Saturday, March 20, 2010

RED ALERT: Obama Will Sign Senate Bill First; House Democrats Be Warned - Your 'Fixes' Will Likely Never See the Light of Day

11:46am ET: A stark admission was just made in the Rules Committee. President Obama will sign a Senate Bill that was "deemed passed" in the House, but has never been voted on. The House fixes will likely be picked apart and destroyed, one by one, in the Senate during this outrageous abuse of the reconciliation process.

As an aside, the idiotic Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) just said that using the Slaughter Rule Is "like buying a house on contingency and you find it has a leaky roof".

Update: Mark Levin on Cavuto -- this has never been done before.

Update II: Michelle Malkin: Reports: Deem and Pass is dead; keep the no-mentum going.


Call Congress Now: 1-877-SOB-U-SOB (1-877-762-8762)

Screen-caps from C-Span's hearing in the Rules Committee. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been a hero.




Instapundit on the Latest Nielsen Disaster for NBC: "With a little luck, MSNBC might catch up to the Hallmark Channel"

MediaBistro, via Glenn Reynolds, offers the latest report on the uproarious joke of a network that is MSNBC.

MSNBC also trails the airport radar channel both in terms of quality of content and viewership.

Larwyn's Linx: If the health bill is so darn wonderful...

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

If the health bill is so darn wonderful...: RWN
Hidden inside Obamacare: Racial Preferences: PJM
Demcare Bribe List, Part III: Malkin

Upping the Ante: GWP
Eric Holder Calls Terrorist Attorneys 'Patriots': GWP
Obama backs plan to legalize illegals: Times

The List of Proposed Amendments to Demcare: Malkin
Beware Dems: Constitutional Hurricane Headed Your Way: PJM
Obama musters federal employees against the people: Riehl

Economy

ObamaCare Sends More To ObamaVilles: Kesler
Hey, look over there! (Obama restores ACORN funding): BigGovt
Q: Why Is A College Education Like Healthcare?: Grand

Obamacare to cost Cat $100M in first year: RedState
Jerry Brown to Unions: Attack My GOP Opponent: RWN
Granholm's Crook and the $9.1M Tax Break: BlogProf

Climate & Energy

Obama turns over our oil to... Russia: RWN
Baring All for Climategate: I'm in Penthouse this month...: Vanderleun
Climategate: Shameless Science: PJM (Lewis)

Media

Blue Dogs should pray health care fails: RedState
The Politically Correct Libertarian: AT
90 seconds to government-run health care: AmDigest

In defense of the Freedom Alliance and Sean Hannity: Malkin
One Longs For 1776, The Other For 1936: Driscoll
America's Comeback: Hot Air

The Revolving Door Between The State, And The State-Run Media: Driscoll
The Latest Outrage from the Outrageous Nancy Pelosi: Wizbang

World

Hillary Gloats: Slapping Around Israel "Is Paying Off": Mere Rhetoric
Winds of War Blow Across Israel: PJM
Obama on Israel: Why is anyone surprised?: PJM

SciTech

You know you’ve arrived when your hedcut’s in the WSJ: Fausta
Report: Memory card exposed 3,000 phones to virus: CNet

Cornucopia

Silent Killer: Study Shows 2 Million People with Health Insurance Die Annually: Doswell
Boob Belt - It's What's for Breakfast!: Mirror
You can't remake 'The Rockford Files': Big Hollywood

The Fearful Forty; 40 Dems who are persuadable on health care reform you should call NOW: AT

QOTD:

"...we seem to have come a long way since Ronald Reagan was regularly barked at by Sam Donaldson, almost literally, and the president shrugged it off. The president—every president—works for us. We don't work for him. We sometimes lose track of this, or rather get the balance wrong. Respect is due and must be palpable, but now and then you have to press, to either force them to be forthcoming or force them to reveal that they won't be. Either way it's revealing.

And so it ends, with a health-care vote expected this weekend. I wonder at what point the administration will realize it wasn't worth it—worth the discord, worth the diminution in popularity and prestige, worth the deepening of the great divide. What has been lost is so vivid, what has been gained so amorphous, blurry and likely illusory. Memo to future presidents: Never stake your entire survival on the painful passing of a bad bill. Never take the country down the road to Demon Pass."

  -- Peggy Noonan


Friday, March 19, 2010

Dude.



Beautiful: SEIU organizing rally for illegal immigration on 3/21 in DC

As if they haven't wrought enough damage, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) -- whose agenda appears to be bankrupting the U.S. -- is organizing a rally in favor of illegal immigration. Gee, I'm sure all of their dues-paying members are ecstatic. Check this pitch out:

Today we are at a pivotal moment in the history of this nation. We are faced with a choice. We can do nothing, and watch as new American families are torn apart by the broken immigration system; watch as profiteers continue to take advantage of people desperate for work [Ed: Got Communism?]; and watch as all American families struggle to find good jobs and make ends meet. Or we can stand up, and stand together for our families and our communities. Join thousands from across the country at the March for America in Washington on March 21st. Itis [sic] up to us to make sure that campaign trail promises are turned into real policies that help lift all American families in 2010. [Ed: So dumbing down citizenship will help our economy? That's kinda like socialized medicine reducing costs and increasing quality.]

Every day that Washington fails to address our broken immigration system and broken economy, Americans become more angry and frustrated with their leaders. Every day that we put off reforming the immigration system more families are torn apart, workers endure more abuse, our national deficit grows as billions in tax revenue are lost, and the rule of law is undermined...

This is the right moment for Congress to show it can pass bipartisan legislation by fixing the broken immigration system and fixing the economy... Comprehensive immigration reform [Ed: i.e., amnesty] is such a solution. It will strengthen our families, improve conditions and wages for all workers, make America safer, ensure all workers and all employers are paying their fair share of taxes, and add well over a trillion dollars to our economy. [Ed: Can't breathe. Laughing too hard. Hode on. Cheezus.]

Our values as a nation demand economic fairness for everyone and citizenship rights and obligations for all who work hard to sustain our country. Our broken immigration system dishonors our notions of inclusiveness, justice and equality. Our broken economy is the product a [sic] fundamental unfairness...

Not only are these morons illiterate, they're illiterate Communists!

The public sector unions have worked out really well for the feds and the states... which is why the Democrats, who appear hellbent on destroying our country, have empowered them to set policy.

The clock's ticking. Democrats only have a few months left in which they can destroy our society. That should explain their flailing, their buying votes, promising Ambassadorships, working retirement deals, and securing secret payoffs.

Join me on the 'Impeach & Convict Tour 2011', where Democrats will learn what "Representative Government" really means.


Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on the Most Irresponsible, Dishonest and Malevolent Congress in U.S. History

Interviewed on The Mark Levin Show, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) described the Democrats' cynical attempts to game the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate for their brand new entitlement program. As a reminder, our existing entitlement programs -- Social Security and Medicare -- are only $100 trillion in the hole right now.

Ryan: I've got CBO working on a letter for me to hopefully get tonight or tomorrow to just re-verify the facts.

Number one: they're taking $522 billion out of Medicare -- but not to get to Medicare solvency -- but to pay for this new government takeover of healthcare. This new entitlement. You can't count those dollars twice, yet they're claiming it twice. So we call that 'double-counting': either the $522 billion goes into the Medicare trust fund to make it more solvent or to this new program; not both. And they're claiming both...

They are taking ten years of tax increases and Medicare cuts to pay for six years of spending.

They're taking the 'Cadillac Tax' and shoving it outside the [ten-year, CBO] window.

They added a brand new tax on investment income [Ed: well, that should help the economy!] that's must higher... that's $210 billion of new taxes that we just got an hour or two ago.

And they're moving money out of this ten-year [CBO] window so much to manipulate this score to try and make it look like this thing comes in under a trillion dollars and actually reduces the deficit.

They don't count the 'Doc Fix', that's $371 billion right there... Medicare physicians are slated to get a 21% cut in their payments next month and everyone is proposing to prevent that from happening. Congress, for the last seven years, has prevented these Medicare cuts from occurring... and all of these bills said, "We're going to prevent these Medicare cuts from hitting the doctors" because we know about 25% of doctors will just drop taking Medicare patients if this cut occurs. And so... they took this spending provision out of the bill and left it as a separate piece of legislation. So they took $371 billion of spending and took it out of this legislation!

[There's] $72 billion in Social Security taxes that they're counting twice; that's supposed to go to Social Security, but is a raid on the Social Security trust fund.

There's $50 billion in premium for a new entitlement for long-term care insurance; these premiums, like any insurance, should go to insurance, but they're taking them to go to this new entitlement!

Levin: So they're taking money out of Social Security; they're taking money out of Medicare; new [LTC] premiums, they're taking that money; ...so we're at a trillion dollars of Madoff-style fiscal fraud!

Ryan: That's right. And the Congressional Budget Office can't tell you this. Because their statute is that they estimate whatever you put in front of them. And if you put in front of them garbage in, you'll get garbage out.

If you put in front of them a manipulated bill and all of the smoke and mirrors, they have no choice but to score the bill as you wrote it. And if you write it intentionally to disguise all of this, then you'll get a disguised estimate, and that's what we have here.

Precisely the reason I'm organizing the Impeach & Convict Tour 2011. Because you can't be too careful with Democrats: they're like cockroaches.


Update: Reps. Stupak and Cantor: Democrats Still Don’t Have the Votes.

Keep calling!

Larwyn's Linx: The Bigger Picture -- Democracy Denied

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Nation

The Bigger Picture -- Democracy Denied: RSM
'If you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing': Hot Air
The State Can Always Alter the Terms of the Deal: Doc Zero

A Criminal Cover-up In the White House?: RWN
Pence: 'America, we can win this fight!': Red State
ID, VA take lead in opposing Obamacare: RWN

What's in the Reconciled Health Care Bill?: VIrtuous
Connolly calls police on his own constituents: BlogProf
Impeach the President?: Times

Economy

Reconciliation bill has 'several Byrd-rule violations': Hot Air
Water for Votes: BlogProf
Fun with Numbers: CBO Estimates from Wonderland: Moran

Ban the Public Sector Unions: ObjInd
Union Teacher Hangs Obama In Effigy: LegalIns
Outlawing Union Outlaws: RA Blogs

The Real CBO Score Starts To Emerge: Kesler

Climate & Energy

Global Warming on Trial: AT

Media

Democrats in the Deathmobile: Ramming Speed!: RSM
Putting out fires with a gas bag: Soccer Dad
Human Rights in Secular America: Rants

Luntz: Unabomber has higher approval ratings than Congress: GWP
An Interview With America’s Toughest Sheriff, Joe Arpaio: RWN
Our lawbreaking Congress: Times

World

The World Watches Our President Fail: Surber
Obama's Israel Ambush Backfires: PJM
A Major Demonstration Against Honor Killings in Palestine: Chesler

What Crisis?: AT
How Obama is turning America against Israel: Lasky
Biden works his magic in the Middle East: Pillage

America, The Gulliver of Nations : Charlie Foxtrot
A Middle East Without American Influence?: C&S

SciTech

Electromagnetic Pulse Devastation: The Reality: StateBrief
Schumer, Goober push Obama for biometric national ID card: CNet

Cornucopia

March insanity returns: Gormogons
Three hundred million can play that game: SondraK

Rally Saturday in DC; Code Red as Obama in Fairfax on Friday: GWP

QOTD:

"President Obama says we need national health care because Natoma Canfield of Ohio had to drop her insurance when she couldn't afford the $6,700 premiums, and now she's got cancer.

Much as I admire Obama's use of terminally ill human beings as political props, let me point out here that perhaps Natoma could have afforded insurance had she not been required by Ohio's state insurance mandates to purchase a plan that covers infertility treatments and unlimited OB/GYN visits, among other things.

It sounds like Natoma could have used a plan that covered only the basics -- you know, things like cancer." -- Ann Coulter


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Obama administration unveils 'Cash for Codgers' program; aims to save billions on Medicare and Medicaid payments

As part of the federal government's efforts to rein in health care spending, the Department of Health and Human Services has instituted a generous offer to all U.S. citizens. It will pay you cold, hard cash for any seniors in your family who are 65-years old and over. Said seniors will be dispensed with humanely, in accordance with the recommendations of Ezekiel "Doctor Death" Emanuel.


In these tough economic times, what's better than solving the entitlement crisis and addressing senior health care issues -- simultaneously? It very well could be the final solution to the fiscal challenges of government-run health care.



Obamacare Protest Sign o' the Day


Hat tip: Soylent Green.

Breath of Fresh Air in N.J.: GOP Governor Chris Christie Fires Up the Cost-Cutting Chainsaw

Did you know?

• New Jersey spends $11 billion more annually than it takes in -- the largest percentage deficit in the U.S.

• New Jersey's total debt has tripled since 2002, skyrocketing from $17 billion to $51 billion. Each family of four living in New Jersey is therefore on the hook for more than $16,000.

• And in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, New Jersey's public sector added 11,300 jobs in 2009 while private enterprise hemorrhaged 121,000 jobs.

Sanity: Governor Chris Christie is amputating large portions of the budget. Because it's the only way.

• His proposed budget would slash subsidies to schools by $800 million and to cities and towns by $450 million.

• It would reduce state spending by nearly 10%.

• It would permanently cut more than 1,200 state employees.

• It would suspend payments of billions on the insanely rich public sector pension plans that can't possibly be sustained.

The only question: can we clone Chris Christie, say, 534 times for Washington?


How Do You Say "Crappy Health Care" in Canadian?

Nahanni points us to a first-person account of the Canadian health care system written by a Times of London correspondent. Visiting Quebec, a friend's young son had his leg severely slashed in a boating accident. An ambulance showed up quickly, the young lad was bandaged up, and off to the E.R. they went.

...nothing can prepare you for the yawning chasm of time that passes in Canada before the healthcare system actually does any healthcare.

It didn’t seem desperately busy. One woman had lost her face somehow — probably a bear attack — and one kid appeared to have taken rather too much ecstasy, but there were no more than a dozen people in the waiting room. And no one was gouting arterial blood all over the walls.

After a couple of hours, I asked the receptionist how long it might be before a doctor came. In a Wal-Mart, it’s quite quaint to be served by a fat, gum-chewing teenager who claims not to understand what you’re saying, but in a hospital it’s annoying. Resisting the temptation to explain that the Marquis de Montcalm lost and that it’s time to get over it, I went back to the boy’s cubicle, which he was sharing with a young Muslim couple.

A doctor came in and said to them: “You’ve had a miscarriage,” and then turned to go. Understandably, the poor girl was very upset and asked if the doctor was sure.

“Look, we’ve done a scan and there’s nothing in there,” she said, in perhaps the worst example of a bedside manner I’ve ever seen.

“Is anyone coming to look at my son?” asked my friend politely. “Quoi?” said the haughty doctor, who had suddenly forgotten how to speak English. “Je ne comprends pas.” And with that, she was gone.

At midnight, a young man who had been brought up on a diet of American music, American movies and very obviously American food, arrived to say, in French, that the doctors were changing shift and a new one would be along as soon as possible.

By then, it was one in the morning and my legs were becoming weary. This is because the hospital had no chairs for relatives and friends. It’s not a lack of funds, plainly. Because they had enough money to paint a yellow line on the road nine yards from the front door, beyond which you were able to smoke.

And they also had the cash to employ an army of people to slam the door in your face if you poked your head into the inner sanctum to ask how much longer the wait might be. Sixteen hours is apparently the norm. Unless you want a scan. Then it’s 22 months.

At about 1.30am a doctor arrived. Boy, he was a piece of work. He couldn’t have been more rude if I’d been General Wolfe. He removed the bandages like they were the packaging on a disposable razor, looked at the wound, which was horrific, and said to my friend: “Is it cash or credit card?”

This seemed odd in a country with no private care, but it turns out they charge non-Canadians precisely what they would charge the government if the patient were Céline Dion. The bill was C$300 (about £170).

The doctor vanished, but he hadn’t bothered to reapply the boy’s bandages, which meant the little lad was left with nothing to look at except his own thigh bone. An hour later, the painkillers arrived.

Seven hours after the accident, in a country widely touted to be the safest and best in the world, he applied 16 stitches that couldn’t have been less neat if he’d done them on a battlefield, with twigs...

Rumor has it that Stephen King's next novel will feature the Canadian health care system though, if Obamacare passes, the setting could easily be your local hospital.

Tom Coburn to House Democrats: If Your Votes Got Bought By Pelosi, I Will Hunt You Down, Strap You to Anthills, and Cover You With Honey

Senator Tom Coburn lays down the law.

SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House.

If you voted no and [now] you vote yes, and you lose your election [in November], and you think any nomination to a federal position isn't going to be held in the Senate, I've got news for you. It's going to be held.

Number two is, if you get a deal, a parochial deal for you or your district, I've already instructed my staff and the staff of seven other senators that we will look at every appropriations bill, at every level, at every instance, and we will outline it by district, and we will associate that with the buying of your vote. So, if you think you can cut a deal now, and it not come out until after the election, I want to tell you that isn't going to happen. And be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House.

You've still got time to order a welcome-back present for your local Democrat representative.


Update: Sister Toldjah points us to this:

From The NRCC’s Code Red:

...HumanEvents.com: "Most interesting rumor from the Hill yesterday: Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) who announced his retirement from Congress has been promised the job of NASA administrator in exchange for his vote, and Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), another retiring Democrat, has been promised an appointment as U.S. Ambassador to NATO in exchange for his vote. It will be interesting to note any job announcements from this Tennessee duo post-House retirement. Both voted against passage of the House bill back in November."

Most. Ethical. Congress. Evah.

Larwyn's Linx: They aren't empowered to do violence to our Constitution

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

They aren't empowered to do violence to our Constitution: Malkin
GOP to force vote on Slaughter Rule: HE
Obamacare is Tyranny, Not Legislation: AT

Whip Count, 3-17-10: Ace
Obama, Pelosi on a money-grubbing mission: Malkin
Why the Slaughter Rule Must Be Unconstitutional: RedState

Will Obamacare Lead To A New 'Anti-Fascist' Coalition?: LegalIns
Top Rules Republican: We Must Stop It: CNS

Economy

The Green Money Machine: AT
No New Medicaid Patients Accepted: Kesler
Economists blast Pelosi's job creation claims: Exam

Did Cali's Votes Get Bought With Water?: Wizbang
Obama's Trade Policy Agenda: America's First Five Year Plan: AT
No reason for economic optimism: AT

Climate & Energy

Today’s Global Warming Fear-Mongering Is Tomorrow’s Late-Night Camp TV: Driscoll
The Warmers Strike Back: Williams

Media

Shhh... Clinton-appointed Judge Impeached: RWN
New Poll: Americans Despise Obamacare: PJM
Michael McConnell Butchers the Slaughter Rule: RSM

Stop Kicking in Our Doors!: Tapscott
AP: Healthcare premiums to rise under ObamaCare: Fausta
Email from Democrat Roy Herron: InstaPundit

The Left Turning Western Civilization into Alice’s Wonderland: RWN
Obama not too busy to fill out NCAA brackets: JWF

World

Israel's New Enemy: America: Thomas
Obama has achieved the impossible in the Middle East: AT
Muslims Slaughter 12 More Christians in Nigeria and Cut Out Their Tongues: GWP

Shock: Border Fence Isn't Being Built: RWN
Slaughter on the Southern Border: Malkin
Great Moments in Somali Pirate History: Ace

Wag the Dog? U.S Preparing to Strike Iran: TAB
Netanyahu's Brother-in-Law: Obama an Anti-Semite: JWF
Cuba's Unknown Dissidents: PJM

SciTech

Google TV Should Finally Push Apple TV Beyond A “Hobby”: TechCrunch
A Puzzle: Denny

Cornucopia

Senate Performs Budget Abortion on Planned Parenthood without Explaining Alternatives: Doswell
Got to get me one of these: iOTW
“Klingon Kickback”: Kucinich To Support Health Care Bill: TNOYF

“Ride The Silky Pony”– Edwards/Hunter Video Packaging: TNOYF
They're Not Just Knocking on the Door: Wizbang


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Schoolhouse Rock Slaughter Edition: How a Bill Becomes a Law

Boy: Whoa! You sure gotta climb a lot of steps to get to this Capitol Building here in Washington...

But I wonder who that sad little scrap of paper is?

I'm just a bill.
Yes, I'm only a bill.
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.

Well, it's a long twisted story
with lots of crime and not much glory.
Secret deals and billions in pork
Hey, there's Ben Nelson, in whom you can stick a fork!

But I know I'll be a law someday
At least I hope and pray that I will,
But today I am still just a bill.

Boy: Gee, Bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage.

Bill: You ain't kidding, Einstein. The idea for me got started about 80 years ago when FDR had the crackpot idea that you could grant "rights" by stealing people's labor. Never mind the idea ain't even constitutional. That didn't stop the Democrats...

Constituents h'been flyin', bussin', railroadin', callin', emailin', telling their damn Congress-critters to stop with the crazy Socialist crap.

So what's their Congressman do? Lock their doors and shut off their phone systems, that's what!

But lately, I been gettin' closer than ever. Y'see, the Senate passed me by a single vote, which got Scott Brown elected Senator from Massachusetts!

Well, that freaked out the Marxists in the House that realized they'd never get another health care takeover through the Senate.

And because I'm so dang unpopular, Democrats have to figure out how to pass me without actually voting! Pretty cool, huh?

I'm just a bill
Yes I'm only a bill,
And I got as far as Capitol Hill.
Now I'm in the Rules committee
Where the head-mistress is pretty sh***y

And they're threatening and bribing
Thieving and conniving,
Just trying to get me to float
Without even havin' a vote!

Boy: Listen to those congressmen arguing! Is all that discussion and debate about you?

Bill: Sort of. They're trying to pay off as many people as they can with special deals, kickbacks, earmarks, guaranteed jobs if they get kicked out of Congress in November, you name it! And all so they don't have to vote on the real bill!

Boy: But that's not what we studied in Civics class! A bill's supposed to be passed, identically, through both chambers of Congress! That's in the Constitution!

Bill: Don't be a chucklehead. The Democrats destroyed the Constitution decades ago.

Now get lost. You bother me. And don't come back until you've got some money to grease the wheels of the legislature. Dummy.


ObamaCanard #93: Uninsured Folks Who Use Emergency Rooms for Primary Care Drive Up Costs for Everyone

How often have you read news reports like this one in the San Francisco Chronicle?

Hospital emergency departments, typically the medical providers of last resort, are becoming the only option for insured as well as uninsured people who are unable to get care elsewhere, leading to a record rise in emergency room visits over the past decade, a federal government report found...

"The uninsured have long been more frequent users of (emergency rooms). That's not new. What's new is the rise ... in frequency in visits, and that's occurring in the insured," said Dr. Stephen Pitts, author of the report and a CDC fellow who teaches emergency medicine at Emory University's School of Medicine.

Problem is, the meme is complete bunk.

As Robert J. Samuelson, writing in The Washington Post, and The New York Times' Freakonomics Blog report:

A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the insured accounted for 83 percent of emergency-room visits, reflecting their share of the population. After Massachusetts adopted universal insurance, emergency-room use remained higher than the national average, an Urban Institute study found. More than two-fifths of visits represented non-emergencies. Of those, a majority of adult respondents to a survey said it was "more convenient" to go to the emergency room or they couldn't "get [a doctor's] appointment as soon as needed." If universal coverage makes appointments harder to get, emergency-room use may increase.

And:

...a new Slate article from Zachary Meisel and Jesse Pines offers a rosier picture of emergency room usage, and dispels several pervasive myths. They write that E.R. care represents less than 3 percent of healthcare spending, only 12 percent of E.R. visits are non-urgent, and the majority of E.R. patients are insured U.S. citizens, not uninsured, illegal immigrants. Meisel and Pines also point out that E.R. visits don’t necessarily cost more than primary care visits: “In fact, the marginal cost of treating less acute patients in the ER is lower than paying off-hours primary care doctors, as ERs are already open 24/7 to handle life-threatening emergencies.” Ultimately, Meisel and Pines believe that emergency rooms are functioning as they’re supposed to, as “an always-available resource to alleviate pain, make sure your baby is not truly ill, and patch you up after a nasty fall is vital, even if it turns out that your condition wasn’t as serious as you feared.”

Put simply, E.R.'s are functioning far better in the U.S. than in any other country.

Which is why Alan Grayson wants to destroy them. And, it would seem, kill you in the process.

In fact, the reason E.R. usage has grown is because of government-run health care. Most studies indicate that the difficulty in getting primary care appointments (especially for Medicare and Medicaid patients) has contributed to the rise in E.R. use.

So, if Democrats get their way with state-run health care for everyone, look for Emergency Rooms to resemble a DMV chock full of sick people.


Where's TOTUS when you need him? Baier shreds President Obama on Government-run Health Care and the Shady Deals Used to Buy Off Democrats

Remember this?

White House officials once again advanced its contention that Fox News and its commentators are not journalists, rather a propaganda wing of the Republican Party...

Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –

Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.

Well, the non-news organization hosted an exclusive sit-down with the President this afternoon, mainly because its competitors have lower ratings than the "Tumble-Dry" setting at the laundromat.

And President Obama did some of his best fibbing ever, which is really saying something. Bill Clinton and Dick Nixon look like rank amateurs compared to #44.

BAIER: ...do you support the use of this Slaughter rule? The deem and pass rule, so that Democrats avoid a straight up or down vote on the Senate bill?

OBAMA: ...We know that this is going to reduce the deficit by over a trillion dollars. [FAIL.] So you've got a good package, in terms of substance. [FAIL.] I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or the Senate. [So you worry about due process for terrorists, but when it comes to following the very simple Constitutional requirements for passing a law, it's just "procedural". Got it. Perhaps the GOP will change the rules of impeachment and call it a "procedural" matter.]

BAIER: ...We asked our viewers to e-mail in suggested questions and [one question was] 'If the bill is so good for all of us, why all the intimidation, arm twisting, seedy deals, and parliamentary trickery necessary to pass a bill, when you have an overwhelming majority in both houses and the presidency?'

OBAMA: ...The key is to make sure that we vote — we have a vote on whether or not we're going to maintain the status quo, or whether we're going to reform the system. [In other words, shut up -- because we're about to get the Democrats' wet dream: complete control over you, your body, your well-being and all of your private health care information. We'll be able to reward allies and punish enemies. Because this is about power. By any means necessary, we're going to pass this bill.]

BAIER: ...OK, the Florida deal, in or out? ...Paying for Medicare Advantage, exempting 800,000 Floridians from —

OBAMA: My understanding is that whatever is going to be done on Medicare is going to apply across the board to all states.

BAIER: Connecticut, Montana — there are a lot of deals in here, Mr. President, that people have issues about.

OBAMA: Bret, the core of this bill is going to be affecting every American family. If you have insurance, you're going to be able to keep it. [FAIL] If you don't have insurance, you're going to be able to buy into a pool, like members of Congress have [FAIL]. We're going to make sure that we have delivery system reforms that strengthen Medicare [FAIL], that are going to make sure that doctors and hospitals are providing better service and better care [FAIL], and this is going to reduce the deficit [FAIL].

BAIER: ...You said a few times as Senator Obama that if a president has to eke out a victory of 50 plus one, that on something as important as health care, "you can't govern." But now you're embracing a 50 plus one reconciliation process in the Senate, so do you feel like you can govern after this? ...Deem and passed, Senate reconciliation and we don't know exactly what's in the fix bill...

OBAMA: ...by the time the vote has taken place, not only I will know what's in it, you'll know what's in it because it's going to be posted and everybody's going to be able to able to evaluate it on the merits. [Will it be on C-Span? FAIL]...

BAIER: ...This is one-sixth of the U.S. economy, though, sir. One-sixth.

OBAMA: ...Now, you keep on repeating the notion that it's one-sixth of the economy. Yes, it's one-sixth of the economy, but we're not transforming one-sixth of the economy all in one fell swoop. [FAIL.] What we're saying is is that for the vast majority of people who have health care, they're going to be able to keep it. But what we are saying is that we should have some basic protections from insurance company abuses and that in order for us to do that, we are going to have to make some changes in the status quo that we've been debating for a year. [FAIL - it's complete government control, which is certain to drive doctors out of their practices and bankrupt private insurers. Guaranteed]

This notion that this has been not transparent, that people don't know what's in the bill, everybody knows what's in the bill. I sat for seven hours with -

BAIER: Mr. President, you couldn't tell me what the special deals are that are in or not today.

OBAMA: I just told you what was in and what was not in.

BAIER: Is Connecticut in?

OBAMA: Connecticut — what are you specifically referring to?

BAIER: The $100 million for the hospital? Is Montana in for the asbestos program? Is — you know, listen, there are people — this is real money, people are worried about this stuff.

OBAMA: And as I said before, this — the final provisions are going to be posted for many days before this thing passes, but — [FAIL.]

BAIER: ...The CBO has said specifically that the $500 billion that you say that you're going to save from Medicare is not being spent in Medicare. That this bill spends it elsewhere outside of Medicare. So you can't have both... You either spend it on expenditures or you make Medicare more solvent. So which is it?

OBAMA: Here's what it does. On the one hand what you're doing is you're eliminating insurance subsidies within Medicare that aren't making anybody healthier but are fattening the profits of insurance companies [FAIL]... The key is that this proposal doesn't weaken Medicare [FAIL], it makes it stronger for seniors currently who are receiving it [FAIL]...

I'll bet Hillary Clinton was just cracking up watching this debacle.

And ten-to-one David Axelrod was cooking up a new excuse to leak to the legacy media ("How's this -- 'the President had a fever, that's why his performance wasn't top-notch' ?")


Hat tip: Memeorandum.