Mary Katharine Ham notes that President Obama tells ABC:

“Let’s just clarify. I didn’t make a bunch of deals [on health care]. … There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked.”

But the Washington Post reported on December 20 that Obama’s top aides were involved in the negotiations with Nelson:

Schumer, who spent more than 13 hours in Reid’s office Friday, said the Medicaid issue was settled around lunchtime, and the final eight hours of the talks focused on the abortion language. Boxer estimated she spent seven hours in Reid’s offices — without ever once sitting in the same room, even though they were all of 25 steps apart.

Reid and Schumer kept up the “shuttle negotiation” between the leader’s conference room and his top aide’s office, Boxer said. Keenly aware how tense the talks were, the White House dispatched two aides who together have decades of experience in the Senate — Jim Messina and Peter Rouse — to work with Nelson. They relayed their intelligence to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who monitored the talks from a dinner in Georgetown.

Perhaps Messina and Rouse just showed up to provide the “Christmas cookies” that Reid and Schumer chowed down to sustain themselves during the tense negotiations, but it’s hard to believe that Obama’s aides didn’t sign off on both the abortion and Medicaid backroom deals.

Michelle Malkin sums it up:

The unmitigated chutzpah here is so blinding that I don’t just need sunglasses to protect my eyes. I need blackout curtains. Watch President Obama blame Congress for Demcare bribery and sabotage of transparency. As if Rahm and all the senior goons in the White House weren’t twisting arms and cracking heads to ensure that the deal met their boss’s timeline. As if the Cadillac tax break for unions hadn’t been hashed out at 1600 Pennsylvania.

For more on this story:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obama-pretends-he-didnt-sign-off-on-the-shady-health-care-deals-82699357.html

“Let’s just clarify. I didn’t make a bunch of deals [on health care]. … There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked.”  But the Washington Post reported on December 20 that Obama’s top aides were involved in the negotiations with Nelson.

Mindful of soaring deficits and an anti-Wall Street mood, President Barack Obama wants a new 10-year tax on the country’s largest banks to cover a projected $117 billion shortfall in the government’s financial crisis bailout fund.

The president planned to propose Thursday a levy of 15 basis points, or 0.15 percent, on the liabilities of large financial institutions to make sure every dollar spent from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to rescue Wall Street firms, auto companies and mortgage holders is either repaid or paid for. Congress would have to approve the tax.

A senior administration official said the tax, which officials are calling a “financial crisis responsibility fee,” would apply only to financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion. Those firms – estimated to amount to about 50 institutions – would have to pay the fee even though many did not accept any taxpayer assistance and most others already paid back their government infusions.

The official said banks could pay for the tax by tapping their generous executive bonus pools. The administration official described the plan on the condition of anonymity because it had not been officially announced.

At issue is the net cost of TARP, the fund initiated by the Bush administration to help financial institutions get rid of toxic assets. The fund has since evolved, helping not only the banking sector, but also autos and homeowners.

Insurance conglomerate American International Group, the largest beneficiary with nearly $70 billion in bailouts, would have to pay the tax. But General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, whose $66 billion in government loans are not expected to be fully repaid, would not be subject to a tax.

Bankers did not hide their objections.

For Additonal Information on this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60D1PA20100114?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100114/D9D7FIMG0.html

Face Forward Comments

Obama knows who uses banks and who dosen’t.  He also know that the banks will simply pass the fees on to their customers.  More redistribution of wealth.

CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES

Climate Summary

December 2009

http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/na.html

You have to check this out.  Two Fairbanks businessmen are still so annoyed by former Vice President Al Gore’s stand on global warming that they have commissioned another “Frozen Gore” ice sculpture for display in front of a liquor store. I am not sure of the significance of the liquor but, oh well.

This year’s version features Gore blowing smoke — but only when a truck exhaust is connected. Businessmen Craig Compeau and Rudy Gavora say they’ll commission the sculpture annually until Gore comes to Fairbanks to debate climate change. “Before we start carbon taxing … let’s try and educate ourselves,” Compeau said. The Frozen Gore Web site also has pictures of last year’s creation.

A truck exhaust provides the hot air coming out of Gore's mouth

Visit the frozen Gore website:

http://www.compeaus.com/frozen.html