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Health Reform: With public support in free fall, the twin outrages of secrecy and haste may kill the congressional Democrats' health wrecking plan. But the stake hasn't yet been driven into its heart. After scrapping the destructive "public option" and the (arguably worse) Medicare buy-in to get the support of moderates, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now risks losing crucial liberal votes. But don't believe the Democrats' radical transformation of the U.S. health care system is dead until you see its Dracula-like corpse fully decomposed in the ground. Dr. Van Helsing may have found garlic and crucifixes handy against the...

On "The Senate Doctors Show" Sen. John Barrasso, M.D., and Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., discuss the Democrats' health care reform bill. They note the cuts in Medicare and how a Washington takeover of health care would affect health care.

Democrats in the Senate still face a filibuster threat from within their own party as they try to push health care legislation to a vote, though the key holdout says he's merely interested in "getting it right." Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson said Thursday he was unsatisfied by a proposed compromise on the issue of federal abortion funding in the Senate's health care reform bill -- but even if that is resolved, he still might support a filibuster if other issues he has raised aren't addressed. A spokesman for Nelson told Fox News on Thursday that the Nebraska Democrat also is...

Gandhi . . . King . . . Mandela . . . Solzhenitsyn . . . Olbermann . . . OLBERMANN?? Wha-aa?? Yes, Keith Olbermann, the Wussiest Person in the World, is ready to join the ranks of heroic dissidents of the past in going to JAIL for his beliefs! I can just see his future memoirs: "The Long Island Archipelago." "Letters from a Bridgehampton Jail." KO's life and career will become the stuff of legend. Movies will be made: "Inflictus." "The Golf Shank Reduction." Ben Affleck will find work again. Songs will be written: "We shall Olbermann someday."...

Most people involved in public affairs fall into two grand schools: Some believe that America is a unique nation, a nation built upon extraordinary and good moral values, and a country which is a microcosm of what the world should be. These people need not be Americans. Churchill, for example, was an unabashed admirer of America. Other people believe that America is simply a very arrogant country, a nation inhabited with bumpkins who believe too much in God, and because of its religious faith and confidence, the antithesis of what the world should be. This animus flourishes outside America, but...

Minnesota must be so proud of this moron, Franken has the chair and denies Lieberman an additional moment to finish his remarks saying "I object" while sitting in the chair, McCain scolds Franken and said it was the first time he has ever seen this...BTW, If a Republican has done this all H*** would break loose...(Video)

(912 on the mall) The left's anti-American coup d'etat on America, made possible by the first radical Marxist in the White House, calls for distinctly American counter measures. Dr. Jack Wheeler has "a strategy for any Republican wanting to get elected or re-elected to Congress in 2010, and for any Tea Partyer wanting to take individual action now against a government that ignores the Constitution -- Defund and Disobey." Here's an excerpt of "The Double -D Strategy for rescuing America": Let's talk about the Defund D first. The Founders in their usual brilliance place the power of the purse in...

If we don't pass health reform, millions of Americans will be trapped in a broken status quo, unable to pay their bills or see a doctor when they need one. More and more employers will drop coverage for employees. And Medicare and Medicaid will blow a hole through our budget. There's too much at stake not to get this done. That's why OFA supporters have made 849,856 calls to Congress in support of health reform since August. And that's why today, with the Senate locked in last-minute negotiations, our goal is to hit one million calls. Can you help? Please...

Here is video put out by the Senate Republican Conference which uses the Democrats' own words to reveal their dishonesty in the way they have conducted the Health Care Debate in Congress. The video simply shows clips of Democrats promising "transparency" last year, and leading up to the debate, and then shows how the debate has been conducted in secret and behind closed doors and without allowing GOP input and participation. . . . (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON -- After nearly a year in office, the defining political image of President Barack Obama has yet to emerge. Is he a hawk or dove, a liberal or a moderate? His Nobel Peace prize speech exposed his ambivalence. He harkened back to the Roman Catholic theologians to defend his "just war" in Afghanistan -- but he also expressed his ideals for a better world. Measuring Obama’s performance is truly in the eyes of the beholder. To those who were enthralled with Obama’s eloquence in the presidential campaign, reality is setting in. News flash: He doesn’t walk on water. But...

I recently suggested that seniors will die sooner if Congress actually implements the Medicare cuts in the health-care bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. My colleagues who defend the bill—none of whom have practiced medicine—predictably dismissed my concern as a scare tactic. They are wrong. Every American, not just seniors, should know that the rationing provisions in the Reid bill will not only reduce their quality of life, but their life spans as well. My 25 years as a practicing physician have shown me what happens when government attempts to practice medicine: Doctors respond to government coercion...

The battle between former Democratic Party Chief Howard Dean got ugly today, as Dean said he would support Obama for re-election but not vigorously. The Political equivalent of a declaration of war. He was basically saying that he would sit on his hands in 2012 and has one of the leaders of the Progressive movement, that statement is a hint for his supporters to do the same. Dean's battle with the Obama administration became public a few days ago when Dean, who was ousted from his party chairmanship by Obama after the successful 2008 campaign, suggested that so much as...

Now, finally, we can all agree on something — the individual mandate should be killed. Check out Keith Olbermann's "special comment" about the individual mandate last night. It's (inadvertently, of course) laugh-out-loud funny at times, including his pledge to become an insurance criminal at the end: "Brand me a lawbreaker, if you choose. Fine me, if you will. Jail me, if you must."

Johnny Hart and Brant Parker, creators of the marvelous Wizard of Id and B. C. cartoon strips, penned an Id cartoon decades ago about the real Golden Rule, which portrayed subjects of the vertically challenged and uncharitable king discussing the golden rule—“He who has the gold, makes the rule.” If Hart and Parker were still with us, they would have seen their golden rule modified to include a new political golden rule unveiled in the Senate on Wednesday. A little background: On Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced a tediously long amendment to the current health care legislation being...

This is momentous news, harrowing news if you are a Democrat that wants Obamacare passed at all costs. The powerful and very rich Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is wavering in its until now stated support of Obamacare. The Hill is reporting that the SEIU just backed out of an event promoting the Senate's healthcare bill over "concerns" about the changes that have recently been made to get the support of Joe Lieberman and centrist Democrats. Apparently the SEIU was going to attend a rah-rah session with the AARP, the liberal advocacy group Families USA, Consumers Union and the American...

Big Labor has, for the most part, fallen all over itself to help its patron President get his Obamacare policies passed in Congress spending millions to do so. If Obamacare should pass many millions will lose their healthcare and will be forced into government healthcare. According to the CBO at least 10 million will lose their insurance in short order. The CBO is likely lowballing the number, too. That means many people that now have insurance through their employers will lose it and, thereby, lose some of their compensation and that brings up a major point that few people are...

President Obama needs an exit strategy. I am not referring to Afghanistan or Iraq (though there are quite a few similarities between the situation Obama is in on health-care reform and the political difficulties President George W. Bush faced on Iraq). Congressional Democrats and Obama are headed toward a "catastrophic success" politically if they pass health-care reform in its current legislative form. And catastrophic success was a term then-President Bush used on Iraq when he acknowledged the great initial victory but didn't take into account the long-term calamity and costs. I am not seeking to argue the substance of health...

Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos, one of the Left’s leading blogs, is fuming. For months, he has been leading the charge on Obamacare, drumming up support amongst Democrats while keeping the Left’s many camps united behind one goal: passing a health-care bill. Now, with Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) caving to one senator after another, Moulitsas sees his cause being destroyed by his own side. And he’s fighting back. In a post on his website, Moulitsas writes that if Reid’s bill is gutted of a public option, but still includes an individual mandate, then it should...

Liberal outrage over the Senate's health care reform bill is reaching a boiling point, with a number of organizations, unions and House Democrats warning that the watered-down version they see creeping toward a vote will not survive in its current form. - snip - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer complained Tuesday about the "psychology of one" in the Senate -- a not-so-veiled shot at Lieberman. He said the House would not rubber stamp the Senate bill once it returns to his chamber without changes.  "That's not going to happen," he said. "There are significant differences."  Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.,...

WASHINGTON — Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson — the moderate Democrat whose opposition is holding up the Senate's health care bill — says new language on abortion doesn't satisfy his concerns.

In a blatant attempt to slip into law a healthcare bill nobody has seen, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has kept hidden the actual healthcare legislation while putting forth a false bill for debate on the Senate floor--Reid's ruse. This is the charge by GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

The government is headed for bankruptcy if Congress doesn't pass healthcare reform, President Obama warned today. "[I]f we don't do this, nobody argues with the fact that health care costs are going to consume the entire federal budget,” Obama told ABC's Charlie Gibson in an interview airing tonight. Healthcare costs are growing so rapidly that "the federal government will go bankrupt" is drastic steps aren't taken, he added. “[Healthcare reform] actually provides us the best chance of starting to bend the cost curve on the government expenditures in Medicare and Medicaid," Obama said.

Pro-Life Groups: Casey's Abortion-Health Care Compromise No Good Washington, DC -- Pro-life organizations say the so-called "compromise" that Sen. Bob Casey presented late Wednesday to Sen. Ben Nelson to get him to vote for the pro-abortion government-run health care bill is no good. The National Right to Life Committee and Family Research Council say the language keeps abortion funding in the bill. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5780.html

The healthcare reform plan was written by the President's good friend, Andy Stern, who heads SEIU, which contributed $60 million to the 2008 Obama campaign. SEIU also gave millions to Health Care For America NOW!, which advocates a plan, not surprisingly, that is nearly identical to the President's.

Barack Hussein Obama had to fall off his highchair with that statement just after dictating to Dems to keep in step with the Anointed One. The Marxist Muslim stood there, looking America in the face, and stated he hoped we grassroots citizens would all read the “health care” bill. We would all read the bill? Yes. That is what the liar said, straight-faced. And not only once but three times in a desperate row, anxious breaths in between each. Remember lying is a virtue for Islamics per Allah.

GEORGE WEIGEL COLUMN   December 16, 2009 The many moral questions in health-care reformThe Catholic Church in the United States has done a public service during the recent health-care debate by keeping a crucial proposition in play: no reform should reverse the 32-year-old national consensus that keeps the federal government out of the business of funding abortions. Defending that proposition will not get any easier in the weeks ahead, but it must be done. The defense of the inalienable right-to-life is not the only moral principle involved in the health-care debate, however.  There are several other such principles and social...

Thursday, December 17, 2009 ‘And here’s the most outrageous part: at the end of this rush, they want us to vote on a bill that no one outside the Majority Leader’s conference room has even seen. That’s right. The final bill we’ll vote on isn’t even the one we’ve had on the floor. It’s the deal Democrat leaders have been trying to work out in private’ WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday regarding the importance of getting it right on health care reform: “Senators on both sides acknowledge...

Jim Huber, 59, calls himself "a union dirt guy." He has worked in the same Maryland steel mill for 41 years, where his father and grandfather worked before him and where his son now works, too. Huber makes a base salary of $42,000 per year as an electrician in the plant. He drives a Ford pick-up truck and lives in a row house across the street from the house where he grew up. Although he had hoped to retire from the mill years ago, a bankruptcy at his company slashed his pension by more than half. "It looks I won't...

December 16, 2009 Mr. greg happel ... Dear Friend: I appreciate you taking the time to express your interest in health care reform. I am proud to be a cosponsor of the patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which will lower costs, guarantee affordable coverage for all Americans, improve the quality of care, and reduce our federal budget deficit. We can no longer settle for the status quo in our health system. Our current health care system leaves nearly 50 million Americans without insurance, including nearly 300,000 in Iowa. People can be denied coverage because of preexisting conditions, and...

Here is a video report from CBS News this morning which says that the fate of the Senate Health Care Bill is now down to one vote - Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. According to sources, Democrats are "negotiating furiously" with Nelson to get his vote. Democrats want a vote on the Bill before Christmas, which would mean they have to file for a final vote on the bill by this Saturday - December 19. . . . (VIDEO)

Olbermann joins call to kill billAndy Barr – 29 mins ago Keith Olbermann became the latest progressive icon to voice opposition for the Senate health care reform bill on Wednesday. Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s “Countdown,” wrote in a post on the Daily Kos that he agrees with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who has told numerous media outlets that because the bill provides too many concessions and does not constitute real reform, Democrats should “kill the bill.” “There could not be a finer line between the words compromise and compromised and tonight, with the greatest possible reluctance, I believe I...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said late Wednesday that he cannot support the Democrats' healthcare reform legislation in its current form. Earlier on Wednesday, Sanders described himself as "undecided" on the bill. Asked by Fox Business Network's Neil Cavuto asked Sanders if he could support the compromise bill. The senator replied "I’m struggling with this. As of this point I am not voting for the bill. And here’s why." Sanders, who favors a single-payer healthcare system, said that he has informed the White House and Democratic leadership of his position.

President Obama is about to accomplish what many previous Democratic presidents have tried to do, and failed. At least that's what the White House spin would be, and it will largely be echoed throughout the Democratic Party. No, they will say, the health care reform bill won't have a public option, but it will extend coverage to millions of people and provide a framework to build on for the future. You would expect the liberals who put him in office to be thrilled. They're not. Here are a couple of highlights from the liberal blogosphere: Taylor Marsh (Huffington Post) "Pres....

Keith Olbermann ended his broadcast tonight with one of his Murrowesque reports from the health care battlefield. He acknowledges, however, there has been no war as he desperately quotes Churchill in his opening of a promised special commentary on health care reform: "Our loyal, brave people ... should know the truth. ... they should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war." Oh the drama. Given the choice of this "perversion of health care reform" or jail, Olbie chooses jail. After railing for a few minutes over the moderates in the Democratic party, Republicans, bipartisanship and a bizarre...

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, the key Democrat hold-out in pushing health care reform forward in Washington, adamantly says his vote is not for sale at any price. Answering Reporters questions Wednesday, the moderate Nebraska Democrat was asked about a blog that claimed the White House is threatening to close Offutt Air Force base in Bellevue if Nelson does not vote for the plan. Nelson called those reports false and says they're being spread by bloggers, talk show hosts and columnists with political agendas. Nelson maintains he is against federal funding for abortion being included in the bill and has reservations...

On Tuesday, Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical Association (CMA), announced that he is canceling his membership to the American Medical Association as a public protest of the group's endorsement of the House health care bill and its promotion of liberal social policies. “I can no longer associate with or support and organization that is unscientific, unprofessional and controlled by special interests,” said Dr. Stevens in a letter to the AMA earlier this week. Dr. Stevens has also urged the 17,000 members of the CMA to “carefully consider if they should continue their memberships,” citing reasons such as...

'Reform' still stinks: Health bill remains bad news NY Post ^ | December 16, 2009 | SALLY PIPES Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 5:55:33 AM by Scanian Yesterday, the Senate's Democratic leadership blinked first in its showdown with Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.). Desperate for the crucial 60th vote needed to pass their health-reform package, Senate leaders capitulated to Lieberman's demands that the bill drop both the public option and a provision to let those aged 55 to 64 buy into Medicare. But even without these two controversial proposals, Sen. Harry Reid's reform package represents an unprecedented -- and expensive...

Nelson successfully tacked on an amendment to the sprawling Senate health care reform bill that would prevent cuts to Medicare Advantage plans offered in high cost areas -- particularly Florida but also New York and California.

Given the tragic comedy that Health Care Reform has become, it is probably best for all involved to table talk of reform until coherent, thoroughly understood, language can emerge. Language that will make sense to spend a trillion dollars to realize. No one will ever be happy with any of the current proposals, and it is foolish just to pass a bill just because the President wants us to.

Dear Mr. Rand, Recently you sent us a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. I know it is not what you were looking for, but this is the most honest response I can give you. Our gap in coverage is merely a microscopic symptom of the real problem, a deepening lack of faith. While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long admired the AARP goals and principles, regrettably, we can no longer endorse it's abdication of our values. Your letter specifically stated that we can count on...

Illusions and bitternessDecember 16, 2009, 5:42 pm There’s enormous disappointment among progressives about the emerging health care bill — and rightly so. That said, even as it stands it would take a big step toward greater security for Americans and greater social justice; it would also save many lives over the decade ahead. That’s why progressive health policy wonks — the people who have campaigned for health reform for years — are almost all in favor of voting for the thing. The argument about the evil of the individual mandate is,as Jon Cohn says, all wrong. It was wrong during...

You know I can tolerate Democrats turning on each other. But I have to draw the line on Obama bashing. He is "the One"! Remember the days in the Spring when Obama's popularity was going to get everything he wanted passed? What happened to that DU line "It will take eight years to clean up this mess" ? Liberals turning on him in less than 11 months. Does this mean the campaign is over? Hope and Change over yet? If he loses democrats, who is left? (Not me!) Checkout the goldmine of complaining I found at DU, Examples at blog...

The Twelve Days of Health Care On the first day of Health Care Obama gave to us: A Fine for no Health Coverage On the second day of Health Care Obama gave to us: Two Backroom Deals and a Fine for no Health Coverage On the third day of Health Care Obama gave to us: All illegals covered Two Backroom Deals and a Fine for no Health Coverage On the fourth day of Health Care Obama gave to us: Big Pharma payoffs All illegals covered Two Backroom Deals and a Fine for no Health Coverage On the fifth day of...

Politics: If the Democrats' stitched-together Frankenstein monster of health care reform gets the 60 votes to get through the Senate, it will have been done through an assortment of bribes and brass knuckles. (snip) Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, has also been critical of the buy-in and public option, but he has an additional issue about whatever comes out of the Senate not involving public funding of abortion in any way. Michael Goldfarb on the Weekly Standard blog quotes a Senate aide as saying the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the...

"If we don't pass it, here's the guarantee….your premiums will go up, your employers are going to load up more costs on you,"

You would think that during the Holiday Season politicians would try to have the Christmas "Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Man" spirit, but not this year. The fighting going on in the Beltway is totally disgusting. I am not talking about the traditional Democrat vs. Republican Partisanship, no this is all about the brewing Democrat vs. Democrat Civil War. The anger over the recent dropping of the medicare and public options is real, extreme and very public. "Insurance companies win," DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas declared Tuesday. "Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate." If healthcare reform ultimately...

Barack and the Democrats will throw grandma from her scooter and give it to Jose.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told CNSNews.com that Congress has the authority to force individual Americans to buy health insurance because the U.S. Constitution “charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people.” The words “health” and “well-being” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution. The Congressional Budget Office has determined that in the entire history of the United States the federal government has never mandated that Americans buy any good or service. Both the House and Senate health care bills, however, include provisions that require all legal residents of the U.S. to purchase health insurance, a provision whose constitutionality...

A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques. At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards away from where Osama Bin Laden’s airborne Islamist bombers killed nearly 3000 people back in 2001....

Just an interesting observation. According to the latest NBC/WSJ poll Obamacare currently has 32% supporting it. According to the most recent Gallup Poll, Tiger has dropped to 33% approval from 85%. So, Obamacare is now less popular than Tiger. Yes We Can