How Government Run Health Care Will Rip Your Heart Out

    Last week former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop made his views on existing healthcare reforms known to our nation’s legislative leaders. His message to them was, be careful about the reforms they make and also urged that whatever they do, do not make a bill that forces doctors and medical students to perform abortions.

Koop, now 93 years of age, is currently a Senior Scholar at the C. Everett Institute at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. The Granite State and DC are not exactly within walking distance, so Koop didn’t make the journey to Washington to try and deliver his message in person. Instead he wrote what he called a “beautifully typed letter a letter”. From their, the letter was going to an associate going the way of Washington.

The hand delivered letters were dropped off at the offices of all its intended recipients. But somewhere along the line, inside the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, C. Everett Koop’s “beautifully typed” missive was placed in an “out box”. What ensued was an unimagined comedy of errors.

The typed, had delivered letter was placed in an unstamped envelope that had the name “C. Everett Koop” written in the upper left hand corner. When a member Senator Reid’s staff came across the letter in the “outbox” they became petrified by the possibilities. Good Gawd almighty, how did an unstamped letter from the former Reagan Administration Surgeon General get into the wrong box?——Oh my!

So with sharp, lightning fast instincts, the experienced bureaucrats in the Democrat Senate Majority Leader’s office called the police. With equally rapid speed they appeared on the scene of the crime. Staffers in Reid’s office were promptly evacuated and all others were urged to “stay away” as letter opening experts dressed in special anti-contamination suits secured the scary hand written envelope. Once opened, forensic experts were quickly called in to examine the threatening letter that was so ominously placed in Harry Reid’s out box .

According to the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and hour later the array of medical examiners, spaced suited sleuths, armed officers, forensic analysts and professional letter openers “cleared” the offending letter.

Upon learning of the major disruption that Koop and his beautifully typed letter caused in the nation’s Capitol, he stated “I wasn’t aware that sending a hand-delivered was an offense” and added “I can’t believe all this nonsense”.

The incident actually teaches us some unintended lessons.

If a a hand written envelope in the hand of bureaucrats could cause the hoopla, angst, and expense that this one did, all because a letter that should have been in an “inbox” was carelessly placed in an “outbox” by a well trained government employee, what do you think will happen if your 15 page application to the Health Choices Czar or Health Procedures Approval Czar has an error in it? What if you forget to dot that ‘I” or cross that “T”?   What if you transposed the wrong code number for the wrong procedure and instead of getting that annoying pimple taken off your ass, the Health Care Procedures Approval Czar instructs their government surgeons to remove a kidney or perform a tracheotomy on your throat?

And when one of the bureaucrats handling your medical billing records, puts your payment for your recent heart valve surgery in the outbox instead of the inbox, what then? Will the Health Care Financial Assistance Czar put in a repossession order and have federal surgeons rip your heart out?

Face it folks, federal bureaucrats should not be running health care. They can’t even manage the papers they shuffle.  If the government bureaucracy can’t handle a letter from 93 year old Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, do you really want them arranging your heart surgery?   

Just ask C. Everett Koop and the staff of Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The Berlin Wall Came Down, But Now The Washington Wall Goes Up

    This week marked the 20^th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is the anniversary of an event worthy to revisit and rethink.

Of the dominoes that remained standing during the Cold War, the Berlin Wall’s fall, set in motion, the end of communism in Europe. And not slowly. Within days of the first chunks of concrete that sledgehammers shattered, an avalanche of freedom came tumbling down on Soviet satellite states.

On November 16^th 1989, day’s after it the manmade divide between East and West Germany became no more, Czechoslovakian students began to peacefully protest against the Communist Czech government. As each day passed, more citizens began break into spontaneous protests until one day, over half a million citizens stood together in Prague, protesting Communism. Then, on November 27^th all the citizens of Czechoslovakia took part in a 2 hour long general strike. The following day, the Communist government of Czechoslovakia announced that it would relinquish their power to the people and dismantle the existing government apparatus.

Prior to the ethnic conflicts that took place between the Czechs and the Slovaks and eventually consumed the region, the event was a remarkable example of a people yearning for freedom and it was triggered by the fall of one of the greatest symbols of Communist oppression in the world—–the Berlin Wall.

I remember the day it happened. All of my life I had known Germanys. I had heard how people were shot and killed for trying to go from East to West. I was also aware of why few if any people tried to go from West to East. On one side of the Wall you had a thriving society with advanced technology and luxury automobiles, high tech companies, busy entrepreneurs and happy youngsters wearing Nike and Adidas as they bounced basketballs with Michael Jordan’s name imprinted on them. You had a generally happy society hopeful about tomorrow and full of optimism.

On the other side, you had rationing of food and fuel, state owned businesses that produced little and paid little. On the other side of the wall , optimism was nothing more than a concept. The Communist government told its people what they should hope for. Tens of thousands of fortunate East German’s drove the state car, the Trabant. It was a shell that boasted its ability to seat four people. It was mechanically unreliable, lacked any comforts or conveniences and required lots of effort just to pour fuel into. One joke often repeated by East Germans asked how one could try to double the value of a Trabant? To which the answer was “Fill up the tank”. Another asked if you knew that they had Knight Rider in East Germany?………to that the answer was……It’s a Trabant with a pocket calculator! The car became a symbol of Communism’s inability to compete in industry and technology. When the Berlin Wall came down, thousands of East Germans abandoned their Trabants and walked to West Germany, never to retrieve the GDR made autos again.

These were the two Germany’s I knew all my life. So when I saw young German men and woman cheering as they climbed the graffiti covered 3 and a half mile long, abomination to freedom, as they chipped chunks of it away, I was stunned. I never thought I would see the people who Communists hid away from the rest of the world, suddenly celebrate the joy of freedom with unbridled glee. But I did. It was the goal of Ronald Reagan and it was being realized.

Since then, leftists have often demonized Ronald Reagan. They do so with unrelenting force and mock his boldness, bluntness and military build up, which all helped to create the fatal cracks in the Berlin Wall that brought it down. Many have come to take for granted the course which led to our winning the Cold War. For many of us, that nonchalant attitude is disappointing. We also see it as dangerous. In Statecraft. Strategies for a Changing World, one of contemporary history’s great women and even greater leaders, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher writes;

“Revisionism about the Cold War has taken various guises. But underlying them all is the assertion that the policies of Ronald Reagan towards the Soviet Union were, as you prefer, superfluous, dangerous or even counter-productive“.

She goes on to describe such revisionist interpretations or uninformed opinions as

“ potentially disastrous, because learning the wrong lessons could still result in adopting the wrong responses”

Her point being that the world was not changed by accepting that which we know is wrong. Even East Germans knew that Communism was wrong. They knew that they were falling behind the rest of world. Some East German’s knew this all too well and they tried to make a break for freedom. Since it was erected in 1961, 136 of such West German thinkers were shot to death as they tried to go from East German oppression to West German freedom.

Lady Thatcher reminds us that timidity in regards to freedom does not allow it to flourish.  She also reminds us that Ronald Reagan knew that.  He never apologized for freedom, he shared its virtues, knowing that those who get a taste of freedom become addicted to it. Just as did the people of Czechoslovakia who in “peaceful” protests jingled keys in symbolic display of their demand to “unlock the doors” of “their” government.

20 years later, although Europe and all the continents still suffer from the human condition, we are for the most part, free. We are free to choose between construction and destruction, free to choose between living in harmony or in war, in richness or poorness, ignorance or intelligence. We are free to make the right or the wrong choices and it is that freedom and the challenges that comes with it that makes life——-the free life——-a thrilling, promising experience. But its promise can only thrive if the sea of oppression is not allowed to douse the flame of freedom. The Berlin Wall doused that flame. But Ronald Reagan fought off its drowning tide, and he did not by ignoring the world’s oppressors, but by confronting them.

For that we are here today. For better or worse, after some decisions correctly made and many others wrongly decided, we are here today to celebrate the possibilities of freedom and the demise of it’s enemy—–oppression.

But twenty years later while we celebrate what we once achieved, the United States and the world must decide what we will achieve in the years to come.

It would seem that in America we have begun to move away from the freedom of independence and independent thought, the type of independence that was granted to half of Germany when its dividing line came down. With this trend, moving forward, we must stop and understand that the freedom which we celebrated on the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, is the very same freedom that some of our nation’s leaders are now trying to limit. Such sentiments are expressed in the actions of the House of Representatives. Their recent recommended government takeover of healthcare or the decision to tax the air that we breathe, are legislative walls between freedom and oppression. They are examples of just the opposite of the 20^th anniversary we just praised and celebrated .

And even worse, most Americans don’t even realize it.

The trend is one that was predicted. It is one we were warned about from past leaders and one that current leaders are now warning us about. Some seven years ago Margaret Thatcher addressed the road we are on right now.

She warned;

“Neither the fall of the Berlin Wall, nor victory in the Gulf War, nor the collapse of the Soviet Union, nor the establishment of free markets and a measure of democracy in South-East Asia – none of these has resolved the tension between liberty and socialism in all its numerous guises. Believers in the Western model of strictly limited government and maximum freedom for individuals within a just rule of law often say, and rightly, that ‘we know what works’. Indeed we do. But equally there will always be political leaders and, increasingly, pressure groups who are bent on persuading people that they cannot really run their own lives and that the state must do it for them. And sadly but inevitably, there will always be people who prefer idleness to effort, dependency to independence, and modest rewards just as long as nobody does better. There is always a danger that, as Freidrich Hayek put it in his Road to Serfdom, ‘the striving for security tends to become stronger than the love for freedom’.  It mustn’t.”

As a unified Germany and their elated allies rejoice in the fall of a wall that allowed freedom to sweep across a continent, America has begun to map out the creation of a permanent welfare state. The dichotomy between the celebration of freedom in Europe and the limiting of freedom in America is startling and is the very dichotomy that Thatcher and Hayek both once wrote about. If freedom is so worthy of celebration than why are we simultaneously legislating it away. The Nostradamion words of Hayek and Thatcher are worth our attention. They are worth our asking whether or not we have in fact placed more value on personal security than individual freedom.

It is a question we must. For whether we realize it or not, we have begun to build a wall of our own. The Washington Wall. One which is a solid divide of federal control that will give bureaucrats and the political class freedom on one side, and on the other side will be us, the ones being oppressed by the regulations and laws of the political class.

Connecticut’s Republican Governor, Jodi Rell Will Not Seek Reelection

    Republican Governor Jodi Rell has just announced that she will not seek reelection next November.

Her decision will move up the start of the Connecticut race for Governor. This typically liberal New England state is not friendly to Republicans and so many Democrats have already been looking into a run at the Governor’s mansion. Most prominent is Ned LaMonte, a flaming liberal who defeated Joe Lieberman in a primary for the Democrat nomination. Lieberman went on to run as an independent though and won.

LaMonte stated just days ago that he is exploring a run.

Other’s who are assumed to be eyeing the governor’s seat are Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and popular state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal may also want the job. If he does, he will become the automatic frontrunner both his party’s nomination and in the general election.

With Jodi Rell now out, Connecticut Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele is a likely GOP nominee. Back in August Fedele stated to several news outlets that should Rell not seek reelection, he will be running for the GOP nomination. Other potential Republican candidates are the Connecticut House Minority Leader from Norwalk, Lawrence Cafero and Connecticut’s Senate Minority Leader John McKinney from Fairfield.

Although Republicans are not in favor in Connecticut, Jodi Rell remains popular. She had approval rating in the 70’s. Currently they are down from that very high number to reasonably high numbers in the 60’s.

Rell served Lieutenant Governor under her predecessor, popular Republican Governor John Rowland. The Ropwland/Rell ticket was elected 3 times. 1994, 1998 and 2002 . In 2004, Rowland was convicted on corruption charges and Lt. Governor Rell assumed office. In 2006 she ran for her first and now last full term as Governor and won by an astounding 63%.

With it looking like a good year for Republicans nationally, Rell was still probably the best hope that Republicans had to keep the seat. With her out, the race is in play. One thing that could help the GOP, would be a strong candidate to run against the wounded Chris Dodd who is up for reelection. In fact, since Rell is not running for Governor, it would be great if she could run for Senate. She is probably the one Connecticut Republican who could give Dodd a real good run for his money. In fact, in what will be a good year for Republicans, she is probably the only one who could beat him.

The Week’s Best & Worst In Politics-Winners & Losers

 

LOSERS

Dede Scozzafava

The NY State Assemblywoman and Republican nominee for Congress in NY’s 23rd CD, was outed as closet liberal, crashed, burned and decided to take everyone out with her.  She withdrew from the race on Saturday & endorsed the Democrat nominee over the Conservative candidate, Republican Doug Hoffman.  He lost in a narrow race and gave Nancy Pelosi an extra seat in Congress.  This woman is not just an Assemblywoman, she’s an ass& come next year, someone better get her ass out of the New York State Assembly.

  

Joseph Cao 

The freshman Republican Congressman from Louisiana was the only, “the only” Republican to support the Democrat’s big government takeover of health care and insurance.  What he saw in it which 215 other Republicans didn’t, is hard to say.  Perhaps you see something else when looking from the left.  But to look from the left you have to be on the left and that’s where this guy belongs.  If he fails to find the faults in this 2,000 page, 111 bureaucracy creating, 1.3 trillion dollar costing, freedom steeling, job costing, tax hiking, care rationing novel, than he is a Democrat or he is missing a chromosome.  Either way……….Ciao, Cao!

 Governor-reject Jon Corzine+

This man was to New Jersey, what Katrina and Governor Kathleen Blanco were to New Orleans.  This golden parachuted, wealthy Wall Street wizard purchased a senate seat only to turn around and buy the governor’s mansion so that he could use the same kind of financial expertise as Bernie Madoff.  He had nothing to run on, so he tried to turn the election into a referendum on President Obama.  But in the end, voters knew that a vote for Corzine, was like buying a ticket on the Hindenburg.  This despicably deplorable Governor should be punished, not just voted out of office.  Good riddance!!!!

Creigh Deeds

Creigh Deeds?  More like crepe paper.  This loser was blown away like tissue paper in a wind tunnel.  His liberal ideas fell flat, his campaign never got off the ground and he cost Democrats all across Virginia dearly.  This guy wasn’t as bad a candidate as New Jersey Governor-reject, Jersey Jon,  but he practically chalked up a negative vote total.  He was an embarrassment, but most Democrats are.  Virginian’s just didn’t want to let this one do to their state, what Corzine did to New Jersey.  Still so pathetic was Deeds, that he should be forced to pay a fine to the DNC for defamation of Party.

WINNERS

Governor-elect Bob McDonnell

He ran a good campaign, made people believe in him, never miss-stepped and had coattails so big that he swept in a Republican Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General as well as 5 new Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates.  If Republicans aren’t coming back, someone has to tell Bob McDonnell and the voters of Virginia that.

Governor-elect Chris Christie

He didn’t win so much as he didn’t lose.  42% of those who pushed the button by Christie’s name, said they really voted against Jon Corzine, not for Chris Christie.  Still, after blowing a double-digit, Bob McDonnell-like lead, he won the election and becomes the first Republican to win statewide office in New Jersey since 1997.  The people may not have thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but they are behind him and hopeful that he will be able to clean up the wreckage that Democrats and Jon Corzine have strewn across the state.

President Obama

Election Day was a setback for him.  Virginia and especially New Jersey were a referendum on the President and his Party, but after Saturday night’s landmark vote for the government takeover of health insurance and care that he wants, he ends the week up.  The President put a lot into this vote.  So much political capital was spent by him, that his reputation was on the line.  Had this not passed the House, the President would have been severely wounded and Democrats would not have wanted anything to do with him as they approach the midterm elections.  He lucked out by 2 votes.  This week he must be seen as a winner.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

She delivered!  It took a strong hold over her minions and on power to keep the legislative loose cannons in line.  Pelosi would have liked to get more votes and she failed to convince many who were not Democrats of the merits of her health care takeover , but she said she would get it passed and she did. Getting the vast majority of her conference to stand with her on a vote as contentious and questionable as this, took a masterful sense of politics——closed-door  politics,—- to pull this off——and Pelosi did.  She is a lying con artist but she is a good one.

 

Why Did They Vote The Way They Did?

  As riveting as last night’s government healthcare takeover vote was, part of the mystique behind it involved hundreds of individual stories that involved political horse trading, private deals, favors, bribes and even extortion-like coercion. To actually pass this very unpopular and contentious bill took more arm twisting and bone bending than you would find in a chiropractors office. The President and Speaker Pelosi asked many Democrats to, what they commonly call—- “walk the plank”. Many of them did. They need the financial backing of the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee and they need the support of the leadership to pass legislation that is key to their districts. But some Democrats were also told that if they reach at least 219 votes, they could go ahead and vote against HR3692.

Traditionally, party leaders will let some legislators in their own party “off the hook” on some of the most controversial votes. This only happens if party leaders knows the bill can pass without that members vote. Some of that happened in last night’s election results.

Of the 39 Democrats who did vote against HR.3962, most are in swing districts that will be hard for Democrats to win reelection in.

Twelve of these 39 are freshman. When it comes to keeping their seats in 2010, they are some of the most vulnerable of Democrats and they have some of the most angry voters opposed to the government takeover plan. Which is why they are also some of those who were let off the hook.

Many of them took the same position that Ohio’s freshman Democrat John Boccieri stated in a press release, “While I fully support quality, affordable health care coverage for everyone, I am disappointed the House bill sadly does not go far enough to reduce the costs of getting there”. That position will allow these Democrats to remain competitive in relatively fiscally conservative districts.

The only exceptions is Dennis Kucinich.

Kucinich is safe no matter what he does in his liberal district. He likely opposed the bill because under the instructions of President Obama, House Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller successfully shot down a his amendment that would have allowed states to choose to improve the healthcare system by creating state-level single-payer healthcare programs of their own.

Based upon the makeup and history of their districts, the other 38 nay votes were obviously concerned with voter backlash. Moderate Democrats in swing districts did not particularly like the message that last Tuesday’s election results delivered. For them it was a warning shot right across their bow.

That accounts for the who and why some Democrats opposed HR3692.  But what of the lone Republican who voted for it?

Even though Louisiana’s freshman Congressman, Joseph Cao, is a Republican from a typically red states in the red South, his particular district is heavily blue. The former long time occupant of that seat was William Jefferson, the Congressman who was forced to resign after hundreds of thousand of dollars were found in his freezer and he was convicted of illegal financial schemes. Cao simply came into office because he was not a  felon. That kind of approval does not exactly indicate a groundswell of support and a loyal following. It also means that Cao will have a hard time getting reelected if he finds himself running against a Democrat opponent without a criminal record. The district is clearly left of center, so voter backlash is also what forced Louisiana’s Joseph Cao to offer up the sole Republican “yea” vote for government micromanagement of our health care.

Congressman Cao’s vote was one of the last to be recorded and it was only cast after the Democrats exceeded the 218 votes needed for passage. It was probably one of the most astonishing profiles in cowardice we have seen in year’s. There was never even a  hint that  such a break was being contemplated, so his lone Republican vote for the HR 3962 came as a surprise to GOP leaders.

Cao’s last minute “yea” vote was just an attempt to give liberals in his district one less reason to vote against him. But you know what? It won’t work. Liberals will almost always choose a Democrat who is honest about their liberalism over a Republican pretending to be liberal.   At the same time, the minority of  Republicans who do live in Cao’s district will not necessarily vote for a Republican whose vote is no different than a Democrat’s vote.

Ultimately the 39 Democrats who opposed Pelosicare,  or were excused from having to support it, may end up in good standing come next November.  They will be able to stand up and say that they did not burden Amercans with a cumbersome government takeover that will micromanage our healthcare needs and choices while placing unelected and acountable czars, diectors, commissions, committees, bureaus, panels, advisors and political appointed hacks between us and our doctors.  All while raising costs, increasing taxes and sending jobs overseas at a time when we have double digit unemployment and need them now, more than ever.

It is, the economy, Stupid.   But since liberals don’t get it, those Democrats who were not among the 39 that were let off the hook, may have a helluva  tough reelection ahead of them.  They won’t be alone though.  After proving to be the most spinless Republican in the House, Louisiana’s freshman Representative  Joseph Cao is likely to  find himself on the losing end of a vote.  The one for him.

The following is a list of those who joined Kucinich and Boccieri in their opposition to the government health management takeover package were as follows:

John Adler, NJ-3, Freshman
Jason Altmire, PA-4
Brian Baird, WA-3
John Barrow, GA-12
Dan Boren, OK-2
Rick Boucher, VA-09
Allen Boyd, FL-02
Bobby Bright, AL-02 – Freshman
Ben Chandler, KY-06
Travis Childers, MS-01
Artur Davis, AL-07
Lincoln Davis, TX-04
Chet Edwards, TX-17
Bart Gordon, TN-6
Parker Griffith, AL-05 – Freshman
Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, SD
Tim Holden, PA-17
Larry Kissell, NC-8 – Freshman
Suzanne Kosmas, FL-24 -Freshman
Frank Kratovil, MD-1 – Freshman
Betsy Markey, CO-4 – Freshman
Jim Marshall, GA-8
Eric Massa, NY-8 - Freshman
Jim Matheson, UT-2
Mike McIntyre, NC-7
Michael McMahon, NY-13
Charlie Melancon, LA-3
Walt Minnick, ID-1 – Freshman
Scott Murphy, NY-20
Glenn Nye, VA-2, Freshman
Collin Peterson. MN-7
Mike Ross, AZ-4
Heath Shuler, NC-11
Ike Skelton, MO-4
John Tanner, TN-8
Gene Taylor, MS-4
Harry Teague, NM-02, Freshman

If any of these guys are in your state, you might want to call their office and thank them.  We are usually pretty quick to express or anger at legislators and our displeasure with them.  When one of them does something right, regardless of what their reason was, we should let them know, that their are many people who are paying attention and that their are some benefits when they do things right. 

Reform Bill Passes The House But It’s A Version That Will Not Fly In The Senate

    While last night’s rare Saturday session of the House of Representatives and their subsequent vote on the big government takeover of the American health care system was at times suspenseful, ultimately it won passage. The vote was quite close though. In the end 39 Democrats opposed the bill and in what was one of the most cowardly acts of the entire health care reform debate, one Republican, freshman Joseph Cao of Louisiana, waited till the last minute and only after the bill had one more vote than it needed for passage, did he cast his vote for it.

By five votes, the House of Representatives approved an over 1 trillion dollar government take over of health management and health insurance that, if it comes to fruition, will change just about every aspect of life in America. H.R.3962, the deceptively titled Affordable Health Care for America Act is one of the most transformative pieces of legislation ever passed and second only to the liberal Tax-and-Trade energy bill that Democrats in the House passed earlier this year.

Alone, each measure amounts to some of the greatest transfers of wealth in the history of mankind. Together they will be the greatest transfer of wealth and the most obnoxiously large consolidation of  federal power and control that any generation in America has ever known. Together, the Cap-and-Trade bill and the government health management measure will tax the health out of our economy and the life out of the middle class.

To be sure, the passage of HR. 3962 is a victory for President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  That is undeniable and it should not be downplayed. To have actually been able to whip enough votes together to pass this reform bill, while a majority of the American people oppose it, means that the President still has great influence over his conference and Nancy Pelosi has proven herself to be masterful at her job. But the type of influence and mastery they exhibited here may not exactly be the type that America needs. First of all, it only extends to their conference. They were unable to persuade, scare, or extort Republicans to support them. That means that the President and Pelosi’s appeal and sphere of influence is limited to those who are already on their side. They fail to expand their appeal or base in Congress or, more importantly, among the voters. Although it seems like it was months ago, the elections held throughout America this past Tuesday proved that.

It is also important to recognize the type of  influence that Speaker Pelosi and President Obama wielded in the health care takeover vote. To pass the bill, an endless amount of deal making went into the process. And all of those deals were conducted under the table and behind closed doors. The horse trading that took place among a group of politicians, limited exclusively to Democrats, is what helped to account for the extraordinary size of the bill—–1,900 pages. It is also something that we will pay for dearly in the next few coming year’s. This bill was passed by the creations of favors that will allow Democrat committee chairman to reward “yea” votes on HR. 3692 by approving more pork in future spending bills than all the pig farms in the Midwest. Democrats will be approving some of the most harebrained legislation you’ve ever seen and they will do so because of three words—– “you owe me”.

The same goes for the President too.

For every arm Pelosi and the President twisted, two favors were offered. So many favors were offered in order to pass government managed health reform and insurance that much of the legislative agenda for this and next year, will be based entirely on the need to payback the favors promised to Democrats running for reelection next year. If you think the legislative agenda of Congress will be based on the needs of the people, think again. Our needs will be secondary and even tertiary when it comes to the needs of Democrats facing tough reelection bids and saying to Nancy,——- “you owe me this”.

Add to that the likelihood that both Pelosi and the President may have blown their entire wad of influence on this one vote though. They may have exhausted any chance of passing any other controversial bills in the next legislative session because they may have had to call in too many favors on this one vote. That may be the only silver lining here. The liberal leadership had to pull so many strings, that they may not have the ability to try to ram through anymore of their radically, transformative agenda for quite some time to come.

What’s more is that all the favors, arm twisting, finger bending, deceit and depletion of legislative resources could be for naught. No matter what happens, the favors and deals for those placed their support for Pelosicare on the record and now face some stiff reelection bids, will still have be paid back. And the truth is, that what passed in the House is not likely to pass in Senate.

Typically, the House is much more radical, more extreme than the United States Senate. The House of Representatives is based upon extremists elected from gerrymandered districts within the population that are largely created by drawn based upon ideological preferences. Most districts are either predominantly liberal or predominantly conservative. This means that a member of the House can more afford to take an extreme position. Their districts are largely drawn based upon people with extreme positions leaning one way or the other. There are exceptions of course. There exist a few handfuls of “swing” districts which are moderate. But such seats are in the minority.

The Senate however has no members elected from districts that are carved out to match specifically match their political and ideological personality. These people are elected from entire states. So Senators try to placate everyone. That is not conducive to taking extreme positions. Between that and rules that govern the Senate which are quite different than those governing the House and you have a legislative that, unlike the House of Representatives, tends to water down legislation and moderate the final results. The Senate is also a bit more shrewd than the House. They often take a wait and see approach.

Remember that historic Cap-and-Trade energy bill that the lower chamber of Congress passed many moons ago? The Senate has yet to act on it? In the case of health care reform, the Senate which reached established a bill of their own has waited to see exactly what the House version was before they move ahead with their own. They will now carefully review what is in the House bill and monitor the public reaction to it. But Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid doesn’t have a great deal of time to put his finger in the wind. He is going to have to call for a vote on a final government health care over right away. The more time that the public has to understand what is actually in the bill recently passed in the House, the more support and will and the more intense the objections will become.

The one thing you can rest assured on is that Pelosicare, as it was passed in its current form, will not be what the Senate approves. If a bill calling for the government takeover of health care is to be passed by the Senate, it will be watered down significantly. The public option is a major hurdle.  A final senate bill could include an opt out clause or maybe the “trigger” that liberal Republican Olympia Snowe likes. If compromise on that one issue can’t be reached, the so called public option, which is anything but an option, could be scrapped altogether.  In any event, passage of any health management and insurance reform bill that the President wants is far from done. If any version of reform is to actually make it to the President’s desk, it will modified to one degree or another in the Senate. If it isn’t, the big government takeover of health management and insurance won’t even have 50 votes, which is 10 less than they actually need to pass it. The message sent in the wake of this past Tuesday’s elections assures us that many Senator’s do not want to be saddled with the existing bill as they come up for reelection and are at the mercy of their statewide constituencies.

Healthcare Debate Update: Stupak Anti-Abortion Funding Amendment Passes

    By a vote of 240 to 194, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment which provides language that will have prohibit the House bill for a government takeover of heath care, from allowing any funding of abortion procedures passed.

The move which satisfied a the handful of anti-abortion Democrats who were needed to pass the larger health reform bill. However; its passage could cause some of the majority of Democrats who are anti-right to lifers, to oppose the bill. Last night, Speaker Pelosi saw that if she allowed anti-abortion Democrats to get their away and adopt the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, she would have lost more votes for the overall health care reform bill than she would have gained

A majority of Democrats are so vehemently opposed to saving the lives of the unborn. Now we must wait and see just how many Democrats are so offended by not allowing federal funding for abortions that they will risk losing a vote to pass what they are the calling one of the most important pieces of legislation in our nation’s history.

Before the vote on the abortion funding amendment, a vast majority of Democrats made clear their strong opposition to the amendment. Some even suggested that it could prevent them from going ahead with their intended support for the final health care reform bill. Passage of the Stupak-Pitts anti-abortion funding amendment just adds further doubt about what the final House vote on the health reform bill will be.

In the mean time, following the Stupak-Pitts vote,as expected the Republican substitute Health Care Reform bill went down to defeat.

Government Health Care Takeover May Go Down Because of Abortion

  Passage of the Pelosi-Obama government takeover of health care may all come down to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.

The Stupak-Pitts Amendment is sponsored by Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan and Republican Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania and what is does is create language in the health care government takeover bill which not allow any federal monies in the plan to be used for abortion procedures.

At this point in time, as debate on government run health care is taking place and now as they specifically discuss the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, Democrat after Democrat are coming to the floor of the House and opposing it. A few though have stated that if this amendment is passed, they will vote for the bill.   These few are the Democrats who passage of the bill hinges on and it seems apparent that they will not get they want.  It should be noted that if they do not go what they want, neither will Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and President Obama.

Earlier in what was perhaps the most ingenious maneuver of the debate yet, House Republican Leader John Boehner asked a very important question. Congressman George Miller, the Chairnman of the House Committee on Education and Labor who stood to start dispensing time to those Democrats who could offer their remarks in the debate.  As he did  Boehner asked him the following. Will you assure me that in committee you will support the Stupak Amendment and its passage?   After trying to dodge the question, Miller finally stated that he can not make such an assurance.

This successfully allowed those Democrats whose votes the government health care takeover hinges on, to be more reluctant to support the bill.

Following that, as more and more Democrats angrily denounced the Stupak-Pitts Amendment and declared their opposition to it, House Democrats voted to delay any further on the Stupak-Amendment. What this could come down to is a standoff that will ultimately kill liberal attempts to have the government micromanage health care and insurance. A vast majority of Democrats are so opposed to saving the lives of the unborn that they will actually allow what they call one of the most important pieces of legislation in our nation’s history to fail.

For live streaming video coverage of the health care debate before its scheduled vote visit C-Span here.

President Obama Asks Democrats To Walk The Plank On Healthcare Vote

   High Drama grips Washington, DC today in a way that has rarely ever been matched before. Few votes have ever been quite as transformative as the healthcare and insurance reform bill which Democrats and Nancy Pelosi are proposing on behalf of President Obama.

The political intrigue being witnessed on this day is heightened by incredibly unique circumstances surrounding the actual vote.

First, it is very rare, for Congress to convene during the weekend. Second, it is not at all certain if Democrats have all the votes they need to pass the bill, however it is seemingly certain that every Republican is voting against it.

Third, as this is being written, President Obama is on Capitol meeting with fellow Democrats who are in the House. He is said to be telling them that his presidency is on the line with this vote. According to the Administration, if they fail to pass this legislation they will have a hard time getting future legislation passed. In politics, the term being used to get votes for healthcare reform right now, is to “walk the plank”. This means that the Administration and Speaker Pelosi are aware of the fact that many Democrats in moderate and even Republican districts may be voting against the will of their constituents. But The President and Pelosi are asking that they still walk the plank for them. They are claiming that if the Party fails to pass this bill, the liberal base of the party will not be there for those who voted against the bill and they may very well be so disappointed in the Democrat Party that the liberal base will sit at home come the 2010 general elections.

It is not often that the President of the United States personally comes to The Hill to twist arms in order to get members of his own party to vote for one of his initiatives. Doing so makes it clear that the liberal leadership is not sure that they have enough Democrats walking the plank for them. Republicans even claim that they have a commitment from 21 Democrats who say that they are voting no.

As of last week, 43 Democrats were voting against Pelosicare. That would have produced 215 yea votes to 220 nays. But since last week, hundreds of backroom deals have been made behind closed doors, twice as many arms were twisted and tons of changes have been made to the original bill in an attempt to at least win the minimum 218 votes needed to make this boondoggle law. Many of the changes have to do with language in the bill which would allow public funding in the bill to be allowed for abortion procedures. Quite a few socially conservative Democrats are opposed to such language but it would seem that many Blue Democrats are nothing more than lap dogs. Last night it would seem that many have shifted their support and at the moment Democrats are only 10 votes short of passing their liberal legislation.

But now, as the moment of truth approaches, the pressure being placed on Democrats to place their loyalty to party above their loyalty to their principles and the constituents they represent, is unlike any ever seen since LBJ personally called Democrat Senators and promised to use his own hands to crack their heads open if they didn’t support and pass his historic civil rights legislation.

For their part, Republicans have vowed to do everything possible to prevent this bill from being passed. They will use procedural objections and other tactics to stall it. They will also hold Democrats to their pledge to put a final version of legislation on line for a period of 72 hours before it comes to the floor for a full vote. The GOP will point out that with all the last minute changes being made to the bill in an attempt to win over any available Democrat votes, voting on the bill tonight would be premature and provide the American people with at least 72 hours to review the bill themselves.

For Democrats, if the healthcare reform bill does not get passed by the House, the Senate is not likely to bring it up for a vote and force Democrats to take a stand on the controversial issue. That would mean that Democrats would have to push the issue next year, during the midterm elections. It is more than likely that the President and Democrats will not want to be pushing a controversial debate that they are on the losing side of while they are also trying to win reelection and keep a hold on their majority power. So tonight is probably now or never for liberal attempts to have the government takeover health care and insurance.

This afternoon Speaker Pelosi spoke of the pending vote and called it “historic”. What she failed to mention is that history has two parts. There are good parts and there are bad parts. Rational people appreciate and support the good parts of history but they are not willing to repeat the worst parts of our history. Yes Madame Speaker; this 1,900 page novel which amounts to a government takeover of healthcare and insurance will forever more have the government micromanage what should be our health choices.

Yes indeed this is a historic vote but for all the wrong reasons. Hitler and Soviet style socialism are also historic but they reflect a history that we wish never happened and your government takeover of one fifth of our economy is something that most Americans hopes never happens.

Voters Made Clear How Congress Should Vote on Healthcare Reform

   Democrats are scrambling to pass a version of health and insurance reform that would have government control it. Currently they are trying to hold true to a scheduled rare Saturday but as more arms are twisted and language in the bill is tweaked, the Hose leadership is suggesting that the vote may not be held until Sunday. This would signal that they do not yet have enough commitments from Democrats to pass it.

Their hope is that the extra hours between Saturday and Sunday will give the liberal leadership the time to hammer out some of their bill so that some Democrats who are still sitting on the fence can be swayed to support the bill.

Much of what has to be hammered out swirls around making sure that healthcare reform legislation uses language that bars any federal insurance plan receiving public subsidies from covering abortion. Socially conservative Democrats being led by Michigan Democrat Congressman Bart Stupak. However; the leaderships need to do this is prompting loud protests from abortion rights group like NARAL who want all abortions legal and paid for by the federal government.

One Democrat who is far from being a social conservative, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, is also a source for other demands on House leaders’ if they want his vote for their reform plan. Weiner has proposed a substitute single-payer health care plan that would be funded by a 14% payroll tax and a tax on millionaires. The liberal leadership had promised that Weiner’s proposed amendment will come during a markup of the bill when it is in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. However they do not want his amendment ruled in order on the bill itself.

But the wrangling to extort enough support from Democrats to vote for the bill puts the in a catch 22 of sorts. Any change in the language of the bill would require that the final version be placed on line for at least 72 hours before Congress can vote on it. This was a liberal self imposed rule intended to indicate how transparent the Administration and the Democrat Congress are and allow the public to review and comment on proposed legislation. With all the last minute changes that Democrats make up till the moment that they want to vote on bill, they will be violating their own rules—-a rule that they and they President have already violated on several occasions.

While all this is going on, two days after Americans went the polls and rejected Democrat governors, county executives and state legislators, they converged on Washington, in one of the most intense displays to legislation that Congress has ever. The day of protest began with a rally on the East Side steps of the Capitol where an estimated 15 thousand people stood as they heard from members of Congress who oppose Pelosicare. Joining them to officiate were John Voight, Dr. Mark Levin and several others. Each of them made sure that we reminded Congress that each individual of the House were occupying “our” house to which one loud audience member——me——yelled out, “they’re squatters”. I and thousands of others shouted out many emotions but not without first noticing the unusual display of men on the either side of the steps of the Capitol who were brandishing rather ominous looking M-16’s.

This was not a sight seen back in September when hundreds of thousands of us marched on Washington . The sight of the weapons was a little disarming but it did not stop anyone from being quite vocal about their opposition to Pelosicare.

    When the rally was done tens of thousands began to line the perimeters of every building housing the offices of members of the House. Nowhere were the lines longer, deeper and more vocal than those surrounding the Canon Office Building, home dozens of representatives including none other than Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. And once again, here too I noticed M-16 waving Capitol Hill policeman standing just across the street.

But along with the police thousands, crammed every entrance to the Cannon Building, as one by one we slowly passed through security and metal detectors. While online the energetic deafening, spontaneous cheers of “kill the bill” and “Naaaan-Ceeeee”, erupted as we announced “we’re here” to her and her underlings in the House.

As I stood waiting in line to enter the Cannon Building, each and every time I noticed a Congressman walking by and entering or leaving the building, I loudly yelled “hellooooo Congressman”, to which the crowd responded “kill the bill”. In one instance, as loudly as I could I greeted one passing Congressman, whom I recognized by face but not name. As I loudly stated “Helllloooo Congressman” he stopped and pivoted right towards me. I thought “oh know, he didn’t” when suddenly he proceeded to take my hand and shake it. It was Brad Posey of Florida’s 1^st District and one of the many members of the Republican conference who are expected to unanimously oppose the government takeover of one fifth our economy with a so called health reform measure.

While remaining on the lookout for Representatives trying to enter or exit the office building, I was soon proclaiming “there’s Congressman Ron Paul“ and soon after him I was pleasantly surprised to catch Rep. Scott Garrett entering the building. Congressman Garrett is the most conservative member of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, and I don’t mean that relative to the rest of the New Jersey Republican delegation. He is a true conservative by any standard. I offered to him my praise and appreciation for his good work.

Every now and then we caught a few Democrats coming and going. They shook no hands nor did they have any extended to them. Instead, whenever seen, they were met with shouts of “kill the bill”.

Once inside, constituents made their way to the offices of their respective legislators, to deliver their messages in person. Of course not a single Democrat had the courage to meet with those who oppose the bill. Instead some cowered in their private inner offices, others simply avoided the Cannon Office Building altogether. They just left their staffs to deal with their concerned voters.

Republicans like Scott Garret however, met with his visitors and opened up his office to them as his staff provided bottles of water and oversized, homemade, cookies to all he entered. Coincidentally, Garrett‘s office was a popular one.

But Garretts’s office was no where near as popular as Speaker Pelosi’s office where after waiting an hour or more to get into the building, people waited on line for another hour or more to get into her office and register their opposition to both her and her bill. Where was Naaaaan-Ceeeee? No one knows but she sure wasn’t around to defend herself or her government takeover.

As the group I traveled with made our way back to meet our bus and head back home, we stood on the street with the East side of the Capitol at our backs. A very light shower began to fall. Suddenly one from our group pointed toward the Capitol building yelling “look”!   As we all turned, there it was,—- a full arching rainbow appeared over the Capitol Dome. Everyone was was taken back. They reached for cameras and snapped pictures while feeling fortunate enough to be there, at the very moment, and have the opportunity to see the unique combination of the symbolic and physical beauty of a rainbow appearing over one of the most powerful places and most powerfully symbolic images in and of our nation. As we continued to stare, many couldn’t help but wonder if it was a sign. And then as we continued to look, the colors of the rainbows intensified and to the great surprise of all the already surprised onlookers, to the right of the original rainbow, a second one appeared. Now laughing at the truly rare sight of two rainbows appearing at the same time, over the building where the fight we were in will take place, I stated in a deep bass voice “and so it was written, kill the bill”.

One woman uttered “it almost seems like a miracle” to which I responded, “you almost expect to see the hand of God come out from under the rainbows and slap Naaaaan-Ceeeee Pelosi right across the face” .

When all was said and done, on Thursday, Congress saw one of the most intense displays of the size and depth of anger that exists within the population on their government takeover efforts. Republicans seem to understand and as such, they are standing with the American people holding firm in unanimous opposition to the 1,990 health and insurance reform novel that is, at this very moment, being hammered out behind closed doors.