In sum, (to borrow a phrase) ‘what we have here is a failure to communicate.’

Moreoever, they’re afraid of the 10-second sound-byte.

does not know what is coming for them from the left and their partners in the MSM and is not capable of dealing with it then why are they the ones either in/running for office?

Given what has gone on in the last 72 hours, perhaps another ‘V’ word would be better. Vehemently, maybe. Oppose, absolutely but violence is not what is required.

But what we don’t need is the acquiescence that the current leadership seems to be contemplating. Leadership, after all, is hard work. If Senator McConnell isn’t up to the task, then perhaps someone else is. Perhaps Jim DeMint or perhaps someone running for the Senate for the first time would be better suited to LEAD the charge against this usurpation of sovereignty.

of pre-existing conditions. I could be insured and have a heart attack. If I lose my job or there is some other reason that my present insurance ends I am now uninsurable. Do you leave those people out in the lurch?

Or, there is a child with an inherited disease or condition. Would you permit the insurance companies to deny that person coverage when he or she reached adulthood?

Americans will reject a solution if they perceive it as penalizing someone who is sick through no fault of their own and can denied coverage. I’m no lib and I can see that. There has to be SOME answer that addresses both concerns — freedom and no mandate AND making sure that people who are vulnerable, again, through no fault of their own can be covered.

Once upon a time the Left was for individual liberty and equal treatment for all.

If nothing else disgusts one about this bill, the legislated inequality certainly should do so.

Three classes of Americans now exist -UNDER LAW:
1. The People
2. Government elected officials
3. Sr staffers of those elected officials.

The first of these three classes – We The People – now are to be FORCED to engage in UNWANTED commerce (the forced purchase of govt healthcare), essentially the government TAKING from us without due process, a violation of the takings clause in both the 5th and 14th Amendments – and so unconstitutional.

The second two groups, SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT STATUS within the Government, are NOT to be forced to engage in said commerce. Even if one were to make an exception for elected leaders, as they are exempt from arrest and trial for certain offenses during the Term, the exception for staffers disgusts.

Congress has passed, and the Executive has signed in to law, legislation making these groups unequal before the law. One group is to be forced to do something, the other groups excused from doing so.

Legislated inequality.

If that is not a violation of equal protection under the law, the 14th Amendment, then that Amendment means nothing at all.

But a desire to be in the “safe” minority. Too many who are in leadership positions know the warmth and safety of not sticking their head up thru that hole (ala Whack-A-Mole).

just because the Democrats passed a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it, signed by a radical, socialist president, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a Secretary who is clueless in consultation with a Surgeon General who is obese, and financed by a country that is broke!

One would think even irrational Mitch could see repeal is a winning position.

Call your dmnd congresscritter and DEMAND that they do it. I have been calling them all over the country. You should try it.

We will only get this done if we put the same pressure on them as we did on the Dems.

. . .to believe ones own BS. The Progressives have styled an entire system of socio-political thought on believing and acting upon things that demonstrably aren’t true. But the Republicans seem to be buying in as well, as though just because it is what is reported in the media, it is necessarily the case. As though people actually will “come around” to Obama’s timeless wisdom.

If the Media were to actually function for just one day, if it were to report the reality of the state of this nation and the feelings of the voters, it might well be enough to begin the undoing of Obama’s damage. Just one day. But since this is never going to happen, it is up to Republicans in power to see through the smokescreen and simply do what’s right. Protect the Constitution and those it in turn protects, at all costs. If they do what they know they should, they will win in the end. At the moment, we find ourselves in one of the Democrats’ self-congratulatory periods, and it is disgusting to watch. But, just like after the Inauguration, it is only a matter of time before the results of their actions catch up with them.

There is a reasoned logical debate that needs to be repeated over and over again by The Republican Party to the American people.

“It is Un-American to rob from future generations of Americans in order to selfishly maintain federal spending at our current levels.”

Every single republican politician that gets in front of a camera should repeat this statement to the American people every single time they speak and it should be done without fear. The vast majority of Americans are good decent people that would not be willing to “sell-out” their kids and their grandkids in this way.

But somehow politicians have the impression that we are a selfish, selfserving lot only interested in what we can get for ourselves. How did this happen? Is it because Americans have been falsely represented by certain special interest groups like the AARP? We need politicians with the courage to see their responsibility as patriots as more important than their jobs. It is time to be honest, brutally honest with Americans when it comes to our fiscal crisis.

I am frustrated over the inability of politicians to truly see the real nature of the average everyday American. I wonder if the veteran republican politicians in the party really have the will or intestinal fortitude to fight this battle for the coming generations. If they will not or cannot, then I wish they would step aside for the good of the country and allow others to take up the fight.

What republican politician wants to go down in history as unwilling to fight for this country and save it from future financial ruin? History will judge these politicians and this current generation if we destroy the future for our own gain.

NO MORE DEFICIT SPENDING!

NONE!

NOT ONE MORE DIME FOR ANY REASON!

If you are a politician in Washington DC and are reading this I ask you, will you stand up for this country or not?

It is not an option for the cowering meek portion of the Senate, to include the leadership, to continue to behave the way that they are. Too much is at stake!!. I take NO joy in slamming McConnell and the other cowering liberal Republicans…..but they MUST be continuously VERBALY pounded until they shift into action….even if they have to turn themselves inside out.

As you said….the bill is PASSED (for now.) The cordial rope-a-dope, be nice, be willing, attitude needs to be thrown in the garbage. The Dems. made it clear ….”blank you, GOP” and “and blank you, American people.” We are going to continue to behave illegally until we are stopped. We will force DemonCare, illegal amnesty, cap tax, and additional socialization and we don’t care if we are voted out for ten years. Our plans will ensure that it will not matter if the entire House and Senate were 100% filled with Ronald Reagans. The devastating destruction that we make to the Constitution and the economy will ensure we remain communist forever. The socialist programs and destruction of capitalism will force the entire country to be on the government payroll…and if you don’t vote Dem and join ACORN, you will not get paid or go to school.

WHAT DON’T YOU GET ABOUT THE DEVISTATION THIS IS TO THIS TO THE COUNTRY SENATE??? Your unwillingness to fight is approaching illegal or certainly full blown immoral at this point.

The plan is clear Senate. My junior Camp Fire Girl niece understands this!!! The disgraceful group in power is real evil and there “ain’t gunna be no talking about it or negotiating about it”……UNLESS YOU FORCE THEM TO BY FIGHTING…NOW. FIGHT whether you win every battle or not..AND FORGET ABOUT WHAT THE HUFFINGTON HAG OR DAVID FRUM WRITE THE NEXT DAY!!!

And if you can’t fight…have the honor to step aside and let those who are willing and know how to fight ….fight. THIS ISN’T AN OPTION. The cowering GOP Senators HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE CORDIAL RIGHT NOW. THE COUNTRY IS AT STAKE. FIGHT OR STEP DOWN.

Baby killers, that’s what they are and what they will always be.

Republicans want to put Grandma’ out on the ice flow and take sis’s baby and starve it to death. They would rather eat them if they thought they could get away with it. Harry & Co are going to teach them to roll over and beg for a bone, next.

If you cannot stand against the lie you will lie down for it.

Ours is a land of laws, which require both guts and brains to hold to. Administrators and legislators who don’t want to deal with being demonized shouldn’t run in the first place. Jello spines don’t support anything, especially a system of freedom that is both very heavy and very delicate.

When people let fear become their primary motivator then all they do is run, they’re forever on the run looking for a safe place to hide. And then in this particular case the rule of emotion takes full sway and our delicate system breaks under shortsightedness and intimidation.

I have discussed this in my blog (and diary here) over the past few days.

It really makes you question how sincere some of these Republicans were when they supposedly opposed the bill over the last year, but within a few days after its passage, have resigned to “well, maybe we might think about altering a few parts of it, maybe, a few years from now.”

Maybe they expect the tea parties to go away, or maybe they just take that sort of support for granted. We are well beyond ‘holding their feet to the flames’.

For some reason they really think that being McCain-like and trying to be as non-conservative and non-Republican as they can get while still being nominally Republican, is a good strategy.

with pre-existing conditions now. I believe if you have not been treated for a particular ailment in the last year, it isn’t considered pre-existing for insurance purposes. If you have been treated, there is a wait of between 6 months and 1 year for the insurance to cover that claim.

I’ve just been listening to Andrew Breitbart sitting in for Dr. Savage and Andrew’s words could inspire a quivering republican if they chose to listen.He went into great detail about the events staged by the democrats and the media after the health vote. It was fascinating. He also shared his experience and success with bullies. In a word, stand up to them, give them back what they gave you, and they usually back off. That’s also been my experience. One of my brothers used to punch and hit me when we were kids. After many years of this, I punched him back. He was shocked, and never hit me again.

I see the main problem with the Republicans is that they refuse to engage the progressives position that medical care is a right. To date, the msm and the dems position is the only one that the public hears.

Until conservatives can logically and persuasively convince the population that medical care is not a right, but a want, then we will lose this argument. It doesn’t matter how much it costs. Conservatives will always be seen as cruel to deny a “right”.

We need someone like Walter Williams or Milton Friedman to, in very simple understandable terms, explain that such a right does not exist, and it can’t exist, because such a right would bankrupt the country, destroy quality medical care, result in rationing, and eventually euthanasia.

Just my 2cents worth, and probably less.

I’m glad someone said it!
I have been rolling my eyes at Republicans who say the pre-existing condition “fix” is something we can all agree on.

I figured one of two things were at play here: either the Republican in question is a near-total nitwit with no knowledge at all of how health insurance works (a distinct possibility), or he/she doesn’t mind pandering to avoid being labeled as a mean, insensitive Republican who doesn’t care if sick people die. Never mind the fact that eliminating pre-existing condition clauses would do more to raise premiums than all the frivolous lawsuits in the world.

Maybe huge swaths of the electorate don’t understand this basic concept. If conservatives are to have a meaningful victory this November, they can’t pander. They have to educate and explain their policy positions to persuade. Not only will they win, but they’ll have a mandate, too.

I never got my teeth into the argument..it seems like simple arithmetic to me… an example with known costs of maintenance here…
Your condition costs $2,000.00 monthly to treat?
Ok, we’ll take you, lemme see here, $2,000.00 x 150% for operations and overhead…you know..profit too…plus your base policy of $500.00 per month that covers other stuff…$3,500.00 per month..your first 6 month policy will be $21,000.00 plus fee, we accept M/C Visa and personal checks after 10 days to clear…how would you prefer to pay for that? If you can’t swing it, well, we will inform the IRS and they can decide if you should Fined, imprisoned or both, but perhaps they may refer you to the shared risk pool…

So how could it be cheaper that just paying for it? Understand the known cost of the circumstance. Effectively in this situation, you are merely hiring a management company to handle billing.

I seem to recall during Clintons second term, he signed a bill, where you’d be covered for pre-exisiting conditions, as long as you had insurance when it came about. A fairly reasonable law, as it prevented people from waiting until there sick to get insurance.
The only catch was if you switched plans, it would be only covered as it would have been with your previous plan for the first18 months. Also not terribly unreasonable, as sometimes you have to change insurance, but this would prevent you from doing it just so that you’d get better coverage NOW for a pre-existing condition.
This was just about the only thing BJ did that I wasn’t dead set against ( the other item was re-appointing Greenspan )

This fight does not have a subset labeled “draw.”

So, senators, which will it be win? Or lose.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”

Knowingly letting that embodiment of a constitutional crisis stand is grounds for being primaried. We don’t want Nanny Fed. They can either get the picture or we find someone who does to take their place. I just couldn’t stomach a Republican hiding behind Queen Nancy’s health care monstrosity for one mnute, and less for even condisering it.

I was diagnosed last November with advanced prostate cancer. I went on a Leave of Absence from my employer – surgery was unsuccessful. My employer terminated my employment at the end of my 90 day LOA because I was unable to return to work. I am currently on COBRA, but wondering what happens to me and my family post-COBRA.

Obamacare is not the solution to coverage for pre-existing conditions (or cost control, or portability, or lower premiums, etc.), but I am suddenly *extremely* interested in finding a free market alternative. The Republicans need to have an alternative ready to launch ASAP when Obamacare is repealed. If the solution is high-risk pools, they need clear messaging explaining how these pools would work for those of us who have been left in medical limbo through no fault of our own.

They also need to push hard on the critical importance of portability. If my health insurance wasn’t dependent on my employer, I wouldn’t be in my current predicament.

I sent an email to Sen. John Cornyn yesterday about his feeble response to Obamacare. I got a letter this morning about why my unemployment benefits could not be extended.

With opposition like this to Obama, what could possibly go wrong?

well, forgive me, but that’s all I have to. Now 0bama is threatening you to repeal it? What should I expect the GOP to do? Nothing. This is an utter waste of time, I have been trying to make a difference for almost two years now, and what do I have to show for it, nothing. A bunch of impotent lazy ass GOP mother f’ers that are useless (4 f’in days is all we could manage in the Senate, freak em all), and a Media that changes the story to people like us threatening the Democrats, and we f’in take the bait?

The f’in scared GOP’ers won’t go after pre-existing conditions, well that’s the thing that’s going to screw it up for the majority of people. If you do not go after that, than no sense in repealing anything because the GOP are useless idiots. Of course there are about maybe 3 people in the Senate that are worth a damn. Yeah I am pissed.

WTF everyone, if you seriously think we made a difference in the GOP you are sadly mistaken because we have passed the line, no turning back, they got their control and no one is going to repeal it. Save your money and spend time with your family because we are powerless and you can stand around writing and working hard to stop something until your blue in the face but for what, nothing, and what about your family? I think its wiser to spend time with your family now, because no matter how much you think your helping to prevent future trouble for your children the more time you waste, this BS is going forward whether you like it or not. To attempt to stop a moving freight train of socialism is suicide! Just give-up, I have, not enough people and time left to stop this. See ya.

I hunt. There are moments during a hunt when the opportunity for a classic shot comes available. Things I write stories about. I get all giddy inside just before I drop the hammer.

This is one of them. I am excited at the opportunity Castro has provided the Republicans. Here is the commercial. The narrator says;

“One of Obama’s biggest fans, the designer of one of the world’s first nationalized healthcare systems congratulates Obama and the democrats on following his path. As you do the dialogue, show photos of a typical Cuban home, hospital, hospital bathroom (I saw it on another post, yuck!), what their clinics look like, the people standing in line, etc. Then end up with a photo of Castro and Obama side by side. Then have a caption, was this your idea of “hope and change?”

The left would go insane, but it would not be a lie. Even the bumper sticker mentality of much of America would be able to relate Castro to Obama. Frankly, I think we can put down the charade that Obama is anything but a hardcore leftist. So that defense they give him won’t work any longer either. Those Americans still on the edge and not sure would ask if Obamacare is so good, why is Castro supporting it?

That is a question no liberal can answer without looking like he is waving a communist flag.

The Republicans need to hammer Obama for what he truly is and quit being nice.

People, people… you just don’t get it… it’s a total “shell game” being played on you and Nobody is reporting on it.

While the concept of ‘Pre-existing Conditions’ being covered in this HC Reform bill, you need to pull the cover’s back on this one, as with the rest of the bill that Pelosi didn’t want you read, or know about.

As a cancer survivor, I know first-hand how the game is played… the bottom line is that ‘while you may not be denied coverage’, what they (both sides of aisle) aren’t telling you is that the COST for being covered by ‘Pre-existing Coverage’ will be astronomical for the majority of American’s.

Great examples would be:
Life Insurance… When I was ‘finally able’ to be considered for buying Life Insurance, I was NOT DENIED, but it would have cost me $1,000.00 per month and that was 4-yr’s ago.

Car Insurance… you are NOT DENIED auto insurance after you incur an accident, or pick-up a few tickets, etc. but it will cost you a considerable amount more to obtain it after the fact… and the same goes for this Provision in the bill.

Wake-up America!

I’m no scholar, but I’m no dummy either…here’s my two cents. Years ago, when I was a child, way, way back in the 60′s, almost nobody had health insurance. That was for the people who had really well paying jobs with something called “benefits.”

I grew up poor, in the bad ole south bronx, where nobody had any money, so we didn’t notice we didn’t either. The amazing thing was, that we went to the doctor when we were sick. We even got to go to the hospital. I was born in what used to be called a public hospital. These institutions had you sign a promissory note, and you paid your bill on a monthly basis. -What a concept. There are no public hospitals now.

My family has insurance now. My daughter’s last trip to the ER for a costs us $1600. The doctor spent 6 minutes with her. I remember my family doctor, from 1964, Dr. Rex made housecalls that lasted an hour or two and cost $10.

Healthcare costs have skyrocketed. Why? Not, I repeat NOT because of the evil health insurance companies, whose costs even according to barry and co. is responsible for only 4% of medical costs, but because misguided compassion for the poor led to the government interventions known as Medicare and Medicaid.

Because the left cannot imagine that average, working class people can actually get through their lives without eternally suckling on the government’s enormous mammary glands, they forced everyone to pay – through the nose and into the red – for these misguided programs. If they had left the people ALONE – what a concept – the escalating costs would not have exploded as they have because the FREE MARKET would have kept them low.

Fraud and waste and a lack of a free market for healthcare has caused insurance to be necessary for most of us. How ironic the very programs instituted to help the poor make it virtually impossible for them to get sick.

but I think we hoped he would at least be a semi-good Republican, especially where Obamacare was concerned. Not so. He made a statement that the Republicans don’t want to repeal the whole bill, especially the good parts like pre-existing conditions and some other parts, I don’t remember which. Wasn’t his biggest promise that he would fight Obamacare? Or did he mean just parts of it? His statement was in reference to the question- Do the Republicans want to repeal Obamacare.

Who have made their living, like the former “dreamboat” and always repulsive mr edwards, launching insane, literally insane lawsuits which equally insane juries have rewarded!

OOOOOH! I’ma gonna sue youuu! You missed that ingrown toenail when you were performing CPR on me! Malpractice! Malpractice!

Leave us alone. We do our jobs, support our kids, pay our bills. All we want is to be left ALONE.

Time to pull the cover’s back on another HCR rouse… or should I say, a topic best not discussed in public debate. Ok Nancy, they took your advise and didn’t ‘read the bill first’ and now we know why.

So let me get this straight… those Americans who decide to opt out of buying HC Insurance for themselves will incur anon-proportionate, “minimal” fine, compared to those of us responsible enough to pay the thousands of dollars annually to cover ourselves.

Point 1: they are fined $295 to $495 for not having insurance (hopefully it will be per family member not covered??) while I pay thousands of dollars in Premiums to cover not only myself, but for the millions of those under a certain income level who still won’t pay a dime into the system, not to mention the payroll tax associated with having an Out of Network plan so my family can continue to see our physicians??? Shouldn’t the penalty for opting out of coverage be worse then what others are paying annually for coverage as a means of “motivating” them to obtain coverage? This ‘fine’ would be comparable to placing a $10,000 fine on an athlete making $50M a yr. So I ask you all… “How many of us will chose to pay the fine instead of paying for HC Insurance? Do the math now… tens of millions of American’s will now drop their HC Insurance and opt to pay the $295 to $495. Now that’s a savings!! Maybe that’s what BO had in mind when he said our “premiums” would go down?

Point 2: Of equal, if not GREATER concern for ALL American’s, is that there are certain groups of people who will be EXEMPT from paying the FINES for non-coverage… did you know that America?? That’s right… it’s been recently revealed that there are certain groups exempt from paying for Insurance: Besides those making under a certain income, there are the Muslims (English translation for their ‘term’ is “Forbidden”); The Scientologists; and the Amish to name a few. Let’s see, how many more American’s will now drop their Insurance coverage and opt to pay the ‘fine’ versus Thousands for HC Insurance? Better yet, how many of us will consider changing our religions to benefit from this Loop-hole?

My bringing this up is not based on racial or anti-religious reasons… but instead; because “we” apparently are not all “created equal” when it comes to this HCR bill, as seen by other’s being exempt from its impact. Unions and their ‘cadillac’ plans exempt… This President and his Executive Administration (& families) not having to “join” this plan, and then there are those States who received ‘special deals” on Medicaid, airport funding, etc.

Wake up America!

point. The fine is actually the Greater of either $750 or 2.8% of your income, up to the price of an “average” policy.

As to people dropping their policy, why wouldn’t people just drop their policy now and pay $0 fine? I don’t understand that argument at all.

I agree with your second point.

Maybe barry or nancy will consider adoption?

Seriously, the issue of healthcare reform as an abstract notion must remain secondary to the core issue of this treasonable act. The government has no right to compel the people to buy anything under penalty of law. Period.

Everything else in it – the pork, the bribes, the “redefinition” of gender so as to sneak gay marriage thru the back door – no pun intended – the inequities in the law, the incredible, bankrupting cost, all of these things, valid as they are must be secondary concerns. We are not serfs to be ordered about by our masters.

If we do not hold fast here, on this point, we lose everything else. We know this to be a fact. Do you think fidel gives one rat’s tutu about whether Mr or Mrs Just An Average American can get a nose job? No, he sees this as what it is – the US, his greatest enemy is starting its journey to socialism and he, chavez and others like them will reap the benefits while our nation becomes a memory

I have explained this before but I will explain it again. Scotus will not repeal it. For decades both parties have been trampling on the U.S. Constituiton. There has been no challenges by either party either time.The Commerce clause has been used when it did apply and when it didnt apply. Thus the Commerce clause has become too broad. The Health Bill cant be repealed under the Commerce clause because it would open other possible suits regarding it. Congress has the sole power to tax. By hiring 16,500 new IRS agents to enforce the mandate they have created a tax authority. Therefore the Commerce clause will cover the mandate. The only recourse that the States might have a chance would be the increase in unfunded liabilties and then they would have to create a system based upon Federal guidelines. There is no guaranty that taxes would not have to be raised within the State to support it.

Pre-exisitng conditions for Children start immediately. High risk pools will be created for adults. High risk pools are more expensive,There will not be a program for competitive rates for them until 2014.

If you exclude people who can afford to buy Insurance but choose not to because they want to spend the money on someting else and the illegals then there are about 15 million people without Insurance. They are people with pre-existing conditions, people who have lost it temporarily because it is not portable and they are in between jobs and people who really cant afford it. There are also people who qualify for Medicaid and are not aware of it. It would be far cheaper and more efficient to address these 15 million and let the others reamain able to choose. The Problem is that this wealth re-distribution through Health Care will not work unless all those that are able to pay will be forced to pay. This is the same principle in Health Insurance today where costs are high because the people who have insurance must pay for the Hospitals that have to provide the service and the people that dont get the service do not pay.Credit cards have a high rate for the loan to compensate for those that dont pay for them etc,

This is not Health care reform. It is Health Insurance reform. Health care Stocks started going up in value the minute that ir was passed . If it had been adverse to them then they would have gone down. AARP is a big supporter of it because they all are salivating over the thirty two miilion new prospects for their Health Care divisions and since Amnesty for illegals is the next Bill that will be pushed through with the same process then they will have another
12 million more prospects.