The Baucus Bill:
The Senate Finance Committee bill (generally called the Baucus bill, after Chairman Max Baucus) robs the elderly to cover the uninsured — like snatching purses from little old ladies. The House bills already cut future funding for Medicare by $500 billion over the next decade. The Baucus bill would slash a similar amount, just when 30 percent more people enter the program as baby boomers turn 65.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_kill_granny_bill_MenNO0aNV8CLUTDwbm5PUN
Another staged event:
Not only did the four doctors who flanked President Obama at his White House press event on Monday recommend his plan; three out of four of them donated to his presidential campaign.
It could be an ad slogan to put the toothpaste marketers who like to brag that nine out of ten doctors recommend their brand to shame.
The four doctors who stood and clapped along with Mr. Obama’s plans were Dr. Mona Mangat of St. Petersburg, Florida, Dr. Hershey Garner of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Dr. Richard A. Evans of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and Dr. Amanda McKinney of Beatrice, Nebraska.
Campaign finance records made available by the Center for Responsive Politics show three of them gave thousands to Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign. Dr. Manget gave $500, Dr. Garner gave $4,415 and Dr. McKinney gave $1750.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/oct/06/3-of-4-doctors-flanking-obama-at-event-donated-to-/
Democrats are desperate not to allow health care bills to be posted online. Must be something about scrutiny that makes them uncomfortable.
While most Americans normally ignore parliamentary detail, with health care looming, voters are suddenly paying attention. The Senate is expected to vote on a health bill in the weeks to come, representing months of work and stretching to hundreds of pages. And as of now, there is no assurance that members of the public, or even the senators themselves, will be given the chance to read the legislation before a vote.
……At town hall meetings across the country this past summer, the main topic was health care, but there was a strong undercurrent of anger over the way Congress rushed through passage of the stimulus, global warming and bank bailout bills without seeming to understand the consequences. The stimulus bill, for example, was 1,100 pages long and made available to Congress and the public just 13 hours before lawmakers voted on it. The bill has failed to provide the promised help to the job market, and there was outrage when it was discovered that the legislation included an amendment allowing American International Group, a bailout recipient, to give out millions in employee bonuses.
“If someone had a chance to look at the bill, they would have found that out,” said Lisa Rosenberg, who lobbies Congress on behalf of the Sunlight Foundation to bring more transparency to government.
The foundation has begun an effort to get Congress to post bills online, for all to see, 72 hours before lawmakers vote on them.
……Reps. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and Greg Walden, R-Ore., are circulating a petition among House lawmakers that would force a vote on the 72-hour rule.
Nearly every Republican has signed on, but the Democratic leadership is unwilling to cede control over when bills are brought to the floor for votes and are discouraging their rank and file from signing the petition. Senate Democrats voted down a similar measure last week for the health care bill.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Congressional-leaders-fight-against-posting-bills-online-8340658-63557217.html
Harry Reid will try to sneak his own version in as a rider:
A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CNSNews.com that it is “likely” that Reid will use H.R. 1586—a bill passed by the House in March to impose a 90-percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions—as a “shell” for enacting the final version of the Senate’s health care bill, which Reid is responsible for crafting.
Under the procedure, the substance of House Resolution 1586 would be removed and replaced with the entire Senate health care package. The maneuver would initially require the support of 60 senators to vote for cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 1586 (i.e., end debate on the congressional procedure and move forward).
……“Constitutionally we cannot, we can’t bring that [Reid’s final version of the health care bill] to the Senate floor because anything that’s considered a revenue raising measure, constitutionally we can’t just do that over in the Senate, it has to start in the House,” said the aide. “So, what we do whenever we have situations where you have legislation that’s a revenue raising measure that we end up taking up before the House does, we have to use a bill that’s already been passed by the House that’s on the calendar and available to us and use that just as a shell measure.”
“So you just bring that to the floor [H.R. 1586], then you amend it with a complete substitute of, you know, whatever bill you want to consider,” said the aide. “In this case it would be that health reform bill. That would substitute the language. So you wouldn’t have the language from the House bill even to consider anymore, it would be this new language that would be, in this case the health bill.”
In a piece entitled “Congress’ Secret Plan to Pass Obamacare,” Heritage Foundation analyst Brian Darling described the same procedure described by Reid’s aide.
“Majority Leader Reid may, with the proper amount of votes in the Senate (60), offer the Health Care reform bill coming out of the Senate as a complete substitute to an unrelated House-passed bill–H.R. 1586, a bill to impose a tax on bonuses received by certain TARP recipients,” wrote Darling. “This means that the entire health care reform effort will be included as an amendment to a TARP bill that has been collecting dust in the Senate for months.”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55081
And if all else fails, THE ONE has summoned his Hollywood myrmidons to sell this bullshit:
Obama is turning to a handful of Hollywood stars to judge a contest that asks grassroots supporters to create a television commercial promoting health care reform.
Musician Will.I.Am, actor John Cho, actress Rosario Dawson, actor Dulé Hill, “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, actor Brandon Routh, actress Kate Walsh and actress Olivia Wilde will join Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, DNC Executive Director Jen O’Malley Dillon, Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and volunteers in helping to pick the 30-second commercial that will air nationally, a DNC official tells CNN.
The contest is being run by Obama’s political arm – Organizing for America – which is housed at DNC headquarters in Washington, DC. It is the latest effort by the president’s political team to try and enlist the grassroots to help pressure Congress to pass health care reform this year.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/07/first-on-the-ticker-obama-enlists-hollywood-in-new-health-care-ad/
Good luck on “enlisting the grassroots”, when grassroots America is dead set against this trainwreck.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was just caught collaborating with the White House, trying to push Obama’s agenda, on the taxpayer’s dime. And now he’s tapping his Hollywood friends for the same tactic.
Wanna bet Yosi Sergant is in the mix?