Note: The link to the story from Drudge is incorrect and it leads nowhere. In the interest of full disclosure, the link that I’ve embedded is the correct link to the story.
I read that headline and got excited. “Is the plan to use Reconciliation dead?” Not exactly…
According to Roll Call, the Senate Parliamentarian has made a ruling that directly impacts a tactic that has been in the works in the House that has been dubbed the ‘Slaughter Solution’. Named for House Rules Chairman – Louise Slaughter – it is a tactic whereby the House would approve the Senate bill but would not forward it onto the White House for signature until AFTER the Senate approved changes to the current Senate bill through Reconciliation. Problem – the bill must become law before the Senate can modify it through Budget Reconciliation. Meaning, it must have the President’s signature BEFORE the Senate can proceed. If it chooses to.
As I’ve pointed out before, Senate Democrats are going to want the issue of “health care” to die and die quickly after a law if passed. Once the ink from the President’s signature is dry on that document, they want to forget about it because that bill represents a massive net loss in Senate seats for the Democrats on November 4th. Dragging this thing out will only keep the matter fresh in the minds of the voting public and they Do – Not – Want – That. Senate Democrats are banking on America’s short-term memories and political ADHD to keep them in power even if by only one seat.
If this bill is approved by the House, after the President’s signature is on it, should the Senate attempt to amend it through Budget Reconciliation they can only address items that impact the federal budget. Policy is left out of the equation anyway. So any hopes for substantive changes in the bill are automatically nixed. However, the Republicans will stone wall any changes made to the bill through the amendment process further dragging out the debate. ‘Health Care’ – more aptly named Death Care, will drag out towards the summer months when every single Republican candidate for House and Senate will be using members voting records on this hotbed issue to sink every single Democrat candidate they can.
The American public want a mulligan. They would rather nothing pass than this bill. But Democrat understand if this bill does not pass the President’s agenda is sunk. With 279 of them currently serving in elected office indelibly tied to Obama on this issue, Michael Moore’s prediction of the November election will be an inconvenient reality. He told Rachel Madcow…
“And now it’s like, I just feel like the Democrats are – they’re in for an ass-whooping of Biblical proportions in November if they don’t get off the dime and do the job they were sent there to do. I mean that. I mean, it – don’t they see that?” – source Newsbusters
Vulnerable Democrats are avoiding the President like the plague. When Obama chose to propagandize the American people through an orchestrated event at a St. Louis high school where was Missouri Senatorial candidate Robin Carnahan? She was attending a fundraiser in Washington DC. While Obama was helping incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill raise money for her 2012 re-election campaign.
Obama is fast becoming a political liability for Democrats facing a jobloss in 2010. His track record to this point is dismal. He failed in Copenhagen twice. He failed to be any help in New Jersey and Virginia as both races for governor were lost to the Republican candidates. He failed in Massachusetts allowing the Republican candidate to be elected and losing his filibuster proof Senate.
I said his filibuster proof Senate because that is what it was. A 60 vote majority of yes-men/women. With 60 votes they could have literally rubber-stamped anything that he wanted. But they didn’t and that’s how he ended up in this predicament.
How else can you explain what has happened? How else could his “health care” takeover have failed? It was completely done within his Party. Blaming Republicans to his base may be popular with his incredibly shrinking base but the reality of the situation is understood by a vast majority of voting Americans and it shows in the polls. Even the incredibly Democrat friendly Gallup Poll has Obama’s approval rating at an all time low (for their poll) at 46%. How much lower can he go?
According to Rasmussen Reports and their Presidential Approval Index he is sitting at -21. Meaning 21% more Americans strongly disapprove of his job performance than strongly approve.
Before the 2008 elections I told all of you that Obama is a man who has failed at every single thing he has tried except running for a couple of political offices – including the Presidency. Why would the electorate put trust in a man who is an epic failure? They did and this is what we got.
He is liar of grand proportions who makes Slick Willy’s finger wagging look like an innocent white lie. He has broken just about every single campaign promise he made. Why would anyone trust this man? The incredibly shocking thing is there are millions who do. Thank GOD most of them never vote.
Yesterday the Emperor paraded out a bunch of people in white lab coats – claimed them to be doctors, physicians’ assistants, and nurses – to publicly “instruct” Congress that the time for debate is over. Like a strict father to his petulant children he said (in a nutshell), “the time of tomfoolery is over so get to work and pass my bill.”
Where his clout comes from he hasn’t a clue. But in the opinion of this voting citizen anyone who votes for this sham of a “health care bill” is committing political suicide. I guess he hasn’t noticed but the primary season has begun and at-risk members of the House and Senate are going to be very weary about sticking their necks too far out. They have the fear of a fattened-up turkey on Thanksgiving in their eyes.
He arrogantly touted that this plan has the best aspects of both Democrat and Republican proposals in it. But – it really doesn’t. It has all the destructive aspects of the Progressives in it for sure, but nothing of substance from the right. The American people know this to be true and their Congress-critters know that their constituents aren’t as stupid as the Emperor hopes they are.
Senate Democrats don’t really want any part of using budget reconciliation to placate the far left in the House. Not to mention, they can’t until the House passes the already passed Senate bill which hasn’t a snowball’s chance in Satan’s bedroom of passing in the House.
Harry Reid knows that he’s out of a job come the end of the year so he’s willing to double down with the Emperor. Pelosi, she knows that the libtards in her district are just stupid enough to continue down the road to socialism even as those very policies are destroying their home state. So she’s comfortable in knowing that her job is safe – her job as a US Congress-critter that is. As for being Speaker? In her mind it has been a good 4 years,. But come January, she has to give up her private airline.
Any Senator up for re-election is toast if they sign onto passing this thing under reconciliation. Any Progressive Congress-critter knows that they are toast if they sign on to the Senate bill. Any moderate Congress-critter knows they are as well.
In short, I don’t think this thing has legs. Honestly, I don’t see it passing because too much power is at stake. Too many in Congress will see their political futures go by the wayside with their “yes” vote. The Emperor is still in there punching though. He’s already begun to hand out bribes.
Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he’s obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson’s brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Think back dear reader to the 2006 midterms… Remember a term the left used to gain power by appealing to the politically apathetic? The term was “Culture of Corruption”. What do you call a Democrat Leadership in the House, Senate, and White House who buys votes for legislation using political payoffs, appointments, and graft? How about a Party who keeps disgraced members in Committee Chairs in the midst of ethics investigations? What do you call a Presidential Administration who appoints a tax cheat to head the Department of the Treasury? I don’t know about you but to me that defines what a true “Culture of Corruption” is.
It is up to us – WE THE PEOPLE – to do what we have done since they first set a deadline to pass this monstrosity. Make our voices heard on Capital Hill. The message should be loud and clear. Pass this bill and resign because come November – you are out of a job Jack.
The message to the incoming Congress should be just as clear. Repeal EVERYTHING this Congress has passed immediately.
Make no mistake – there is about to be regime change on Capital Hill. It’s going to happen. The question for Democrats is how much control are you willing to give up? The more of you who sign on the greater the Republican majority will be.
So go ahead lefty – sign on to a bill and a process which short circuits the American people. We kind of want you to.
Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley by a margin of 5 percentage points in a state where Republicans are out-numbered 3:1 by Democrats. This should have the Emperor having nightmares beginning tonight.
Obama’s agenda is dead. That is unless he and his cohorts Pelosi and Reid begin utilizing political end-runs around the democratic process. His Infestation announced last week that their agenda for 2010 was Immigration Reform. I think that it is pretty safe to say that agenda is now off the table. Cap and Tax failed to come to a vote on the floor of the Senate. That too is dead on the table. But Death Care… That is where the Emperor, Pelosi, and Reid could stick it to the American people and use political shenannigans to pass the progressive movement’s biggest incursion into the private lives of normal every-day American citizens’ lives.
Frank Luntz conducted a focus group of Massachusetts voters that did not include a single registered Republican. Most of the group in fact voted for Coakley. But as results were streaming in indicating that Brown was going to prevail, the overwhelming majority of those in the focus group advocated halting everything in the Senate until Brown is seated. A message echoed by Virginia Democrat Senator Jim Webb.
In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated. - Senator Jim Webb (D VA) in a statement
That focus group also pointed out a couple of keys as to why Massachusetts voters failed to deliver for Coakley. The Death Care bill was the most prominent. They did not like Congress and the Emperor taking action on this bill when it is clearly not the will of the people. Secondly, those in the focus group who voted for Brown also cited the out of control spending and growth of government.
Now that Senator Elect Scott Brown has been elected and he is duly qualified to serve as United States Senator, it is imperative that Paul Kirk be prohibited from casting any additional votes in the Senate. As of right now, he is no longer a Senator. And even if they do try to rush through a vote on some sort of compromise, I doubt Senator Lieberman would vote for cloture so – that would be a useless effort.
Other political games being talked about at the White House is budget reconciliation OR getting the House to pass the Senate bill as is. Somehow I doubt the House is willing to play ball on that one.
But several House members said Tuesday night that they had no interest in pursuing the most likely scenario for moving ahead with a bill — approving the already-passed Senate version of health reform in the House – and some said President Barack Obama should step back and start over.
Remember that the House version only passed with 220 votes. Forcing the Senate bill at this point would likely fall short of the required 218 for passage.
In other words, the Emperor’s agenda is now officially dead. No Death Care bill. No Cap and Tax. No Immigration bill. It is now the season of bipartisanship or nothing for Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. Reid is done come November 4th and Pelosi will likely lose control of the House. Obama is going to be awful lonely unless he begins to learn how to get along with the minority. Because today’s minority will likely be next year’s majority and I don’t see Obama learning to govern from the center as Clinton did after the 1994 midterms.
He’ll need to get used to the words – Lame and Duck.
With the latest polls looking rather grim for the Democrat seeking election to the seat formally held prisoner by the late Senator Edward Kennedy, Congressional Democrats and the White House scramble to put together some way to get Death Care rammed through without needing to face cloture with the possibility of a Senator Scott Brown voting ‘NO’. They’ve discussed budget reconciliation but that maneuver would strip the guts out of their Death Care bill. They’ve discussed rushing through a compromised bill while delaying certification of Brown by the Massachusetts Secretary of State thereby allowing their political stooge, Sen. Paul Kirk, to cast the required ‘Yes’ vote on cloture. And now they are actually considering bringing the Senate bill to a vote in the House. Of the three proposals, only the third has a viable shot at achieving their goals.
Attorneys for the Republican Party have been painstakingly going over legal language in Massachusetts law which provided for the current Senator by Special Appointment, Paul Kirk, to be seated and have come to the conclusion that after a winner is declared in the Special Election being held today, Kirk will no longer be a United States Senator. The language in Massachusetts law only provides for an appointee to be seated in the Senate “until election and qualification of the person duly elected to fill the vacancy.”
But in the days after the election, it is Kirk’s status that matters, not Brown’s. Massachusetts law says that an appointed senator remains in office “until election and qualification of the person duly elected to fill the vacancy.” The vacancy occurred when Senator Edward Kennedy died in August. Kirk was picked as interim senator by Governor Deval Patrick.
Democrats in Massachusetts have talked about delaying Brown’s “certification,” should he defeat Democrat Martha Coakley on Tuesday. Their aim would be to allow Kirk to remain in the Senate and vote the health care bill.
But based on Massachusetts law, Senate precedent, and the U.S. Constitution, Republican attorneys said Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day, period. Brown meets the age, citizenship, and residency requirements in the Constitution to qualify for the Senate. “Qualification” does not require state “certification,” the lawyers said.
To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any challenge of either candidates’ qualifications to sit as a United States Senator especially since both are current office holders in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So an attempt to rush a bill to the floor of the Senate before Brown can be seated is not a viable plan for Democrats. They would still be at least 1 vote shy of cloture on a Compromise bill.
So budget reconciliation is not an option and rushing a compromise bill is equally non-viable. That only leaves passing the Senate bill in the House. But can it?
For those on the far left who want more than the Senate bill allows it may be a difficult pill to swallow. For those who have a pro-life constituency to answer to, it may be an even larger pill.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D MI-1) authored an amendment to the House bill which gained enough majority votes to pass their version of the bill. Remember, that bill very narrowly passed gaining only 2 votes over the required 218 for passage. Without a similar restriction on federal funding for abortion I doubt some who voted for the House bill based on inclusion of that amendment would be willing to vote for the Senate bill. And any changes to the Senate bill would have to be returned to the Senate as a compromise bill where 60 votes for cloture will not likely exist after today’s election.
We must also remember that all 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election (or elections to fill vacancies created by retirements) this year. Each House member who votes for this bill will have the daunting task of facing his/her constituents about why he/she voted to pass a bill that a clear majority of this nation does not want. Many members will be thinking of their political futures before casting a vote on Death Care. A vote for passage of Death Care will forever be pinned to those who cast it and spell political suicide come November 4th in most cases.
The Democrat Caucus is already down by 1 vote with the defection of Rep. Parker Griffith (AL-5) to the Republican Party reducing the Democrat Caucus from a 40 vote majority to a 39 vote majority. Many more have chosen the path of retirement rather than the embarrassing thought of facing the voters of their district for helping to pass massive spending legislation in direct contrast to the wishes of the people of their districts.
What a conundrum for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Unless the House passes the Senate bill “as is” the Emperor’s 1st year in office will go down in history as an epic failure. But Nancy seems like she feels that she has the votes to pass the Senate bill in the House.
According to Alex Koppelman of the War Room hosted on the extremely liberal Salon.com…
Given what looks like the impending loss of the party’s Senate supermajority, Democrats have reason to be down in the dumps about healthcare reform. But if that’s the way House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s feeling, she’s not showing it publicly.
“Let’s remove all doubt, we will have healthcare one way or another,” Pelosi said during an event in San Francisco on Monday. “Certainly the dynamic would change depending on what happens in Massachusetts. Just the question about how we would proceed. But it doesn’t mean we won’t have a health care bill.”
Well let me be as equally clear as Ms. Pelosi has been. Should Scott Brown win today’s special election in Massachusetts, Pelosi will need to pass the Senate bill “AS IS” in the House to get her precious Death Care bill. Without it, Death Care is as dead as the Cap and Tax bill.
[UPDATE 1143]
Intrade’s latest numbers has Brown listed at 65.4 which means traders believe that he has a 65.4% chance of winning in today’s Special Election. Coakley conversely is down to 36.0. This doesn’t bode well for Coakley as Intrade is remarkably accurate.
[UPDATE 2 1151]
New numbers out of Intrade has Brown at 70.0 and Coakley at 30.0. It’s not looking good for the Lib-team.
[UPDATE 3 1335]
Newest numbers out of Intrade, Brown tops yesterday’s close of 77.1. Current numbers have Brown at 78.9 Coakley 21.0.
Harry Reid is threatening the use of budget reconciliation for the Death Care bill should Scott Brown prevail tomorrow in the Massachusetts special election. Ok… But how will Moderate Dems in the Senate react to that maneuver? How will the Senate’s 2 Independents react? Sanders will likely vote with the majority but what about Joe Lieberman? Will Ben Nelson fall in line? How about Mary Landrieu? Will their sweetheart deals hold up?
Lets face it campers, the American people do not like political tactics and Reid’s use of reconciliation is just that – a tactic. There will be a voter revolt come November should Reid et al attempt this stunt even if it were to fail. Yes I said fail.
Reid had better hope that he definitely has 51 votes for passage if he uses reconciliation. It is my opinion that many of those who would vote for the bill if brought to the full Senate in regular fashion would not support the bill in reconciliation. And what about the House?
Rep. Charlie Rangel has already publicly stated that negotiating with the Senate is like negotiating with a gun to their heads. The use of budget reconciliation restricts what can be in the bill. Is it likely that all of the points required by House members will make it into a reconciliation bill? I doubt it. So not only will negotiating with the Senate feel like negotiating with a gun to their heads but they will be blind folded, gagged, and restrained. So can an agreement which could pass the Senate in reconciliation pass the House? And if it could squeek by the House can it actually get 51 votes in the Senate?
A New York Congressman is predicting more political shenanigans to pass Death Care. How about a slow count in Massachusetts for starters?
The tell us that it takes 10 days to count the vote in Massachusetts, so I’m sure they’ll be doing a very slow count.
The American people have spoken numerous times about the political maneuvering that those entrenched in Washington’s power frequently use is no longer acceptable. Maybe it would go over in previous decades but in the new information environment they cannot hide from their own words or their own deeds.
If the Senate uses this political maneuver to get this passed in direct contradiction to the wishes of the American people, even more previously thought secure seats for the Democrats will be in danger. Don’t think for one moment that those Democrats who have been firmly cemented in their seats are willing to follow Harry Reid down into the abyss of political irrelevancy. Many of them do not already have deals to become members of the Obama Infestation after their life in Congress. Nor do any of them have deals that would bring them to lobbying firms because they expected to be in their seats for a few more terms.
Reid is going to lose his seat and everybody except Reid understands that. Boxer is in danger in the very blue state of California. Dodd’s seat in Connecticut, another extremely blue state, is in no way shape or form a certainty for anyone let alone a Democrat at this point.
CNN is reporting that the Emperor’s advisers are even finding ways for him to cover his political arse. Failure in Massachusetts marks the 4th major political failure of his rule. He failed in Copenhagen twice. He failed campaigning for Corzine in New Jersey, and now he’s failed in Massachusetts.
Multiple advisers to President Obama have privately told party officials that they believe Democrat Martha Coakley is going to lose Tuesday’s special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for more than 40 years, several Democratic sources told CNN Sunday.
The sources added that the advisers are still hopeful that Obama’s visit to Massachusetts on Sunday – coupled with a late push by Democratic activists – could help Coakley pull out a narrow victory in an increasingly tight race against Republican state Sen. Scott Brown.
However, the presidential advisers have grown increasingly pessimistic in the last three days about Coakley’s chances after a series of missteps by the candidate, sources said.
Real Clear Politics has video of the Emperor being heckled at the Coakley rally yesterday. You can’t make out what the heckler is shouting but it was enough to irritate Coakley supporters and take Barry out of his rhythm.
If anyone actually believes that “Marsha” Coakley (as Rep. Patrick Kennedy calls her) has a snowball’s chance (in Al Gore’s politically motivated global apocalyptic nightmares) of pulling out a victory, they need some heavy medication.
Equally, if anyone believes that Reid’s scorched earth style political tactic to pass this bill in spite of overwhelming opposition to it among the American people is the right path toward maintaining political power, they need locked up.
The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has identified 24 Democrat House members who voted for passage of the Pelosi Death Care bill and is targeting those 24 Democrats for defeat in November 2010. The RCCC has set-up a website called Reverse the Vote! to raise money for a war chest specifically aimed at defeating these 24 individuals who voted for the Pelosi bill in opposition to the will of their constituencies.
The list of 24 includes…
Rep. Berry (D AR-01)
Rep. Snyder (D AR-02).
Rep. Giffords (D AZ-08).
Rep. Salazar (D CO-03).
Rep. Bean (D IL-08)
Rep. Foster (D IL-14)
Rep. Donnelly (D IN-02)
Rep. Hill (D IN-09)
Rep. Carnahan (D MO-03)
Rep. Titus (D NV-03)
Rep. Shea-Porter (D NH-01)
Rep. Arcuri (D NY-24)
Rep. Bishop (D NY-21)
Rep. Hall (D NY-19)
Rep. Owens (D NY-23)
Rep. Driehaus (D OH-01)
Rep. Kilroy (D OH-15)
Rep. Space (D OH-18)
Rep. Schrader (D OR-05)
Rep. Dahlkemper (D PA-03)
Rep. Kanjorski (D PA-11)
Rep. Connolly (D VA-11)
Rep. Kagen (D WI-08)
Every dollar raised by Reverse the Vote! will be split 24 ways and used to defeat these 24 Democrats in the general election. Not one dime will be used in the primaries.
The hope is that these 24 individuals will see that the Republicans are taking a pro-active step to build a war chest to remove them from office and decide to not support the Death Care bill when it makes its return from Conference.
So if you have the means, please consider contributing whatever you feel most comfortable to Reverse the Vote! and help take back this country.
Recent events in this nation have begun to raise some questions about how far we have drifted away from the original intent of the founding fathers of this country. A nation originally conceived as a collection of smaller countries. Each state maintaining a level of sovereignty in the world but banded together for mutual defense. Our nation actually has 2 founding documents. The first, the Declaration of Independence put the world on notice that we no longer considered ourselves subjects of the British Monarch King George III. But more especially, it put King George III on notice that we were not going to accept his oppressive treatment any longer without a fight. The second founding document, established a governmental framework around which that mutual defense was to be structured. This document is the Constitution.
The Constitution is the people’s permission for the federal government to operate. As originally written, any issue not directly given as a responsibility of the federal government was to be left to the states. As specified in the 10th Amendment.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The supreme authority in the United States is actually granted to us, the people, by our Creator as stated in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was much more than our asserting our emancipation from an oppressive dictator, it was our establishment as a people. This establishment went on without direction until after the American Revolutionary War when the Articles of Confederation were established. This loose agreement among the newly freed former colonies of the British crown established them as independent states with no way to settle disputes among them. This facilitated the Constitutional Convention which was empowered by the states to refine the existing Articles of Confederation.
When it was convened a decision was quickly made that the current Articles of Confederation were so flawed that they needed to be abandoned and a new agreement of the states needed to be made.
The intent of those who drafted our Constitution need not be interpreted as those who believe that it is a living breathing and evolving document would have you believe. For the love of Pete it is written in English. The intent is just as clear today as it was in 1787 when it was signed. The United States was and is to be a Constitutional Federal Republic in that the political power of the nation is to be centered in the various states NOT as some would have you believe the federal government.
Upon its signing, the US Constitution was nothing more than 7 Articles establishing the responsibilities of the Congress, President, Supreme Court and subordinate courts, interstate relations, a method of amendment, an establishment of authorization for the payment of debts, supremacy, and oaths of office, and the mode of ratification. It was to be understood, that if the Constitution did not address an issue specifically, it was for the states themselves to deal with or the people.
The USA Began to Unravel Before the Ink Was Dry
Since it’s ratification in 1789, the United States Constitution has been modified for better or for worse according to Article V.
The first fracture in this limited government was made with the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Jefferson, the Democrat that he was, believed that by establishing a bill of rights it would open the Constitution up to assumptions. If the government can assume one right over the people, where would it end. We now know. It doesn’t end.
How Abortion Has Led to the Downfall of a Nation
The next crack was with the adoption of the 14th Amendment. As necessary as the 14th was at its time in history, the amendment was written so broadly that those who cannot understand that a document written in English needs no interpretation will find meaning in its lack of wording to define rights or responsibilities that were never intended. This is how a Constitutional right to terminate life can be found in an amendment adopted to establish citizenship for all persons living in the United States at a specific moment in time regardless of previous state of servitude; and that those persons could not be denied due process under the law. I’m sorry people but slavery has been illegal in the United States since 1862. NO ONE living in 1972 – or since – had ever been a slave. Subsequently they could not be denied due process of law based upon a previous status of servitude. The basis for the legalization of abortion in the United States as legislated by the Supreme Court – a clear violation of Articles I and III of the Constitution – could not and should not have been made by the Warren court. The Amendment cited does not apply.
In contrast to the Warren Court’s establishment of the superiority of the 14th Amendment over all other provisions of the US Constitution, the 10th Amendment shines brightly above it. Or at least with any free thinking individualist with skills to comprehend a sentence written in plain English.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Abortion is in the most liberal of terms a medical procedure. There is no Constitutional authority for the federal government to regulate, over-see, fund, or otherwise interfere with medical procedures in this country in spite of the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid. There simply exists no authorization the federal government to do so in the Constitution. However, under the 10th Amendment the states have such a right.
The Warren court decided to supercede the right of the State of Texas to deny a woman an abortion because the state had established the procedure as being not lawful within its jurisdiction. The Warren court’s decision to hear the case much less find some twisted “Constitutional right” was a clear violation of states’ right as defined under the 10th Amendment. Their justification for even hearing the case in the first place – interstate commerce. A medical procedure – legal or illegal – has suddenly become a matter of interstate commerce. This will be the justification for Obamacare next. But I digress.
With this decision, the Warren court made it possible to argue that since every product and/or service performed in this country – legal or illegal – has an intrinsic value and might be a cause for an individual to cross a state line in order to seek said product or service, it is automatically a matter of interstate commerce and thus the jurisdiction of the federal government. And if a product or service is denied to a citizen of a state by the state, it can be argued that the citizen’s rights of due process have been violated even though, that person had no previous condition of servitude.
Using that argument, in Nevada, anyone can walk into any public building and play a slot machine. Here in Ohio we cannot. Therefore my right to feed a potential gambling addiction (which I don’t have) cannot be satisfied. Because companies in Nevada supply these type of machines, it can be argued that Ohio’s anti-gambling laws constitute a violation of my 14th amendment rights under interstate commerce. I don’t have readily available access to those machines. (note: this is actually a better argument for interstate commerce due process interference than the Roe decision was.)
In a sense, the Roe decision opened the 14th amendment up for bastardization by any liberal crazy with a wild hair to do anything that is currently forbidden by a state government.
The Income Tax and the Beginning of Class Warfare
The next modification to our Constitution that contributed to our demise as a country is the 16th Amendment. A very simple amendment the establishment of an income tax.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
This removed the requirement established in Article I requiring an enumeration of the people before the levying of any taxes in Article I Section 2 Paragraph 3. I know the reason for doing so however, that does not justify the levying taxes without an enumeration of the people as required by our founders. Removing the racial make-up and devaluation of the human-being implied by Article 1 Section 2, it still should be required that if any new tax is to be imposed on the people, an enumeration of the populous should be conducted in order to know how much revenue would be generated by said tax. This only makes common sense and thus why it was originally written into article I.
This income tax has been a vehicle by which a particular political party has created a separation of the people based solely on one’s ability to earn. Hard work, effort, and the taking of risks in this country is what makes it great. Those who wish to impose some twisted sense of social equality based solely on existence have created in a sense a war among the classes that takes place every 4 years at the ballot. Those who ‘have’ continue to be vilified in this nation rather than rewarded for creating wealth and providing opportunities for others to establish themselves and provide for their families. A progressive and overly burdensome tax system has been implemented in order to spread the wealth in a quest to redistribute the wealth of the nation according to Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
The worst kept political secret in this nation is that the Democrat party has been working towards full implementation of social Communism by way of income redistribution. And the vehicle used most often is the 16th Amendment.
The Popular Election of Senators – The States Are Removed from the Equation
With the passage and ratification of the 17th Amendment, the people would in a sense have two Houses of Representatives. Originally, the state legislatures had the responsibility of appointing 2 Senators in different term classes to the United States Senate for terms of 6 years. This is outlined in Article 1 Section 3 of the Constitution.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Being appointed by the state legislature made a Senator accountable to the state from which he/she was appointed. This gave the state more power. With the passage of the 17th Amendment, the people of this nation removed this accountability to the states and in a sense made the states subservient to the federal government. And the end of our Republic was begun.
Clause 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
Clause 2. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
Clause 3. This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
As of the ratification of the 17th Amendment, we are no longer a collection of 50 separate and independent nations, we are nothing more than 50 provinces or districts within the out of control monster known as the United States.
Conclusion
Many cite the Constitution as the ultimate authority in the United States. This idea is nothing more than fiction. It is the will of the people as expressed by the people. We will it or it cannot be so. This authority is granted to us by GOD and declared to the world as such by the Declaration of Independence.
With the growing emergence of the sovereignty movement among the states, I can see a day when the United States as we know it could – and I emphasize the word COULD – be obsolete. If every one of the 50 states declared itself independent again – like the Constitution originally intended – then perhaps a new agreement among the states could replace the now totally flawed and bastardized Constitution like it replaced the Articles of Confederation. One could only hope.
Since an estimated 80% of the population already has health care coverage, the rush to pass the Obama/Pelosi/Waxman/Reid Death Care package can only have one reason – overwhelm the system.
Saul Alinsky said in his ‘Rules for Radicals’ -
RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
This is the same tactic employed by ACORN and its affiliated groups when they swamped the states with millions of fraudulent voter registration cards. It was impossible to weed out all the bad registrations so many of them passed through the system like shit through a goose. Hence the reason why a man in Cleveland was able to vote 9 times.
Obama, Pelosi, Waxman, and Reid all know this works. The chief advocate of pushing legislation through before it can be read is Rham Emanuel who has a special reason for wanting a rush on Death Care. His brother is set to become Obama’s czar.
Other Alinsky tactics at play here? Let’s take a look…
RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.
The “Have-Nots” were the Democrats in 2006. They used whatever means available to them including deceit to get YOU to put THEM into power. Remember the “Culture of Corruption”? While you ponder that term let me mention former U.S. Representative from Louisiana William Jefferson. The A #1 example of political corruption is William Jefferson followed closely by Rod Blagojevich. Both DEMOCRATS.
Power is the only concern for liberals. They crave it like a crack addict craves a rock. And they will employ any tactic they can to achieve and hold on to, if not expand, their power. This Congress and this President are all about power consolidation. They want to centralize power in Washington to make as many of you dependent upon them as possible. After-all, they rush these bills through so fast only they know what’s in them. As I wrote a few days ago, even Obama doesn’t know what’s in his Death Care bill. This is done on purpose. The term is Plausible Deniability.
If passed, harmful aspects of a bill can be avoided by the President if he does not know they are in the bill. He can deny knowing it was there and escape the normally apathetic public’s scrutiny during his re-election campaign. Their policies are stupid, I never said they were. Ignorant to the facts of life maybe, but brilliant in fooling you into believing their tripe.
A few of Alinsky’s other greatest hits…
RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
We see this at play with Pelosi’s announcement the other day that Death Care opposition protesters are carrying swastikas to these townhalls as if it were the protesters themselves saying “We Are Nazi’s and You Must Fear Us.” What drivel. Pelosi is trying to scare moderates and rank-in-file Democrats into not participating in the opposition because she is now associating the opposition with Nazis.
The truth of the matter is the swastikas being displayed at these townhalls are in reference to the President’s and the Congress’s tactics. The completely fascist way in which they are driving home their agenda without debate. Their appeal to their supporters to turn-in anyone talking about Death Care negatively via the White House’s “snitch” program is straight out of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo playbook. To the point that I asked the question, “Who is their Himmler?”
As you think about your position during this “debate” keep one thing in mind. Roughly 80% of this nation is already insured. And it is roughly this same percentage of people who are satisfied with this level of coverage. Many of the remaining “uninsured” choose to be. Many others still aren’t even US citizens. Still others would qualify for medical care under current government funded programs. The number of actual uninsured that need to have coverage is somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 million. Can a way be found to cover these people? Yes. But does it have to include a $1 trillion price tag? No. Does it need to eliminate choices? No. Does it need to include end of life counseling that can be morphed into a forced eugenics program in the future? No. Does it need to include taxes on existing employer provided health care with exemptions for union employees as an incentive to join labor unions? Hell NO!
The answer is not in the Obama/Pelosi/Waxman/Reid Death Care bills. The answer is expanding market solutions to make health care more affordable for more people. There exists in this country barriers to expanded risk pools. Insurance companies cannot offer coverage under a particular group across state lines. This limits the risk pool and raises prices. This could be eliminated.
Currently, malpractice insurers will settle malpractice claims out of court in order to avoid limitless awards granted by judges. This is costing billions of dollars annually to the insurance industry and in turn raising the cost of health care. This process has led to the requirement of needless testing to confirm and re-confirm a diagnosis that a doctor has made. These tests are expensive and cost the insurance industry still more billions a year. Without meaningful tort reform that protects patients and doctors, costs will continue to be driven up. This all said however, the Obama/Pelosi/Waxman/Reid Death Care bills do not attempt to address this vital portion of the complex problem. Tort reform is key to controlling costs. Not Obama’s death summits every 5 years or federally funded abortions.
The left is insisting that the Republicans are not offering solutions. This is pure unadulterated bullshit. Republicans have been attempting to reform tort law for decades and the Democrats resist because they are in bed with the trial lawyers. Hell one of their most recent Presidential candidates and a former Democrat Nominee for Vice President was a trial lawyer. How can you possibly control the costs of health care if you continue to reward one of your pet special interest groups who is driving up costs? You can’t.
There is one other thing that you need to consider when deciding whether you support the Obama/Pelosi/Waxman/Reid Death Care bills, if 80% are covered and satisfied with their coverage, what is the rush? If no crisis exists why rush it through as if there is a crisis?
Don’t fall for their Alinsky ‘Rules for Radicals’ tactics again. You did once and elected them. See them for the charlatans they are and reject their scare tactics. Read the bill for yourself and insist your Congresscritter reads it BEFORE he/she votes on it.
Programming Note…
From this point forward, anytime this site refers to the current debate on “health care reform” it will be referred to as the Obama/Pelosi/Waxman/Reid Death Care bills. Why might you ask? Because there is nothing healthy about abortion, eugenics, care rationing, and waiting lists. Neither is removing the doctor and patient from decisions about care and placing the decision making in the hands of a unfeeling, disinterested bean counters in Washington. Death is the only possible result of these bills.
In the lead up to the 2008 elections, the extremely left leaning media of this country were trying to convince you that the nation was in recession when key indicators suggested economic growth not recession. They created the current recession by convincing you it existed when it didn’t. Now, one of the leftarded media outlets is trying to convince you that the recession that they helped create is over when the key economic indicator of the existence of a recession shows evidence that it the recession is continuing..
But according to all of the economic indicators, Newsweek is a bit premature in that announcement. This includes the most important indicator – the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
A recession is defined as 2 or more consecutive quarters of negative GDP. The main stream media all were announcing that the United States was in recession when the nation still had positive GDP numbers. And now, Newsweek in their infinite stupidity is announcing the end of said recession unilaterally with no evidence to back it up. But what the hell, evidence doesn’t mean a fucking thing to these assholes.
“I don’t know whether you’ve seen the cover of the latest Newsweek magazine on the rack at the grocery store, but the cover says: ‘The Recession is Over,’” the president said as part of his prepared remarks at the event.
“I imagine you might have found that news a little startling,” Obama continued. “I know I did.”
Obama went on to say while certain indicators are improving, like the stock market and home sales, “That’s little comfort if you are one of the folks who have lost their job.”
For the first time in his short Presidency, Barack Obama is correct. It is little comfort for the couple of million people who have lost their jobs since the Man with the Middle Name Hussein took over. He has been consistently wrong in every prediction that he has made from the campaign on.
He warned us that if we didn’t pass his economic stimulus package that unemployment would climb to 8.5%. With the national unemployment numbers flirting with 10% and the jobless rate in the Democratic People’s Republic of Michigan tipping the scales at a whopping 15%, somehow I believe the douchebag from Chicago got that one wrong.
He said that his stimulus package would create jobs. Wrong again. Green jobs – wrong. The only evidence that I personally have been able to find that any of his stimulus claims are being implemented is a sign on I-75 southbound into Dayton, Ohio that claims that a project begun 8 years ago, the I-70/I-75 Interchange, and near completion is part of the Obama Porkulus package. I’m sorry, but I’m sure funding for that piece of road work was secured before ground was broken. The same can be said for the other I-75 project. Ground was broken on that in early 2008. So somehow I doubt Porkulus funding got those projects off the ground or created any jobs there since they were both going before Obamaramadingdong secured his Party’s nomination.
Barry followed up his extremely expensive political payoff package with another aimed at cutting greenhouse emissions when in fact, it does nothing of the sort. It is another tax package dreamed up by the President and put into a bill by SanFranNan, both of whom have never seen a tax proposal they haven’t absolutely been in lust with. The House Cap and Trade bill doesn’t curb the emissions of greenhouse gasses. It only taxes them. Somehow they have the idea that raising taxes on businesses in this country will somehow create jobs. I’ve never heard anything more ignorant in my life. But they truly believe this tripe.
Now Barry, Nan, and Harry Reid (the human sleeping pill) have another brilliant idea. Let’s place greater mandates on the health care industry by forcing Doctors out of the profession through regulation and lower compensation for government funded options. Let’s place a mandate on the American people to get private coverage before this bill becomes law or be forced onto a government run health care system that will create waiting lists, rationing of care, and the end of privacy. Let’s remove the patient and the doctor from the decision making process and put an empathy free board of bureaucrats in charge of making health care decisions for people they’ve never met. And while we are at it, how about ending care for seniors and fund as many abortions as we can to reduce the population.
What’s next for this turd? Soylent Green?!?
So no Newsweek, the recession that you helped create by instilling fear into the minds of many non-thinking lemmings out there who wrongly believe that you are an independent news service is not over. It is alive and well and about to receive a huge shot in the arm if the House and Senate pass Obama’s health care scheme.
As the debate on the hill continues over the President’s signature issue, Conservative Democrats, the so-called Blue Dogs, are holding out in a key Committee which could hold up the process indefinitely should the leadership cling to their fiscally irresponsible bill. So what is Henry and SanFranNan to do? Why bypass the Energy and Finance Committee altogether and take the bill directly to the floor of course. But is that advisable? I don’t think so!
The Blue Dogs are pretty solid in their resolve to oppose this bill as long as it has the current bankrupting price tag. With the balance of power in the House divided 256 Democrat to 178 Republican, Pelosi et al cannot afford a defection of 52 members of her Party that are poised to vote with the Republicans on this bill. Do the math. If Pelosi loses 52 votes, she only has 204 for the bill with the 52 siding with Republicans that gives the opposition 230 and the bill will die a very painful death.
These Blue Dogs have been burned by the Porkulus and are in a position to take a political hit over Cap and Trade come November of next year. For them now to drastically change their collective minds about this piece of shit bill would ruin any hope of re-election from a fiscally conservative constituency. Lest Nancy and Henry forget, every single House seat is up for grabs come November 2, 2010. Nancy may be safe coming from the libtard haven of San Francisco and Waxman may have an easier time than most, but for middle America fiscally conservative Democrats, re-election possibilities are beginning to look in doubt.
So Nancy has a dilemma on her hands…
Bypass a key Committee because she doesn’t like the fact that she can’t ram this bill through the House before anyone has a chance to read the whole bill as was done with the Porkulus and with Cap and Trade. And in doing so usurp the democratic process OR does she allow it to stall in Committee until after the Congress recesses for the summer. Either way the bill is sure to die in its current form.
[UPDATE 1652]
More good news out of Rasmussen Reports.
Obama’s national approval rating has dipped below 50% for the first time in his Presidency. In a nationwide telephone poll conducted yesterday evening, Obama only garnered 49% over-all favorable marks. Those strongly opposed to Obama’s job as president continue to outpace those who strongly approve as Rasmussen’s Presidential Index is also at its lowest level of Obama’s Presidency with a -8.
Fifty-three percent (53%) now oppose the Congressional health care reform package. That’s up eight points over the past month. Just 20% now see health care as the most important of the President’s priorities. Nearly twice as many, 37%, say deficit reduction is most important.
I love The Drudge Report. It is like one stop shopping for news stories. As of this writing, there is a headline up on Drudge that says…
Ruling Kills an Option for Moving Health Bill…
Note: The link to the story from Drudge is incorrect and it leads nowhere. In the interest of full disclosure, the link [...]
Yesterday the Emperor paraded out a bunch of people in white lab coats – claimed them to be doctors, physicians’ assistants, and nurses – to publicly “instruct” Congress that the time for debate is over. Like a strict father to his petulant children he said (in a nutshell), “the time of tomfoolery is over so [...]
Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley by a margin of 5 percentage points in a state where Republicans are out-numbered 3:1 by Democrats. This should have the Emperor having nightmares beginning tonight.
Obama’s agenda is dead. That is unless he and his cohorts Pelosi and Reid begin utilizing political end-runs around the democratic process. His Infestation [...]
With the latest polls looking rather grim for the Democrat seeking election to the seat formally held prisoner by the late Senator Edward Kennedy, Congressional Democrats and the White House scramble to put together some way to get Death Care rammed through without needing to face cloture with the possibility of a Senator Scott Brown [...]
Harry Reid is threatening the use of budget reconciliation for the Death Care bill should Scott Brown prevail tomorrow in the Massachusetts special election. Ok… But how will Moderate Dems in the Senate react to that maneuver? How will the Senate’s 2 Independents react? Sanders will likely vote with the majority but what about Joe [...]
The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has identified 24 Democrat House members who voted for passage of the Pelosi Death Care bill and is targeting those 24 Democrats for defeat in November 2010. The RCCC has set-up a website called Reverse the Vote! to raise money for a war chest specifically aimed at defeating these 24 [...]
Recent events in this nation have begun to raise some questions about how far we have drifted away from the original intent of the founding fathers of this country. A nation originally conceived as a collection of smaller countries. Each state maintaining a level of sovereignty in the world but banded together for mutual defense. [...]
Since an estimated 80% of the population already has health care coverage, the rush to pass the Obama/Pelosi/Waxman/Reid Death Care package can only have one reason – overwhelm the system.
Saul Alinsky said in his ‘Rules for Radicals’ -
RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that [...]
In the lead up to the 2008 elections, the extremely left leaning media of this country were trying to convince you that the nation was in recession when key indicators suggested economic growth not recession. They created the current recession by convincing you it existed when it didn’t. Now, one of the leftarded media outlets [...]
As the debate on the hill continues over the President’s signature issue, Conservative Democrats, the so-called Blue Dogs, are holding out in a key Committee which could hold up the process indefinitely should the leadership cling to their fiscally irresponsible bill. So what is Henry and SanFranNan to do? Why bypass the Energy and Finance [...]
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