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E-Mail List of Democrat Senate Staffers (and a few weak sisters)- Stop ObamaCare! Friday, November 20, 2009 | caphillbabe Posted on Friday, November 20, 2009 10:21:45 AM by kristinn Moderate Dems Pivotal in Saturday Health Care Vote NYTimes ^ | November 20th, 2009 Posted on Friday, November 20, 2009 11:24:38 PM by Steelfish Moderate Dems Pivotal in Saturday Health Care Vote ASSOCIATED PRESS November 20, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state...

Senate Democrats' health care bill would create a new marriage penalty by imposing a tax on individuals who make $200,000 annually but hitting married couples making just $50,000 more. "If you have insurance, you get taxed. If you don't have insurance, you get taxed. If you need a life-saving medical device, you get taxed. If you need prescription medicines, you get taxed," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, who is leading the fight against the bill.

The headline says they are going to vote on the health care bill on Saturday night around 8 pm. I just can’t believe this is happening. I’ve heard the Republicans don’t even have a copy of the bill yet. The Senate bill is 2,074 pages. You know no one has read it. We know it’s full of entitlements and lays the framework for another bloated bureaucracy that will wreck our economy. We’ve all seen the Leninist quote, “Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.” I’ve seen polls where 60-70% of the American people do not want socialized medicine....

Remember it for your grandchildren: Saturday, November 21, 2009—the day of the Transformation of America. That’s the day Global Marxism will begin its inexorable march to take down the Free World, starting with its leader the United States of America. There will be no shots fired, but the aim of the U.S. Senate’s poison arrow is right on target at the heart of humanity. While America’s Marxist President is abroad, Senate Majority House Leader Harry Reid is tying the red ribbon bow on his Christmas present, the Transformation, and Take Down of the United States of America. “Senate Majority...

Friend -- Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn. It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform. As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can't afford more deception and delay. We need...

November 20, 2009 Dear Senator Bayh, I tried to call your Washington and Indianapolis offices, but the voice mail boxes were full. I am writing this email to you to plead with you not to vote to bring this health care bill up for senate vote. NOTE: A vote for it now IS a vote to allow it to eventually pass because, as you know, it is quite possible you can vote against its final version knowing full-well that there will be enough votes for it's final passage because the vote requirements are fewer. There are many reasons why you...

While the Senate is now preparing to debate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's 2000-plus-page version of the health care reform plan, 47% of Americans still believe the private sector rather than the federal government has the best chance of keeping health care costs down and the quality of medical care up. But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 33% of adults think the federal government would do a better job of reducing costs and maintaining quality of care. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided. Forty-nine percent (49%) of adults who already have insurance say the private sector would accomplish...

ABC’s Robin Roberts on Thursday pressed a government official on rationing and a new recommendation that women under the age of 50 shouldn’t get regular mammograms. Talking to one of report's authors, she chided, "Dr. [Thomas] Wilt, you know many are feeling that this is trying to save money, that this is a political move." Roberts challenged Wilt, who is with the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. Although she didn’t specifically use the word rationing, the implication was clear: "You are an independent panel, but federally funded independent panel. How do you respond to those who feel that this is...

READ THE BILL: SENATE VERSION OF OBAMACARE NOW ONLINE Senator Jim DeMint Website ^ | 11/19/2009 | Jim DeMint staff Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:26:51 PM by snippy_about_it Read the Bill: Senate Version of ObamaCare Now Online Saturday night set for initial health care vote AP ^ | 11/18/09 | AP Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:53:08 PM by mdittmar WASHINGTON — The Senate will hold its first vote on health care legislation on Saturday night and Democrats will need 60 votes to prevail. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the schedule on the Senate floor, one day...

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

Reid scrambles for 60 health votes With an assist from Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambled Wednesday to pull together 60 votes for his health reform bill, awaiting all-important cost estimates in hopes of getting the bill to the floor by the weekend. At around 2:15 p.m., the three moderate Democratic holdouts - Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson - entered Reid's office for a briefing. "He is walking through the particulars with them," said Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley. "We need 60 votes to get this bill to the floor." Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the...

The Senate is headed for a rare Saturday vote to advance its major healthcare reform bill without a guarantee of success, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) indicated Thursday. At a rally with supporters of the healthcare reform bill, Reid would not say he had secured commitments from all 60 members of the Democratic Conference to vote for the legislation — an absolute necessity given unanimous opposition from the 40 Senate Republicans. "We'll find out when the votes are taken," Reid said. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of three Democratic holdouts, said Thursday that he would announce his intentions prior to...

I am "new" to the site. I think this is my first post. However I have been a reader for years and am a libertarian leaning Republican. I had a thought about healthcare reform that is scaring me. Although I don't think it can pass, consequences could be terrifying if it does. For purposes of sharing my nightmare, let’s assume it passes. Let’s also assume that the SCOTUS has the same five conservative members when compulsion to buy health insurance is enacted into law. It would be unprecedented for the government to mandate disposal of wealth in such a way....

If we are to escape from dilemmas such as Nice's fateful decision on Nexavar, it can only be by permitting additional revenue streams into the NHS, argues Janet Daley. Nice has made another of its fateful (or "fatal") decisions: the drug, Nexavor, which significantly prolongs the life of liver cancer patients, and is widely available in other countries, is not be used by the NHS because it is too expensive. So all those who might have benefited from it have effectively been told that, on accounting principles, they are not worth keeping alive. Nice is functioning as what the US...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid prepared to unveil long-awaited healthcare overhaul legislation on Wednesday, with the first test vote on the package expected by the end of the week. The healthcare reform bill, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, has been delayed in the Senate for weeks as Reid waited for cost estimates and searched for an approach that can win the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican procedural hurdles. Senate Democrats have scheduled a 5 p.m. EST meeting in which Reid will brief them on the bill, and on the cost estimates provided by the nonpartisan...

One of the primary tenets of Medicine is Primum non nocere a Latin phrase that means First, do no harm. The Senate version of the Obamacare bill ignores that phrase and is poised to raise health care costs for all Americans, of all income groups, not only through taxes but via fees on health products that will be passed along to consumers. Below is an outline of the unlucky (for America) 13 New Taxes in Harry Reid's Bill:

Read all 2,074 pages of the Senate bill By Eric Zimmermann and Jeffrey Young - 11/18/09 07:16 PM ET The Senate healthcare bill Harry Reid revealed today spans 2,074 pages, marginally longer than the House bill's 1,990 pages. Read the whole bill by clicking here. Senate Democrats have also released a short summary of the bill, along with a list of reforms that would go into effect the first year after enactment. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that it will cost $849 billion over ten years, will reduce the deficit by $127 billion and would cover 31 million...

Ever heard of "Doctors Without Pay?" Believe it or not, the liberal democrat politicians in the House and the Senate have forgotten about paying doctors in their health care takeover plans. By forgetting about paying doctors, these politicized health plans pretend to cost slightly less than a trillion dollars. And then you remember they've forgotten to pay the doctors!!! Do they really expect doctors to work for nothing? I've heard of lawyers doing an occasional pro bono case, and doctors might do the same on occasion. But, can you imagine case after case after case without pay? That isn't likely...

There are, in public policies, these inconvenient things called the “secondary effects.” These are the unintended consequences of even the best intended laws. Critics of Obama’s national health care program have questioned its intentions from day one. Few doubt the program will lead to a serious rationing of health care (adding 40 million on the system and allegedly lowering spending will have that impact) and will lead to increase taxes for millions of Americans. According to public opinion surveys, the number one issue of most voters is unemployment. This sentiment is backed up by the hard fact that unemployment recently...

AARP Received $18 Million In Stimulus Money American spectator ^ | 11.18.09 | Philip Klein Posted on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 6:59:01 PM by opentalk AARP, which has given its full-throated support to Democratic health care legislation even though seniors remain largely opposed, received an $18 million grant in the economic stimulus package for a job training program that has not created any jobs, according to the Obama administration's Recovery.gov website. The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), according to the website, is "a work training program for unemployed mature workers who are 55+ and are at or below 125%...

Health Care: A government task force has decided that women need fewer mammograms and later in life. Shouldn't that be between patient and physician? We have seen the future of health care, and it doesn't work. We have warned repeatedly that the net results of health care bills before Congress will be higher demand, fewer doctors, more cost control, all leading to rationing. New recommendations issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) regarding breast cancer and the necessity for early and frequent mammograms do not convince us otherwise. Just six months ago, the panel, which works under the...

Senator's stance likely to help health care overhaul [Sen. Nelson of Nebraska] CNN ^ | November 16th, 2009 11:35 PM ET | CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:16:40 AM by JerseyRepub Washington (CNN) – Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who last week insisted that the Senate health care bill include tight restrictions passed by the House on the use of federal money for abortion coverage, now says he would be satisfied with the less restrictive language approved by the Senate Finance Committee. Obamacare: A Public Policy Disaster FrumForum ^ | November 13, 2009 | David...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Cancer experts fear new U.S. breast imaging guidelines that recommend against routine screening mammograms for women in their 40s may have their roots in the current drive in Washington to reform healthcare. Critics of the guidelines, issued on Monday by the U.S. Services Task Force, an independent panel sponsored by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Quality, say the new guidelines are a step backward and will lead to more cancer deaths. Here are some of their concerns. * Dr Carol Lee, chairwoman of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Commission, said she fears insurers -- both...

If Obama's Whacko Health Blanket smothers America, the US will not have enough doctors.

Stop The (Health Reform) Juggernaut Forbes ^ | 11/13/2009 | Henry I. Miller and Jeff Stier Posted on Monday, November 16, 2009 4:40:40 AM by bruinbirdman The Pelosi bill will hurt not only drugmakers, but patients too. Politics has been called the art of the possible. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's brand of politics might be dubbed the art of the execrable. Her health care juggernaut would not only create a massive entitlement program built on confiscatory taxation of businesses and individuals, but would also inhibit innovation by punishing industry more directly. AP Poll: Americans divided on health care bills AP...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Fewer than three in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin's qualified to be president, according to a new national poll - the least of any of the five potential candidates included in the survey. But another woman tops that list in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday: two-thirds of the public thinks that Secretary of State HIllary Clinton's qualified for the Oval Office. That's more than Vice President Joe Biden, who's currently next in line for the presidency. According to the poll, 28 percent of Americans say Palin is qualified to run the White House, with seven...

One of President Obama's primary justifications for pushing health care legislation has been that the status quo is "unsustainable" because of the skyrocketing cost of medical care in the United States. The way to rein in costs, he argues, is to do adopt the policies that he and his fellow Democrats are proposing. But a new report by the government actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a branch of the Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services, has found that the exact opposite is true. CMS took a close look at the health care bill that...

A friend emailed this to me. It is one of the most eloquently put descriptions of what small business is about that I have ever read. It describes the reality of the world in which we live and work today. It also describes the future we may have to deal with as it relates to taxes, healthcare, etc.

Planned Parenthood Sets December 2 Pro-Abortion Funding Lobbying Day Washington, DC -- Top pro-abortion groups are planning a national lobbying day for December 2nd that will see thousands of angry abortion activists filling the halls of the House and Senate asking lawmakers to force Americans to pay for abortions under the government-run health care bills. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5658.html

As usual, the most dangerous parts of ObamaCare aren't receiving the scrutiny they deserve—and one of the least examined is a new commission to tell Congress how to control health spending. Democrats are quietly attempting to impose a "global budget" on Medicare, with radical implications for U.S. medicine. Like most of Europe, the various health bills stipulate that Congress will arbitrarily decide how much to spend on health care for seniors every year—and then invest an unelected board with extraordinary powers to dictate what is covered and how it will be paid for. White House budget director Peter Orszag calls...

Katherine Kersten: The 'anointed' will 'fix' your health care Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | November 14, 2009 | KATHERINE KERSTEN Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2009 8:52:31 AM by rhema To understand this budget-busting crusade, look at the arrogance behind it. Recent unemployment figures reveal the daunting dimensions of the job crisis. Unemployment stands at 10.2 percent, and underemployment -- those who have given up looking or who have taken part-time jobs -- is at a mind-numbing 17.5 percent: almost one in five. In this greatest crisis since the Great Depression, many Americans are becoming desperate -- watching bills mount,...

...The Founders did not give us a government like the one we have today. The government they gave us was strictly limited in its scope, guaranteed individual liberty, preserved the free market, and on matters that pertain to our private behavior was supposed to leave us alone. In the Constitution, the Founders built in checks and balances. If the Congress got out of hand, the states would restrain it. If the states stole liberty or property, the Congress would cure it. If the President tried to become a king, the courts would prevent it. In the next few weeks, I...

CMS: House health bill will hike costs $289B [discredits Democrats’ assertions will lower costs] The Hill ^ | 11/14/09 03:42 PM ET | Molly K. Hooper Posted on Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:43:27 PM by Former Military Chick The House-approved healthcare overhaul would raise the costs of healthcare by $289 billion over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan, independent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The long-awaited report sent to lawmakers late Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services should serve as a "stark warning to every Republican, Democrat and Independent worried...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivered a scathing criticism of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy Friday night, accusing the president of delivering rhetoric and not action in the war-torn country. Quoting from a speech Obama delivered in March, Romney agreed with the president "that 'we are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that threatens the United States, our friends and allies."' Romney continued on seconding the president: "I believe 'that to succeed, we and our friends and allies must reverse the Taliban's gains, and promote a more capable and accountable Afghan government.'"

More than a million low-income Massachusetts residents covered by Medicaid will be required to pay more for doctor visits and receive prior approval for some medications under a plan announced today by the Patrick administration to begin to close a $307 million shortfall in the state's MassHealth program.

Obamacare Vote Chicanery Debunks Moderate Democrat Myth newsmax.com ^ | Nov. 12, 2009 | Dick Morris & Eileen McGann Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:56:48 PM by Free ThinkerNY Don't assume that the 38 Democrats who voted against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's extremist version of healthcare reform wouldn't have supported it if their votes had been needed. The days before the final passage on Saturday were not filled with stirring appeals to get Democrats to back the bill so much as an auction to decide whom to let off the hook. Abortion Upends Health-Bill Alliance [excellent read] WSJ ^...

Ever hear of "gap insurance"? That's insurance that covers the gap between what Medicare pays and what a senior owes. The larger the gap, the more insurance a senior needs. So why would the AARP endorse legislation that widens this gap and makes healthcare more expensive for seniors? I guess commissions on gap insurance might be seen as a motivator- but those don't go to the AARP do they? Oh yes, they do... EC exposes the corrupt AARP gap insurance scam

Marks significant shift from the attitudes of the past decadePRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans now say it is not the federal government's responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than say it is (47%). This is a first since Gallup began tracking this question, and a significant shift from as recently as three years ago, when two-thirds said ensuring healthcare coverage was the government's responsibility.Gallup has asked this question each November since 2001 as part of the Gallup Poll Social Series, and most recently in its Nov. 5-8 Health and Healthcare survey. There have been some fluctuations...

If I had a nickel for every half-truth or outright lie spoken by the Democrats on the floor of the House in the hours leading up to passage of the health care reform bill, I’d be able to eat at 7-Eleven for a month. The assault on veracity was truly brutal, but what I found most alarming was not the Democrats’ attempt to build up their bill and diminish the opposition. Instead, it was the utter contempt they showed for their roles as “representatives.” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas said that she was “standing with America and voting for...

A plumber whose arm was left twisted grotesquely out of shape in an accident ten months ago has had an operation to correct it 'cancelled four times'. Torron Eeles, 50, has been left unable to work since falling down the stairs and now fears he may lose his home after being denied incapacity benefit. The father-of-three today hit out at the NHS for the 'unacceptable delays', but East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust said Mr Eeles had his operation cancelled on 'only' two occasions on clinical safety grounds. His left arm has hung limply by his side since he fractured...

A landmark health care reform bill narrowly cleared the House over the weekend with a 220-215 vote and now the measure heads to the Senate where its future seems much more uncertain. The House plan calls for 36,000,000 uninsured Americans would get coverage. The bill would cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years, but it will cut $400 hundred from Medicare expenses. While some are very pleased with the newly passed plan, others are still finding faults, with one Montana legislator saying that the state can't afford the measure.

Part of the story about who would feel the payroll tax on employers contained in the House-passed health care bill has gone missing. The media coverage I've seen and the Congressional rhetoric I've heard focuses on the small business lead by an entrepreneur who started the company. That's part of the story, but it isn't the whole story. The Joint Tax Committee's "technical explanation" makes clear that this is a tax on all employers, both for-profit and not-for-profit. (See the discussion that starts on page 31, under the opaque title "Responsibilities of Nonelecting Employers".) A lot of non-profits do not...

WASHINGTON – Reps. Doris Matsui and Dan Lungren are polar opposites on Capitol Hill, but they agree on one point: House approval of a trillion-dollar health care overhaul marked a victory for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. "She is the central player in this. … I don't think anyone else could have done this," Matsui, a Sacramento Democrat, said Thursday. Lungren, a Republican from Gold River, called it "a Pyrrhic victory" for Pelosi: "She won that battle, but she may inevitably lose the war. She pulled out all the stops." Love her or hate her, Pelosi is at...

“This is a health care bill, not an abortion bill,” says President Obama.  Au contraire, mon frère.Whatever your views on abortion, the fight over abortion in the Obama health plan illustrates perfectly why government should stay out of health care.  When the government subsidizes health care, anything you do with that money becomes the voters’ business.  And rather than allow for choice between different ways of doing things, the government typically imposes the preferences of the majority – or sometimes, a vocal minority – on everybody. On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed their version of President Obama’s health care...

How out of touch are they in the Washington, D.C., "bubble," in which Congress and the media live? Recently, a national poll was touted in the national news, with a typical headline reading something like, "Public Supports Public Option" for health care legislation. Big news, right? But the actual question asked if poll respondents preferred a plan "that includes some form of government-sponsored health insurance." Think about it. The poll didn't ask about a government-run program at all. It merely made it sound as if the government would be creating an additional policy option for people who need it. In...

We need to be vigilant in investigating the ramifications of the Pelosi Health Care Bill. Some provisions sound so outrageous as to be considered impossible to fathom, but they’re right there in the bill in black and white. For instance, page 297 of the bill explains the punishment for not purchasing government mandated health insurance. If you don’t buy what the government considers “acceptable health care coverage,” you’re going to be hit with a tax of at least 2.5% of your income. And if you don’t pay that new tax, you could be fined as much as $250,000 and sentenced...

Given the recent announcement that the government's measure of unemployment has hit 10.2 percent, and given that the official House version of Obama's healthcare plan, HR 3962, has now passed, a close examination of the effects of "Obamacare" on the labor market is important. It will be no surprise to readers of this site to learn that the Democrats' bill will seriously harm precisely those poor and uninsured citizens it is ostensibly designed to help. The harm will come by compounding mass unemployment and depriving these citizens of consumption choices. Obamacare as Labor Tax According to pages 269–273 of the...

Behind the House Health Care Vote The American Thinker ^ | November 12, 2009 | Andrew Foy and Brenton Stransky Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:59:36 AM by Scanian Where was the American people's representation on health care reform in Washington on Saturday night? Or better, why did our representatives in Washington move so hastily to advance an inclusive health care reform bill that will permanently alter 1/6th of our economy and affect every citizen when most Americans don't support it? Despite the fact that the bill that was introduced only eight days earlier, has 1,990 pages (and nearly...

...The new Pelosi Bill, which the House may vote on as early as this week creates a whopping 111 new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs… Here's the list: ....5. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111) 6. Health Choices Administration (Section 241, p. 131) 7. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138) 8. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155)...

This is a video of Obama and hillary Clinton having a debate on CNN and Obama is asked "What is the most important policy difference between you and your opponent?" He goes on to mock her for daring to want to "force" insurance on people.