The Sick Truth IV: Congress Cooks the Health Care Books

In yesterday's edition of Investors Business Daily, Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, offered a quick course in how Congress can make the cost of the Government Health Care Takeover look much, much lower than it actually will be.

The method is so ridiculously easy that even a Congress unable to read their own bills can figure it out in a snap. Here's how to make a minimum of $2 trillion over 10 years look like $1.2 trillion over 10 years:

When budgeting how it will spend your money, Congress looks out across a 10-year budget window. The current budget window runs from 2010 to 2019.

A standard trick for making new government programs appear less expensive is to have them take effect not in the first year, but later in the budget window.

If Congress launches a $100 million program in year one, its 10-year cost will be $1 billion. If Congress launches the program in year six, the 10-year cost is just $500 million. Delaying implementation just cut the cost of the program in half, right? Not quite. The program would still cost taxpayers $100 million per year.

That budgetary gimmick lets Congress appear thrifty. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., acting chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently said he was "very confident we can meet the president's goal of having a fully-paid-for 10-year program on health care right around $1 trillion." Of course he can! Covering the uninsured costs $2 trillion? Heck, we'll do it for half that price!

That's exactly what House Democrats have done with their medical plan. Of the $1.2 trillion that the Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would cost between now and 2019, Democrats would spend only $200 billion in the first five years, but $1 trillion — more than 80% of the total — in the second five years.

The Senate Democrats' medical plan includes new government spending that wouldn't even ramp up until beyond the 10-year window.

Guess who still gets to pay the full amount of outrageous taxation?

That is, until they're "old and in the way" or, even more tragically, "young and in the way."

Don't think that Gov't Health Care in America will deny life-saving treatment to youngsters and oldsters? Read this. (Hat tip: Critical Narrative)

Cartoon by Michael Ramirez, Investors Business Daily

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Related posts:

• Senate Gives Constituents the Bum's Rush on Health Care
  
• The Sick Truth III: Restricting Health Care for People with Special Needs
  
• Susan Boyle Gets Better Ratings Than Barack Obama (UPDATED)
  
• Chuck Schumer: Healthcare Tea Party and the Opposite of Freedom
  
• Meditation: What's Wrong With (Somebody Else's) Sacrifice?
  
• The Sick Truth II: Health Care Goes From Bad to Worse (UPDATED)
  
• The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!
  
• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See
• Tales from the Nanny World: Why Doesn't the U.S. Just Declare Bankruptcy?

Senate to Close Due to Swine Flu?

Special health protections for U.S. senators that don't apply to your children? You don't have to wait until Congress passes Gov't Care.

RedState is reporting that the entire Senate complex may be closing on Friday because one (1) Senate page came down with swine flu.

You might recall that, back in May, the Center for Disease Control recommended that schools with students infected with swine flu stay open, unless the number of sick kids and teachers becomes so high that staying open is impossible. Just about 6 weeks ago, Philadelphia parents were told not to "overreact" to swine flu in the school system by keeping their children home. From the Philadelphia Daily News:

[City Health Commissioner Donald F. Schwarz] said that because the virus is spread through coughing and sneezing and not from environmental surfaces, shutting down schools for thorough cleanings is unnecessary. Instead, he said, the district is encouraging availability of hand-sanitizers and tissues, and cleaning schools as usual.

[snip]

He added that if certain symptoms, including fever and coughing, are found present in a student by a school nurse, the student will be sent home. *

Instead of sending one sick page home, the Senate is considering sending everyone home. It's comforting to know that we are all equal under the law, except for those who are more equal.

We shouldn't complain, of course. The real danger to Americans comes when the Senate is in session.

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Senators Give Constituents the Bum's Rush on Health Care

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a Democrat, is strongly behind Obama's Cap-n-Tax and Government Health Care.

Plenty of her constituents don't like these plans and don't want to pay for them, but the Senator and her staff are refusing to hear from Missourians who aren't 100% supporters of the Obamaton Nation.

Recently, McCaskill's staff locked the door on opponents of Government Health Care who called on the Senator to express their concerns, flipped these Missourians a two-handed bird, then lowered McCaskill's office blinds and called the police. It is telling that the man nearest to the locked door was wearing a "We the people" shirt.

Here's the video:

Maybe Senator McCaskill's attitude toward her constituents contributed to the huge turnout at a town hall meeting focusing on Government Health Care. The Senator didn't bother to attend the meeting herself. She did, however, condescend to send a staffer. Why should a powerful dignitary like a Missouri Senator spend actual taxpayer-funded time talking to mere taxpayers assembled specifically to meet with her at her invitation?

At that crowded meeting, a young former Marine explained to the staffer that the U.S. Constitution does not list government ownership of the the health care sector as an enumerated power. He got a standing ovation. Fox News has been running some video of this town hall meeting and has interviewed the young patriot. Here's what he told McCaskill's staffer:

Deliberate exclusion of and public and private insults to non-Obamatons by lawmakers and their staff have been happening all over the country. In New York, Obamaton Senator Chuck Schumer's staff was videotaped refusing to give the time of day to an elderly World War II vet. Not only did Schumer's minions arrogantly refuse to let the gentleman enter Schumer's office, they didn't even have the basic courtesy to offer the elderly man a seat.

It was a case of "Go away, old man, we don't need you any more," which pretty much sums up Obama's Government Health Care plan.

Obviously Congress is planning to do whatever they are planning to do, the rest of us be damned.

And we will be, if we let them get away with it.

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Related posts:

• The Sick Truth III: Restricting Health Care for People with Special Needs
  
• Susan Boyle Gets Better Ratings Than Barack Obama (UPDATED)
  
• Chuck Schumer: Healthcare Tea Party and the Opposite of Freedom
  
• Meditation: What's Wrong With (Somebody Else's) Sacrifice?
  
• The Sick Truth II: Health Care Goes From Bad to Worse (UPDATED)
  
• The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!
  
• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See
• Tales from the Nanny World: Why Doesn't the U.S. Just Declare Bankruptcy?

A Victory for Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr., Harvard Professor

In a memorable moment in the movie, The Sting, two Depression-era grifters named Johnny Hooker and Luther Coleman con a passerby out of the contents of his wallet, and then discover they have managed to steal thousands of dollars in cash.

Johnny Hooker: Luther! Good God, we're millionaires!
Luther: Jesus! Did you know he was that loaded?
Johnny Hooker: Hell no. I just cut into him. I woulda settled for pawning one of them shoes.

Every time I visit Cambridge, Massachusetts, now known internationally as the home of Professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, that scene pops into my mind. I find it impossible not to notice that there are few populations on the planet as well and fashionably shod (in a casual, environmentally conscious sort of way) as the people who inhabit the immediate vicinity of Harvard University. This phenomenon exists, no doubt, because Cambridge houses so many young, fashion-conscious heirs of wealth both old and new, domestic and foreign.

In the movie, Hooker and Luther wait in an alley for a likely mark to come walking by. But there is more than one kind of shoe, and more than one kind of mark.

Judging from my reading of the police report and published accounts by eyewitnesses, I'd say Professor Gates cut into Sergeant James Crowley because he was an irresistable mark: a White cop standing on Gates' very own front porch, asking Gates (a Black man!) for ID. As we all are taught, more or less incessantly, particularly by Gates and his kindred spirits, no one promotes racism better than White cops.

Let us not pretend that Gates doesn't have a dog in this hunt. Gates is not a chemist, economist, heart surgeon, or architect; his job at Harvard is Director of Harvard's Institute for African and African American Studies.

I suspect that, in Gates' mind, Sergeant Crowley instantly became a potential vehicle to Gates' next talk-show appearances, news articles about Gates that trumpet his achievements, and, certainly, future publications by Gates featuring the travesty of a man being asked for his ID minutes after a burglary report at his own home, the second in only three weeks.

With his reputation, network, some attention-getting shouting, not to mention help from a more-than-willing Progressive press, Gates could easily recruit sympathy for his "mistreatment" by a White cop, whether or not mistreatment occurred. (Look what happens if you don't go along with that view.) In the presence of many other officers, and considering Crowley's record and reputation, it is very difficult to imagine mistreatment unless you have a dog in the hunt.

Gates cut into Crowley for just one shoe, but he got much more.

First Gates got national talk-show coverage, then he scored a televised monologue of support for his victimhood by no less a Black powerhouse than the President of the United States, during which the president labeled Crowley "stupid" and even took the trouble to lock the officer into proverbial stocks with a sign around his neck proclaiming: "Oppressor of Black Men by Reason of History."

In the Gates' media and blog frenzy, many would leap to his defense against the terror of White cops answering burglary reports, and one emeritus academic from Chicago would publish remarks in the New York Times comparing Crowley's supposed ignorance to that of workmen who once didn't recognize Gates as the owner of one of his "grand" homes. The louts.

Most deliciously of all, now Gates' buddy, the Prez', has invited Gates to participate in the Harvard-style dressing down of Crowley over a beer at the White House. Why do I think footnotes on the history of oppression of Black men will be cited?

Oh yes, and Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr., Harvard Professor, is now a household name.

What benefit could a genius type at Harvard garner from that little achievement, I wonder.
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Barack Obama and the Marx Brothers?

In the midst of the attempted government takeover of American health care, bloggers Yukio Ngaby at Critical Narrative and William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection (among others) have asked that we also keep one eye on the safety and civil rights of Hondurans in their struggle to maintain their constitution.

The courts and legislature of this small Central American republic (population about 7.5 million) lawfully prevented a dictatorial takeover attempt by their ousted president, Manuel Zelaya. This action predictably annoyed Latin American Marxist regimes and, somewhat surprisingly, also met with the disapproval of a former American Constitutional Law professor who currently holds the office of President of the United States.

Now, Gerald Warner of the UK Telegraph has provided a few thoughts from across the pond about Obama's pique with the Hondurans:

Meanwhile, in the wider world, American foreign policy is beginning very satisfactorily to fill the vacuum left by the Soviet Union. The Obama administration has set itself the objective of establishing Marxist regimes in the remaining democratic states of Latin America. Fidel has had his thunder stolen by Barack. The current project, being enthusiastically pursued by the White House, is to reinstate the Marxist fruitcake Manuel Zelaya, client of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, as president of Honduras.

Zelaya’s return is being demanded by Chavez, Nicaraguan Sandinista president Daniel Ortega and Evo Morales, president of Bolivia. These hoods are the Latin American chapter of the Axis of Evil, but Washington loves them. When the Honduran democrats stood unexpectedly firm against Zelaya’s return, Chavez telephoned the State Department to ask for help. Correct me if I am wrong, but I somehow do not think that when Fidel Castro was having problems subverting a Latin American democracy his first instinct was to ring up Condie Rice and cry on her shoulder.

The administration is supposed to be the new, cerebral replacement for dumb Dubya. So, how come it assumed, after the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, in accordance with the constitution, had ordered the army to depose Zelaya that this was a “military coup”? The government has been embarrassed by Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada bringing into the public domain the fact that Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution insists that any president proposing the permissibility of re-election (as Zelaya did) “shall cease forthwith” in his office; and that Article 4 defines such an “infraction” as treason.

If the Congress and Supreme Court had not deposed Zelaya they would have been accessories to treason. They tell me Barack Obama was a lawyer. They also told us he was a democrat. Yet the Honduran crisis is a direct confrontation between Jeffersonian and Bolivarian principles, in which the President of the United States has chosen the Bolivarian – more bluntly, the Marxist – option. Madness, from an American perspective; but it casts an interesting light on some of the stronger allegations that were made against Obama during the presidential election. Three and a half more years to go – this could get very interesting.

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The Sick Truth III: Restricted Health Care for People With Special Needs

Just when you thought your heart couldn't break any more for your country and your neighbors, a responsible private citizen turns another page of the government takeover of health care bill and finds this:

"Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs ppl!"

I am too sick to continue at the moment, but a courageous former Marine, who twitters under the name Fleckman, just keeps on, sending tweets with his discoveries. As I write this post, he is at page 994 of America's most shocking read.

Strong stomach or not, we all need to find out what is in this monstrous bill. If we don't, we'll be doing more than thinking about it, we'll be living it.

I say it's time that we stop letting Congress off the hook by clucking that they don't have time to read the damn thing.

They sure as hell get paid for writing it.

Click here and tell Congress what you think of restricting health care for our most needy citizens so that ACORN retirees and their families can get a cash infusion (pg. 65 Sec 164). Maybe they read that section. In fact, maybe they wrote that section.

Most grateful hat tip to: EconomicPolicyJournal.com and to The Strata-Sphere, the latter of which aptly summarized Obamacare as "one insurance source to find them, and in the darkness bind them."
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Related posts:

• Susan Boyle Gets Better Ratings Than Barack Obama (UPDATED)
  
• Chuck Schumer: Healthcare Tea Party and the Opposite of Freedom
  
• Meditation: What's Wrong With (Somebody Else's) Sacrifice?
  
• The Sick Truth II: Health Care Goes From Bad to Worse (UPDATED)
  
• The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!
  
• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See
• Tales from the Nanny World: Why Doesn't the U.S. Just Declare Bankruptcy?

Susan Boyle Gets Better Ratings Than Barack Obama (UPDATED)

It's true.

Obama's attempt to get a television slot for his reading of his teleprompter's pitch to the nation intended to encourage Americans to cross our fingers and wish upon the socialized medicine wishing star had to be scheduled so as not to conflict with an interview with Susan Boyle.

From James Hibberd's The Live Feed:

After some hesitation and a time shift, three major broadcast networks have agreed to carry Barack Obama's latest primetime news conference.

The event was announced Friday afternoon as Obama battles to bolster congressional support for an ambitious health-care overhaul while facing dropping approval ratings.

[snip]

Fox declined outright to air the news conference. NBC and ABC fell into line late Monday after the White House shifted the event's time from the previously announced 9 p.m. to the lesser-watched hour of 8 p.m.

The stakes were particularly high for NBC, which airs the most-watched show of the summer, "America's Got Talent," at 9 p.m. This week, the reality hit includes a heavily promoted interview with "Britain's Got Talent" singing sensation Susan Boyle.

Sources said that NBC demonstrated reluctance to carry Obama's news conference live. Faced with the prospect of only one or two major broadcasters -- CBS and ABC -- covering the event, the White House moved its start time to 8 p.m.

During his campaign, Obama calculatingly made his big appeal not to hardworking, hard-thinking taxpayers, but to the shallowest of American voters with the shortest attention span, those willing to bet their own futures, their children's future, their country's future, and, in many ways, the world's future on hope.

And what was that hope?

That somebody else (anybody else) would go to enormous trouble and expense to materialize the kind of changes that will fit their desires perfectly, with no more effort on their part than to sit on their sofas in front of a televised speech or two a couple of weeks before an election and then find their way to a voting booth a couple of blocks from home once every 4 years, that is, once every 1461 days.

No hard work required.

Like that would happen.

Now their attention is moving on to another fairy tale.

Susan Boyle has a beautiful voice, a lovely Cinderella story, and she won't remind you that it's your duty as a guilty-for-the-world's-woes-no-matter-how-you've-lived-your-life American to sign up for economic servitude in perpetuity.

Handy Congressional contact info here.

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UPDATE:

As reported by TV critic Ed Bark at Uncle Barky's Bites, Obama's June 24th infomercial for government takeover of health care drew just 79,716 viewers. Seven other TV options blew away the president's ratings: The Philanthropist, a rerun of CSI:NY, the College Baseball World Series, Don Francisco Live, a Rangers-Diamondbacks game, Fox4's local newscast, and Meet the Browns.

Maybe Obama's TV ratings are the best measure of his actual popularity.

Hat tip to E Pluribus Unum at RedState.

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Related posts:

• Chuck Schumer: Healthcare Tea Party and the Opposite of Freedom
  
• Meditation: What's Wrong With (Somebody Else's) Sacrifice?
  
• The Sick Truth II: Health Care Goes From Bad to Worse (UPDATED)
  
• The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!
  
• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See
• Tales from the Nanny World: Why Doesn't the U.S. Just Declare Bankruptcy?

Birth Certificate Demand in Delaware: "I Want My Country Back!"

Hey Congressman, you can say it; the people already know.

Good for you, Lady in Red. You're not the only one. A lot of Americans want our country back.

Note: Congressman Mike Castle was one of only 8 House Republicans to vote for Cap and Trade. I guess he wants to retire.
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Related post: Where's the Birth Certificate?

Healthcare Tea Party: Chuck Schumer and the Opposite of Freedom

Like in many another American family, my family's matriarch is Rosie the Riveter. During World War II, she fought Nazi imperialism by building fighter-plane wing assemblies. Her sweetheart, our family's patriarch, was busy fighting Nazis in North Africa and liberating Italy. No one really knows how many people are alive today because of the efforts of all of our nation's Rosies and their sweethearts. You easily could be one of these people.

Today, these patriotic men and women are more fragile than they were more than 60 years ago so, it somehow follows in the dim recesses of the Congressional mind (so called), that these elderly folks' healthcare benefits should be cut in favor of another group that Congress considers more worthy of the U.S. taxpayers' dollars: illegal immigrants.

Just another sickening episode in the ongoing saga of Barack Obama's rebuilding of America.

Congress's in-our-faces disdain for the American people provides one reason that I'm extremely proud of and encouraged by the energetic work of the patriots of Long Island, New York, who have been diligently holding ever-larger Tea Parties outside the offices of their representatives in Congress, including Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer.

They held their latest, very successful, set of Tea Parties last Friday.

As you watch the following videos (excellent reporting, more videos, and still photos of the event are available at Gathering of Eagles: NY ), keep in mind that Robert Dole once quipped that "the most dangerous place in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a camera." Clearly, the Senator and his colleagues are less eager than usual to get their portraits taken with their constituents in Long Island, even if it means slamming the door in the faces of WWII and other veterans. Sadly, but not surprisingly, our aging warriors are infinitely more willing to defend America's freedoms than are Schumer and his entire sorry staff.

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Related posts:

• Meditation: What's Wrong With (Somebody Else's) Sacrifice?
  
• The Sick Truth II: Health Care Goes From Bad to Worse (UPDATED)
  
• The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!
  
• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See
• Tales from the Nanny World: Why Doesn't the U.S. Just Declare Bankruptcy?

Meditation: What's Wrong With (Somebody Else's) Sacrifice?

After learning of the injuries that America will inflict on our elderly through the "health care" legislation being steam-rollered through Congress, Yukio Ngaby at Critical Narrative wrote a thoughtful post entitled: "Killing the Old for the 'Hope' of the Future."

Don't miss it.

Obamatons at Work

While Obama and his automatons are busy destroying this country's Constitution, economy, and health (before Congress's August recess, they hope), I thought I'd take a moment to share the following graphic showing one result of all that change, courtesy The Strata-Sphere. This graph shows the new deficit projections for the Government Fiscal Year 2009, which ends in September.

Share your thoughts here.
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The Sick Truth II: Health Care Bill Goes From Bad to Worse: UPDATED

Yesterday, I found that page 16 of the main Obamacare bill in the House will make it illegal to purchase private insurance. Immediately. The moment the bill becomes law.

The bill also states I will lose my insurance plan if I attempt to make a change to it, such as add or delete a family member.

I was shocked. Didn't I just hear Obama say I could keep my health insurance, at least until he drives my health insurance provider out of business?

No such luck.

Today, I find out that it just gets worse. I will lose my health insurance if I make any changes to my policy, such as, for example, if I marry and want to add my spouse to my plan, have a child and want to add my child, divorce my spouse and want to have my spouse removed from my health care plan, delete my gainfully-employed adult child from my policy, lower or raise my deductible, or commit some other grievous violation of Gov't Care (change). I also will lose my health insurance if my insurance provider makes a change, such as deciding to add $2 to my co-pay.

Even if I do nothing to change my plan, and my provider does nothing to change my plan (neither one of us has a global financial meltdown or a huge tax burden to contend with, say), I will lose my plan in 5 years or less. Congress says.

All those years of paying and sacrifice, down the tubes. Some slight feeling of security in the middle of the worst global economic upheaval in living memory, bye-bye now.

Whatever Obama wants, Obama gets.

As Betsy McCaughey, founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, pointed out:

[A] new government bureaucracy will select health plans that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these 'qualified plans.' If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year "grace period" to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you'll have less time.

And as soon as anything changes in your contract -- such as a change in copays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year -- you'll have to move into a qualified plan instead (House bill, p. 16-17).

When you file your taxes, if you can't prove to the IRS that you are in a qualified plan, you'll be fined thousands of dollars -- as much as the average cost of a health plan for your family size -- and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan (House bill, p. 167-168).

It's one thing to require that people getting government assistance tolerate managed care, but the legislation limits you to a managed-care plan even if you and your employer are footing the bill (Senate bill, p. 57-58). The goal is to reduce everyone's consumption of health care and to ensure that people have the same health-care experience, regardless of ability to pay.

Nowhere does the legislation say how much health plans will cost, but a family of four is eligible for some government assistance until their household income reaches $88,000 (House bill, p. 137). If you earn more than that, you'll have to pay the cost no matter how high it goes.

The price tag for this legislation is a whopping $1.04 trillion to $1.6 trillion (Congressional Budget Office estimates). Half of the tab comes from tax increases on individuals earning $280,000 or more, and these new taxes will double in 2012 unless savings exceed predicted costs (House bill, p. 199). The rest of the cost is paid for by cutting seniors' health benefits under Medicare.

There's plenty of waste in Medicare, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates only 1 percent of the savings under the legislation will be from curbing waste, fraud and abuse. That means the rest will likely come from reducing what patients get.

One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration."

This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care. Do we really want government involved in such deeply personal issues?

Shockingly, only a portion of the money accumulated from slashing senior benefits and raising taxes goes to pay for covering the uninsured. The Senate bill allocates huge sums to "community transformation grants," home visits for expectant families, services for migrant workers -- and the creation of dozens of new government councils, programs and advisory boards slipped into the last 500 pages.

Here, in my little corner of Progressive Paradise, the people I've spoken with today seem unconcerned about losing their health care plans. They think Obamacare is going to be the best thing ever. This morning, a seriously overweight 59-year-old man with a heart condition told me: "The rich should pay. And anyway, I don't believe in Western medicine." He'll be a lot of help.

And then there was the young teacher who told me: "I can't believe anyone would want to take away your health insurance."

Not just my health insurance. Her health insurance too. If you think you or any members of your family might have some use for non-rationed Western medicine, ever, please contact your Congressman here.

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/
http://www.myfax.com/free/

Hat tip: Rick Moran at American Thinker
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UPDATE: Just to set the record straight, this is what Obama said yesterday:

"Let me be exactly clear about what health care reform means to you,” the president told residents of the Garden State. “First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.

They're not talking about it; they've already put it in writing.

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Related posts:

• The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!
  
• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See
• Tales from the Nanny World: Why Doesn't the U.S. Just Declare Bankruptcy?
  

The Sick Truth: Health Bill Makes Private Insurance Illegal!

It's right there on page 16 of "HR 3200: America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009."

From Investors Business Daily:

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.

It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage.

Read the rest here.

We knew it was coming, but so soon? These people are brazen. As a friend of mine used to say: "I hope they're heavily invested in asbestos. They're going to need a lot of it where they're going."

Click here to find your Rep's contact info. The following fax services are free:

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/
http://www.myfax.com/free/

Hat tip: Gathering of Eagles:NY
Cartoon courtesy of Michael Ramirez, IBD
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Related posts:

• No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves
  
• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See

No Democrat Reps Want Gov't Health Care for Themselves

Congressman John Fleming (LA), a former naval medical officer and general practitioner, and 43 other Republican members of the House have asked their fellow lawmakers to sign onto the Government single-payer health care system that Obama and his fellow Democrats plan to impose on America's current citizens, largely for the benefit of America's future citizens, today's illegal immigrants.

Although Democrats say that the health care plan is urgently needed, not a single Democrat has agreed to sign onto Obamacare. Instead, they are sticking with the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, in which "federal employees, retirees and their survivors enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country." Top-of-the-line PRIVATE health, dental, vision, and long-term care for them (all paid for by you); RATIONED GOVT health care for you (also paid for by you). Top-shelf life insurance for them; "let's see if you live through it" for you. You can read the federal employee health plan brochures here, if you have the time. Lots and lots of choice for them; no choice for you.

As the U.S. Office of Personnel Management tells your Congress about their health care: "When it comes to your health care, the best surprise is no surprise."

By the way, there are no plan brochures for what Congress has in store for your health care. In fact, your Congress isn't even remotely interested in reading what's in store for you and your family. Who has the time? It's over 1,000 pages and not done yet. Obviously, when it comes to your health care, the best surprise is total surprise. Otherwise you'd never let Congress anywhere near your family's health care.

Here, Fleming talks to Megyn Kelly of Fox News:

You can add your name to Fleming's petition here, or you can download a letter to send to your Rep. Click here to find your Rep's contact info.

Faxes are attention-getting methods of getting your message across. Fax machines require maintenance, and, although faxes might not be read, they at least do pile up, leaving some physical evidence that you are still alive on the planet. I'm not so sure about those emails, although they can stress bandwidth at times. The following fax services are free:

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/
http://www.myfax.com/free/

If you'd like to read up on Fleming's HR 615, here is a useful link.
Hat tip: There's My Two Cents
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Related posts:

• A Trip Through Canadian Health Care
• Where Will Medical Tourists Go For Their Surgeries Next?
• Don't Get Sick After June: Congress Does Health Care
• The Obamacare Video You Must See

A Trip Through Canadian Health Care

Might Obama's health care plan be a good thing? If you have any lingering doubts about Obama's health care program, watch this video. You'll never have doubts again:

Hat tip: There's My Two Cents

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Sarah's Neighbors Speak Out

Those of us who have spent a good part of our lives in villages and small cities know that it's quite possible for ordinary voters to learn a good deal about the characters of their political figures, whom they encounter frequently in the course of everyday living, at the grocery store, school events, library, church services, and social gatherings of all kinds, never mind political functions. And then, of course, there is the ever-present, information-dispensing grapevine, whose tendrils wind through and connect every little byway of local life.

That's why when the folks of Wasilla, Alaska, with a population of less than 10,000 people, have something to say about Sarah Palin, I listen. Pajamas TV sent a camera crew to Wasilla to record what Sarah's neighbors have to say about her recent change of direction. Here's the link.

My Vote for Best Ever Post About Sarah Palin

Seems like I can't go anywhere in Progressive Paradise these days without running into someone who wouldn't rather listen to a simulation of 10,000 fingernails screeching across 10,000 blackboards than to hear one good word about Sarah Palin, so I was very glad to encounter William A. Jacobson's post at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: If Palin Were President Now in which he outlines why Palin couldn't do "any worse as President than Barack Obama":

If Palin were President, we would not have:

• A debt and deficit rising so far out of proportion to historical norms as to threaten the near-and-long term viability of the country's ability to service the debt without destroying the value of the dollar, and passing on to our children and grandchildren unsustainable burdens.
• A stimulus package filled with pork and giveaways to political constituencies, pushed through under false and fraudulent claims of job creation, and exaggerated claims of immediate economic disaster which themselves hurt the markets, in a process so disgusting that not a single Representative or Senator read the bill before voting.
• Health care proposals which are wolves in sheep's clothing, using a seemingly benign "public option" to drive out private insurers, to increase the percentage of people dependent on the government, and eventually to obtain the "one nation, one plan" nationalization of health care which is the holy grail of Obama and his left-wing supporters.
• A "cap-and-trade" proposal which seeks to regulate and tax the most fundamental aspects of the economy based upon the pure hubris that bureaucrats in Washington are capable of knowing what is best for individual businesses, and arising from disputed science as to the existence and causes of global warming, while proponents like Al Gore stand ready to make fortunes from "trading" carbon credits.
• A foreign policy which strong-arms allies such as Israel and Honduras, while paying deference to enemies such as Hugo Chavez and Mahmood Ahmadinejad, and which denigrates the U.S. by showing subservience to foreign rulers and by distorting the historical role of the U.S.
• An energy policy which increases our current dependence of foreign oil by locking up domestic resources, in the speculative hope that someday, somehow, alternative energy sources will make up the difference.
• The use of federal government power to bully the private sector into giving up property rights in favor of unions and other political supporters of the administration, rather than letting the rule of law work in the normal fashion in auto industry bankruptcy proceedings, as happened with other industries that restructured.
• An administration spinning out of control because of the same disease which characterizes all central planners; the false sense that central government is best suited to make decisions for individuals. And add to it the hubris of the political classes, the people who cannot fathom that anyone without the proper degrees or who isn't articulate lacks intelligence or common sense. By the time Obama figures out how to use the brakes, it will not matter.
  

That's it in a nutshell.

So why does Palin evince such intensely felt levels of fear and loathing in some people? True enough, she's not putty in anyone's hands, and that certainly is a threat to any political machine. Imagine how popular Palin would be if she were easy to "influence" by political shenanigans. If Obama makes good magazine-cover beefcake and Michelle's arms are too beautiful for sleeves, what could an airbrush do to a Time cover portrait of Sarah Palin and Todd? If Obama is nominated Father of the Year for taking his daughters for an ice cream, how hard would it be to sugar-spin Palin into Mom of the Year?

I don't buy the snooty proposition being peddled by well educated anti-Palinites that they think Palin is a stupid buffoon. Many a Ph.D. is no more than a couple of generations from beloved immigrants who graduated from the school of hard knocks and didn't articulate the g's at the ends of gerunds but who nevertheless managed to earn their descendants' respect.

A far greater threat than any combination of Palin's defects could be that be that her kind of self-direction just might be catching. She's more likely to influence than be influenced. The possibility brings to my mind a quote by Gandhi in the movie of that name: "A hundred thousand Englishmen simply cannot control 350 million Indians if those Indians refuse to cooperate." Who knows who might lose their cushy situations if a sufficient number of Americans get the idea that they can refuse to cooperate and still retain their honor? For a nation of immigrants and Sons of Liberty, it's a delectable proposition.
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Related post: Some Folks Are Wise and Some Are Otherwise

Meditation: Pray for the Release of Maryam and Marzieh

Two Iranian Christian women, Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) have been held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since March 5 because of their Christian faith.

Voice of the Martyrs provides updates on Christians suffering religious persecution and hosts an online Prayer Wall where prayers for them are recorded. Here is one such prayer:

Lord, please be with these your children who call out to you under the weight of their oppression. May the peace of Christ rule in their hearts. Give them the strength that comes only through You and the grace to forgive those who persecute them. May they wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. May they be brave and of good courage and their hearts be stout and enduring (Psalm 27:14).
-- Rhonda C., Woodstock, USA (July 7, 2009)

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Related post: Maryam and Marzieh: Convicted of Being Christians

Laughing Through Tears: Obama Man Can

Tip of the hat to Bookworm Room for passing this along:

And, of course, thanks to Greg Morton.
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Obama's Double Doublespeaks in Ghana?

I just watched President Obama's address to the Ghanaian parliament.

Much of it was a thrilling defense of Constitutional law and honest, transparent government. He talked about the inspiring history of Ghana's founding. He upheld the sanctity of the vote. Obama congratulated the Ghanaian people for peaceful elections, giving special credit to the minority. He condemned the practice of giving special favor to people and businesses in exchange for gifts of money or other inducements. He underscored that it is up to people to take care of themselves. He observed that African businesses are doing very well in the United States despite past wrongs. He condemned terrorism. He advised Ghana's young people to hold their government accountable.

I thought I must be looking at Obama's double.

The Obama I have been observing hardly has been defending the rule of Constitutional law here in the U.S.; instead he's been sidestepping the U.S. Constitution with unprecedented vigor and has gone so far as to threaten to penalize Hondurans for following their constitution. When it came time to respect the right to vote, he aligned himself with ACORN, a notorious abuser and underminer of the power of the individual vote, and his party has earmarked huge amounts of American taxpayers' dollars to ACORN's efforts, which, it might be added, hardly support self-reliance. He had no trouble turning a blind eye to Iranians sacrificing their lives and freedoms in an effort to get some semblance of a vote.

He has shown his respect for America's political minority by shutting them out of many processes, and his Department of Homeland Security has labeled his political opposition "extremists." Individuals, businesses, and entire areas that supported his campaign with gifts of money are reported to benefit much more from government spending than those who did not. Rather than support self-sufficiency, he actively promotes socialized ownership of banks and industry as well as a socialized healthcare system that penalizes the responsible in favor of the irresponsible. Numerous African businesses and business people might be doing very well in the United States, but American businesses and business people aren't faring so well. One of his first actions as president, which he took at about the same time that his Department of Homeland Security was scrubbing the word terrorist out of his administration's vocabulary, was to promise the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees, 60 of whom already have returned to creating "man-caused disasters." Far from being held accountable, he consigns generations of Americans to indebtedness by signing bills that have not even been read, and he has deprived the American people of Congressional oversight of huge swaths of government by funnelling responsibility for many enormous financial decisions through a system of unelected "czars" who are not approved by Congress.

I guess President Obama has been paying close attention to what the American people want, but he's carrying our message to Africa, not to his own administration or party.

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Chuck Schumer Gets Message from Long Island Patriots

From Gathering of Eagles: NY

Patriots from the Conservative Society for Action, Gathering of Eagles, Active and the 912 Group rallied in front of the offices of Senator Charles Schumer to counter the staged pro-nationalized healthcare rally planned by MoveOn.org and ACORN.

The first moonbats arrived and almost immediately called the police because they hate free speech and any opposition to their agenda. One of their old biddies called me a racist for opposing health care for illegal immigrants. Unfortunately for them the first amendment is still enforced in this country and the police would not interfere with our counter protest.

Things went downhill for the Soros stooges from there. As more and more patriots arrived we outnumbered the moonbats by at least ten to one. The video cameras and interviews were all from our folks. The stooges were pwned!

Surely your senators can't wait to hear from you! Contact them here.

Fax a .DOC, .DOCX, or .PDF file free from your computer:

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/
http://www.myfax.com/free/

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Maryam and Marzieh: Convicted of Being Christian

Reprinted from Voice of the Martyrs:

Maryam and Marzieh – In danger of being forgotten in Iran

Two Iranian Christian women, Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30), continue to be held in Evin prison in Iran because of their Christian faith, unfairly labelled as ‘anti-government activists’, because of the hostility of the government towards practising Christians.

In the aftermath of the political turmoil in Iran, they are now in danger of being forgotten. One church leader from Iran said, “With so many hundreds of protestors now in the prison system, Maryam and Marzieh are likely to be forgotten.”

Arrested on March 5 , 2009, the two young women have now been in prison for four months. After being in solitary confinement for three weeks in May and early June, they were then put one small cell together for about two weeks. Then, following the arrests of thousands of protestors after the disputed presidential elections, Marzieh and Maryam were moved to a larger cell to make room for new prisoners. About 600 women were brought Evin prison during the days of the protests. There is still no clarity regarding their case. In one court session in June a judge told them that he would make sure they were both executed as ‘apostates’. Maryam and Marzieh have responded with courage, however, telling the judge to “expedite his sentence.”

“Maryam and Marzieh have demonstrated great courage and trust in God. They believe the promise of Jesus that they will be given the words to speak when they are taken before judges,” says Sam Yeghnazar, founder of Elam Ministries.

Please continue to pray for Maryam and Marzieh as they suffer in prison in Iran. Pray they will continue to experience the strengthening presence of God and that they will be a witness of the love and grace of Christ in Evin prison. We invite you to post a prayer on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

Please also consider Maryam and Marzieh in prison at:

Evin Prison
Saadat Abad
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Yes, you can write in English but if you wish to compose a letter in Farsi, our US sister mission has an online tool that can help you. Click here.

Please note
When writing a letter, never mention the name of the source of your information or the name of any organization such as Voice of the Martyrs or Prisoner Alert. It is not dangerous for a prisoner to receive letters from individuals, but if an organization is mentioned they may be accused of links with ‘foreign organizations’ and receive harsher sentences. Also, please do not state anything negative about their government.

Hat tip: Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch

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EPA Says Climate Bill Won't Help Environment! UPDATE: Senate Phone Meltdown

Yet another reason for Americans to look before we allow the Senate to push our economy over the cliff with Waxman-Markey:



The race is on for us to enter into a clean energy future? Only wealthy countries can afford to care for their environment, and only people with disposable income are able to divert funds away from food, clothing, and shelter to address other people's interests, not to mention the welfare of wildlife and uncultivated plants and trees, which in good economic times are mostly left to take fend for themselves, but in tough times are lucky if they are permitted to survive. Those who sincerely want clean air and a healthy environment should be aware that these are unaffordable luxuries to people who are struggling economically, which is immediately obvious to anyone who compares the environment in a poor ghetto with that in a wealthy suburb.

Proponents of cap and trade who are acting out of genuine concern for the environment (as opposed to opportunists who are milking the green-movement cash cow) might do well to look at the widespread catastrophic effects on the environment of anti-capitalist poverty in the former Soviet bloc, not to mention in China, India, and other places where the vast majority of people, of necessity, place feeding their families first on the list of priorities.

Hat tip: P.J. Gladnick at the Media Research Center, Michelle Malkin

UPDATE:

Michelle Malkin reports that "Senate Democrats have decided to delay action on cap-and-tax until after the August recess." This means that some Senate proponants of the bill are starting to weaken; Obama and Pelosi wanted this bill to shoot through the Senate. The longer it delays, the greater the number of Americans who will catch on to the scam.

Now is the time to double down with your opposition. Call, fax, email. The money you save will definitely be your own.

From Lipstick Underground via Temple of Mut via Michelle Malkin comes the following list of senators who could use some extra attention. (If your senators are not on the list, call them anyway. Somebody notices when those phones don't stop ringing, the email bandwidth seems to be shrinking, and the supply closet is out of fax paper.)

SENATORS TO HIT HARD:

Robert Byrd (WV) 202-224-3954, fax 202-228-0002
Evan Bayh (IN) 202-224-5623, fax 202-228-1377
Mark Begich (AK) 202-224-3004, fax 202-224-2354
Michael Bennet (CO) 202-224-5852, fax 202-228-5036
Jeff Bingaman (NM) 202-224-5521, fax 202-224-1792
Sherrod Brown (OH) 202-224-2315, fax 202-228-6321
Max Baucus (MT) 202-224-2651, fax 202-224-9412
Robert Casey (PA) 866-802-2833, fax 202-228-0604
Kent Conrad (ND) 202-224-2043, fax 202-224-7776
Byron Dorgan (ND) 202-224-2551, fax 202-224-1193
Kay Hagan (NC) 202-224-6342, fax 202-228-2563
Tim Johnson (SD) 202-224-5842
Mary Landrieu (LA) 202-224-5824, fax 202-224-9735
Carl Levin (MI) 202-224-6221, fax 202-224-1388
Blanche Lincoln (AR) 202-224-4843, fax 202-228-1371
Ben Nelson (NE) 202-224-6551, fax 202-228-0012
John D. Rockefeller (WV) 202-224-6472, fax 202-224-7665
Arlen Specter (PA) 202-224-4254, fax 202-228-1229
Debbie Stabenow (MI) 202-224-4822
Jon Tester (MT) 202-224-2644, fax 202-224-8594
Mark L. Pryor (AR) 202-224-2353, fax 202-228-0908
Olympia Snowe (ME) 800-432-1599, fax 202-224-1946
Susan Collins (ME) 202-224-2523, fax 202-224-2693
Gregg (NH) 202-224-3324
Lisa Murkowski (AK) 202-224-6665, fax 202-224-5301

And last, but not least (per Lipstick Underground’s request): McCain 202-224-2235, Fax: 202-228-2862

Other senators' contact info here.

Fax a .DOC, .DOCX, or .PDF file free from your computer:

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/
http://www.myfax.com/free/

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Where Will Medical Tourists Go for Their Surgeries Next?

In her opinion piece at Investors Business Daily, "Coming Soon: The Nightmare from Up There," Sally Pipes writes about her Canadian mother's experience with socialized medicine:

In June 2005, she wasn't feeling well and thought she might have colon cancer. She asked for a colonoscopy but was told by her doctor that it was unnecessary. The doctor ordered an X-ray, which revealed nothing.

By December, she was 30 pounds lighter, bleeding — and finally eligible for care. She spent two days in the emergency room and two days in a transit lounge waiting for a room. A colonoscopy revealed advanced cancer. She died two weeks later.

And then there's this story:

Former Canadian Member of Parliament Belinda Stronach steadfastly opposed any privatization of Canadian health care while in office.

Yet in 2007, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she effectively opted out of her beloved public system in order to have surgery in California. For most Canadians, such medical tourism is not an option.

I googled "Belinda Stronach" to see whether her California experience had changed Stronach's mind about Canada's socialized health care. This is what her spokesman, Greg MacEachern, had to say about the "personal and private matter between Belinda, her family and her physicians":

Belinda had one of her later-stage operations in California, after referral from her personal physicians in Toronto. Prior to this, Belinda had surgery and treatment in Toronto, and continues to receive follow-up treatment there.

[snip]

Belinda thinks very highly of the Canadian health-care system, and uses it when needed for herself and her children, as do all Canadians.

The later-stage surgery, it turns out, was breast reconstruction, which Stronach, a wealthy heiress, could well afford. She has since bought Canada a nice new breast reconstruction center. But Canadian breast cancer survivors' tax payments into socialized medicine don't cover that type of surgery, although U.S. private insurance usually does.

If socialized medicine takes root in the U.S., and Belinda couldn't take a flight to California for her surgery, where would she go? Today's top competitors for her surgical dollar would be Thailand, Singapore, India, Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, South Africa, Jordan, Malaysia, Hungary, Latvia, and Estonia.

I guess those surgeries will be for people well enough (and young enough) to make the trip, unlike Sally Pipes' mom.

Get ready, North America.

Bet you can't wait.

Note: There's still time to call or write your senators about Cap and Trade. The exorbitant hidden cost increases that cap and trade will bring, if it gets through the Senate, aren't going to make paying for that trip to Bangkok General Hospital any easier.

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