Reading Guide—Pelosi Health “Reform” Bill
October 29, 2009
In order to assist Members, staff, and interested parties seeking to read and review the health “reform” legislation (H.R. 3962) introduced by House Democrats, the Republican Conference has compiled a list of important page numbers and provisions in the 1,990-page “Affordable Health Care for America Act:”
Page 94—Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government
Page 110—Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions
Page 111—Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase—and would likely require all Americans to subsidize and purchase plans that cover any abortion
Page 211—Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the HULewin GroupUH, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage
Page 225—Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care
Page 255—Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill—while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits
Page 297—Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance—the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central HUpromiseUH of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign
Page 313—Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage; according to an HUanalysisUH by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—Uwith minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts
Page 336—Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs
Page 520—Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage
Page 733—Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than £35,000
Page 1174—Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “UWe will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the HouseU,” and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under $250,000
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
When will Congress stop?
If you don’t like the idea of government-run health care, then sit down and shut up. Barack Obama's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), prompted by Senator Max Baucus, actually imposed a gag order on private health insurance companies. Why? Because one of those insurance companies, Humana Inc., made the mistake of warning the American people that ObamaCare could result in drastic cuts to Medicare Advantage.
In defending the egregious and draconian effort to muzzle their dissenters, Baucus barked: “does the first amendment include lies?” But who’s doing the lying?
According to the New York Post, Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 plan does indeed call for funds to be cut "from Medicare Advantage - a program that offers more choice than traditional Medicare - to help pay for the overall ObamaCare tab."
And former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren "that Medicare Advantage senior citizens would lose over 50 percent of their added value on Medicare under the Baucus plan."
Here's what happened: Humana sent a letter to seniors, which read: “[I]f the proposed funding cut levels [in the current health care legislation] become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.”
Baucus and the Obama Administration cried foul and the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid threatened to launch an "investigation" and demanded Humana cease from communicating the truth to their clients about ObamaCare. “As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites.”
In other words, Baucus and the Obama Administration are so desperate to pass their government takeover of health care that they’ve resorted to silencing the truth-tellers through gag orders and intimidation.
Don't these egregious slaps at the First Amendment simply illustrate why it is fruitless for Republicans to continue their so-called negotiations over ObamaCare?
Don't they give us another pressing reason to demand that they scrap ObamaCare totally?
A Sweetheart Back-Room Deal For Harry Reid....
As if the mighty power of Big Government to silence its critics weren’t enough, we learned of even more ObamaCare shenanigans this week.
According to news reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cut a sweetheart deal whereby you and your fellow taxpayers get to foot the cost of ObamaCare for the folks in his fair State of Nevada.
Strange isn't it... how Reid is forcing the rest of us to foot the bill for something that's supposed to be "paid for?"
According to the National Center for Policy Analysis: "The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has secured a special deal protecting his state against the costs of expanding Medicaid under one of the major health care bills moving through Congress."
At least we now know why Barack Obama and liberals in Congress don't want to give the American people time to see what's in this Obamanation we call ObamaCare... why many of them don't want to bother to even read it. Enough is enough. We don't really need to demand that Congress give the American people time to read the bill. That's pointless.
We already know enough. We need to tell them yet again, until they finally get the message, that the American people want ObamaCare gone... kaput... off the table... no deals... no fixes... no compromises... no amendments.
At Least We Now Know Why They Don't Want You To Read The Bill.
Are you willing to stand by slack-jawed and watch the Obama Administration disregard the First Amendment in their quest to take over America’s health care system?
Are you willing to let the extreme left use federal agencies to batter and bully honest critics of ObamaCare until they stand in mute silence – beaten by this conscienceless Administration and the weary apathy of the American people?
Are you ready to let Barack Obama reduce the practice of medicine in America to a system as ineffective as the U.S. Postal Service and as caring as the IRS?
At least it is obvious by now why some of our federal legislators have no intention of reading the bill before voting on it. It is certainly obvious why they have no intention of letting you – and the rest of the American people – read it before they vote.
Are we going to let the far left get away with this mockery?
They’ve already gone after Humana for criticizing ObamaCare. If we don’t draw a line in the sand, they may be coming after you and me next.
We can stop Obama, Baucus and the other proponents of government-run health care dead in their tracks. All we need to do is stand tall, arms linked and say, “No!”
A Few Republicans Are Starting To See The Light. Others, At Least, Are Starting To Feel The Heat.
Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) proposed an amendment to Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 that would have required the Senate Finance Committee to post the text of Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 and the cost estimate on the Internet 72 hours prior to the Committee voting. “This bill will impact every American,” Bunning said. “It is too big and too important for us to rely on conceptual language and a preliminary estimate of cost.”
Senator Orrin Hatch, supporting Bunning’s amendment, said: “If this were some itty-bitty bill, I could back off very easily. But this is not some itty-bitty bill. It could wreck the country.”
In summary, some of our elected officials were actually saying: “Just give us time to read the bill,” and “Just give the American people time to read the bill.”
But guess what!
The Party that promised “transparent government” beat down Bunning’s amendment on nearly a straight party-line vote.
Why do you suppose they don’t want us to read the bill – aside from the fact that they don’t intend to read it themselves? As we've already said, it's obvious... they don’t want you to know what’s in it.
They don't want you to know that Humana told the truth and that what Barack Obama and Max Baucus say is not necessarily so. They don't want you to know about Harry Reid's sweetheart deals.
And they don't want you to know all the other things you haven't uncovered yet.
As Democratic Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary, put it: “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Of course, Conyers trusts the slick, sly, backroom boys who write vague, deceptive bills over 1,000-pages long. And why not? They’re left-wing ideologues just like Conyers.
But we don’t trust them to operate behind our backs under the cover of darkness. And that’s why we’ve got to stop them now.
The Obama Strategy: Hide And Gag.
The Obama strategy is obvious: hide all the details... gag all critics, then give the president stage center – with his magic teleprompter, his air of absolute authority, and his own glittering version of the truth.
After all, the major news networks – with the notable exception of Fox News – seem to be on board, so why not?
But on the issue of government-run health care, Obama’s act is starting to wear thin. According to the latest Rasmussen poll, approval for his health care program has plummeted to 41 percent. A whopping 56 percent disapprove of his plan.
But the fight is far from over, Barack Obama and the extreme left are like cornered rats, snarling, baring their pointed teeth.
They're not done... they will continue to fight... and deceive... and make back-room deals... they will not let something as innocuous as the will of the American people dash their dreams of socialized health care.
We must fight all the harder... to the very end.
I urge you to write to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate. Tell them once and for all to stop negotiations... no deals... no fixes... no compromises... no amendments. Tell them that giving the American people the courtesy of reading bills before Congress votes on them, while required, is not enough when it comes to ObamaCare. Tell them that you want ObamaCare gone... finished... kaput. Tell them to scrap ObamaCare in total and start over again from the drawing board with some real health care reforms that include less government regulation and increased competition across state lines... measures that will make health care coverage more affordable and more accessible to Americans.
In defending the egregious and draconian effort to muzzle their dissenters, Baucus barked: “does the first amendment include lies?” But who’s doing the lying?
According to the New York Post, Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 plan does indeed call for funds to be cut "from Medicare Advantage - a program that offers more choice than traditional Medicare - to help pay for the overall ObamaCare tab."
And former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren "that Medicare Advantage senior citizens would lose over 50 percent of their added value on Medicare under the Baucus plan."
Here's what happened: Humana sent a letter to seniors, which read: “[I]f the proposed funding cut levels [in the current health care legislation] become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.”
Baucus and the Obama Administration cried foul and the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid threatened to launch an "investigation" and demanded Humana cease from communicating the truth to their clients about ObamaCare. “As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites.”
In other words, Baucus and the Obama Administration are so desperate to pass their government takeover of health care that they’ve resorted to silencing the truth-tellers through gag orders and intimidation.
Don't these egregious slaps at the First Amendment simply illustrate why it is fruitless for Republicans to continue their so-called negotiations over ObamaCare?
Don't they give us another pressing reason to demand that they scrap ObamaCare totally?
A Sweetheart Back-Room Deal For Harry Reid....
As if the mighty power of Big Government to silence its critics weren’t enough, we learned of even more ObamaCare shenanigans this week.
According to news reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cut a sweetheart deal whereby you and your fellow taxpayers get to foot the cost of ObamaCare for the folks in his fair State of Nevada.
Strange isn't it... how Reid is forcing the rest of us to foot the bill for something that's supposed to be "paid for?"
According to the National Center for Policy Analysis: "The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has secured a special deal protecting his state against the costs of expanding Medicaid under one of the major health care bills moving through Congress."
At least we now know why Barack Obama and liberals in Congress don't want to give the American people time to see what's in this Obamanation we call ObamaCare... why many of them don't want to bother to even read it. Enough is enough. We don't really need to demand that Congress give the American people time to read the bill. That's pointless.
We already know enough. We need to tell them yet again, until they finally get the message, that the American people want ObamaCare gone... kaput... off the table... no deals... no fixes... no compromises... no amendments.
At Least We Now Know Why They Don't Want You To Read The Bill.
Are you willing to stand by slack-jawed and watch the Obama Administration disregard the First Amendment in their quest to take over America’s health care system?
Are you willing to let the extreme left use federal agencies to batter and bully honest critics of ObamaCare until they stand in mute silence – beaten by this conscienceless Administration and the weary apathy of the American people?
Are you ready to let Barack Obama reduce the practice of medicine in America to a system as ineffective as the U.S. Postal Service and as caring as the IRS?
At least it is obvious by now why some of our federal legislators have no intention of reading the bill before voting on it. It is certainly obvious why they have no intention of letting you – and the rest of the American people – read it before they vote.
Are we going to let the far left get away with this mockery?
They’ve already gone after Humana for criticizing ObamaCare. If we don’t draw a line in the sand, they may be coming after you and me next.
We can stop Obama, Baucus and the other proponents of government-run health care dead in their tracks. All we need to do is stand tall, arms linked and say, “No!”
A Few Republicans Are Starting To See The Light. Others, At Least, Are Starting To Feel The Heat.
Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) proposed an amendment to Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 that would have required the Senate Finance Committee to post the text of Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 and the cost estimate on the Internet 72 hours prior to the Committee voting. “This bill will impact every American,” Bunning said. “It is too big and too important for us to rely on conceptual language and a preliminary estimate of cost.”
Senator Orrin Hatch, supporting Bunning’s amendment, said: “If this were some itty-bitty bill, I could back off very easily. But this is not some itty-bitty bill. It could wreck the country.”
In summary, some of our elected officials were actually saying: “Just give us time to read the bill,” and “Just give the American people time to read the bill.”
But guess what!
The Party that promised “transparent government” beat down Bunning’s amendment on nearly a straight party-line vote.
Why do you suppose they don’t want us to read the bill – aside from the fact that they don’t intend to read it themselves? As we've already said, it's obvious... they don’t want you to know what’s in it.
They don't want you to know that Humana told the truth and that what Barack Obama and Max Baucus say is not necessarily so. They don't want you to know about Harry Reid's sweetheart deals.
And they don't want you to know all the other things you haven't uncovered yet.
As Democratic Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary, put it: “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Of course, Conyers trusts the slick, sly, backroom boys who write vague, deceptive bills over 1,000-pages long. And why not? They’re left-wing ideologues just like Conyers.
But we don’t trust them to operate behind our backs under the cover of darkness. And that’s why we’ve got to stop them now.
The Obama Strategy: Hide And Gag.
The Obama strategy is obvious: hide all the details... gag all critics, then give the president stage center – with his magic teleprompter, his air of absolute authority, and his own glittering version of the truth.
After all, the major news networks – with the notable exception of Fox News – seem to be on board, so why not?
But on the issue of government-run health care, Obama’s act is starting to wear thin. According to the latest Rasmussen poll, approval for his health care program has plummeted to 41 percent. A whopping 56 percent disapprove of his plan.
But the fight is far from over, Barack Obama and the extreme left are like cornered rats, snarling, baring their pointed teeth.
They're not done... they will continue to fight... and deceive... and make back-room deals... they will not let something as innocuous as the will of the American people dash their dreams of socialized health care.
We must fight all the harder... to the very end.
I urge you to write to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate. Tell them once and for all to stop negotiations... no deals... no fixes... no compromises... no amendments. Tell them that giving the American people the courtesy of reading bills before Congress votes on them, while required, is not enough when it comes to ObamaCare. Tell them that you want ObamaCare gone... finished... kaput. Tell them to scrap ObamaCare in total and start over again from the drawing board with some real health care reforms that include less government regulation and increased competition across state lines... measures that will make health care coverage more affordable and more accessible to Americans.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
"Obamacare" -- NO!
The Baucus healthcare reform plan is chock-full of provisions calling for new government mandates, higher taxes, increased spending and government-dictated, rationed health care.
In fact, it’s so bad that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said of Baucus’ plan: “This is a stunning assault on liberty!”
As previously stated, the Baucus bill hasn’t even been written yet, much less read by the Senators who are doing the negotiating.
It’s nothing more than a 200-plus-page shell of ideas to be rammed down the throats of the American people with all deliberate speed... before you and other concerned Americans have the time to find out what hit you.
Senator Lindsay Graham, speaking on FOX News, probably gave the best explanation of what exactly is going on: “[T]he Baucus bill… literally changes everyday… we’re making this up as we go… they’re trying to buy votes… the vision here is to pass something… they don’t give a damn what it is and nobody understands what they’re doing.”
These so-called leaders just don’t get it. Republicans and Democrats are quibbling over what type of government-run health care they believe to be best for you and your family and no one is fighting for the American people.
The words is out... the game is played... the man behind the curtain has been exposed... and it's now as plain as the nose on your face. Obama and the leftists in Congress don't want you to know what's in ObamaCare... they just made it clear that they just may try to hide all the sordid details from you.
But what's even worse, Obama and the leftists in Congress may even be trying to muzzle, and intimidate, those who dare to speak out against ObamaCare.
It's becoming more and more apparent that Obama and the leftists in Congress don’t want the American people to know... or read... or hear anything negative about ObamaCare... and that they may be willing to shut-down debate by any means necessary.
One thing is certain, Obama and the leftists in Congress are leaving the door wide open to enact ObamaCare in the dead of night... under the cover of darkness... shove it down our throats before any of us are any the wiser.
When Senator Jim Bunning offered an amendment that would have required that the language of the bill be made available to the American people 72 hours prior to a vote, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee squashed it.
Michael Franc, writing for the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry gives us the sordid and sickening details:
“During the Senate Finance Committee mark up of the Baucus health bill … Senator Bunning of Kentucky put forth an innovative amendment. This amendment stipulated that before voting on the measure in Committee, legislative language would have to be accessible to the public for 72 hours and that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would need to publish an official tally of how much this bill will cost the American people and what the real impact will be on health costs."
Franc continued:
“The amendment failed 11-12 on nearly a party line vote. Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR) was the sole Democrat to support this attempt at transparency. The bottom line: when the committee completes its work on this re-make of one-sixth of our economy, Senators will have voted on a phantom - a bill that does not exist with costs that are unknowable until, that is, the unelected legislative draftsmen write the real bill in some back room on Capitol Hill.”
If nothing else that has transpired up to this point has convinced you that ObamaCare must be rejected... thrown aside... taken off the table... these shenanigans should.
It's time to tell our elected officials that no good can come from ObamaCare... that's it's rotten to the core... and that it must be scrapped.
We need every person reading this urgent appeal to use their letters, faxes and phones and barrage Barack Hussein Obama and each and every member of the United States Senate with your personal messages. Make no mistake, you're not going to change America with a couple of faxes or letters or phone calls only directed at your two Senators. Each of us needs to barrage each and every one of these Senators with a mountain of objections. They all need to see that the American people are united. Only then will they wake up and smell the coffee.
Tell them that you believe that the only thing keeping ObamaCare alive is the willingness of some Republicans to negotiate and that ObamaCare would be defeated once and for all if they all stood firm in total opposition to ObamaCare. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.
The American people for months have been sending the message loud and clear that they want no part of ObamaCare, period, regardless of what form it takes. The American people have been telling politicians in Washington that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make Obama’s government-run health care scheme acceptable or palatable.
It’s time for these politicians to finally get the message. The American people do not want them to “fix” ObamaCare… no more so-called “ObamaCare compromises”… the American people want ObamaCare gone… never to be heard from again.
The bills the public has been allowed to see have placed taxes on the poor, the middle class and the wealthy. Yet Obama continues to say, “My plan will not tax the citizens a single dime.”
The bills the public has been allowed to see allocate certain amounts of those taxes to pay for abortions. Yet Obama continues to say, “My plan will not use a single dime for abortions.”
Obama also says, “My plan will make healthcare affordable for every American. If they like their health plan and want to keep it they can.” Sure they can… for a price. What Obama fails to say is that he doesn’t have a plan!
I believe Obama and Congress have been working in concert to come up with a multitude of healthcare bills each of which has such complicated language or so many different plans for different incomes that the public ALWAYS finds something objectionable. By doing so, Obama (who has pledged to pass a healthcare bill this year) will ram through his version (“Obamacare”) which will be a single-payer, Medicare-like, government-funded plan. The exact type of plan he claims he didn’t want but planned on getting passed from the beginning.
After this plan breaks Medicare, the government plan will be the only plan available. “Obamacare” will be everything no one in their right mind wanted. His ideas about education are the same. Force all schools to attend year-‘round. This will break every state’s tax system so that schools will all be federally funded. By one estimate, year-‘round schooling would increase spending on education by more than $1,300/day for each student, and that’s only in Massachusetts.
In my opinion it’s the first step in doing away with our Constitution. The Democrats in Massachusetts changed their constitution in 2004 so that then Gov. Mitt Romney could NOT name a replacement for Sen. John Kerry when he ran for the presidency. Now they’ve changed that state’s constitution BACK so the people can not choose a replacement for Ted Kennedy. Because there is now a democratic Governor, they changed it back so he CAN name a replacement for Kennedy.
The first Constitutional assault was on the Massachusetts constitution. Passing ANY bill without allowing the public to read it would be the second assault made, this time on the U.S. Constitution. The next assault may be to do away with our Constitution entirely. Can we stop them?
In fact, it’s so bad that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said of Baucus’ plan: “This is a stunning assault on liberty!”
As previously stated, the Baucus bill hasn’t even been written yet, much less read by the Senators who are doing the negotiating.
It’s nothing more than a 200-plus-page shell of ideas to be rammed down the throats of the American people with all deliberate speed... before you and other concerned Americans have the time to find out what hit you.
Senator Lindsay Graham, speaking on FOX News, probably gave the best explanation of what exactly is going on: “[T]he Baucus bill… literally changes everyday… we’re making this up as we go… they’re trying to buy votes… the vision here is to pass something… they don’t give a damn what it is and nobody understands what they’re doing.”
These so-called leaders just don’t get it. Republicans and Democrats are quibbling over what type of government-run health care they believe to be best for you and your family and no one is fighting for the American people.
The words is out... the game is played... the man behind the curtain has been exposed... and it's now as plain as the nose on your face. Obama and the leftists in Congress don't want you to know what's in ObamaCare... they just made it clear that they just may try to hide all the sordid details from you.
But what's even worse, Obama and the leftists in Congress may even be trying to muzzle, and intimidate, those who dare to speak out against ObamaCare.
It's becoming more and more apparent that Obama and the leftists in Congress don’t want the American people to know... or read... or hear anything negative about ObamaCare... and that they may be willing to shut-down debate by any means necessary.
One thing is certain, Obama and the leftists in Congress are leaving the door wide open to enact ObamaCare in the dead of night... under the cover of darkness... shove it down our throats before any of us are any the wiser.
When Senator Jim Bunning offered an amendment that would have required that the language of the bill be made available to the American people 72 hours prior to a vote, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee squashed it.
Michael Franc, writing for the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry gives us the sordid and sickening details:
“During the Senate Finance Committee mark up of the Baucus health bill … Senator Bunning of Kentucky put forth an innovative amendment. This amendment stipulated that before voting on the measure in Committee, legislative language would have to be accessible to the public for 72 hours and that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would need to publish an official tally of how much this bill will cost the American people and what the real impact will be on health costs."
Franc continued:
“The amendment failed 11-12 on nearly a party line vote. Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR) was the sole Democrat to support this attempt at transparency. The bottom line: when the committee completes its work on this re-make of one-sixth of our economy, Senators will have voted on a phantom - a bill that does not exist with costs that are unknowable until, that is, the unelected legislative draftsmen write the real bill in some back room on Capitol Hill.”
If nothing else that has transpired up to this point has convinced you that ObamaCare must be rejected... thrown aside... taken off the table... these shenanigans should.
It's time to tell our elected officials that no good can come from ObamaCare... that's it's rotten to the core... and that it must be scrapped.
We need every person reading this urgent appeal to use their letters, faxes and phones and barrage Barack Hussein Obama and each and every member of the United States Senate with your personal messages. Make no mistake, you're not going to change America with a couple of faxes or letters or phone calls only directed at your two Senators. Each of us needs to barrage each and every one of these Senators with a mountain of objections. They all need to see that the American people are united. Only then will they wake up and smell the coffee.
Tell them that you believe that the only thing keeping ObamaCare alive is the willingness of some Republicans to negotiate and that ObamaCare would be defeated once and for all if they all stood firm in total opposition to ObamaCare. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.
The American people for months have been sending the message loud and clear that they want no part of ObamaCare, period, regardless of what form it takes. The American people have been telling politicians in Washington that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make Obama’s government-run health care scheme acceptable or palatable.
It’s time for these politicians to finally get the message. The American people do not want them to “fix” ObamaCare… no more so-called “ObamaCare compromises”… the American people want ObamaCare gone… never to be heard from again.
The bills the public has been allowed to see have placed taxes on the poor, the middle class and the wealthy. Yet Obama continues to say, “My plan will not tax the citizens a single dime.”
The bills the public has been allowed to see allocate certain amounts of those taxes to pay for abortions. Yet Obama continues to say, “My plan will not use a single dime for abortions.”
Obama also says, “My plan will make healthcare affordable for every American. If they like their health plan and want to keep it they can.” Sure they can… for a price. What Obama fails to say is that he doesn’t have a plan!
I believe Obama and Congress have been working in concert to come up with a multitude of healthcare bills each of which has such complicated language or so many different plans for different incomes that the public ALWAYS finds something objectionable. By doing so, Obama (who has pledged to pass a healthcare bill this year) will ram through his version (“Obamacare”) which will be a single-payer, Medicare-like, government-funded plan. The exact type of plan he claims he didn’t want but planned on getting passed from the beginning.
After this plan breaks Medicare, the government plan will be the only plan available. “Obamacare” will be everything no one in their right mind wanted. His ideas about education are the same. Force all schools to attend year-‘round. This will break every state’s tax system so that schools will all be federally funded. By one estimate, year-‘round schooling would increase spending on education by more than $1,300/day for each student, and that’s only in Massachusetts.
In my opinion it’s the first step in doing away with our Constitution. The Democrats in Massachusetts changed their constitution in 2004 so that then Gov. Mitt Romney could NOT name a replacement for Sen. John Kerry when he ran for the presidency. Now they’ve changed that state’s constitution BACK so the people can not choose a replacement for Ted Kennedy. Because there is now a democratic Governor, they changed it back so he CAN name a replacement for Kennedy.
The first Constitutional assault was on the Massachusetts constitution. Passing ANY bill without allowing the public to read it would be the second assault made, this time on the U.S. Constitution. The next assault may be to do away with our Constitution entirely. Can we stop them?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Do we need a new Constitution?
At the rate Obama is making televised speeches we're going to need "The Obama Channel." The Senate wants to push through the Baucus healthcare reform bill (and its 564 ammendments) BEFORE it is printed so the people of the United States can't even READ IT.
The Baucus health care reform plan is chock-full of provisions calling for new government mandates, higher taxes, increased spending and government-dictated, rationed health care.
In fact, it’s so bad that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said of Baucus’ plan: “This is a stunning assault on liberty!”
In my opinion it’s the first step in doing away with our Constitution. The Democrats in Massachusetts changed their constitution in 2004 so that then Gov. Mitt Romney could NOT name a replacement for Sen. John Kerry when he ran for the presidency. Now they’ve changed that state’s constitution BACK so the people can not choose a replacement for Ted Kennedy. Because there is now a democratic Governor, they changed it back so he CAN name a replacement for Kennedy.
The first Constitutional assault was on the Massachusetts constitution. The second has been made, this time on the U.S. Constitution (with Congress trying to sneak through the Baucus bill). The next assault may be to do away with our Constitution entirely. Can we stop them?
Perhaps we should just wave a white flag and surrender. We can go one better: Let's change the Constitution FOR them. Our current preamble reads:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Maybe the preamble should read:
We the people of the United States Congress, in order to form a less problematic dictatorship, abolish justice, insure domestic subservience, provide for the dictator's desires, promote the general disgust, and secure the nation for our dictator and his posterity, do abolish this Constitution of the United States of America.
If we don't stand up and stop this Congress, it could happen.
The Baucus health care reform plan is chock-full of provisions calling for new government mandates, higher taxes, increased spending and government-dictated, rationed health care.
In fact, it’s so bad that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said of Baucus’ plan: “This is a stunning assault on liberty!”
In my opinion it’s the first step in doing away with our Constitution. The Democrats in Massachusetts changed their constitution in 2004 so that then Gov. Mitt Romney could NOT name a replacement for Sen. John Kerry when he ran for the presidency. Now they’ve changed that state’s constitution BACK so the people can not choose a replacement for Ted Kennedy. Because there is now a democratic Governor, they changed it back so he CAN name a replacement for Kennedy.
The first Constitutional assault was on the Massachusetts constitution. The second has been made, this time on the U.S. Constitution (with Congress trying to sneak through the Baucus bill). The next assault may be to do away with our Constitution entirely. Can we stop them?
Perhaps we should just wave a white flag and surrender. We can go one better: Let's change the Constitution FOR them. Our current preamble reads:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Maybe the preamble should read:
We the people of the United States Congress, in order to form a less problematic dictatorship, abolish justice, insure domestic subservience, provide for the dictator's desires, promote the general disgust, and secure the nation for our dictator and his posterity, do abolish this Constitution of the United States of America.
If we don't stand up and stop this Congress, it could happen.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
We, the citizens of the United States
I'm a native-born, flag-waving, patriotic American citizen. My dad was an Army medical corpsman during WWII who won the Bronze Star for Valor so that you and I can enjoy our freedoms. I'm also a 59 year-old, double amputee, quadriplegic who receives SSDI, Medicare and Medicaid. I broke my neck in 1968 and was left a quadriplegic. I spent from 1971-1988 in a nursing home. I fought to get a college education. I fought for and was awarded 5 scholastic scholarships between 1983 and '87 and I'm proud that my name is in the Congressional Record five times thanks to former Michigan legislator Dale Kildee. I fought to keep a meager $25.00/month “personal needs allowance” through SSI while in the nursing home. That’s right: $25 was allotted to me cover shampoo, toothpaste, shaving equipment and clothes for one month. I fought to keep my federal and state legislators from cutting that $25 allowance and Medicaid. I was on a student government panel in 1984 and '85 that helped create the first drafts of what became the “Americans with Disabilities Act” (ADA). After that was finally passed I thought things might go a bit easier. Life was better for a short time.
I got out of the nursing home in 1988 thanks to a very good Social Services worker who helped me use a little known program to pay a nurses' aide to take care of me in my own apartment. That program was the precursor to the “Home and Community-Based Waiver” (HCBW) which allows disabled Americans who would previously have been “warehoused” in nursing homes, to live at home with their families or in their own home. The HCBW pays a fraction of the cost of a nursing home and helps us feel more a part of the community. We serve very useful roles as mentors to those who are more recently injured, we work (if our disability allows) in our hometowns, and, in a few cases, hold public office.
As if fighting to stay healthy as I advance in years was not hard enough, I must now fight to keep Medicare and Medicaid from being cut again. I've already lost the Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA) increase in my SSDI for at least two years effectively reducing my SSDI. My Medicare Part B co-pay still increases even though my Social Security benefits don’t. If Medicare and Medicaid are cut too drastically, and the HCBW is adversely affected, I may end up back in a nursing home because Medicaid funds a significant part of the HCBW. That would also possibly put my caregiver out of a job and make her homeless.
Will Congresspersons be giving up their annual Cost Of Living Allowances (COLAs) as I'm being forced to do? No. Will their health insurance be cut as mine is being cut? No. Will they DEPEND on Social Security as their ONLY income when they retire? No. Will they worry about cuts in Medicare in their later years? No. Will they receive Social Security Retirement at age 67? YES! And they'll also receive their congressional wages AND COLAs for the rest of their lives. They'll also receive the same health insurance privileges they enjoyed as a congressperson for the rest of their lives. At first I fought for myself. Then I fought for the few dozen with severe disabilities I knew personally. Now I'm fighting for EVERYONE with a disability who relies on SSI, SSDI, Medicare, Medicaid and the dozens of government programs they depend on to prevent them from being shoved into a dark corner of a room and forgotten. That is exactly what being in a nursing home seemed like to a 21 year-old in 1971.
My color, sex, religion, sexual orientation and party affiliation don't matter and neither does yours. What you ARE doesn't concern me. What you DO as a voter or an elected official DOES concern me. That goes for Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, Representatives, Justices, Assemblymen, Aldermen and any other title used at the state and local levels. You hold the United States' collective futures in your hands. The Federal Government has spent more than $9 TRILLION in the last year to bailout various businesses in an attempt to “save our economy.” I think you went a little overboard and the President has thrown all of us to the sharks. Obama said he “had a health care plan that would cover every-body, would not add a single dime to the deficit, would not cost the taxpayers a single dime and would not be used to cover illegal immigrants.” It is, according to President Obama, to be funded by $500 BILLION from “doing away with the waste and fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs” and $400 BILLION in new taxes levied on those who earn more than $250,000 per year. Instead of a new healthcare plan, how about revamping the legal system by putting a cap on punitive damages awarded for malpractice suits? Instead of cutting Medicare and Medicaid spending by “doing away with waste and fraud,” how about just doing away with waste and fraud PERIOD? We could then expand the programs to cover more of those uninsured Americans. After all, if President Obama can cut the waste and fraud then he must KNOW where it is. Right? Add to that the fact that another health plan would mean dozens of more jobs would be needed to run the new program under another set of rules and regulations.
If President Obama “had a plan,” what is this bill authored by Max Baucus doing in the Senate? The Baucus bill will, by Baucus own admission, cost between $750 BILLION and $1.5 TRILLION over 10 years. If Obama is no longer supporting H.R. 3200 and is now supporting the Baucus bill, we are in for another fight. No one can yet read the Baucus bill because it has not been released to the public. Congress has figured out that we are now willing to read a bill that is 1,017 pages long and are doing their best to keep the Baucus bill secret from us until it’s too late for us to stop it. That is NOT what Congress is supposed to do.
We also don't need more “bailout plans” (“Cash for Clunkers,” “Lehman Bros.,” “AIG” etc.). We also don't need more “Czars.” Obama's 35 Czars are simply a way to circumvent Congressional oversight ability and pay individuals far more than a job WITH congressional oversight would allow. We don't need to solve all of the country's problems at once. Slow down the spending and think a while before acting. With Obama pushing them, the Democrats pushed through more bills and resolutions in 9 months than ever before. The founding fathers wrote into the Constitution a system of checks and balances with three branches of government. Let me correct that: FOUR branches of government. That’s right, I said FOUR BRANCHES of govern-ment. Do I now have your attention? That’s right: four. The way I see it, the founding fathers didn’t think they needed to state that the electors were the fourth branch because the electors decide who is in the other three branches. WE, the citizens, are the electors. WE, the citizens, employ THEM. They serve at our pleasure. Remember that when the next election day arrives.
The last election was, for the most part, decided by the mainstream press. They reported on personalities and played down or totally ignored the issues. Don’t let this happen again. Look at BOTH sides of the issues. Listen to more than one or two news sources. Read more than one newspaper and one news magazine. If we don’t educate ourselves on all the issues and all sides of all the issues then we haven’t done our part and don’t deserve the right to complain about what the government does. Remember that we are part of a government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people. The most important part of that last sentence is “BY” the people. Every time we vote we are deciding our own fate. We may not always succeed in electing our preferred representatives, but we must vote if we want the chance of doing so. Don’t elect someone because of his or her color or because he or she is older or younger.
Does all this sound too simplistic? It's not. It is using our Constitution the way the founding fathers MEANT it to be used. It is not a complicated document. It was written to be used by the average citizen who could read and write in 1789. That would be anyone with the equivalent (today) of a 4th or fifth grade education. Redistribution of wealth? No. We are not socialists. We are a representative Republic. Read the Constitution and learn what it says. You must have a copy there someplace. Try the Library of Congress. Read and understand one of the most important documents in this country. It can solve many problems.
I got out of the nursing home in 1988 thanks to a very good Social Services worker who helped me use a little known program to pay a nurses' aide to take care of me in my own apartment. That program was the precursor to the “Home and Community-Based Waiver” (HCBW) which allows disabled Americans who would previously have been “warehoused” in nursing homes, to live at home with their families or in their own home. The HCBW pays a fraction of the cost of a nursing home and helps us feel more a part of the community. We serve very useful roles as mentors to those who are more recently injured, we work (if our disability allows) in our hometowns, and, in a few cases, hold public office.
As if fighting to stay healthy as I advance in years was not hard enough, I must now fight to keep Medicare and Medicaid from being cut again. I've already lost the Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA) increase in my SSDI for at least two years effectively reducing my SSDI. My Medicare Part B co-pay still increases even though my Social Security benefits don’t. If Medicare and Medicaid are cut too drastically, and the HCBW is adversely affected, I may end up back in a nursing home because Medicaid funds a significant part of the HCBW. That would also possibly put my caregiver out of a job and make her homeless.
Will Congresspersons be giving up their annual Cost Of Living Allowances (COLAs) as I'm being forced to do? No. Will their health insurance be cut as mine is being cut? No. Will they DEPEND on Social Security as their ONLY income when they retire? No. Will they worry about cuts in Medicare in their later years? No. Will they receive Social Security Retirement at age 67? YES! And they'll also receive their congressional wages AND COLAs for the rest of their lives. They'll also receive the same health insurance privileges they enjoyed as a congressperson for the rest of their lives. At first I fought for myself. Then I fought for the few dozen with severe disabilities I knew personally. Now I'm fighting for EVERYONE with a disability who relies on SSI, SSDI, Medicare, Medicaid and the dozens of government programs they depend on to prevent them from being shoved into a dark corner of a room and forgotten. That is exactly what being in a nursing home seemed like to a 21 year-old in 1971.
My color, sex, religion, sexual orientation and party affiliation don't matter and neither does yours. What you ARE doesn't concern me. What you DO as a voter or an elected official DOES concern me. That goes for Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, Representatives, Justices, Assemblymen, Aldermen and any other title used at the state and local levels. You hold the United States' collective futures in your hands. The Federal Government has spent more than $9 TRILLION in the last year to bailout various businesses in an attempt to “save our economy.” I think you went a little overboard and the President has thrown all of us to the sharks. Obama said he “had a health care plan that would cover every-body, would not add a single dime to the deficit, would not cost the taxpayers a single dime and would not be used to cover illegal immigrants.” It is, according to President Obama, to be funded by $500 BILLION from “doing away with the waste and fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs” and $400 BILLION in new taxes levied on those who earn more than $250,000 per year. Instead of a new healthcare plan, how about revamping the legal system by putting a cap on punitive damages awarded for malpractice suits? Instead of cutting Medicare and Medicaid spending by “doing away with waste and fraud,” how about just doing away with waste and fraud PERIOD? We could then expand the programs to cover more of those uninsured Americans. After all, if President Obama can cut the waste and fraud then he must KNOW where it is. Right? Add to that the fact that another health plan would mean dozens of more jobs would be needed to run the new program under another set of rules and regulations.
If President Obama “had a plan,” what is this bill authored by Max Baucus doing in the Senate? The Baucus bill will, by Baucus own admission, cost between $750 BILLION and $1.5 TRILLION over 10 years. If Obama is no longer supporting H.R. 3200 and is now supporting the Baucus bill, we are in for another fight. No one can yet read the Baucus bill because it has not been released to the public. Congress has figured out that we are now willing to read a bill that is 1,017 pages long and are doing their best to keep the Baucus bill secret from us until it’s too late for us to stop it. That is NOT what Congress is supposed to do.
We also don't need more “bailout plans” (“Cash for Clunkers,” “Lehman Bros.,” “AIG” etc.). We also don't need more “Czars.” Obama's 35 Czars are simply a way to circumvent Congressional oversight ability and pay individuals far more than a job WITH congressional oversight would allow. We don't need to solve all of the country's problems at once. Slow down the spending and think a while before acting. With Obama pushing them, the Democrats pushed through more bills and resolutions in 9 months than ever before. The founding fathers wrote into the Constitution a system of checks and balances with three branches of government. Let me correct that: FOUR branches of government. That’s right, I said FOUR BRANCHES of govern-ment. Do I now have your attention? That’s right: four. The way I see it, the founding fathers didn’t think they needed to state that the electors were the fourth branch because the electors decide who is in the other three branches. WE, the citizens, are the electors. WE, the citizens, employ THEM. They serve at our pleasure. Remember that when the next election day arrives.
The last election was, for the most part, decided by the mainstream press. They reported on personalities and played down or totally ignored the issues. Don’t let this happen again. Look at BOTH sides of the issues. Listen to more than one or two news sources. Read more than one newspaper and one news magazine. If we don’t educate ourselves on all the issues and all sides of all the issues then we haven’t done our part and don’t deserve the right to complain about what the government does. Remember that we are part of a government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people. The most important part of that last sentence is “BY” the people. Every time we vote we are deciding our own fate. We may not always succeed in electing our preferred representatives, but we must vote if we want the chance of doing so. Don’t elect someone because of his or her color or because he or she is older or younger.
Does all this sound too simplistic? It's not. It is using our Constitution the way the founding fathers MEANT it to be used. It is not a complicated document. It was written to be used by the average citizen who could read and write in 1789. That would be anyone with the equivalent (today) of a 4th or fifth grade education. Redistribution of wealth? No. We are not socialists. We are a representative Republic. Read the Constitution and learn what it says. You must have a copy there someplace. Try the Library of Congress. Read and understand one of the most important documents in this country. It can solve many problems.
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