"Lousiana Boudin" in the New Senate Health Care Bill

Pork, whether it's negotiated for or not, is pork.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is desperate to get his necessary votes for his health care bill to make it onto the floor of the Senate and be passed on Saturday.  In order to get all his democratic senators in lock-step, he has decided to resort to bribery.  According to Bloomberg.com,  "Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D), one of three lawmakers being wooed by Senate Democratic leaders to back health-care legislation, won the inclusion of an extra $100 million in federal aid for low-income people in her state."

Was the same consideration given to the Arkansas Senator, Blanche Lincoln?  No, not that has been made known yet anyway.  However, it's bribery to include such "favors" in turn for a single vote needed on Reid's "pet project" -- and it's pork!  More importantly it's wrong.  PLUS it's plain stupid to make it so very obvious!

The American people have finally become aware of the shenanigans that go on in Washington all the time.  This type of behavior is so commonplace that all the players in Congress simply ignore it, turn blind eyes to it and consider it usual legislative activity, but it's appalling to ordinary citizens.  However, Americans aren't likely to grow numb to the "pay to play" tactics or the bribery tactics that the House and Senate are using routinely, because they know that if normal American citizens conducted their businesses and personal dealings in like manner, they'd be imprisoned for bribery and other felonies.

Why won't the politicians wake up to the fact that their constituents are onto their games, and it's not going to be "politics as usual" anymore.  Politics isn't the same as it used to be.  Americans are more educated, becoming more involved in government, and demanding accountability from their representatives.  If Congress members don't wake up to that fact, then perhaps in 2010 and 2012, when corrupted House and Senate members are removed from the premises, they'll finally understand that Americans really are mad as hell and not going to take it any more!

Here It Comes: New Medical Taxes from BaucuSCARE!

There remains a great divide between Democrats and Republicans on health care reform and the time for construction of the actual bill is upon us. It's not so much what's in the bill, because the politicians will have their way, but a more significant area of disagreement is what the final bill will actually cost and how it would be paid for. One stipulation is for it to achieve the President's commitment to being deficit neutral. In order to achieve that goal, the Senate constructed (upon the prodding of the White House) a plan called the "Doctor Fix" legislation (S1776) that would in essence buy their support by "freezing" the mandatory cuts in Medicare and Medicaid payments over the next ten years to the tune of nearly one-quarter trillion dollars. That meant "sliding" some of the cost of the overall healthcare reform to other legislation so that the cost of the healthcare reform would barely come in under Obama's proposed limit of one trillion dollars. Now, that, my friends is one heck of a political shell game! (We already know they plan to cut half a trillion from Medicare and Medicaid).

If you haven't been living in a cave, you know there has been healthcare bill proposed in the Senate by Senator Max Baucus and was supposed to be the work done by the Gang of Six, a committee of six senators headed up by Senators Baucus(D) and Grassley(R). Magically, Senator Baucus released his own document which he alone sponsored (no one else apparently wanted to lay claim to it!) and which is referred to as the Baucus Framework. It outlines key provisions that Senator Baucus would like to see in the final healthcare bill. With the acceptance of the Framework by the Finance Committee, this proposed legislation spent several days behind closed doors where Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel, and others got their hands on it.  It emerged with an inserted Public Option....Uh-oh, they instantly lost some support! So, then they altered it to be a "States Can Opt Out Plan". But that won't work either. States will still have to fork over taxes to the federal government to pay for the States who opted in! That means that taxpayers in non-opted-in states will STILL be paying for someone else's health care!

Besides "Doctor Fix" as a proposed way to disperse the cost for this monstrosity, the Baucus Framework has introduced several new taxes on pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, clinical laboratories and insurance companies. Let me put it a little clearer. Heart stents - new tax, motorized wheelchairs - new tax, and there's more! In fact, anything that can be construed as a "medical device" (something that is used to improve health) and costs over $100 will have a new tax imposed upon it. The new taxes (Democrats call it "fees"!) over the ten year period would total $63 billion dollars just for pharmaceutical and the medical device industry. That's a FAR cry from the more than $1 trillion cost as this legislation now stands! And guess what.... the cost of this reform is coming not from the filthy rich! It's coming out of the hard-earned wages of middle America, those how are finding it more and more difficult to keep their heads above water. It's coming from you!

Obamacare - Penalties for Non-Insured - UPDATED!

Tom Barthold is Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. On Thursday, he sent Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) a handwritten note on JCT letterhead which confirmed that those who fail to comply with the mandatory healthcare coverage would face a penalty of up to $1,900. He noted that anyone who chooses not to purchase health insurance under the Obamacare plan could also be charged with a misdemeanor and face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty. Barthold signed his note "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold." How sweet - not!

UPDATE!! Here's Senator John Thune's (R-SD) response at one of his townhall meetings.



Any small businesses that doesn’t offer health insurance to its employes becomes a victim of a “pay or play” mandate that requires a penalty of up to 8% of its payroll tax to be paid to the government. A small business who files on an individual income tax return, will be charged a 5.4% surtax added to their top marginal tax rate. Further, an individual who doesn’t buy insurance under this mandate will be assessed a 2.5% tax as a penalty.
Question: This healthcare reform will not increase your taxes one dime - where have we heard those words? Can you say, "You lie"?

In other words, you're about to get hammered, and you won't be able to continue running your own life and making your own choices as free Americans have done for over 200 years. You know, the freedom to choose your own healthcare or even have it. I always thought that if I didn't have insurance, then any expenses I incurred would be my responsibility - no one else's. If I choose not to be insured, then I must be prepared for the consequences. That's because I believe in freedom, not a free ride. How about you?

The freedom of choice, as the example of this government healthcare reform confirms, will be just an illusion. Mandated coverage for everyone is Socialism Step One. Socialism Step Two - beware!

Let Congress hear your outrage!