about when he says “our heroes.” Is he lumping himself in as a pal of Obama, since Alinsky is one of Barack’s heroes too? Or is he just talking about his pals at NBC? The clip below came less than a week after he pronounced he was a liberal (surprise, surprise):

You know how you know you are going to win if you pass anything [regarding healthcare reform]? The Republicans will know they have lost…Let them keep score and it’s easy. It’s complicated when liberals get to keep score. We`re always arguing. Well, I’m a liberal, too. Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters

How very brave of him to come out as a liberal! Now in the prevarication business this is news. It used to be that journalists (what’s journalism?) used to pride themselves on objective reporting. Now apparently Matthews has come out of the closet. No objectivity here, just out and out agenda-advancement and propaganda-pushing.

Now Saul Alinsky was no Mao, but Matthews is a lot like Anita Dunn who loved to quote Mao. Alinsky is considered the founder of American rabble-rousing, a radical seeking to bring down our Constitutional government. And if Matthews helps him do it, we guess that will put the tingle up Chris’s other leg.

Yeah, this is real Hardball all right…

MIDNIGHT VOTE IN WASHINGTON: The cockroaches come out at night, along with this Congress apparently. Many people have looked to Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as a defender of conservatism. However her midnight vote for cloture on the healthcare bill reveals a different side of her. Apparently at night she puts on a costume like catwoman, but not in a good way.

We have lots of bad apples in both parties. But in the GOP there are three that stand apart. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe sided with 60 Democrats to end a Republican filibuster to delay the passage of health care legislation.

Of interest to the NIP is Hutchison’s statement on Dec. 19, during an appearance on Fox News. Hutchison said, “By the time I got to the floor, they had the 60 votes.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYMqE at 2:32.)

Check the C-SPAN footage below. Prevarication caught in the act. The clip shows that when Hutchison arrived, the 60 votes were in doubt, they were not a given. Ms. Hutchison, you had better get used to being called “Ms.” as your “Senator” days are over.

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ATLANTA: 800,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine were recalled today. Another example of fine government-supervised healthcare. First of all, H1N1 is a real catchy name for the flu. The government renamed the “swine” flu to H1N1 to protect the good name of pigs, presumably as a result of a lawsuit by pigs represented by Cass Sunstein, White House Regulatory Czar.

We here at the NIP object to the renaming of this flu in the first place. Being politically correct has no place in public policy when it comes to naming flu strains. Especially since now pigs are calling it “human” flu, since apparently now they are catching it from farmers. Yes, that’s true. According to ChoSun Korea News pigs have now caught the flu from humans: Read more…

WASHINGTON: This is truly revolting. If you didn’t see this with your own eyes you wouldn’t believe it. This morning Harry Reid addressed the Senate. Reid of course blames everything bad that ever happened on evil Republicans. The difficulty he is now having ramming his monster healthcare bill down the gullets of Americans he blames on Republicans. This is Republican standard operating procedure according to Harry.

Harry says we saw the same thing when we tried to end slavery. According to Reid Republicans stood in the way. Earth to Harry… Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President, and we think he had a little something to do with ending slavery. Then when it came time to pass civil rights, Harry again blames Republicans for filibustering the Civll Rights Act of 1964. Harry knows that 80% of the Senators filibustering at the time were Democrats. He says these things to sway citizens who he thinks are all too dumb to think for themselves. This is prevarication in its most disgusting form.

WASHINGTON: One key factor ignored by politicians in the healthcare debate: physicians’ willingness to do what they are told. Politicians assume that doctors work for them, and will do whatever they are ordered. This is not a valid assumption.

Take for example Medicare. Many doctors decline to see Medicare patients, citing diminishing payments and the increasing burden of paperwork imposed by the government:

Many people, just as they become eligible for Medicare, discover that the insurance rug has been pulled out from under them. Some doctors — often internists but also gastroenterologists, gynecologists, psychiatrists and other specialists — are no longer accepting Medicare, either because they have opted out of the insurance system or they are not accepting new patients with Medicare coverage. The doctors’ reasons: reimbursement rates are too low and paperwork too much of a hassle. Julie Connelly, NY Times

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WASHINGTON: Yes, you read that headline right. White House economic advisers admit that the stimulus is a failure in terms of economic growth and creating jobs. Christina Romer, Chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers testified before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee on Thursday. Her testimony (here) rebuts White House and Congressional assertions that the Stimulus package has just started to do its job, and that the best is yet to come. Contrary to party-line propaganda she had this to say about the Stimulus Package:

Most analysts predict that the fiscal stimulus will have its greatest impact on growth in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2009. and by mid 2010 fiscal stimulus will like be contributing little to further growth.

NIP compliments truth-teller Romer. It takes a chutzpah to admit the truth when you work in this White House. Read more…

PERTH, Western Australia: There are more choices for Americans to consider in health care than the plans offered by the US, Canada, and Great Britain. As a practicing physician in Australia with over 20 years experience I thought your readers at the NIP would be interested in healthcare down under.

Australian citizens each have a medicare number which gives them free medical coverage in Australia and overseas in countries with reprical agreements. You can attend any General Practitioner of your choice, as often as you want. The vast majority of medicines are subsidised by the Government to a max cost to the patient of around $30 AUD. After you have spent around $800 in a year on pharmaceuticals, you’re covered by a safety net and it’s free after that until the end of the year. Read more…