While I hesitate to waste even a few seconds of my God-given time on this planet responding to Media Matters (you know, the “progressive” Media Matters… a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization dedicated to “comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media..”), with respect to this monstrocity of a bill, I SHALL “leave everything on the field” as they say.

So, in response to my post earlier titled “Words Mean Things,” in which I list just a few of the many words in the Senate health care bill that highlight the massive amount of power given to government at the expense of freedom, Media Matters wrote this dismissal.

What is so laughable about the liberal - er, uh, I mean “progressive” school of thought is the fact it simply ignores the Constitution until it suits “progressive” purposes (such as killing babies in the name of privacy - I wonder if Media Matters will do a word search for “privacy” or “penumbra” in the Constitution - but I digress), and even when “progressives” do tacitly acknowledge its existence, they ignore the rich history of its adoption.

The Constitution was, of course, the result of significant negotiation and compromise. Whether one agrees with the federalists of the day, the anti-federalists of the day, or finds himself in between - the reality is that the Constitution was all about power. That was its purpose. It’s a CONSTITUTION. It’s purpose was, and is, to use words like shall, may and tax, and to do so in a way that would be an acceptable balance of the power it would authorize.

Now, everyone with an elementary understanding of the history of our nation’s adoption of the U.S. Constitution understands this simple concept. They also understand that the Constitution was one that limited the powers given to the central or national government - and that by so limiting that power, any legislation offered by the Congress would not be about power-grabbing, but about focused legislation constrained by the limits imposed by the Constitution.

No one who has even an ounce of respect for the Constitution would suggest that this Obama/Reid Senate healthcare bill, the Pelosi House healthcare bill, or any variation thereof, fit within the limits given the national government.

They don’t.

The Senate healthcare bill has numerous flaws – but you needn’t know the details to know that it erodes freedom, restricts your ability to care for your family according to your wishes, costs trillions of dollars, increases taxes, increases premiums and is so massive that it is impossible to comprehend fully. In fact, the 2074 page behemoth in the Senate is an interesting study in word choices that tell you all you need to know about the bill. See below for a list of select words – and I am not the only one to do such a review (I noticed, e.g., Lee DeCovnick over at American Thinker from yesterday here).

The word “shall” appears 3607 times, but “freedom” only twice. The word “penalty” and its various forms 163 times, but “liberty” doesn’t appear at all. The word “require” and its forms 1025 times, but the “Constitution” is absent both literally and figuratively. The word tax and its forms appears 183 times, fee 234 times, and “Internal Revenue” 104 times. Other words like apply, rule, culture, diverse, enforce, provide, authority - all words that appear repeatedly, while a word like “own” appears only 11 times. See the full list below. It is quite telling.

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From the diaries, by Erick. Call 202-224-3121 right now.

People. Today should be a busy day since the Statists have once again scheduled a cowardly, nightime, weekend vote on healthcare.

Contact your Senators today urging them to vote ‘No’ tomorrow night to even begin debate. We can kill this thing tomorrow night if they can’t get 60 votes.

I just sent this to Senator Webb in Virginia, who being a veteran who fought for liberty and freedom I hope would still be open minded about this bill.

Senator Webb,

I am writing you to encourage you to vote ‘No’ on the Senate health care coming up for debate tomorrow night.

Vote ‘No’ so debate cannot proceed.

Vote ‘No’ to end debate should debate proceed.

Vote ‘No’ on the bill should it ever come up for a final vote.

You see, this bill is simply un-Constitutional. Nowhere in the founding document does it empower Congress to mandate the free (for now) citizens of this great country to purchase a product or service. Not the Commerce Clause. Not the ‘general welfare’ language. Nothing.

Not.A.Word.

I would encourage you and the junior Senator from our great Commonwealth to look back in time to 2 1/2 weeks ago, where the people of this great state overwhelmingly voted against the leftist policies of the junior Senator when he was Governor, and Gov. Kaine, and President Obama. The people of this country want MORE freedom not less. MORE opportunity not less and this health care bill robs the people who are the engine of this economy their ability and desire and means to produce and grow our economy. People want to be free and independent. You, of all people being a decorated veteran, should know this since you bravely fought for the very freedoms and liberties this bill would take away.

Resist the urge to vote with your leftist colleagues. Vote with the people you represent. Vote to kill this bill.

The people will not forget a ‘Yes’ vote in 2012.

Thank you.
Stephen Halsey

(H/T: Don Surber) The two Democratic branches of Congress aren’t precisely happy with each other right now:

Reid, Pelosi Swearing Match Over Omnibus

After an angry, swearing late night meeting among top Democrats, Congress voted Friday to give itself another five days to try to complete a long-overdue omnibus spending bill that had become a growing embarrassment for party leaders and President Barack Obama.

Senate Democrats had abruptly pulled back Thursday night after finding themselves one vote short of the 60 needed to cut off debate. The action infuriated Speaker Nancy Pelosi so much that the California Democrat wanted to abandon the $409.6 billion measure and instead push through a stripped-down continuing resolution to keep the government operating through Sept. 30.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) and his deputy, Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D.-Ill.) were called to Pelosi’s office late Thursday night and ultimately prevailed in their argument that Democrats should try to salvage the bill, which includes critical spending increases for vital agencies. But the heated, sometimes profane, exchanges were described as “ugly” by Democrats on both sides of the Capitol. Staff, kicked out in the hall, could hear the yelling, and Pelosi herself seemed a little abashed the next day, joking that nothing her leadership could say to her now would match the night before.

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Contra Wizbang and Roger Kimball, this is actually the latest estimate of Mark Zandi, not the Obama administration itself. What the Obama administration is merely doing is trying to lower the expectations of their debt bill:

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- President Barack Obama’s aides warned Americans on Sunday not to expect instant miracles from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill he will sign this week, but said it would help eventually.

[I'm snipping the nonsense about how this was Obama's first major legislative victory. The sentence should more properly read: "It was the legislature's first major victory over his young presidency." - ML]

“There will be signs of activity very quickly,” David Axelrod, the White House senior adviser, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “But it’s going to take time for that to show up in the statistics. The president has said it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.”

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