Free Republic

We didn't get here by accident, a couple of elections and some suckers going to the polls gave Democrats their magic number of 60...

In the end what pushed Obamacare over the top in the Senate were the secret bribes democratic leadership made to "convince" people from his own party to vote for cloture. The most significant of the "bennies" was the one which helped Ben Nelson switch from pro-life to pro-choice. Nelson managed to win a share of the section of the manager's amendment on Equitable Support for Certain States, which will provide Nebraska, along with Massachusetts and Vermont, support in paying its share of additional costs to Medicaid in the health legislation. Attorney Generals in Seven States are investigating whether they can...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The little town of Libby, Mont., isn't mentioned by name in the Senate's mammoth health care bill, but it's one of the big winners in the legislation, thanks to the influence of Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. After pushing for years for help for residents of the area, thousands of whom suffer from asbestos-related illnesses from a now-closed mineral mining operation, Baucus inserted language in a package of last-minute amendments that grants them access to Medicare benefits. He didn't advertise the change, and it takes a close read of the bill to find it. It's just...

Politics: If the Democrats' stitched-together Frankenstein monster of health care reform gets the 60 votes to get through the Senate, it will have been done through an assortment of bribes and brass knuckles. (snip) Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, has also been critical of the buy-in and public option, but he has an additional issue about whatever comes out of the Senate not involving public funding of abortion in any way. Michael Goldfarb on the Weekly Standard blog quotes a Senate aide as saying the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the...

Nelson and Reid Agree to Phony Abortion Funding Compromise in Senate Bill Washington, DC -- Senator Ben Nelson announced today that he will become the crucial 60th vote that Democrats need to pass a government-run health care bill. Nelson has been holding out because of the massive abortion funding in the bill, but said today he will give the measure his support. The compromise Nelson agreed to with Reid makes it so states could disallow abortion coverage in the new health insurance exchanges. States that don't opt out will force taxpayers to fund abortions. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5793b.html

Nancy Pelosi: "Thank God" Senate Bill Funds Abortions Washington, DC -- In yet another comment that will draw guffaws from pro-life advocates, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is thankful to God that the Senate bill include massive abortion funding. Pelosi also claims she has enough votes to pass a pro-abortion health care bill in the House, though that is disputed. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5781.html

With the House having passed its $1 trillion dollar-plus heath care bill and the Senate poised to approve its own $850 billion version as early as Christmas, a broad rewrite of America’s health care system — encompassing nearly 20% of the U.S. economy — could be close at hand. If the Senate approves its version, which is expected given the Democrats’ 60-seat majority, the package will have to be merged with legislation approved last month by the House. But similarities between the two bills are starting to emerge. Here, David M. Drucker of the newspaper Roll Call provides a rundown...

The Democrats' sweeping health-care plans may bankrupt the nation, but every American will be insured. Except for 24 million of 'em. No kidding: The Congressional Budget Office figures that by 2019, long after the new programs kick in, the reforms will trim the ranks of the uninsured by just 57 percent -- leaving another 43 percent, or 24 million residents, without coverage. And for this, Americans will have to cough up an extra $1 trillion over 10 years, starting next year (and $2.5 trillion in the 10 years following 2014, when the programs' benefits start going out).

Before today the lowest reported support for Obamacare from the Rasmussen poll was 41%. Today's results show another drop in support for the government take-over of health care, only 38% of Americans now support Obamacare. Opposition to the bill was 56%. According to Rasmussen, half the survey was taken before Saturday's vote, the rest after the vote. support for Obamacare was lower after the vote than before. This may indicate the closer we get to the passage of Obamacare the less America wants it. Intensity remains stronger among those who oppose the push to change the nation’s health care system:...

Under the Senate bill approved to be moved to the Senate floor this past Saturday night it will be United States Preventive Services Task Force, deciding what tests and procedures getting covered by the government and private health care plans. The US Preventative Services Task Force is not a new agency. The Task Force is part of the Healthcare Research and Quality Agency (AHRQ). The task force is the 'bean counting part of the Dept. Health and Human Services. AHRQ's mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of health care for all Americans. The Senate bill...

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...

The health-reform bill that the Senate will soon debate may differ markedly from the one written by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that passed the House -- but both would raise the cost of health care for ordinary Americans. Such an approach is at odds with the chief goal of reform -- to increase access to care by reducing the cost. The Empire State is ill-equipped to deal with higher health costs. New York's health system is already one of the most expensive in the country, with total private and public health-care spending of more than $6,500 a person a year. Only...

Details of a revamped version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 show the Senate bill could give the president a "kill switch" on the Internet and allow him to shut out private networks from online access.

Senator Reid is bringing back the Kennedy’s massive amnesty package, one that that dwarfs the package Kennedy gave us in 1986, to the Senate. As we said before, this Bill would destroy our country as we know it. ********************************************************************************************** We rally to protest this Amnesty for illegal aliens once again on Wednesday, June 20, from 4-6 in the afternoon in front of the 2400 JFK Building (tall building next to city hall) at the government center in Boston. Please reply by email to let us know that you (and how many others) will attend. Bring signs! *********************************************************************************************** This bill as...

President Bush said this morning in Bulgaria that he is confident an immigration reform bill can still be passed... "Listen, the immigration debate is a tough debate. I'm under no illusions about how hard it is. There are people in my party that don't want a comprehensive bill; there are people in the Democrat Party that don't seem to want a comprehensive bill. I was disappointed that the bill was temporarily derailed," Mr. Bush said. "I, frankly, find it interesting that ... a so-called important subject they need to get to would be to pass a political resolution on my...

Hey Folks, I just posted this video that I made from some video and pics I took at the immigration shamnesty bill protest Rally in Atlanta 6/07/07. Go check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lla71i1flk0

ANGELES (Reuters) - Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's senior political advisor, on Tuesday took the administration's message on immigration reform to Latino leaders, saying the country was approaching a "critical moment" in the debate. >br> Speaking at the annual convention of leading Latino civic group the National Council of La Raza, Rove said Bush would work with Republicans and Democrats in coming weeks to push through reform legislation that has bitterly divided Congress, the Republican Party and the nation. "We face a critical moment in our immigration debate, a moment when our nation will make an important decision...

White House adviser Karl Rove is scheduled to speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the federally funded, left-wing, open-borders-advocacy group, the National Council of La Raza. If he does not want his speech to look like an act of appeasement, he should confront La Raza on its opposition to commonsense policies designed to secure both U.S. borders and U.S. pocketbooks. La Raza, which means “The Race” in Spanish, has denounced as “horrendous” and “appalling” the House immigration bill passed in December, which was sponsored by Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) and supported by the overwhelming majority of House Republicans....

Some people are worried that amnesty will give illegal aliens the same rights that American citizens have. In reality, it will give the illegals more rights than the average American citizen.Since most of the illegals are Mexican, that makes them a minority. Under affirmative action, combined with amnesty, they would have preferences in jobs and other benefits.Those who set up their own businesses would be entitled to preferences in getting government contracts. Their children would be able to get into college ahead of the children of American citizens with better academic qualifications.Illegals who graduate from a high school in California...

Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) told a group of conservative bloggers yesterday that the House was unlikely to act on any Senate-passed version of immigration reform legislation. “It’s unlikely conferees will be appointed,” Flake told the 15 bloggers, who gather weekly on Capitol Hill to meet and strategize. “If conferees are appointed, there’s a better chance we’ll have a bill.” Flake, a supporter of the McCain-Kennedy approach to immigration, made the remarks after the Washington Post reported that Speaker Dennis Hastert wouldn’t even consider a bill that did not have the support of the “majority of the majority.” In order for...