Can't believe it. Right out of the starting gate today someone calls and wants to say that Obama's comparison to mandated health insurance is the same thing as auto insurance. Obama has been putting this asinine comparison out there for some time ... but it simply doesn't work. There are two reasons' he gets away with this:

1. The media won't call him on it. They created him. They put him in power. They don't want to embarrass themselves.

2. The people Obama is talking to are largely government-educated. 'Nuff said.

I'll try to make this simple ... so that even a Democrat can understand it.

In most states you are NOT required to have automobile insurance unless three conditions are met:

1. You have a valid driver's license

2. You own a motor vehicle

3. You drive that motor vehicle on public highways

Does a 12-year-old riding with a friend to school have to have auto insurance? No. Neither, for that matter, does a 32-year-old. So Obama's ridiculous comparison dies right there.

But wait! There's more! When it comes to auto insurance, most states say that you only must have insurance to protect the OTHER GUY! You buy health insurance to protect yourself.

Bottom line .. When Obama draws his absurd comparison between his mandatory health insurance and auto insurance, he knows he's not making sense. He also knows that most Americans don't know he isn't making sense .. and his media pals sure aren't going to call him on it.

Caller says that the only thing the Republicans have ever done about health care is to try to keep Terri Schiavo alive. You gotta wonder how this man managed to even dial a phone.

Blew him out of the water with some examples of health insurance initiatives that the Republicans and the Democrats have rejected.

1. Allow people to buy health insurance across state lines.

2. Eliminate mandates from health insurance policies.

3. Allow employees to actually own the policies their employers pay for ... which would mean they could take those policies with them.

4. Allow people to form groups to buy large group policies.

There's more ... but this was all it took to send Charles away with his tail between his legs. Gotta love it.

Obama wants to know the following: How do we balance our freedom with our need to "look after one another"?

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Barack Obama did a media blitz over the weekend, appearing on upwards of five different networks to sell his healthcare bill to the people. If this goes anything like his joint address to Congress, there may be a slight spike in support for his healthcare plan ... but that won't last long.

A bad plan is a bad plan .. and there's no way for Obama to dress this one up. People aren't buying it, and maybe that is because the people don't believe him. Like this, for example ... Obama told ABC that requiring individuals to have health insurance, or fining them in the amount of $3,000 if they fail to do so, doesn't amount to a tax increase. He says, "For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase ... Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase."

First of all, let's address this comparison to the car insurance industry. We had heard this line repeatedly from Obama and his team. I can't understand why some of the brilliant minds in the media haven't done this already. Auto insurance and health insurance are two very different animals. You can start with the simple fact that driving is a choice. No one is forcing you to get a driver's license or a car. No license, no care, no insurance. Furthermore, so long as you keep your motor vehicle on your private property no insurance is needed in most states. You can drive your car or truck all over you farm, ranch, backyard or any property you own ... so long as it doesn't show up on a public highway you don't need to insure it. Auto insurance is a contractual arrangement between people who use public highways. You don't have to use the highway, but if you do you contract with other's who do to insure your vehicle.

Another point .. if you mooch rides from your friends, you don't need auto insurance.

With Obama's plan, the very fact that you're drawing breath is all that is needed for the government to step forward, put that omnipresent gun to your head, and say "Buy health insurance, or else pay the $3,000 fine"

And if you don't pay the fine? What then? Are they going to put you in jail? Are they going to seize your bank accounts? One think you can be sure of: The punishment the government cooks up for you miscreants who don't obey the government's mandate to purchase health insurance will certainly be more serious than the punishment that has been dealt out to Charlie Rangel for his tax evasion and avoidance shenanigans.

Now, back to this idea that this would not be a tax increase. I guess it all boils down to how you define the word "tax." If you will recall during the campaign, Barack Obama promised that he wouldn't raise taxes on 95% of Americans (even though half of Americans don't pay any income taxes). He then raised taxes on cigarettes. The dumber you are the poorer you are, and the poorer you are the more likely it is that you will be a smoker. So was the cigarette tax hike a tax on the very 95% of Americans that Obama said he would leave alone? Of course it was. The left will tell you, though, that it is the cigarettes that are being taxed .. not the people.

Webster's Dictionary has a definition of a tax. George Stephanopoulos pulled it out and used it on PrezBO yesterday: "tax"--"a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes." How does Obama's mandate NOT constitute a tax? Ditto for the penalty!

Obama's response to Stephanopoulos seems to be "Look, if I say it's not a tax, it's not a tax. I won. I'm the president. I get to define the terms, and when the government requires people to spend money on a particular product or face a fine .. it's not a tax."

Elections have consequences. One of the consequences of this one is that we now have to completely redefine the word "tax" in our vocabulary to make sure that nobody can ever say Obama raised taxes on those 95% of Americans he vowed to leave alone.

Let's move on to the Baucus plan that was revealed to us last week. The Heritage Foundation has done some excellent research and come up with a list of Seven Fatal Flaws in this Baucus healthcare bill, many of which would ultimately lead to tax increases.

• Middle Class Tax Hike: The Baucus bill would impose a new sales tax on drugs and medical devices and a new federal excise tax on insurance plans that exceed $8,000 for an individual and $21,000 for a family. These taxes will ultimately be passed down to the consumer, putting many middle class families on the receiving end of a tax hike.
• An Individual Mandate: In 2013, almost everyone would be required to purchase health insurance that complies with new federal standards. Those making more than three times the poverty level would face a tax penalty of $950 (maxing out at $3,800 per family) and $750 (maxing out at $1,500 per family) for those below 300 percent poverty. This penalty could apply to individuals with incomes as low as $10,831 a year.
• No Privacy: In order to enforce the tax penalty provisions, the government would be forced to collect detailed health insurance information on Americans, reducing patient privacy and adding significant administrative costs to employers and insurers.
• A Pay-or-Play Employer Mandate: Employers with more than 50 employees that don't offer health coverage would have to pay a penalty for each employee who qualifies for new federal subsidizes under the bill. Inevitably, low-income workers will be hurt the most as employers would simply downsize or cut wages.
• A Thinly Disguised Public Option: The Baucus bill invites indefinite federal control of a "co-op" by providing an unnecessary $6 billion in federal funding for startup loans and grants and it gives broad latitude to the HHS Secretary to regulate co-ops and promote them. The co-op created in this bill is literally an acronym for a new government-run health plan.
• Medicaid Expansion: Under the Baucus bill, millions of Americans would end up on Medicaid. The current Medicaid program is unsustainable and poorly serves the needy and indigent now. Taxpayers will pick up the new costs of Medicaid, and states will have little flexibility for real reform.
• Medicare: The Baucus bill establishes value-based purchasing, requiring compliance with government guidelines on the delivery of medical services. Hospitals and physicians who don't comply would get lower Medicare payments. This approach could bias or compromise doctors' decisions and contradict U.S. law on the federal interference in the practice of medicine.

... but unfortunately not in the United States. Sweden announced over the weekend that it is going to cut income taxes in order to stimulate the job market. The government says, "The coalition government has agreed on reforms for jobs and entrepreneurialism that will increase employment in the long-term. It has to be more profitable to work and more companies should be able to hire employees."

Seems like such a simple concept. I wish someone in the Democrat Party would take notice.

When it comes to jobs in the United States, take a look at this alarming statistic:

The number of private-sector jobs is now slightly below the level of August 1999 -- meaning that a decade has passed without any net creation of non-government jobs, even in a span during which the population grew substantially.

When the government absorbs so much of our economic power - how can you be surprised?

Drought? What drought? Looks like Atlanta got a bit of rain over the past 24 hours.

Here's the Politico roundup of the good, the bad and the pathetic from PrezBO's round of appearances on the Sunday Talk Shows.

How is Obama playing overseas? This article in the London Telegraph says that he is starting to look "out of his depth."

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent piece (even better than what I wrote above) on whether or not Obama's health insurance mandate is a tax increase.

Newsweek Magazine's Raina Kelley explains why we need to play the race card.

More and more Americans are starting to realize that this whole global warming scam is just that ... a scam. There is also much unhappiness on the left that cap-and-tax isn't doing so well. So the green groups are going to set up a "climate war room."

House Minority Leader John Boehner says that the Democrat healthcare bill is dead. Since he's a part of the Republican leadership, he should know "dead" when he sees it.

When it comes to healthcare, the Democrats still can't come to a consensus on what they want, and President Obama hasn't been any help.

Barack Obama says that he will not stop Eric Holder from conducting an investigation into CIA terrorist interrogators. Of course he won't. The radical left would be less than pleased.

The teachers unions are becoming increasingly upset with Barack Obama saying that this is not why they helped to get him elected. They don't like his references to actually trying to get teachers to perform.

Barack Obama is making his first appearance at the UN. Here are some tips on how to avoid dictators.

When a leading global warming proponent admits that the earth has actually been cooling ... the media is silent.

President Obama seems to be open to the idea of a bailout for the newspaper industry. Why not? There's a huge favor to return here.

Jimmy Carter at it again. This time he says that the US may have been involved in a failed coup to overthrow Hugo Chavez in 2002. Our crazy uncle in the attic.

Frank Luntz explains the real reason for America's rage ... and race has nothing to do with it. Go figure.

Barack Obama says that the ACORN issue is not the biggest issue facing our country so he hasn't really focused on it. Well, he sure was focused on ACORN when he sang it's praises during the election.

The New York Times draws the comparison between talk radio and rap. I'm starting to get the idea that the MSM doesn't like talk radio all that much.

When it comes to one-on-one time with the president, House Republicans aren't feeling the love they were once promised.

As terrible as the recent ACORN videos may be, this type of behavior from ACORN is nothing new.

This from the San Francisco Chronicle? Democrats seem to have shifted their thinking on a number of issues since President Obama took the oath of office.

Congressional leaders are discussing whether to stay home an extra week in November because of Veterans' Day. Let 'em stay ... it's not like they are doing much good in Washington.

Today the government is going to propose new rules to treat all Web traffic equally.

Here's an explanation of how non-union, salaried workers shafted in U.S. deal with GM.

The scooter takes center stage in the healthcare debate.

The teenagers who beat up a student on the bus because he was white .... Yep, it's all Rep. Joe Wilson's fault.

It's been a while since we have had a Muslim outrage ... a taxpayer-funded document in Great Britain urges office workers not to eat around Muslims during Ramadan because it could make them feel hungry.