Sen. Lautenberg refuses to answer questions

Contributed by: the Bib

CNSNews.com
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/59037

Sen. Lautenberg Declines To Say Where Congress Gets Constitutional Authority To Mandate Health Insurance
Monday, December 28, 2009
By Edwin Mora

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) declined to say where Congress gets the constitutional authority to require every American to have health insurance, as both the Senate and House health care bills mandate. 
 
At the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Dec. 22, CNSNews.com asked Senator Lautenberg, “Specifically where in the Constitution does Congress get the authority to mandate that individuals have health insurance?” 
 
Lautenberg said, “I am not going to answer that,” and then walked away.
 
The individual health insurance mandate in the Senate health reform bill would force all Americans to carry some form of government-approved health insurance or pay an excise tax penalty ranging between $500 and $1,500 per year.
 
The Senate health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is 2,078 pages long and is estimated to cost — over 10 years, with benefits starting in 2014 – at least $1.8 trillion. 
 
The legislation passed on a party-line vote, 60 – 39, on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. (Sen. Jim Bunning [R-Ky.] skipped the vote, while the two Independents – Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut – joined with the 58 Democrats to pass the bill.)
 
Back in 1994, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examined the individual health insurance mandate, which was then being proposed by President Bill Clinton’s health care reform effort, and described the idea as an “unprecedented form of federal action.”
 
“The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States,” the CBO analysis said. “An individual mandate would have two features that, in combination, would make it unique. First, it would impose a duty on individuals as members of society. Second, it would require people to purchase a specific service that would be heavily regulated by the federal government.”
 
While the Senate debated the health care bill on Dec. 22, Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) raised, on behalf of the Republican Steering Committee, a point of order questioning the constitutionality of the individual mandate.
 
That point of order, however, was dismissed on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 23, in a roll call vote that split along party lines, 60-39.
 
In a floor speech when he raised the point of order, Sen. Ensign said, “I am incredibly concerned that the Democrats’ proposed individual mandate provision takes away too much freedom and choice from Americans across the country.”
 
“As an American, I felt the obligation to stand up for the individual freedom of every citizen to make their own decision on this issue. I don’t believe Congress has the legal authority to force this mandate on its citizens.”
 
A transcript of the exchange between Sen. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and CNSNews.com follows below:
 
CNSNews.com: “Specifically where in the Constitution does Congress get the authority to mandate that individuals have health insurance?” 
 
Senator Lautenberg: “I’m not going to answer that.”

Whatever Bama wants Bama gets

A few more baubles for the House holdouts and they’re there. He said it would be under budget but no one said the payoffs would meet that criteria did they? And low and behold the sweeteners may cost more than the bill in the end. I’d say this will be as historic as the presidency itself!

WH putting health-care off until … February?

posted at 11:36 am on December 23, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Politico’s Mike Allen and Alexander Trowbridge have some bad news for Democrats, especially in the Senate, where Harry Reid has kept the chamber locked in battle over ObamaCare for weeks in an attempt to hit the finish line by Christmas.  Barack Obama plans to put the health-care overhaul on the back burner until after the State of the Union address, pushing any conference between the House and Senate off until February.  Instead, Obama plans a “hard pivot” towards jobs and the economy:

The White House privately anticipates health care talks to slip into February — past President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address — and then plans to make a “very hard pivot” to a new jobs bill, according to senior administration officials.

Obama has been told that disputes over abortion and the tight schedule are highly likely to delay a final deal, a blow to the president who had hoped to trumpet a health care victory in his big speech to the nation. But he has also been told that House Democratic leaders seem inclined, at least for now, to largely accept the compromise worked out in the Senate, virtually assuring he will eventually get a deal.

Internally, White House aides are plunging into a 2010 plan calling for an early focus on creating jobs, especially in the energy sector, along with starting a conversation about deficit reduction measures, the administration officials said.

Both will be major themes for his first State of the Union speech, which will likely take place on Jan. 26 or Feb. 2. White House aides are in the early stages of planning for the national address, but Obama will not only trumpet what he has described as his “B-plus” performance in 2009 but also set the stage for the 2010 congressional campaigns.

This tells us that the White House has done some legwork in the House and found that the lower chamber is not going to adopt the Senate version as is, as Politico also reports this morning:

House Democrats insisted Tuesday they have no plans to roll over for the Senate in upcoming negotiations on a health reform bill, even as they acknowledged it would be all but impossible to reinsert a public insurance option or force the so-called millionaire’s tax on the Senate.

Either move would disrupt Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s no-margin-for-error 60-vote majority. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team seem to have their sights set on lower-profile – but no-less important – differences, like boosting affordability credits in the final bill and starting the insurance exchange a year earlier, which they did in the House.

On a conference call Tuesday, Pelosi (D-Calif.) walked the party’s leadership team through differences in the two bills.

Other differences the speaker mentioned Tuesday include: replacing the Senate’s state-run exchanges with a national exchange established under the House bill, adding tougher mandates to make sure everyone secures health coverage and closing a gap in prescription-drug coverage next year. Senate negotiators have agreed to close the so-called “donut hole,” but they haven’t agreed on a time to implement those changes.

Forget Raul Grijalva’s note of encouragement.  These issues will be too tough to overcome without the House reworking the bill.  That  will either require a conference committee to resolve the two bills or an attempt by Harry Reid to get the Senate to buy a House version (the “ping-pong” strategy), either of which would be subject to cloture votes and unlikely to succeed to a floor vote.

The longer that debate drags, the further Obama drops in the polls, which is why this move only makes sense if the White House sees weeks more futility in the health-care overhaul debate.  Even liberal commentators like the Seattle Times editorial board want Democrats to shelve ObamaCare and start paying attention to the fact that unemployment has spun out of control on their watch.  Deficits are even more wild, as Obama’s OMB Director Peter Orszag was forced to acknowledge when he admitted that he had underestimated deficits over the next ten years by 22%, or $2,200,000,000,000.

Unfortunately for Democrats in Congress, that move tosses them under a very big bus.  They wanted to close this debate as early as possible in order to allow anger over the unpopular measure to ebb in time for their re-election campaigns.  Under the new timing, Congress would have to consider ObamaCare and cap-and-trade in rapid succession, just in time for the summer and fundraising time.  Unlike last year, Democrats won’t be able to avoid appearing in public and being surrounded by Tea Party protests, and those two agenda items will provoke them to even more fury than last year.

The other term for “hard pivot” is “dithering.”  The more Obama dithers, the less likely ObamaCare becomes.

Health Reform or Bribery

Another Rant By BettyJean Kling

Excuse me but this deal still leaves over 20 million people uninsured! Let me repeat that over 20 million people still uninsured, it gives sweetheart deals to several states, it looks nothing like anything that those who elected this president asked for so in the end it is just another back room wheeling and dealing political hack job that reminds us – the only good politician is a fired one!

Health Care needs reform but our House and Senate need it more. Private deals at our expense and without our permission are unacceptable! How long are we going to sit by and watch these crooks take our money and do as they will with it? Who will decide who and where and how spend our hard earned money? Who decides if and where we will have jobs and who will take away our right to decide for ourselves or most private decisions? Are we fools?  Will we continue to take this quietly?

Sweetheart deals – with your money?
If you go along with this- you will deserve it!

I just signed Mike Huckabee’s Emergency Petition to Senator Ben Nelson. I urge you to do the same. Please use this link:

http://www.huckpac.com/?Fuseaction=Petitions.View&Petition_id=11

 Our goal is to collect 100,000 signatures by the final Senate vote.

If you will take any Health Care Reform at any cost just to say you have passed Health Care Reform – you are a fool who is not meeting the criteria of reforming health care in a meaningful way nor reducing cost. What you have accomplished is reforming health care in name only and you have fooled NO ONE! My only hope is that this is the final nail for your coffins! Perhaps this is what will wake American’s up !

Voter Imposed Term Limits!
vote em out – vote em all out!

Ladies First: The rationing begins with mammograms!

Another Rant By: BettyJean Kling

Here is your harbinger of things to come from our first feminist president. Women are always the first to go! We were the last to get the medical help in the best studies against Cancer and heart disease and the first to get the boot. So where’s the change as the rationing begins?

A government task force said Monday that most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50 — a stunning reversal and a break with the American Cancer Society’s long-standing position. What’s more, the panel said breast self-exams do no good, and women shouldn’t be taught to do them.

The news seemed destined to leave many deeply confused about whose advice to follow.

“I’ve never had a scare, but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?” asked Beth Rosenthal, 41, sitting in a San Francisco cafe on Monday afternoon with her friend and their small children. “I’ve heard of a lot of women in their 40s, and even 30s, who’ve gotten breast cancer. It just doesn’t seem right to wait until 50.”

For most of the past two decades, the American Cancer Society has been recommending annual mammogram beginning at 40, and it reiterated that position on Monday. “This is one screening test I recommend unequivocally, and would recommend to any woman 40 and over,” the society’s chief medical officer, Dr. Otis Brawley, said in a statement.

But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government panel of doctors and scientists, concluded that such early and frequent screenings often lead to false alarms and unneeded biopsies, without substantially improving women’s odds of survival.

“The benefits are less and the harms are greater when screening starts in the 40s,” said Dr. Diana Petitti, vice chair of the panel.

Breast cancer survivors who were diagnosed at a young age were among the more vocal critics of the new guidelines.  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575371,00.html

Think I am jumping to conclusions? Please note,  the new US government task force regulations are in line with international guidelines, which call for screening to start at age 50; the World Health Organization recommends the test every two years, and Britain’s are every three years.  Hmmmmmmmmm , sounds fishy to me- wonder if they will still pay for Viagra?

By the way this task force is another czar-like unelected panel selected to make decisions on your health care! Their job and very handsome income depends soley on making their boss very happy and cutting medical costs!!! isn’t it interesting how the first first cut started with mamograms? http://video.foxnews.com/11654977/rationing-board

Bribe is no bipartisan bill!

Contributed by: Dianne

In addition OBAMA bribed Louisiana Congressman Cao by promising to forgive a huge debt owed by Louisiana from Katrina.  Cao, who speaks broken English flat out lied on Fox news this morning.  In addition, this COWARD waited until the DNC had the 218 votes before he added his vote.  Starting today we are actively seeking a true Conservative Republican to run against this RINO in his district.

Please send on to all your groups and if you are still a member of AARP, please, rethink it.

OBAMACARE ENDORSEMENTS: WHAT THE BRIBE WAS
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published on TheHill.com on November 6, 2009As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the drubbing their party took in the ’09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these — and the other endorsements — his package has received are all bought and paid for. 

 

Here are the deals:

* The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians’ reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5-6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill…or else!

* The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues. 

Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP — which supposedly represents them — will make more money. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the alternative group; contact sbarton@americansen iors.org. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)

* The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.

* Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don’t buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.

The only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle and wouldn’t go along with Obama’s blackmail. So the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.

So these endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration that is intent on passing its program at any cost.

Sarah Palin: House passes health care bill

We’ve got to hold on to hope, and we’ve got to fight hard because Congressional action tonight just put America on a path toward an unrecognizable country.

The same government leaders that got us into the mortgage business and the car business are now getting us into the health care business.

Despite Americans’ decisive message last Tuesday that they reject the troubling path this country has been taking, Speaker Pelosi has broken her own promises of transparency to ram a health “care” bill through the House of Representatives just before midnight. Why did she push the 2,000 page bill this weekend? Was she perhaps afraid to give her peers and the constituents for whom she works the chance to actually read this monstrous bill carefully, if at all? Was she concerned that Americans might really digest the details of a bill that the Wall Street Journal has called “the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced”?

This out-of-control bureaucratic mess will be disastrous for our economy, our small businesses, and our personal liberty. It will slam businesses at a time when we are at double-digit unemployment rates – the highest we’ve seen in a quarter of a century. This massive new bureaucracy will cost us and our children money we don’t have. It will rob Americans of more of our freedom and further hamper the free market.

Make no mistake: we’re on course to have government commandeer one-sixth of our economy. The people who gave us Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now want to run our health care. Think about that.

All of us who value the sanctity of life are grateful for the success of the pro-life majority in the House this evening in its battle against federal funding of abortion in this bill, but it’s ironic because we were promised that abortion wasn’t covered in the bill to begin with. Our healthy distrust of these government leaders made us look deeper into the bill because unfortunately we knew better than to trust what they were saying. The victory tonight to amend the bill and eliminate that federal funding for abortion was great – because abortion is not health care. Now we can only hope that Rep. Stupak’s amendment will hold in the final bill, though the Democratic leadership has already refused to promise that it won’t be scrapped later.

We had been told there were no “death panels” in the bill either. But look closely at the provision mandating bureaucratic panels that will be calling the shots regarding who will receive government health care.

Look closely at provisions addressing illegal aliens’ health care coverage too.

Those of us who love freedom and believe in open and transparent government can only be dismayed by midnight action on a Saturday. Speaker Pelosi’s promise that Americans would have 72 hours to read the final bill before the vote was just another one of the D.C. establishment’s too-common political ploys. It’s broken promises like this that turn people off to politics and leave them disillusioned about the future of their country.

But despite this late-night maneuvering, many of us were paying close attention tonight. We’ll keep paying close attention. We need to let our legislators in Washington know that they still represent us, and that the majority of Americans are not in favor of the “reform” they are pushing. After all, this is still a country “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We will make our voices heard. It’s on to the Senate now. Our legislators can listen now, or they can hear us in 2010. It’s their choice.

– Sarah Palin

White House Asks You to Create Your Own Video on Health Insurance

Have you seen this one; I saw it late  Thursday, Sept. 3rd?  Could it be that if the White House is resorting to using various State Democratic Party email lists, THEY ARE IN TROUBLE? 

The underlying message of all this, is that we want you to use the internet ONLY if your message matches mine.  Hey, but that’s not fascist.  No, that’s the Chicago model of REAL MOB POLITICS, the OLD POLITICAL BOSS STYLE or simply – THUGS!  And in Obamaland that’s “a good thing” for Obama and his minions, NOT YOU.  It’s the daily eroding away of my RIGHT TO DISSENT that makes me so angry.  But remember, he got into this office by proclaiming “I did not vote for the war.”  So he gets into his elected office by campaigning on the sham of dissent (he wasn’t even in the Senate to vote in 2001 and 2002; wasn’t elected until 2004 and in office until January 2005) and NOW we hear claims WE ARE UNAMERICAN AND ARE NOT TO DISSENT – Him!  Remember, some threatened riots if Obama was not elected?  Why are you still taking this sitting down?

Create your own video.  You can even turn a PowerPoint Presentation into a movie with music and voiceovers.  It’s easy.  Try it and send us your video.  We will try and post them here or at least a link.

Don’t take this sitting down – get out your cameras and imaginations – LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD CLEARLY!

 Dear fellow Democrat, 

 Inaction on health insurance reform is not an option – except to the big insurance companies that     are raking in obscene profits while denying care to millions who work for a living. Every day, they    price more out of the system or deny them coverage because of a pre-existing condition. But reform isn’t only  about the people who don’t have insurance – it’s about anyone who’s ever worried about losing their coverage if  they become sick, lose their job or change their job.

 While the status quo is unsustainable, those opposing reform are doing nothing but helping corrupt insurance  companies protect enormous profits gained by charging sky-high premiums and denying coverage whenever they can get away with it. They are out there using fear tactics, getting everyday people to carry their dirty water for them by telling lies about insurance reform.  

Before you fall out of your chair from all the above spin and more, consider the insurance reform that has been proposed does little to insure better coverage other than mandating an end to pre-existing conditions.  There is little if any cost containment.  They are afraid to allow competition across state lines that would result in substantially lower premiums because of the state- to-state  disparity regarding mandates to cover (what the insurer cannot exclude) and mandates to offer (what the insurer  may choose to include).  Check it out – one state may make it a requirement to cover infertility treatment, while another claims it is experimental and denies any and all coverage. THIS IS NOT REFORM; this is a MERE MANIPULATION OF THE CURRENT STATUS and A SELL-OUT to BIG PHARMA, the MEGA HOSPITAL CORPORATIONS AND THE INSURERS!

Vice President Joe Biden has created a video, addressing the biggest health care lie of all: that our  health insurance system works just fine and Americans don’t care about reform. The White House invites you to help the Vice President debunk this myth by responding with your own YouTube video on why reform matters to you.

OPEN YOUR EARS DEMOCRATS!  WE KNOW IT DOESN’T WORK FINE … BUT YOUR PLAN IS LOUSY.  GO BACK AND START ALL OVER.  GET IT RIGHT.  WE HAVE SEEN DRIVE THRU MASTECTOMIES AND THE LIKE.  WE DON’T NEED “DRIVE-THRU, FAST PASSING LEGISLATION”.  We have had ENOUGH OF YOUR GAS!

DO THE HARD WORK YOU WERE ELECTED TO DO!  Know your state’s levels of insurance coverage, read the bill, figure out how this bill impacts your constituents, and work toward A BETTER SOLUTION than what is currently drafted!

 Click the video link to watch the video and respond with your own:   http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/771   

 If you need some help getting started, the White House also has a new online quiz – to help set the record straight on what’s in reform for someone like you:           http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/quiz

   Your fellow Democrat,

   Chairman of Your State Democratic Party 

Urgent- DO NOT ALLOW this to happen again!

Cross posted from El Marco
http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/08/organizing-for-america-stages-show-in-denver/

The following photo essay is a repeat of what many of us saw in the primaries- we cannot allow this in America! Do not allow this in America. This may be our very last opportunity to be free- if we lay down we will lose this – let us not go down without a fight!
Go to every town hall you in your district, arrive early, insist on being admitted, refuse to sign anything, take pictures, do not go alone, document everything , carry a voice recorder and camera. Remember – your representatives are supposed to represent you – if they do not – remember that and start to groom someone for the very next election and let them know that very night.

Organizing for America Stages Show in Denver

Denver –  August 29 2009 – The Obama administration has sent out Organizing for America – the successor organization of Obama for America, which was Obama’s campaign organization, to drum up support for his unpopular Obamacare initiative. The coast to coast bus tour arrived in Denver Friday.

Shockingly, opponents to Obamacare are being bullied, and consent manufactured by the White House and Obama activists. Although the White House denies their single payer goals, that seemed to be the main message at the rally in Denver, where the message was carefully controlled.

I arrived early at North High School for Friday’s, Organizing for America rally in Denver. OFA community organizers were hard at work. 

This organizer was instructing volunteers to hand out signs to anticipated crowds. Ed Perlmutter is scheduled to speak to his constituents about Obamacare. 

Here, hand-manufactured signs on sticks are mixed with a ream or two of signs without sticks. Approximately 50 signs. In boxes are printed signs with UPS One Day Air receipts on them. From D.C.?  Maybe.

Here another organizer gives similar instructions. Another 50 or so fake grassroots signs waiting to be distributed.

 

I went to the adjacent street, West 32nd Street, and here is what I saw. 

 

 

 

 

Some media showed up after a while and zeroed in on the guy with the Ted Kennedy sign. The reporterette at center showed no interest in interviewing the man on the right or others. 

 

I checked back at this same area about 20 minutes later to find that the Astroturf Brigades had arrived in force and were beginning to be a nuisance. 

 

These two are Organizing for America people sent from the high school staging area which is approximately 300 feet to the right of the green shirt.

 

This proud DenverCrat was eager to pose for my camera. I’m pretty sure he made his own sign, which took tremendous initiative no doubt. 

 

Much to my chagrin, he began to berate anyone who made eye contact with him. He spoke, er, bellowed eloquently enough. He sounded like Ted Kennedy on the campaign trail. He marshaled many of the main democrat talking points quite admirably. 

Democrat Party passion and a tightly clenched fist. With a makeover, he’d be a perfect candidate.

These green shirts blocked the north entrance to the high school parking lot. All who wanted to enter to hear Representative Perlmutter had to go approximately 1/4 of a mile to the west entrance. They said everyone had to sign in for security reasons. Following is an email from a severely disabled Denver Prager Listener Group member:

“I was at that rally and was parked inside the fence because I had arrived very early. I walked outside the west side of the fence to meet friends and then re-entered when they called and said they were on the other side of the parking lot. The “green shirts” came toward me with their clip boards and wanted to know where I was going. I told them I was going to my car and they reluctantly let me pass. When I got to the other end of the lot, several “green shirts” approached me and asked where I was going. I told them and they also reluctantly let me go past. When I met my friends I told them what had happened and that I was really afraid of those people because they came across so aggressively. One of my friends found a couple of police officers and he told them I was afraid these people wouldn’t let me back in to get my car. The officers talked to the “green shirts” and they were quite irate that I felt the least bit intimidated by them!! Well, a couple of hours later the Obama Bus arrived and a little while after that I needed to leave. One of my friends offered to walk me to my car. When we got to the gate the “green shirts” had tied yellow “CAUTION” tape (it looks like police tape!!) across the entire gate opening and it took a couple of minutes for my friend to convince them that I was just going to my car and he was walking with me. 

It is so deplorably dishonest for these “astroturf” bullies with their professionally printed signs and buttons to forcibly extract signatures from people and then for Perlmutter (my Congressman also!!) to knowingly use those signatures ~ I believe that in any other arena this would be fraud!!!” 

The woman who wrote this lives in constant extreme pain and is not a threat to anyone.  

I headed over to the west entrance to see what was going on. I passed a group of grassroots supporters of Obama on the way. Others in the group had signs which were foul and offensive. Disgusting, really. So I have spared you the necessary after-viewing shower by not showing their photos.

 

A young mind is a terrible thing to waste.

 

At the western entrance I asked this young man what kind of liberal he is. “Jeffersonian” he replied with a big grin. 

Below is the processing area inside the gate. Everyone was required to give name, address, phone number and email. Media had to sign a separate form with employer name, etc. I put “Pravda” as my employer. The tables on the left contain clipboards where all the information is gathered. Anyone who did not want to give their data was asked to leave under implied threat of police escort.

 

Outside the line proceeded very slowly even though there was no security check whatsoever. Only data gathering. In this line I saw one person with a homemade pro-Obamacare sign. She can be seen below center in red. The two ladies on the right were told by two greenshirts they would have to leave their signs outside. 

 

 

Here is an email forwarded by  another Prager listener:

“I just returned from a rally for health care reform held at North High School in Denver. As Erin and I were entering the staging area we were approached by people carrying clipboards. We were told we could not enter without signing our name and address on the form. I asked why they needed this information and was told they must know who was entering the area.This was a tax payer supported high school property hosting public speakers and I was being denied entry unless the clipboard form was completed. I was very uncomfortable with this request and remained outside the chain link fence to listen to the speakers. The first speaker was my very own repesentative, Ed Permutter who thanked all who had signed the clipboard form and stated that all these signatures would go on to to Washington showing support of the Obama Health Care Plan. I could not believe what I heard. Never was it stated that this form was a support of the health care plan. I just wonder how many people were dooped into signing this when they do not support the bill or do not know enough about it to make a decision.People carrying signs supporting the bill were permitted entry with their signs, those opposing had to remain outside.

 Whether you support this bill or not please ask yourself……do I live in a free country where all are welcome to a public forum without restriction? Can a petition obtained with deception go onto Washington in support of a bill that no one can understand? Do our elected officials respect the wants of the people or are they ramming their agenda down our throats?”

In some third world countries this is a common union scam tactic. Invite workers to a meeting, sign a book at the door and they are trapped into the union without ever being asked if they wanted to join. When enough workers are signed in their employer is shoved aside and the union sets up shop. Very sneaky.

 

This is the scene of the podium from the photographers stand. 

 

 

The union workers were out in full force. 

 

Here we see a green shirt distributing signs to astroturfers. This is the last step to create the “grassroots look’ that is the goal of David Axelrod. This creates a false positive impression among the television audience. Not all signs found willing Astroturfers and were ignored. Some people came to hear their representative, not to play partisan stooge. 

Some in Canada argue that national single-payer healthcare as a human right, was enshrined in Canada’s first constitution, The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 . In 2005 the Superior Court of Canada ruled that the Canadian government was in violation of every Canadian’s basic human rights. Canadaian Chief Justice, Beverly McLachlin, wrote that “Access to a waiting list is not access to health care.”

A fundamental human right was violated here at this rally. And that, of course, is the now apparently antiquated right of free speech which was enshrined in the first American Constitution in 1791.

 

 

Astroturf by Axelrod.

An organizer drones on as the crowd awaits the arrival of the OFA bus carrying Rep. Perlmutter. The bus is late. 

A commotion in the parking lot caught my eye. A green shirt aggressively berates two dissenters in the parking lot .

They are ejected by two male organizers in red shirts. While still on school property, the two ladies decided to hold their ground, resisting excessive trampling of their rights as law abiding Americans. 

 

This is a standoff. Who would have thought a scene like this could occur in America? 

 

The red shirts stay to monitor the situation(above background left). At no time did I see these ladies argue or fuss. They appeared only calm and insistent on their rights.

 

Meanwhile, the Astroturfers who were sent to confront the legitimate dissenters on W 32nd St, are now among the crowd waiting to cheer Perlmutter.

And here’s the bus. Police were positioned around our hardy dissenters, for the safety of the public no doubt.

WHOOPEE!!! Let the show begin!

 

 

The bus was followed by several black SUV’s. Looks like Tony Soprano sent some of the boys over in case things got out of hand. 

Perlmutter ranted about fighting and fighting and human rights and the Constitution. 

 

Organizers positioned this banner to block the view from the two camera stands. Should have sent a taller green shirt. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men…

 

Obama proposed vets carry private health insurance

I got the following – it sounded ridiculous so I checked it on snopes: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/veteranshealth.asp Truth be told – he did not utter these words but he did propose veterans carry private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty. He did not intend this to come out of their pockets but to be billed to their private insurance, nor did he force them to buy private insurance after the fact. Newsweek reported he backed down within 48 hours after being told he would lose support of the entire military. Sounds like he got real bad advice and honestly – this proves what happens when you put someone in there wet behind the ears. But having said that – even Obama would never say what they are accusing him of so let’s stop this nonsense right in its tracks. This is making the rounds today again and since last February. Don’t pass this around – we have enough real problems to deal with let’s not water things sown with foolishness.

Bad press, including major mockery of the plan by comedian Jon Stewart, led to President Obama abandoning his proposal to require veterans carry private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty. The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal.

“Look, it’s an all volunteer force,” Obama complained. “Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn’t compute.” “I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country, “Obama continued.”I wasn’t asking for blood, just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I’d have thought that the patriotic thing to do would be to try to help reduce the nation’s deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans.”

Please pass this on to everyone including every vet and their families whom you know.

Shame on Montana and on Obama!

Another Rant By: BettyJean Kling

Obama goes to Montana and gets a resounding round of applause for every word he says.

A citizen bravely stands and faces the President and states he is a member of the NRA – he gets the applause of 4 braves souls immediately surrounding him the rest of the hall of thousands is eerily quiet. This is Montana – that feels strange – how can it be ?

Now the gentleman mentions he is a strong believer in “The Constitution” and gets the applause of the same 4 other citizens. He looks around incredulously – not even the President of the United States applauds. Shame on Montana.  

After the meeting was over the Democratic governor had the nerve to express his pleasure with how well the people of Montana behaved. Oh dear – If I were he – I would be ashamed myself.

Obviously these people don’t remember the importance of “The Constitution” but perhaps a reminder of the lies Mr. Obama uttered not to long ago will at least stop them from making absolute jackasses out of themselves on national TV next time. Oh the shame they could not muster up a round of applause for “The Constitution of the United States of America.”

Remember these words from the man who lied then and lied today and who you applauded?