ObamaCare Passes The House

"The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

Margaret Thatcher





The real battle starts now.

As many of you know by know, Nancy Pelosi and the White House managed to ram through government run healthcare in the House late Saturday night, 220 -215.

One Republican voted for this, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao who's very blue 2nd Louisiana district encompasses New Orleans. He did so after he received a direct call from President Obama promising pork in the form of increased spending in his district, earmarks for some local hospitals and 'debt forgiveness' of millions in disaster loans if he voted right.

Let the good times roll, n'est pa? Especially at the taxpayer's expense.

Thirty nine Democrats had the moral courage and common sense to resist the bribes and arm twisting and vote no.Almost all of them are freshman blue dogs in mostly GOP districts

One of the really notable Democrat votes against was from Leftist Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, a man I disagree with on almost every issue but someone who's integrity and moral courage has never been in question with me. Kucinich simply refused to vote for a bill funded on the backs of tax payers as opposed to a free ride for the insurance companies and Big Pharma because of the backroom deals Obama made with them.

Aside from outright bribes and arm twisting, a key reason this abomination passed was because of the Stupak amendment.

Introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), it was approved 240 to 194, and bans abortion coverage by all plans that are purchased using taxpayer dollars in the new government-run health insurance plan.Abortions could still be obtained by policyholders who pay their entire premiums without government assistance or by individuals receiving federal subsidies if an abortion is done because of rape, incest or endangerment of the life of the mother.

Pelosi's original bill included massive federal funding and subsidies for abortions. The Stupak Amendment passed with almost complete GOP support, which was good morality but poor politics...especially since the Democrat congressional leadership has already refused to promise that it won’t be scrapped later, in the final version of the combined House and Senate bills. Had the House Republicans opposed the Stupak amendment, it would have failed and likely have kept enough pro-life Democrats from voting for Pelosi's bill to keep ObamaCare from passing.

Like Obama's treasury raiding 'stimulus', this 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion piece of legislation was shoved through late Saturday night without legislators - or G-d forbid, the American public - having a chance to read it in any detail.It was deliberately made obtuse, hard to read and rampant with bogus legalese.

It supposedly stops illegal aliens care from being subsidized, but because there are no provisions for enforcement and no requirement to demand that recipients show a photo ID, it's rather like me saying that bank robbery is bad while removing security guards, surveillance cameras or any penalties or obstructions against it. Look forward to it costing a lot more than $1.2 trillion as people who need expensive operations or even basic care simply walk across the border to acquire them at the American taxpayer's expense.

The 'death panels' - bureaucratic committees that will decide how to ration care for seniors- made the cut too.Anyone who doubts that should simply take a look at the provisions mandating bureaucratic panels that will be calling the shots on what care Granny and Grampa get to receive.

My mother, an Obama voter and Democrat-for-life figured this out pretty quickly, and she's not exactly happy about it, to say the least. They're robbing seniors of care in order to pay the costs on their backs.

Essentially, the bill spends anywhere from $1.2 to $1.5 trillion dollars to save $140 billion. I'll repeat what I said about this earlier, revised from when the cost was supposedly $829 billion while allegedly cutting the deficit by by $81 billion over a decade. Let's take the numbers down to earth, based on a cost of $1.2 trillion and 'savings' of $140 billion in ten years ..

Here's a deal for you - I want you to refinance your mortgage now in 2009 dollars and spend $12,000 in fees and costs. In exchange you'll save a total of $1,400 in 2019 dollars over ten years..if my figures are correct and nothing changes - and we know it will.

Any takers out there?

Of course, let's keep in mind that given the illegal aliens who will be receiving ObamaCare and given the same sort of government efficiency and fiscal responsibility that oversees Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Medicare,and a slew of other government run programs, the official figures for cost and savings are almost certainly total fantasy.

So, what's next?

This garbage goes to the Senate. Joe Lieberman,contrary to what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had to say has pledged to do whatever he can to block ObamaCare. Other Senators will no doubt join him.

If Reid can't get the necessary support in the Senate, there's no doubt in my mind that he will try a shady maneuver like reconciliation, stopping debate and simply taking the Senate bill behind closed doors with the House Democrats to come up with a joint bill. That's normally only done for budget provisions, but the Democrats have already done this once already with Obama's 'stimulus' bill, actually locking Republicans out of the room.

Lean heavily on your representatives in the House and Senate and let them know that this is a career decision they're making.If they aren't willing to listen to their constituents now, they will be forced to in 2010.

I've always said that shoving this through Congress was the one thing that would cause the Democrats to lose their majority in both Houses. I still feel that way.

And remember, this bill doesn't kick in until 2013...so it can still be repealed before then.

Let's make sure we work for change WE can believe in.