Monday, November 23, 2009

The Way Forward From Here

Sixty Senators voted to proceed to debate health care. There will be another shot at stopping it through filibuster.
Mary Landrieu, after getting $300 million in the bill for Louisiana, voted for it.
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas not only voted for it, but now favors a public option.
Voters will remember.
Along the way, there seems to be divisions shaping up within the Democratic Party. Amendments will be offered to try to patch up differences.
Republicans should exploit this. Drag out consideration of the bill as those divisions grow, then offer amendments to exploit the divisions.
As I have said before, if Republicans work to improve the legislation, they presuppose its passage. Instead, the GOP should plan for the destruction of the bill by offering amendments designed to divide and fracture the Democrat coalition.                                                                                                                                    How do you think we should move forward? And what should we do to give the power back to we the people?

29 comments:

  1. We must divide the Democrats like they divided the Republican party. Now the Republicans are getting back to their conservative roots we must divide the Democrats. This isn't about Democrat ans Republican. It's about liberal and conservative dividing the parties. Never forget that they are the 20% fringe and we are the 80% moderate to conservatives. And never stop bitching in public about Obama and his liberal agenda. Plant the seeds of discontent in everyone you see.

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  2. Chris, In my opinion a Conservative is not 'moderate' or 'neo' or 'lite' for that matter. By adhering to the ideology and the Constitution a Conservative is just that,a Conservative.

    It is the Republican Party politicians and some voters who vary in one degree to another and where those add-on's belong.

    I would agree that liberal is fringe to American politics in general but is driving the Democratic Party-from the top.

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  3. All we can do is keep pointing out what a true mess this proposed takeover of the health care system by the government is. Case in point, this item from A Conservative Teacher's blog (ACT has some links in the story, so go here if you wish to access those http://aconservativeteacher.blogspot.com/2009/11/assisted-suicide-funding-is-in.html):

    Assisted Suicide Funding is in the Healthcare Bill
    Over at First Thoughts I saw this post that is an interest to anyone who is following the attempts by the Democrats to nationalize 1/6 of the US economy- Senate Version of Obamacare May Require Public Option to Cover Assisted Suicide.

    That's right boys and girls, in addition to your tax money going to support abortion (likely in Senate version) and supporting panels that will consul seniors to just die instead of costing the system more (Death Panels Are in the Healthcare Bill ), your tax money is also going to be funding people who kill other people.

    Check out section 1323 of the bill creating the public option (p. 183), beginning at page 186:
    (F) PROTECTING ACCESS TO END OF LIFE CARE.—A community health insurance option offered under this section shall be prohibited from limiting access to end of life care.

    If assisted suicide, or even euthanasia, are legally considered forms of “end of life care” in a particular state–as it is now the case in Oregon, Washington, and Montana–it seems to me that the community health insurance option would be required to provide “access” to assisted suicide under this clause.

    This 'healthcare bill' has to be one of the most morbid bills ever- a bill that gives money and support and funding to killing people in many different ways. It is not shocking that people who value human life oppose its passage. What is stunning to me is that people who value human life support its passage. IT GIVES MONEY TO KILL PEOPLE. Abortion, death panels, assisted suicide- they're all in the bill. What kind of a country pays to kill people?

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  4. And a majority of the people do NOT support this power grab. Only the Democrats support it, assuring that if they DO pass this mess, there should be a substantial power turnover in the next elections:

    Support for Health Care Plan Falls to New Low
    Monday, November 23, 2009

    Just 38% of voters now favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the lowest level of support measured for the plan in nearly two dozen tracking polls conducted since June.

    The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% now oppose the plan.

    Half the survey was conducted before the Senate voted late Saturday to begin debate on its version of the legislation. Support for the plan was slightly lower in the half of the survey conducted after the Senate vote.
    Prior to this, support for the plan had never fallen below 41%. Last week, support for the plan was at 47%. Two weeks ago, the effort was supported by 45% of voters.

    Intensity remains stronger among those who oppose the push to change the nation’s health care system: 21% Strongly Favor the plan while 43% are Strongly Opposed.

    Rasmussen Reports is continuing to track public opinion on the health care plan on a weekly basis. Next week’s Monday morning update will give an indication of whether these numbers reflect a trend of growing opposition or are merely statistical noise.
    (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

    Only 16% now believe passage of the plan will lead to lower health care costs. Nearly four times as many (60%) believe the plan will increase health care costs. Most (54%) also believe passage of the plan will hurt the quality of care.

    As has been the case for months, Democrats favor the plan while Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party are opposed. The latest numbers show support from 73% of those in the president’s party. The plan is opposed by 83% of Republicans and 70% of unaffiliated voters.

    Other recent polling shows that Democrats consider health care reform to be the top priority for the president. Republicans and unaffiliated voters see deficit reduction as most important.

    Among the nation’s senior citizens, 34% favor the health care plan and 60% are opposed. A majority of those under 30 favor the plan, but a majority of all other age groups are opposed

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  5. And then there's this: Reason TV: Will ObamaCare kill medical innovation?

    http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/23/reason-tv-will-obamacare-kill-medical-innovation/

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  6. And this item. Seems our lawmakers have their fingers in lots of pies, and they do unusually well in the stock market:

    Policy, portfolios and the investor lawmaker
    As stock ownership rises in Congress, experts warn of potential ethics concerns
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112202217.html?sid%3DST2009112202303

    And one of those pies is, surprise surprise, health care industries.

    In particular I like these passages:

    When Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) this summer proposed a $4 billion tax on medical-device firms to help offset the cost of health-care reforms, an unusual mix of lawmakers joined in a chorus of protest.

    THIS STORY
    Policy, portfolios and the investor lawmaker
    Interactive table: Congressional ownership of medical device stock
    Chart: Contending with conflicts (pdf)
    Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a liberal from the Northeast, warned that the tax could undermine companies developing "new technology that saves lives and money."

    Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), a conservative from the Midwest, cautioned that the tax would "harm our districts' economies, impede innovation and ultimately deny access to lifesaving medical devices."

    Because their politics rarely align, the shared opposition underlined something else Kerry and Sensenbrenner have in common: millions of dollars of family wealth invested over the years in the companies that make medical devices.....

    Lawmakers are more than just ardent investors: They're unusually successful ones, according to two statistical studies done several years ago by a group of academic researchers.

    After examining trading data contained in financial disclosure forms from 1985 to 2001, the researchers found that congressional portfolios have regularly outperformed those of average Americans over the years. The report said a "portfolio that mimics the purchases of House members beats the market by 55 basis points per month."

    The researchers, whose findings were presented at a congressional hearing in July, said the statistics suggest that those unusual returns must be based on lawmakers' access to "government and important social contacts."

    "No one else has this kind of success, not even mutual fund or hedge fund managers," said Georgia State University professor Alan J. Ziobrowski, one of the researchers. "It's no accident."

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  7. If deficit reduction is a big priority, will you support a war tax to pay for the wars that George W. Bush lied us into?

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  8. John,I caught the same piece by Reason and posted it,,,good eye my friend. Too important to the issue to miss!

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  9. Nice straw man Brucie. What does the liberal's lack of spending control have to do with the price of tea in China?

    Also what is nice about your comment Brucie is it just shows you merely copying and pasting MoveOn.org's talking points. Have you EVER had an original thought in your life Brucie?

    http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/23/obey-tax-the-rich-if-you-want-troops-for-afghanistan/

    My favorite part of the above article is the eloquence with which Obey speaks, to wit:

    "There ain’t going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan,”

    Watch the triple negatives Obey! If Bush had said something so stupid and convoluted, libs would have been all over him. Instead people like Brucie hold this guy up as an elder statesman.

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  10. Christopher - But remember, when Republicans do it, they are greedy and dishonest at best. When Democrats do it, they are looking after the poor, the needy, the have-nots. Hypocrites.

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  11. Hmmmm... Doctors have to take the Hippocratic Oath... do Democrats and lieberals have to take the hypocritic oath?

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  12. And of course the Democrats are dishonest about their health care government takeover, especially as it relates to mandatory increases in state spending on Medicaid:

    Editorial: House health bill would hit Michigan with $500M Medicaid hike
    http://www.detnews.com/article/20091123/OPINION01/911230304/1008/opinion01/Editorial--House-health-bill-would-hit-Michigan-with-$500M-Medicaid-hike

    Lurking in the federal health care reform bill passed by the U.S. House is a Medicaid balloon payment that potentially would add as much as $500 million to Michigan's budget challenges when it came due a decade from now. It's a major concern to the state.

    The House proposal would lead to a dramatic increase in state Medicaid rolls by boosting the minimum income for adult eligibility to 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

    Michigan couldn't afford that kind of an added budget line item -- now or then -- and Congress shouldn't mandate it.

    The state's $2.3 billion community health budget, 90 percent of which is Medicaid, already eats up more than a quarter of Michigan's General Fund budget. Over the past decade, the number of recipients has grown to almost 1.7 million from 1.1 million, and the expense has gone up more than 40 percent.

    Medicaid costs traditionally are funded through a federal-state partnership -- normally about a 60 percent-40 percent split in Michigan. The program currently covers low-income adult residents whose earnings are at the federal poverty income level and children whose parents' earnings are 200 percent of the federal poverty income level.

    President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress aim to include more Americans in the Medicaid program as part of their effort to dramatically reduce the number of people who lack health care coverage.

    Fiscal analysts say the House proposal would make as many as 500,000 additional Michigan residents eligible for Medicaid coverage in 2013, when the proposal would take effect.

    Michigan initially wouldn't feel the brunt of this change because the House-passed measure obligates the federal government to pick up 90 percent of the cost. The feds also would pick up 90 percent of what Michigan spends on mental health care for the poor, offsetting most or all of Michigan's remaining tab.

    As with a balloon mortgage, however, the whammy would come at the end of the five years, in 2019, when the federal Medicaid match could drop back to the customary 60-40 formula.

    It's another reason a more substantive examination of all of the bill's consequences is needed before it is rushed into law.

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  13. If all of the money now being spent on health insurance were simply rerouted into a single payer system, would that not be enough to pay for everyone to have access to healthcare? The compromise that is being pushed is a complex monstrosity like the one Massachusetts imposed on its people that doesn't actually cover anyone and fines those who don't send money to corrupt health insurance companies.

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  14. Why don't you stop trying to obstruct health care reform and get on the right side of history and get a mop?

    Republicans never learn. They were on the wrong side of Medicare and Social Security.

    Now they will be on the wrong side of health care reform.

    I agree with God of Bacon. Single-payer would be the cheapest and most effective, but if Republicans are blocking the current plan, there is no way to politically get to single-payer in one jump.

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  15. We are not trying to stop health care reform. We are trying to stop the wrong kind of health care reform. If we would have stopped the stupid porkulus bill we would be in better shape right now and in a lot less debt. I like the way the weak democrats blame everything on the Republicans when they are the one in charge. If the Democrats had a halfway decent bill it would pass with all the Democrats and some Republicans. But in stead none of the Republicans like it and most moderate Democrats are afraid of this POS bill.

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  16. Idiot Bruce. Democrats had their chance with Medicare and Social Security, and look where those got us. Those are THE two biggest ponzi schemes ever, on the verge of collapse, and now you liar Democrats want to re-create that scheme with a government takeover of health care, in part to cover the mess of Medicare. God only knows what you liar Democrats will try to rescue the mess of Social Security. And if Republicans, being on the "wrong" side of those two idiotic systems, well I don't want to be right! I can't believe Bruce that YOU are still trying to claim that Medicare and Social Security are two programs to be proud of?!!? What color is the sky in your world Bruce, because even the Dems aren't making THOSE claims any more!

    Bruce, instead of the nonsense that you always write, why don't you tell me what is wrong with what I have written? Your Democrats are in bed with the health care industry and the trial lawyers, they are totally lying about the costs, including dumping much of the costs on the states in the form of increased Medicaid, they are lying about making cuts to Medicare... it is the biggest boondoggle ever.

    You never did tell me Bruce how you feel about the government forcing your daughter to buy health insurance.

    Bruce, you are a liar and you have no argument for your government takeover of health care. Fool.

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  17. We need to do what the liberals have been doing for decades. We need to have die ins and rallies. We need to get in their face.We need to take it to the streets. The liberals beat another black woman at a health care reform rally. We need to intimidate these people the way they intimidated us. Organize and put the fear of God in these liberals.

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  18. Bruce you are an idiot. Tell everyone what a miserable man you are on Thanksgiving day. Tell everyone what you did to your brother Steve on Thanksgiving. One Day you will cross the wrong person Bruce. I would walk in fear if I was you.

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  19. Chris, thank you for stopping by my Blog, the "Rantings of an Angry Orthodox Catholic Priest". I also have a political blog, "Let the Truth Be Known".

    Now to Bruce Fealk: What is obvious to the majority of Americans is the fact that a "Single Payer"/"Government Option" WILL lead to a HUGE loss of freedom and HIGH TAXES. Yes, we have problems with our present day health care system, but a government take over is NOT the answer.

    Also, the government has absolutely NO CONSTITUTIONAL right or authority to be involved in health care. If you knew anything about the CONSTITUTION of the United States, you would know that just about every law passed by Congress, signed into law by the various presidents, and up held by the U.S. Supreme Court, since 1913 are illegal and unconstitutional.

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  20. Why is Sarah Palin's book selling so increadibly well? Glenn Beck had over 30,000 people show up at his rally. The conservatives are eating our lunch and liberals are standing their all stupified. The liberals better fight back or they are done. I see one dumbass and one smart liberal. Joe you are the smart one. Bruce you need to read up or stop lieing to make a point. That helps no one. Joe I am a Communist like you so stop saying your not. Thats like a white dude saying he's not white. Be proud of your idealogy.

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  21. Being on the wrong side of POORLY run,Trillion of dollars in the HOLE Medicare/Medicade Program and Conservatives are on the WRONG side. Bruce WE Conservatives sure dodged the BULLET there. Thank GOD you want to TAKE CREDIT for those EXAMPLES of Government RUN Health Care. WELL DONE

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  22. Sue,
    "Bruce you are an idiot. Tell everyone what a miserable man you are on Thanksgiving day. Tell everyone what you did to your brother Steve on Thanksgiving. One Day you will cross the wrong person Bruce. I would walk in fear if I was you."

    Fear of what, Sue? I don't know what you're talking about regarding Thanksgiving Day.

    It sounds to me like you are a miserable idiot.

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  23. Jack, Sarah Palin's book is selling so well for the same reason Ann Coulter's books sell so well, Newsmax and other right wing organizations buy the book in bulk and then give it away for free.

    http://w3.newsmax.com/a/sarahbook/?PROMO_CODE=8F2A-1

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  24. Yeh they buy in bulk and that is how they do it. hahaha. Then why was Moores movie a flop? Why are conservative books selling while liberal ones aren't doing anything? Why has Becks book Common Sense been a best seller for over 5 months? And why has Palin had record book signing crowds show up? Just because Newsmax is riding Palins coat tail to sell mag. doesn't mean it's not a great book or that it will be a best seller. We will see in a few months time is Bruce and his liberal "news medias" are right about that theory of why Palins books are selling so great. Bruce if you want to see where the liberals are heading just go to the Dolar Store and you will see the liberal books by the hundreds for a buck. They have a lot of Obama stuff too. I got some to give out as gage gifts. AL great point.

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  25. Most Rev Gregory you have a unique perspective on what is going on in this world. Your blog is a great one and you don't hold back on issues. As a Lutheran MS I enjoy learning the differences and similarities in our faith. It is of course the similartities that bind us together. There aren't too many priest and pastors blogging.

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  26. To begin, the only reason I’m alive to write this diary is because I benefitted from high-tech medical innovation. In my case, it was computer-controlled 3D conformal, external x-ray therapy for recurrent prostate cancer.
    So continued medical innovation and I have an intense personal relationship. For that reason, one key reason that both the House and Senate versions of health care “reform” deeply disappoint me is that they will badly damage medical innovation by removing most of the profit motive to fund risky research.

    There are two basic reasons for this, both driven by political budgeting: price controls and limitation of market access. Market access will be collateral damage from “relative cost-effectiveness” judgments rendered by committees of political apparatchiks empowered by both House and Senate bills.

    If you think that choking off medical innovation will only mean that currently untreated medical conditions will remain untreated, you aren’t seeing the whole picture. (As if ignoring the long list of currently-unsatisfactorily-treated medical conditions weren’t bad enough.)

    Especially in the area of infectious disease, to fail to innovate is to go backwards.
    As documented here, competent international medical experts are calling urgently for “ten new antibiotics by 2020″ to combat the steady accumulation of resistant strains. They cite this as one of the top priorities in medicine.

    Virus mutation is no less of a problem than bacterial — arguably it’s a bigger issue.

    I lament the time that will elapse, if anything like these ill-conceived health “reform” packages are enacted, before the full extent of the damage done by suppression of innovation is widely apparent. And there’s the conundrum of how to prove a negative: how to know if some individual sick or dying of a medical condition could otherwise have been cured?

    But if an individual suffers an infection that we used to be able to cure, but can no longer, that may be a different matter.

    The current debacle of H1N1 vaccine shortfalls nicely illustrates what happens when we stop innovating. The old incubation-in-eggs technology used to produce influenza vaccines should long since have been replaced by genetically-engineered fermentation processes that have been reliable for almost 25 years, since Eli Lilly first commercialized human insulin.

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  27. We love to save MONEY when we can BARGIN a Salesman DOWN from Original PRICE! When We do we really feel good about OURSELVES.

    Under OBAMA Care it COULD be the same type situation ONLY in REVERSE, you are BARINING with your Health with a GROUP of Beurucrats whos JOB will be to save Obama Health Care and Decide YOUR care!
    What will YOU as a CITIZEN bargin with,NOTHING?What will the Government BARGIN with? Government will BARGIN with your AGE,and if you DONT fall into their GUIDELINES you LOSE the BARGINING and your HEALTH!
    I do beleive this is the CHANGE this SOCIALIST Administration was talking ABOUT!
    Politicans in OUR STATE could Care Less what we Want,What we think, and What we Care about. As soon as their Terms are up We should SHOW them the SAME RESPECT and say WE DONT CARE about YOU!

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  28. Al, you rock. You are right on about so much, in particular I was laughing about you calling idiot Bruce and his party out on taking credit for Medicare, too funny. Bruce also thinks that FDR's policies of burning grain and slaughtering pigs to drive up the price of those things, while people in the cities were starving. Another brilliant Democrat. Oh, and how about FDR encouraging monopolies during the Great Depression, thereby prolonging that for another decade? Speaking of monopolies, why DON'T the Democrats remove monopoly protection from the health insurance companies, and open them up to nation-wide competition (eliminate barriers to me shopping around)? Oh, that's right, because Obama is all empty threats and rhetoric, especially when he and the rest of the Dems are in the pocket of the health insurance industries.

    When you start a blog let us know Al, I can't wait to add you to my blogroll! It's pretty easy, hell if Bruce can figure it out I'm sure an intelligent person can too!

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  29. Anonymous - I bet all these other countries have their sphincter's tight worrying about the US going the way of their socialist health care systems. The U.S. has THE MOST innovative medical system in the world, and these other countries reap the benefits. Once this golden goose is killed, look out.

    What needs to be done, in a nutshell, is eliminate health insurance for all but catastrophic claims. EVERYONE, even Dumbocrats and lieberals, agree that the health insurance system is broken. Only the Dumbocrats and lieberals want to model their stupid government takeover of health care system after a broken system!! Morons!!

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Please keep it clean and nice. Thank you for taking the time to post you thought. It means a lot to me that you do this.