Harry Reid has a problem. According to a poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a majority of Nevadans are opposed to the Obama-Pelosi-Reid health care nationalization effort.President Barack Obama has lost ground in the last month in getting Nevadans to embrace his health care reform package and, for the first time, opposition is above 50 percent and support is below 40 percent, a new poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal reveals.
The telephone poll of 625 registered voters found that 53 percent of Nevadans oppose the president's attempt to provide a remedy for problems in the nation's health care system. Support for the plan is at 39 percent....
Fueling discontent with the bill, the poll shows, is the growing belief by Nevadans that Obama's reform package will raise taxes, result in rationing of health care, and cause major cuts to Medicare programs.Harry, listen to your constituents: Scrap the bill!
"When you look at the entire poll, it's clear the voters of Nevada do not want this bill to pass," said Brad Coker, managing partner of Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., which conducted the poll Monday through Wednesday. "When you break it all down, it appears that Nevadans would just as soon throw this bill out and start over." [Emphasis added.]
Another piece of slavery to the state falls into place...
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Democrats may use the 'budget reconciliation' process to avoid getting 60 Senate votes, if a compromise is not reached on the nationalization of health care.
Under the cover of darkness on Saturday night, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-215 to nationalize America's health care system. 
Let there be no mistake, Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats' health care bill is the nationalization of America's health care system.
From Betsy McCaughey, writing in the Wall Street Journal [emphasis added]:
To understand how this latter provision will lead to socialized medicine within three to five years, go here.
Read more of the WSJ analysis here...
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If the opposite of freedom is slavery, then Nancy Pelosi wants to own you and your body.Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:
“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1] -
- - - - - - - - -“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from
willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2]
- - - - - - - - -“Criminal penalties
Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]
When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.
“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.
According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.
Should anyone be surprised that Nancy Pelosi lied?Pelosi Breaks Pledge to Put Final Health Care Bill Online for 72 Hours Before Vote
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the speaker will not allow the final language of the health care to be posted online for 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote on the House floor, despite her September 24 statement that she was "absolutely" committed to doing so.
The list of high-profile, outside-the-beltway Republicans backing an overhaul of the healthcare system is raising eyebrows.Watch Frist stutter and stammer when Neil Cavuto tries to pin him down...
• California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (technically an independent, but he’s running for reelection on the Republican and Independence Party tickets).
• Bill Frist, the former GOP Senate majority leader and a physician whose family founded Hospital Corporation of America.
• Tommy Thompson, former secretary of Health and Human Services.
• Mark McClellan, former Medicare chief.
The White House freely acknowledges that it nudged most of these men – Frist came out on his own – toward making public statements. But just as freely, they did say what they said.
The wave of endorsements has already gotten through to one of its most important targets, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine. She is the only Republican member of Congress potentially willing to vote for the Senate Finance Committee’s version of reform.
“It is important to hear all voices in the party,” she said Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. “The more we hear, the more we learn, the better job we can do in the final analysis.”
It's kind of scary when politicians want to hide the stuff they're up to from the very people who pay their salaries and keep them in their posh DC digs. In fact, it sort of stinks.As Congress lurches closer to a decision on an enormous overhaul of the American health care system, pressure is mounting on legislative leaders to make the final bill available online for citizens to read before a vote.
Lawmakers were given just hours to examine the $789 billion stimulus plan, sweeping climate-change legislation and a $700 billion bailout package before final votes.
While most Americans normally ignore parliamentary detail, with health care looming, voters are suddenly paying attention. The Senate is expected to vote on a health bill in the weeks to come, representing months of work and stretching to hundreds of pages. And as of now, there is no assurance that members of the public, or even the senators themselves, will be given the chance to read the legislation before a vote.
....
The [Sunlight Foundation] has begun an effort to get Congress to post bills online, for all to see, 72 hours before lawmakers vote on them.
"It would give the public a chance to really digest and understand what is in the bill," [Lisa] Rosenberg said, "and communicate whether that is a good or a bad thing while there is still time to fix it."
A similar effort is under way in Congress. Reps. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and Greg Walden, R-Ore., are circulating a petition among House lawmakers that would force a vote on the 72-hour rule.Nearly every Republican has signed on, but the Democratic leadership is unwilling to cede control over when bills are brought to the floor for votes and are discouraging their rank and file from signing the petition.
Senate Democrats voted down a similar measure last week for the health care bill.
While it is argued that Republicans are guilty of the same obstruction of transparency (e.g., the Patriot Act), both sides should be more accountable for their actions and it is up to the citizens to make that happen by demanding transparency by all the politicians.
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We've all heard the term "astro-turf" coined by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to apply to grassroots opposition to the nationalization of Americans' health care."Fearful that they're losing ground on immigration and health care, a group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow illegal immigrants some access."
"The Democrats, trying to stiffen their party's spines on the contentious issue, say it's unfair to bar illegal immigrants from paying their own way in a government-sponsored exchange. Legal immigrants, they say, regardless of how long they've been in the United States, should be able to get government-subsidized health care if they meet the other eligibility requirements."
"The National Council of La Raza launched its own 'flood their voice mail' campaign last week to put pressure on Mr. Baucus to expand coverage in his proposal to include all legal immigrants and to drop verification language in the legislation that would prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining coverage."
If you doubt the government's intent to control your body and your health care, consider this:This doesn't happen often enough.
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.
Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold."
The note was a follow-up to Ensign's questioning at the markup.
The United States of America was born out of dissention and revolution. A repressed people revolting against a king and his British minions.In a warning letter to Humana, HHS said the government is concerned that the mailer "is misleading and confusing" partly because the company's lobbying campaign could be mistaken for an official communication about Medicare benefits.
HHS ordered the company to immediately halt any such mailings, and remove any related materials from its Web site. In the letter, the government also said it may take other action against Humana, which is based in Louisville, Ky. [Emphasis added.]
Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst of "You Lie!" during Barack Obama's health care pitch to Congress and America has become the rallying cry of both the Left and the Right!So, there you have it. President Obama's plan does exclude illegal aliens BUT, he wants illegal aliens to be legalized so they do get the benefits of nationalized health care.President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.
"Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
"That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.
Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."
Let there be no dissention, no discourse (civil or uncivil), and no debate. Peace marches and union rallies are attended by patriots, but when Americans fill the streets of Washington to protest the direction of the current government, those marchers are xenophobes and racists. The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind.
Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t.
But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!
....
I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race.
I tended to agree with some Obama advisers that Democratic presidents typically have provoked a frothing response from paranoids — from Father Coughlin against F.D.R. to Joe McCarthy against Truman to the John Birchers against J.F.K. and the vast right-wing conspiracy against Bill Clinton.
But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.
Well, apparently, up to two million racists and xenophobes marched on Washington yesterday, as the President fled to Minnesota to push his plan for nationalization of health care; a plan that, according to Ms. Dowd, means you must be a racist if you oppose it.
Tens of thousands of Americans from all over the nation marched on Washington, DC today to protest the federal government and, in particular, the action's of the Obama administration.Thousands of people marched to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, carrying signs with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending.President Takes Flight
The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. People were chanting "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
Following the President's Wednesday night speech where he attempted to sell his plan for a federal takeover of the nation's health care industry, Obama's aides scheduled him to be out of the nation's capitol on Saturday. According to the New York Times:They came by bus, car and airplane, arriving here from Texas and Tennessee, New Mexico and New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The messages on their signs told of an intense distrust of the government, which began well before Mr. Obama took office and extends far beyond the effort to overhaul health care. One sign declared: “We are under attack by our own government.” And several signs said,Protestors From All Walks of Life
“Our Constitution has termites!”
The protest, organized by anti-tax groups, opened peacefully, with few visible signs of counter-protesters.
While there was no shortage of vitriol among protesters, there was also an air of festivity. A band of Revolutionary War protesters in colonial gear wound through the crowd, led by a bell-ringer in a tri-corner hat calling for revolution. A folk singer belting out a protest ballad on a guitar brought cheers from listeners.
"Throughout the morning, more and more demonstrators arrived, identifying themselves as Republicans, libertarians and independents."
Note: There will be a test, so please pay attention.The Obama-Pelosi plan states that employers who do not cover their employees' health coverage will pay an eight percent (8%) tax (or penalty or whatever else they want to call it) so their employees can be covered under "the public option."
Does XYZ Company continue paying 17% of Bob's total labor costs toward health care? Or...This is a really important question: Which number below costs the least?
[Note: If you missed either one or both of the above questions, there is no helping you, and you deserve to have your health care (and oxygen) rationed!]Now, there are over four million private-sector employers in the United States employing around 130 million or so people. The total population in America is around 300 million.
And that is Socialized Medicine for Dummies.The question is now: Will Obama's nationalization of health care be his Waterloo (not before it passes, but after)?Barack Obama has signed on in toto to the Democrats’ healthcare plan, including a public option. He said that the plan won’t fund abortions. But it will. In fact, the Democrats specifically cut out of the legislation clear language to prevent funding of abortions. Moreso, the Hyde Amendment, which Barack Obama hides behind, would not apply to this legislation because the Hyde Amendment only applies to Department of Health and Human Services appropriations and, get this, the Democrats have decided that healthcare expenditures will not be in the HHS budget. Therefore, abortions will be paid for.
More importantly, Barack Obama said the plan will not cover illegal aliens. This is a lie. Joe Wilson was right. The legislation clearly says it will not fund illegal aliens BUT the legislation also prevents anyone from checking on the citizenship status of any person seeking healthcare. He is trying to have it both ways.
The entire speech from Barack Obama was loaded with half-truths and flat out lies. For example, he said he would not force the government option on anyone. But, the legislation provides an incentive for private employers to shove their employees onto the government plan.Likewise, the President says individuals will be able to keep their insurance even when the switch jobs. That is not true. According to the Democrats’ legislation, if an employee switches jobs, they must get on a government approved plan and then can never get off it.
The President also tried to claim that this $900 billion plan will not add to the deficit. He will pay for it without tax increases he said. He said, instead, he’ll save money by reforming present healthcare. Why not do that now?Even so, the Congressional Budget Office says the total savings from stamping out waste, fraud, and abuse would barely be a dent in the overall costs of the legislation.
The President was short on details, high on rhetoric, and much too partisan on this issue. He wants to work across the aisle, but on his terms with a pre-existing failed Democrat plan.
