This wrist slap won’t even require a bandage.

The State of Wisconsin Medical Examining Board has found fault with medical record keeping of the doctors who participated in the sick note scam first exposed by the MacIver News Service in February.

The Board issued formal reprimands for seven Doctors involved in the scandal and will require them to attend four hours of continuing education on the importance of keeping proper records.

Four. Whole. Hours.

No discipline was issued for the sham sick notes that were handed out on the street corner without having conducted a proper medical examination. The lawyers for the doctors played the pity card today, complaining about the threats and abuse the doctors suffered after we exposed their scam to the nation 9 months ago.

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For nearly three years as Americans have struggled through this Great Recession, President Obama has given speeches that relied on failed Keynesian economic theory and the politics of class warfare and envy. As his big government policies have spent this nation to the brink, the employment picture continues to worsen.

Tonight, President Obama will deliver a major economic address before a Joint Session of Congress. The MacIver Institute expects it will be more of the same rhetoric and promotion of government solutions we’ve been hearing for the last 3 years.

The timing of the speech also conflicts with the pomp and circumstance surrounding the kickoff of the 2011 NFL season. As a Packers’ fan and in the spirit of public service, I directed our staff to comb through the hundreds of speeches President Obama has already made to give you a concise two-minute preview of his latest ‘big speech.’

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It’s been one helluva weekend for President Obama. Last Friday, he received two separate smackdowns via the Judicial Branch of government, and by Sunday, everyone was talking about his dismal polling results as his approval rating dropped below 40% for the first time. Whether he realizes it yet or not, what this weekend really showed was that the Constitution matters. Trampling this founding document as he has done for over two and a half years triggered that precious parchment’s checks and balances, and it caused the citizens of the country to express their disapproval of his performance.

On Friday, the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down as unconstitutional Obamcare’s individual mandate, ruling that it represented an overreach of Congress’s authority. The court stated the health care law was “breathtaking in its expansive scope.” Further, it wrote:

“The government’s position amounts to an argument that the mere fact of an individual’s existence substantially affects interstate commerce, and therefore Congress may regulate them at every point of their life. This theory affords no limiting principles in which to confine Congress’s enumerated power.”

Although the fate of Obamacare ultimately will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 decision (with one of the two ruling against the law a Clinton appointee), is an early harbinger of the Judicial Branch’s view of the matter. The Constitution’s system of checks and balances – hopefully – will ensure the Legislative and Executive Branches of government are kept in check when our nation’s highest court weighs in.

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It’s been popular lately for GOP Presidential hopefuls and many conservative pundits to declare that we can’t afford four more years of Barack Obama in the White House. I agree, but I would take it a step further. I don’t think we can afford even another year and a half of this big government, economy-busting wrecking ball. It’s time for the President to cut his losses and resign.

It took a lot for me to say that, especially considering I’m essentially calling for a President Joe Biden (hey, when hair plug Joe looks better than the incumbent, things are really bad). The catalyst came in the June 29^th news conference in which Obama discussed the debt ceiling impasse. During that odd, sometimes off-teleprompter rambling address, Obama delivered one of his typical un-Presidential cheap-shot, demagogic speeches. He chastised the Congress (the GOP) for failing to reach a deal and contrasted them with his preteen daughters (who always get their homework done early).

He also read aloud from the worn-out progressive playbook:

• Class warfare
• Raising revenue via tax hikes
• Saving children and seniors from the evil clutches of the GOP
• Yadda yadda

He called for the two sides to come together, but by laying out his vision for ending the impasse, he essentially defined compromise as the GOP agreeing with him and the Democrats. Then he showed he’s been spending his time on Planet Hypocrisy by scolding the Congress for even thinking about taking a vacation during such a crisis, while virtually practicing his golf swing at the podium.

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To the Honorable Jose Longoria,

Recently, you sentenced a mother, Rosalina Gonzales, to five years probation, a fine, and parenting classes after being convicted of a felony charge. The heinous crime? Spanking her own child.

As you recall, the prosecution admitted that Ms. Gonzales did not use a belt, a switch, or anything else other than her hand. She didn’t hit her child in the face, head, chest, or anywhere but her rear end. She didn’t draw blood, break any bones, or even leave bruises—only some red marks. There was no injury.

This decision is manifestly absurd.

First, it represents an egregious judicial overreach. You should know the law: in Texas, spanking is not against the law. Your state’s Attorney General has even stated that disciplinary spanking confined to the buttocks, done with an open hand, and not resulting in injury should not be considered abusive. Ms. Gonzales evidenced self-control with all of these variables.

Before sentencing Ms. Gonzales, you chided her, “You don’t spank children today. In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don’t spank children. You understand?”

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If you were stuck reading just the mainstream media, you would probably have no idea that there is a growing movement among doctors to oppose President Barack Obama’s health care plan.  Dr. Adam Dorin, who practices medicine in southern California, has helped co-found an offshoot of the Tea Party known as The Doctors National TEA Party.

The group is helping make the case to patients across the country about why Obamacare might be bad for their health.  Rather than spin, these doctors are offering facts born from their decades of practicing medicine on America’s frontlines.  They know the consequences for the quality of care when the government gets involved and the folly of many of the reckless assumptions the Obama plan makes.

Dr. Dorin recently appeared on my show and has been kind enough to share some of his personal insights.  As the townhalls of two summers ago showed us, the best way to fight Obamacare is at the grassroots level with cold-hard facts.

Here is what Dr. Dorin and his colleagues wanted to share with us.

An Open Letter Debate Challenge On Obamacare

It is my duty as an American to question any orders or directives from a superior ‘officer’, even the President of the United States, if those orders conflict with my responsibility to uphold the principles and Constitution of the United States, and if they impede my work to preserve the sanctity, safety, and security of its citizens.  Further, I am concerned that there has not been an honest, open and transparent discussion on the true merits of ObamaCare, which the public fully understands.

To this end, I hereby challenge any top leading expert in America who is a supporter of the President’s vision for our national medical system to a fair and open public debate.

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Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI 01) point by point rebuttal of President Barack Obama’s criticisms of the House GOP’s Path to Prosperity budget plan.

In the days before ObamaCare, there was a clear delineation between the American medical industry and the government.  The industry would invest – often with the assistance of government policy initiatives — in finding cures and the government would ensure the new drugs were safe.  It was a simple equation that worked and helped make American medicine the envy of the world.

Since the election of President Obama and the enactment of his government takeover of our health care system, the emphasis is no longer on finding cures but limiting cost.  In fact, limiting cost is taking precedent over protecting the safety of patients.

The foundation of this effort was laid in the president’s ill-fated stimulus plan.  A provision in the bill set aside over $1 billion for “comparative effectiveness” research – certainly a “shovel ready project” if we every saw one – but that is a debate for a different day.  Betsy McCaughey of the Hudson Institute warned that the provisions “treats health care the way European governments do: as a cost problem instead of a growth industry.” Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., (R-LA) a heart surgeon, warned that it would lead to “denying seniors and the disabled lifesaving care.”  Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) unsuccessfully proposed amendments to bar the federal government from using the research to eliminate treatments for the elderly or deny care based on age.  How right they were.

The National Institute of Health will release their first high profile multi-million study next week to determine whether the drug Avastin (the same drug the Food and Drug Administration is trying to deny to breast cancer patients) can be injected into the eye to combat wet age related macular degeneration instead of the FDA approved drug Lucentis.  Avastin was never approved for this purpose but the cost of Avastin is cheaper than the cost of Lucentis.

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After months of denial that healthcare reform would involve rationing of healthcare for those who are the most vulnerable, the senior citizens who depend on Medicare, the President has come up with a proposal to decrease healthcare costs and guess what….it’s rationing.

Under Obamacare, a 15 member panel known as the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) was created to ‘oversee healthcare costs’. This panel consists of individuals appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress – two ingredients that make it highly unlikely that they would be truly independent. In addition, there is no requirement that members be practicing physicians which is a recipe for cuts that are highly likely to affect the delivery of quality individualized patient care.

Under his deficit reduction plan, the President proposes to expand the power of this unelected entity to increase the GDP growth per capita cut from the current 1% to 5%. In addition, under his proposal Medicaid payments to states would also be tightly controlled and access to drugs would be limited through spending on prescription drugs.

There are two things that make this proposal doomed to fail if the goal is to decrease health costs while providing quality care:

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Ever since the passage of ObamaCare, I’ve been perplexed by a lingering question: Why did AARP so aggressively lobby for passage of the law? After all, the plan was built on $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. Even in Washington, half a trillion dollars is still a ton of money. Medicare is sacrosanct among America’s senior citizens. It was unfathomable to me that the nation’s largest membership association of seniors would, not just not oppose the cuts, but would actively lobby for them. It didn’t make any sense.

Mostly, I just chalked up AARP’s actions to its general leftist, partisan leanings. Medicare cuts by Republicans are bad, but cuts by Democrats to increase government involvement in health care are okay. Boy, was I wrong.

According to this blockbuster report, released today by the House Ways and Means Committee, AARP’s support of ObamaCare and, specifically, the Medicare cuts was entirely rational and self-serving. The Committee found, after an 18 month investigation, that AARP stands to reap an extra billion dollars in profits from ObamaCare. (Yes, that is billion with a B.) Worse, this extra profit is largely BECAUSE of the Medicare cuts.

AARP’s members may face uncertainty over their future health care because of the cuts, but AARP faces certain windfall profits for itself.

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One year ago today President Barack Obama signed into law government controlled health care. It was a punch in the gut to a majority of Americans who had passionately pleaded that this legislation be thrown in the dumpster. How many times did millions of people travel to Washington D.C., call and email our congressman, or attend Town Hall meetings and demand they, “kill the bill?”

We were readily dismissed and slandered by the Democrats in Congress; accused of being astro-turf and even racists. This diversionary tactic was cleverly employed to conceal the fact that Congress was, through calculation and deceit, forcefully imposing their ultra-liberal agenda on the American people.

Let’s make no mistake about it.  This is socialized medicine that will cost us trillions of dollars that we DO NOT HAVE, but don’t worry…we will print the money to cover the bill. Even better, Congress and the President have decided your liberty means very little to them if it means more control for Washington, so the IRS will now force you to enter into an insurance contract against your will.

When was the last time we had 28 states suing the federal government? When was the last time you had a million people take to the streets in opposition to the actions of Congress? When was the last time we saw such a sweeping sea-change in a congressional election cycle? We are beyond angry. We want the insanity to stop in Washington D.C.

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Untouchable.  That’s the treatment being given to the $23.6 billion being spent right now to implement Obamacare.

This $23.6 billion is part of the $105.5 billion appropriated by the last Congress to fund Obamacare.  The remainder (Think of it as post-dated checks for the other $81.9 billion.) automatically becomes available between now and FY2019.

None of this is to be confused with an additional $115 billion authorized for additional appropriation to Obamacare—but which the current Congress is unlikely to provide.

The most pressing question, however, is whether any of the current $23.6 billion will be rescinded as part of the spending reductions being pursued in Congress.

Despite campaign promises to defund Obamacare, it isn’t being done.  Why not?

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Wednesday afternoon, Barack Obama trotted out his favorite “document of negative rights,” The U.S. Constitution, and used it to chart a course that will do away with the Defense of Marriage Act.  According to the President, the act signed by Bill Clinton is unconstitutional, and he’s ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to stop defending it in court cases.   Holder has agreed and will cease defense of the law, which states marriage is between a man and a woman.

There’s so much wrong with this, it’s hard to know where to start.

First and foremost, the President has no right to declare something unconstitutional.  You don’t have to be a “community organizer” turned “constitutional scholar” to know this.  Heck, anyone who’s seen even five minutes of Schoolhouse Rock is probably aware of the three branches of government.  The Judiciary branch is responsible for determining constitutionality, not the Executive.  Pronouncing the law unconstitutional, without due process, is a gross overextension of Presidential authority.

Second, both the President and the Attorney General have sworn an oath to uphold the nation’s laws.  It’s not their place to determine which ones they view as being worthy of defense of implementation.  If the Legislative branch chooses to pass a law doing away with the Defense of Marriage act, that’s their prerogative.  The President can sign it as he sees fit.  Otherwise, Holder is there to enforce and support the laws as they exist, not as his boss wishes they did.  In refusing to defend the law as written, both Obama and Holder are willfully derelict in their duties.

Finally, since when is Obama so concerned with Constitutionality?

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Last May, after millions of barrels of oil had been pumped into the ocean, Barack Obama issued an order to halt all U.S. deep sea drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.   Immediately, constitutionalists began to rail against the moratorium, which appeared to be a severe abuse of Presidential authority – a quick grab for powers that the commander in chief simply doesn’t wield.  The courts agreed, and on June 22, an injunction was issued by U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman, who argued that Obama’s directive was “overly broad.”

A few hours after their defeat, U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar issued a statement stating that the Obama administration would be presenting a “new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities.”

A second drilling ban was enacted last July, only to be rescinded in October – before Judge Feldman could rule on it.  Since then, the government has used a cadre of regulators to deny drilling and enforce a de facto ban.  In fact the government has not issued a single drilling permit in the last 9 months.

Two weeks ago, Judge Feldman found the Obama administration in contempt of court.

“Each step the government took following the court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance,” Feldman ruled. “Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re-imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provides this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt.”

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With little fanfare, Rationer-in-Chief Donald Berwick, President Obama’s choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee and did his best impression of Gumby – twisting and turning his support for rationing health care.

Berwick has championed the British health care system for years proclaiming his outright support of rationing. In 2009, Berwick said, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.” In a 2008 speech, Berwick proclaimed, “I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country.” Of course, the British system openly rations care for the sick and the elderly.

But Berwick ran from those statements like a scalded dog before House members who asked pointed questions about his support for rationing care. When Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) asked him whether he supports healthcare rationing, Berwick said, “I abhor rationing.” At another point he said that he spent his whole life fighting rationing, The Hill reports.

Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) asked him whether he was still “in love” with the British healthcare system, Berwick’s response: “There are strengths and weaknesses in every healthcare system in the world. The American healthcare system needs an American solution.”

For fear of stating the obvious, it is clear Berwick was not honest in his testimony.

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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Director Dr. Donald Berwick and Chief Actuary Rick Foster testified before the Ways and Means Committee today to provide answers to pressing questions about the trillion dollar health care law.  Dr. Berwick, having been in office eight months, had never testified before the Ways and Means Committee even though the committee oversees health care policy for the entire country.  Chief Actuary Foster didn’t testify before the committee in the last Congress even though health care was being “debated.”

To put it in perspective two Obama Administration officials control a budget at CMS larger than the entire budget of the Department of Defense.

Play the videos or read the excerpts of CMS Director Berwick’s evasive responses followed by excerpts from Chief Actuary Foster’s testimony.

Dr. Berwick

What is your opinion on a rationing system and universal health care?

Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp: “Well, regarding the British National health service, you made a statement, and that is a service that is notorious for rationing care, you said and I quote ‘I fell in love with the NHS…to an American observer, the NHS is such a seductress.’ Are you still in love with the NHS?”

Dr. Berwick: “There are strengths and weaknesses for every health care system around the world.”

Chairman Camp: “Well you also wrote and I am quoting here, ‘I admit to my own devotion to a single-payer mechanism as the only sensible approach to health care finance I can think of.’ Do you still feel a government run single payer health care system is the only sensible approach?”

Dr. Berwick: “I am really excited by the promise the Affordable Health Care Act offers, Mr. Chairman, to American health care.”

Is there anything you would change to the Democrats’ Health Law?

Rep. Dave Reichert (WA): “Is there anything that stands out in your mind that you would change? What don’t you like about the bill, or is it all good?”

Dr. Berwick: “It is a very complicated bill sir.”

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While the world focuses its attention on the revolt against the dictator in Egypt, we’ve got an American president exhibiting his own dictatorial tendencies.

Over the past week, Obama’s signature “achievement,” the monstrous ObamaCare, was ruled unconstitutional by a second federal judge. In his opinion, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson stated that his declaratory judgment that the entire law be voided was a de facto injunction. In other words, without an administration request for a stay, Judge Vinson’s ruling stands. The federal and state governments should thus cease and desist. The current status of ObamaCare is that it’s been declared unconstitutional and all implementation must stop.

Obama’s reaction? “What? Did someone say something?”

As The Wall Street Journal reported this week, “The Obama administration said it has no plans to halt implementation of the law.” A senior administration official said, “We will continue to operate as we have previously.”

In other words: Up yours, judicial branch!

In another stunning example of the executive running roughshod over the judiciary, another federal judge, Martin Feldman in New Orleans, ruled this week that the Obama administration was in contempt for blowing off his ruling lifting the deepwater drilling moratorium. After the Deepwater Horizon spill, Obama halted offshore drilling. Feldman struck down the moratorium. Obama’s Interior Department went ahead with another moratorium, which was rescinded in October, but replaced with onerous new drilling safety rules. Feldman struck those down as well.

This week, the judge found that the Interior Department acted with “determined disregard” for his ruling when it deliberately reinstituted policies that restricted offshore drilling. “Each step the government took following the court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance,” Feldman said in the ruling. “Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re-imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt,” Feldman said.

“The government’s contempt.” Wow.

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From The Hill:

The Senate on Wednesday voted down a repeal of President Obama’s healthcare law in a 47-51 party-line vote.

The vote came two weeks to the day the Republican House voted 245-189 to repeal the law, and just days after a federal judge ruled Obama’s signature legislative achievement is unconstitutional.

Republicans have vowed to carry the fight forward, saying they will seek to de-fund the law as it is implemented. The GOP also has promised Wednesday’s repeal vote will not be the last in this Congress.

The vote came on a budgetary point of order, which Republicans needed 60 votes to overcome. Democrats argued repealing healthcare would add an estimated $230 billion to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) called that estimate “preposterous.”

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The recent ruling by a federal judge invalidating Obamacare in its entirety was a resounding victory for opponents of the sweeping law. It isn’t though, by itself, the end of the fight. The final determination of the constitutionality of Obamacare could take months or even years. The efforts to repeal Obamacare can’t simply wait for the courts. Continued action is needed now.

During the recent House vote, only three Democrats voted withRepublicans to repeal ObamaCare – less than the 13 who remain in Congress who opposed the original legislation. Typical of their response was Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC). Kissell voted against ObamaCare but then voted against its repeal – a tacit endorsement of the legislation.

Kissell told McClatchy News Service that he would rather “chip away” at the legislation.  Okay. The time has come to start chipping.

It’s clear that the repeal vote is essentially the floor. Efforts to “chip away” at the bill will garner more support than the repeal vote, as Kissell and his ilk will vote for Republican efforts to “replace” the bill. Jason Altmire (D-PA) opposed the bill and repeal saying, “We think, by in large, it was a bad bill. It did more harm than good. But to repeal it all, including the few provisions that were beneficial, just doesn’t make sense.”

Let the chipping begin.

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In a Department of Justice (DOJ) legal brief in the case of the “State of Florida v. The Department of Health and Human Services,” the Obama Administration argues the individual mandate (requiring Americans to buy a government-approved insurance plan even if they can’t afford it) is a constitutional exercise of Congress’s power to collect taxes.

But recently, when asked at a Ways and Means Committee hearing examining the impact of the Democrats’ health care law on the economy and the nation’s employers, an Administration Cabinet official gave a different answer – not only about whether the individual mandate was a tax, but the witness went so far as to challenge whether the 10 percent indoor tanning tax was actually a tax.

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