Obama's excellent adventure

What "reconciliation" actually IS

For the Record:

"For those not versed in the arcane rules of the U.S. Senate, reconciliation is not what a divorced couple attempts when they visit Dr. Phil. It is a mechanism for avoiding filibusters on certain budgetary issues. If Democrats can find a way to apply it to health care reform, they could pass a bill with just 51 votes, negating the election of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and the loss of the 60-seat supermajority.

Reconciliation was established in 1974 to make it easier for Congress to adjust taxes and spending in order to 'reconcile' actual revenues and expenditures with a previously approved budget resolution. Thus, at the end of the year, if Congress found that it was running a budget deficit higher than previously projected, it could quickly raise taxes or cut spending to bring the budget back into line. Debate on such measures was abbreviated to just 20 hours (an eyeblink in Senate terms), and there could be no filibuster.

As Robert Byrd, (D-W.V.), one of the original authors of the reconciliation rule, explained, 'Reconciliation was intended to adjust revenue and spending levels in order to reduce deficits ... [I]t was not designed to ... restructure the entire health care system.' He warns that using reconciliation for health care would 'violate the intent and spirit of the budget process, and do serious injury to the Constitutional role of the Senate.'

In fact, in 1985, the Senate adopted the 'Byrd rule,' which prohibits the use of reconciliation for any 'extraneous issue' that does not directly change revenues or expenditures. Clearly, large portions of the health care bill, ranging from mandates to insurance regulation to establishing 'exchanges,' do not meet that requirement."

--Cato Institute senior fellow Michael D. Tanner

Received from PatriotPost.us

Scott Brown will not be president. Ever.

HILLBUZZ STRIKES AGAIN

Brown saved us from the Rationing Bill, so he’s a hero.

Brown will occasionally take votes he has to so that he can stay in the Senate.

Brown is not going to be president so long as he is a Republican.

Give the guy a break, don’t berate him, and always look at the big picture.

Especially when that picture’s a smokin’ hot centerfold.

"A payroll tax cut would have been better than any government stimulus."

Scott Brown: 'People Aren't Stupid'

Uh-Oh: Reconciliation is NOT dead after all

Terminator...The Undead...Westworld...

Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, tells National Review Online that House Democrats are planning to use the budget-reconciliation process in order to pass Obamacare. “They’re meeting with each other this weekend to pursue it,” says Ryan. “I’ve spoken with many Democrats and the message is this: They’re not ready to give up. They’ve waited their entire adult lives for this moment and they aren’t ready to let 100,000 pesky votes in Massachusetts get in the way of fulfilling their destiny. They’ll look at every option and spend the next four or five days figuring it out.”

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TPM says I've been poking around some sources in Washington, DC (and combining this with what I've heard from our TPMDC team) and my sense is that Health Care Reform is both dead and not dead. Let's say it's among the Undead.

When was the last time a race for the U.S. Senate produced a result as shocking as the one tonight?

I've been following Senate races for 50 years (albeit not that closely during the 1970s and 1980s) and I can't think of one.

THE MASSACHUSETTS MIRACLE

The People's Seat

Scott Brown's powerful victory speech was punctuated by great good humor, a gracious and deserved tribute to Ted Kennedy, heartfelt thanks to friends and his family, fun with his daughters, and, crucially, a reminder of the phrase that probably sealed his election --"the people's seat."

If Democrats in the House and the Senate have ears to hear, that is the phrase they will remember from tonight as they consider the looming decisions on Obamacare.

This was not a stealth vote. The Democrat in this deep blue state did not lack for resources. The Senate Democrats provided the money. The president came on demand and cut the ads. The netroots were pulsing with unheeded appeals to voters.

The voters knew exactly what was on the line and they voted, decisively, against Obamacare. "It will raise taxes. It will hurt Medicare. It will destroy jobs. It will run us deeper into debt," Brown declared about Obamacare in his speech. "And we can do better!"

"No more closed door meetings. No more backroom deals. No more hiding costs. No more trillions in debt for our children to pay."

"We need to start fresh."

That's the message of the Massachusetts Miracle. Democrats ignore it at their political peril. If the president, the Speaker and the Majority Leader try a jam down, a political tsunami that is already forming will sweep ashore and destroy the Democratic Party for a generation.

"What happened here in Massachusetts can happen all over America," Brown said as he closed his remarks. That is what Senate and House Democrats need to hear. If they insist on ignoring the American people and dismissing their collective, great common sense, the people will retire them in great numbers.

Thank you Scott Brown, for having faith in the American voter.

Hugh Hewitt

For Democrats: an ugly 24 hours

It has been an ugly 24 hours of blame-casting for Democrats. In fact, it's the first time in the Obama era that so many Democrats aired their private grievances in such a public way.

LIBERTY TRUMPS TYRANNY!!!

GREAT SCOTT!!!!!

The SCOTT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD!!!!!

TO REPORT FRAUD IN TODAY'S MASSACHUSETTS SENATE ELECTION:

FRAUD CONTACTS:

Scott Brown campaign
http://www.brownforussenate.com/

Black Box Voting
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/contact.html

MA GOP
http://www.massgop.com/

MA SoS Elections Division
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleidx.htm

+

Any and all blogs!!!

Keep the light shining on these crooks and don’t let a single issue slide!

More Democrat Voter Fraud Tactics Exposed

Vote for Brown because....

THE SCOTT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

A vote for Brown is a vote for objective reality
A vote for Brown is a vote for individualism
A vote for Brown is a vote for capitalism
A vote for Brown is a vote for humanity
A vote for Brown is a vote for America
A vote for Brown is a vote for trucks
A vote for Brown is a vote for a cuppa tea
A vote for Brown is a vote for small government
A vote for Brown is a vote for fiscal responsibility
A vote for Brown is a vote for national security
A vote for Brown is a vote for energy independence
A vote for Brown is a vote for your children
A vote for Brown is a vote for your grandchildren
A vote for Brown is a vote for the individual rights
A vote for Brown is a vote for no special rules for special classes
A vote for Brown is a vote for common sense
A vote for Brown is a vote for American sovereignty
A vote for Brown is a vote for miracles against a cynical, power grabbing machine
A vote for Brown is a vote for hope
A vote for Brown is a vote for change
A vote for Brown is a vote for your wallet
A vote for Brown is a vote for the hardworking businessman
A vote for Brown is a vote for the motor of the country
A vote for Brown is a vote for the producers
A vote for Brown is a vote for lovers of freedom
A vote for Brown is a vote for our unalienable rights endowed upon us by our creator
A vote for Brown is a vote for the dream of a great nation

Posted today at ATLAS SHRUGS

JAN 18: Help in the MA Senate Election with ALL EXPENSES PAID trip!

Help prevent Democratic voter fraud and support Scott Brown!

One of my readers just contacted me and an opportunity has arisen TODAY (Monday 1/18) and we can now send people to Massachussetts for FREE (travel, lodging, food) to help poll monitor in the MA Senate election tomorrow, (Tues. 1/19). Brief training will be provided.

If you want to go, please email with your name and phone number, and they will book your travel and lodging immediately and put you in touch with the ground coordinator in Massachusetts.

If your email gets returned, please email and .

Please help out in this historic election!

Massachusetts voters - please take cameras and record every act of treachery you see. That ugly criminal machine is going into high gear, the individual can save America. That's you and me.

From PAMELA GELLER AT ATLAS SHRUGS

Scott Brown is No "RINO'

In short, conservatives know that Brown is no "RINO" because when it matters most, and on the issues that are most visible and pressing, he is with them. Bona fide "RINOs," by contrast, seem to take delight in sticking their thumb in the eyes of conservatives. They seem to enjoy abandoning the GOP on key issues and key votes, and at the most inopportune times.

David Frum Is Wrong: Scott Brown is No 'RINO'

Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, on abortion: “The unborn are as much a part of the Beloved Community as are newborns, infants, teenagers, adults, and the elderly.”

Wow… Martha Coakley Holds Rally at MLK Breakfast With Scott Brown Sitting In the Room — Brown Responds

GIGANTIC STOCK MARKET RALLY PREDICTED...

...IF Scott Brown wins in this Tuesdays Massachusetts senatorial election!

(Per CNBC's Jim Cramer of MAD MONEY!)

58-42

From GATEWAY PUNDIT

...and you should see the pictures around the blogosphere of S.E.I.U. members campaigning for BROWN!!!

Man raped 23-month-old niece with hot curling iron...and Martha Coakley took no action

But in the aftermath of the crime, a Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Martha Coakley, then the district attorney, investigated without taking action.

It was only after the toddler’s mother filed applications for criminal complaints that Coakley won grand jury indictments charging rape and assault and battery.

Even then, nearly 10 months after the crime, Coakley’s office recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when Coakley’s successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms.

Martha’s Greatest Hits: The Things the Democrats Would Like You to Forget About Candidate Coakley

Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack on Neil Cavuto talked about being pushed down outside Martha Coakley’s lobbyist fundraiser by Obama Appointee Michael Meehan

From GATEWAY PUNDIT

California's Proposition 8 defining marriage as between one man and one woman goes on trial Monday

In a case with implications for the entire country, California's Proposition 8 defining marriage as between one man and one woman goes on trial Monday with only private citizens speaking up for the voter-passed constitutional amendment – because state officials have refused to defend it.

Much is riding on the case of Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, for the lawsuit is petitioning a federal court to overturn not just a law, but a constitutional amendment passed by the people and affirmed by the state's Supreme Court. A victory for same-sex marriage advocates in the case could set a precedent for federal courts to overturn every law and amendment in the country currently protecting the traditional definition of marriage.

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There's a pattern that has developed in America and this pattern has its roots in totalitarianism. The will of the voters is being pushed aside, ignored, and overturned by thugs who will do anything to take away our freedoms and our self-determination and the rule of law. Witness how unpopular Obamacare is in the polls and yet Democrats are shoving it down our throats...even to the point of, yet again, determining to ignore the Massachusetts election - Scott Brown swearing-in would be stalled to pass health-care reform.

As for California, I've personally seen it degenerate from, in the 1950's, an incredibly affordable and beautiful place to live to where it is today...and George Will is absolutely right on when he says: Liberalism is What is Killing California".

And it's killing America too.

After all the rule-bending shenanigans of the Massachusetts Democrats, leaving a dying Kennedy in office, and then ramrodding Kirk's appointment to the Senate to help ObamaCare, now they're desperate enough to ignore the people's vote?

Stunner: Scared Mass. Dems Plot to Delay GOP Victory In Teddy Seat Until ObamaCare Passes