The Democrats in the Senate managed to release their healthcare bill, topping out at 2,074 pages. Should be easy, quick reading ... considering the fact that Harry Reid wants to open up debate on the bill tomorrow. Yes tomorrow, as in Saturday.

Here are a few notes on this bill.

The Democrats have decided to re-label the bill the "Community Health Insurance Option." The latest focus group must have signaled that people like it when politicians talk about "communities." (People also love the word "security" ... but that's a different rant). The people also like the idea of having "options." Interesting, considering this bill would eventually lead to less options and more government.

Harry Reid and the Democrats have managed to Barack Obama in quite a pickle. Obama has pledged that he will not raise taxes on anyone earning more than $200,000 a year. That was a lie when The Chosen One first uttered it ... and it's a lie today. And t the lie continues ... In order to pay for their healthcare dreams and schemes, Harry Reid's community plan would include raising taxes on individuals making more than $200,000 a year. In other words .. let's tax the achievers to pay for a government redistribution scheme of healthcare resources.

And one other point ... for all you ladies (or men) thinking of giving the girls a facelift or the schnauz a new do, the bill calls for a 5% tax on elective plastic surgery.

Bottom line .. more government, more taxes on the achievers, less freedom. That's the Democrat Party way. That's the change you voted for ... right?

God help us.

Harry Reid has some gonads. He is accusing the Republicans of not having any healthcare plans, when he himself technically does not have a completed healthcare bill to show the world. Last week, he sent off pieces of healthcare legislation for a CBO cost analysis. So the Republicans said they wanted to see the bill that he sent to the CBO. Well the truth of the matter is that this bill hasn't even been written yet. He is waiting for the CBO analysis to come back in order to decide which direction he wants to take. Then he took a shot at the Republicans for daring to request to see this elusive bill he submitted to the CBO. Reid said that the GOP health care plan "remains a secret, unless perhaps it does not exist." He goes on to say, "I fully understand if your plan is still under development, and would not presume to suggest that you publicly share draft legislative text for even an individual element of your plan, let alone an entire bill, before it is finalized."

Unfortunately for Harry Reid, the Republicans do have healthcare bills. Three of them. And they have been on the table since May and June of this year. CNSNews has the list:

In May, Republicans in the House and the Senate formed a bicameral coalition to produce the130-page "Patients Choice Act of 2009."

In June, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced the "Health Care Freedom Plan," a 41-page proposal.

And in July, the Republican Study Committee, under the leadership of Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), unveiled the "Empowering Patients First Act," a 130-page plan.

Harry Reid is desperate. So are his Democrat friends. They know that they are losing this battle to get their healthcare plans passed. So now they are complaining that the other side doesn't even have a plan. Shouldn't we be thanking these Democrats! Oh we should be so thankful ... at least THEY have come up with plans to take over 18% of our economy!

We will have Jamie Dupree explain this one to us, but it seems as though Harry Reid is gearing up to use the reconciliation tactic to get his healthcare bill passed in the Senate. This is the tactic that would require only a simple majority - fifty votes plus one - for final passage. Actually ... I'll take a stab here. This means that Harry Reid wants to attach the health care takeover to some budget bill. Budget bills can't be filibustered ... so they can pass on a majority vote.

This should show you how desperate the Democrats are to gain control over your health care. They'll break the rules .. they'll bend the rules. They'll lie. They'll mislead. They'll twist arms, bribe, lie cheat and steal. Whatever it takes. Democrats know that control over your health care is essential to preventing another voter revolution like the one that kicked their butts out of office in 1994. They reason that if they control your health care, they control your vote. All they have to do is tell you that if you vote for the evil Republicans you will be on your own when it comes to your next hospital visit.

Now, let me remind you of a video from 2007. In this video you will hear Barack Obama say that we cannot pass healthcare reform using this reconciliation tactic. You would think that this should settle things ... so much for Harry's big idea, right? Sorry ... but wrong. We could fill a feature-length motion picture with video and audio clips of The Community Organizer making campaign promises that he had no intention of keeping.

Why would they be? After all, wealth envy is such an easy card to use on the American public. Most Americans will buy into the demonization of other's success, particularly if it is an evil corporation or business!

So Congressional Democrats are back to their same old tricks: breathing down the necks of the health insurance industry. Their tactic is to regulate the industry into oblivion. The way that you gain support for that regulation is to portray the health insurance industry as the bad guys who need of some serious government intervention.

Chuck Schumer is on a mission to amend the healthcare reform bill to remove antitrust exemptions for insurers. Schumer believes that this law, dating back to the 1960s I believe, is largely to blame for increased medical costs.

What exactly is he referring to? Politico explains: The exemption, known as McCarran-Ferguson, cedes regulatory control of the industry, on the business side, to individual states. But repealing the antitrust exemption would give the federal government more authority to oversee the business side of health insurance companies -- something states now have the sole authority to monitor.

Harry Reid also decided to weigh in on the subject. He says ... and you'll love this quote ... "There isn't anything we could do to satisfy them in this health care bill. Nothing ... They are so anti-competitive. Why? Because they make more money than any other business in America today. . . .What a sweet deal they have."

Oh, so now all of the sudden it is the private businesses that are anti-competitive and the government that is in favor of competition. Amazing how that turned around so quickly. Pardon me if I have this wrong, but isn't it the government that refuses to allow health insurance companies to engage in interstate competition? Isn't it government that tells insurance companies what they must cover? Isn't it the government that prevents a health insurance company from offering a bare-bones policy to those who cannot afford a more comprehensive plan? All this --- and it's the health insurance industry that wants to kill competition?

Even Politico points out that this latest push from the Democrats indicates "that Democrats are planning to intensify their efforts to paint insurance companies as the villains in the health reform fight, something that could prove useful as President Barack Obama and others try to rally a skeptical public around a sweeping health reform measure."

Are there any names left that the left hasn't thought to call these town hall protestors? I mean, for the sake of argument, let's run through the list one more time.

Un-American.
Terrorists.
Nazis.
Brownshirts.
KKK.

Right-wing mobsters.

Now we have yet another one to add to the list. This comes from none other than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Are you ready for this?

"Evil mongers."

Got it? He says that people who are disrupting these healthcare town hall meetings with "lies, innuendo and rumor" are "evil mongers." And he is proud of coining the term! As if this is really going to help his fellow Democrats get ANYWHERE in terms of healthcare reform. It's funny that Democrats say we should focus on the issue of healthcare rather than these protestors but then they themselves play the game and call the protestors names. This is the level of brain-dead, power-hungry politics that we have allowed to maintain power in Washington. We are to blame, folks. We vote these people into power.

Speaking of protestors ...

GO FLAG YOURSELF!

You do know that Barack Obama and the Democrats have changed the game on us, don't you? We are no longer debating about healthcare reform. We are now talking about health INSURANCE reform. Why is that? Well it is simple .. it is a lot easier to demonize the big, bad insurance industry. People generally like their doctors. It's the insurance companies they hate. They want every penny they spend on health care covered by insurance, and the insurance companies don't go along. Evidently the Obama crowd consulted their focus groups and behavioral experts .. and they've been reminded that playing off of people's fears and wealth envy is a great way to gain support for your political causes.

So Nancy Pelosi has taken her marching orders to heart. She has officially declared that, "The glory days are coming to an end for the health insurance industry in our country." Isn't that nice of Nancy Pelosi to decide? She also says, "We all want bipartisanship...but you're either with the insurance companies or you're for something new." This is the same type of "either you are with us, or against us" comments that the Democrats used to complain about with George W. Bush. When a looter uses that phraseology, it's OK. The point to be made here is that the insurance companies are evil and making profit off of your misfortune. They must be stopped.

Remember, these are the same insurance companies that Princess Nancy already declared to be "immoral." Last week she accused them of unethical behavior and working to try and kill a government-run healthcare plan. She said, "It's almost immoral what they are doing ... Of course they've been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure ... They are the villains. They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening." Villains? Immoral? Gee, Nancy, don't you think you are coming on a bit strong?

But she wasn't the only one. Senator Harry Reid did his part to ramp up the wealth envy side of the argument against the evil insurance companies. He says, "I don't think we should be crying great big tears about the insurance industry ... There is no business in America that makes more money than the insurance industry--over the last 10 years their profits have been increased by 450 percent ... So I'm not really in very much of a mood to worry about the insurance industry."

This is as old as civilization: You have a despot who wants to expand his power, and he finds someone or something to demonize. Here it's the insurance companies. Make them the focus of all that is evil in the world. You get the people so worked up about the evil insurance companies, you don't even see the greater evil of government health care sneaking up on you.

Is there any real difference between Hitler's treatment of Jews and Pelosi's treatment of insurance companies? For Hitler, the Jews were the focus of all evil in Germany. Now it's the insurance companies in the United States. What's next? Concentration camps for insurance executives? Maybe Princess Nancy building ovens somewhere.

(Ohhhhh ... I'm going to pay for that one.)

... that's not very surprising to hear, I'm sure. But what you may find surprising is that he supports her without having read a single one of her opinions. He knows not WHY he supports Sotomayor, but he boasts to the media that she has "the whole package." Here's what Harry had to say in response to a question about one of Sotomayor's opinions:

I understand that during her career, she's written hundreds and hundreds of opinions. I haven't read a single one of them, and if I'm fortunate before we end this, I won't have to read one of them. But -- I'm not familiar with that opinion, but there will be plenty of time for people who are concerned about the Second Amendment -- and there are lots of people on the Judiciary Committee who are concerned about it -- they'll have lots of time to offer her questions and she'll proceed to answer them. But I don't know anything about that.

Would somebody please explain to me how our Senate Majority leader can get away with admitting that he doesn't plan to read a single one of Sotomayor's opinions before voting for her? This begs the question, if Harry doesn't understand how Sotomayor interprets the law, what is he basing his support on? Is he supporting her simply because Obama nominated her? Well, Obama is a Democrat, therefore he will follow like a sheep ... not offer any sort of intelligent reasoning as to why he may or may not support Sotomayor?

Oh yeah .. there's that "whole package" bit. What a way to support a Supreme Court nominee.

Do you think that Arlen Specter has had his "oh crap .. what have I done" moment yet? Considering the fact that he has lost all seniority in the Senate, I would say that moment is coming soon if it hasn't already. The amazing part of the story is that Senator Harry Reid apparently promised Specter that he would retain his seniority if he jumped parties. Angry Arlen trusted the cadaver? He didn't take into consideration the fact that government is all about power, and his fellow Democrats weren't about to give up any of their precious power just so they could claim another desk on their side of the aisle. Either way, Specter is confident that Harry is going to "work it out" and that his assurances on seniority "will be fulfilled." Keep dreamin, Arlen.

So what may have done it for the Democrats? Debbie Stabenow says that many of her colleagues were irritated when Specter told The New York Times that the Minnesota courts should "do justice" by declaring Norm Coleman to be the winner of the Senate race against Al Franken.

Here's why this seniority issue is a big deal for Arlen Specter .. it limits his ability to get pork projects, money and jobs for his state. See, Specter was a senior ranking member on the all-powerful Appropriations Committee. He says, "My senior position on Appropriations has enabled me to bring a lot of jobs and a lot of federal funding to this state." Without this, Arlen believes that he doesn't have the "power" he has accumulated during his 29 years in the Senate. Without power, he probably won't be re-elected.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

In the meantime ... does anyone see a Republican leader on the horizon? Yeah, I thought so.

Well it isn't often lately that we highlight to good news coming out of Washington. And even today, we are gonna have to dig deep. But here it goes ....

Democrats in the House have decided that they will not include controversial global warming initiatives in Barack Obama's budget. You may remember that by including it in the budget, reconciliation would ensure that Senate Democrats could pass the budget (and therefore global warming legislation) with a simple majority vote. But poor Nancy Pelosi really has her thong in a wad about this one, but her Democrat minions won't let her have her precious global warming initiatives in the budget bill. Special budget procedures WILL however be used to remake the healthcare system.

Let's try this one on for size ... legislation to tax the AIG bonuses at a 90% rate have hit a wall. The bill passed by the House last week will be pulled from the Senate fast track as people put down their pitchforks and re-read a little document called the Constitution. So if and when the Senate takes up the issue of taxing bonuses or targeting executive pay, it will probably look a heck of a lot different than what Nancy Pelosi and Barney "Sylvester" Frank concocted last week. Just for the record, here are the names again of the 85 Republican Representatives who thought it would be a good idea to support the AIG bonus tax legislation. But there does seem to be one stubborn Democrat in the Senate: Harry Reid. He is still saying "To hell with the Constitution, full speed ahead to tyranny!"

And RINO Arlen Specter must really be in CYA mode right now. He knows that he has an election coming up in 2010, and he knows that there are a lot of Pennsylvanians that would rather see Daffy Duck as their Senator. So Specter has decided that he is going to oppose the union card check bill. If you'll remember, the Democrats only needed one Republican vote to get this legislation passed, and the pressure fell on Specter who indicated that he would support it. And he has decided not to.

My real approach to the government growth bill this morning is "What the hell, they're going to do what they want to do, and we have no power to stop them." Yeah ... a big shout-out and thank you to our ignoranus voters who thought it would be a good idea to put the big-government, Social-Democrat Party in complete control in Washington DC. Way to go. Thanks a pant-load.

Somehow Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the Democrats in Congress have managed to make this government growth package go from bad to worse. It seems as though their main goal was not in the details, but in making sure that they got the total number under $800 billion ... they assume that $789 billion is an easier number for the public to stomach. Yeah, right. It sure feels a lot better to me. Trouble is, with debt service this is still well over one trillion dollars. That's alottazeros.

What we got in the end was a bill that is two-thirds spending and the rest are "tax cuts". The "tax cuts," of course, are government handout checks. Welfare. For the most part, these spending projects are funding the Democrat platform: green energy, universal healthcare, "tax cuts" for the middle class and poor. Obama's signature "Making Work Pay" tax credit is going to provide an extra $13 a week in take-home pay. $13 whole dollars! What are you going to buy with that?? That's $1.86 a day! Now you get out there and spend that extra two bucks (almost) a day to get our economy moving again, you hear?

Meanwhile, tax credits for new home purchases and cars has been wiped off the map. But don't worry, those people who aren't paying income taxes are going to have an extra $13 in their pockets!

Lordy, all this talk about the economic stimulus bill is dull. Sorry about that. Discussions about prostate or breast cancer can be dull as well, but sometimes you just need to listen a bit in hopes that you'll learn something that just might save your life.

It's taking a long time for this thing to sink in to a lot of Americans, but this Obama spending bill is not a stimulus bill. It's nothing more than good old-fashioned Democrat big-government spending on steroids.

If Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid had delivered their instructions to the Democrat members of Congress I suspect the memo would have read something like this:

You're not going to read the bill. They know this. None of them will read the entire bill either. They'll read long enough to see that their own spending proposals are included ... but no further. This monstrosity is over 400 pages long, and just stuffed with pork spending.

• Swimming Pools
• Arts funding
• Contraception programs
• Sports stadiums
• Parking garages

If any special interest group favored by Democrat supporters has a spending wish, that wish is probably included in this so-called "stimulus" plan. Jamie Dupree has a more complete list of spending in his blog.

It's a fraud, folks. You need to understand that.

The quickest way to stimulate our economy right now would be to allow the people who earn the money to keep it and spend it on what they want, not what politicians want. That means tax cuts.

Democrats want nothing but spending ... no tax cuts. Pelosi says she'll judge ideas by ability to create jobs. Horsesqueeze. She'll judge the ideas base on their ability to grow government

Let's take the birth control bit. There's about hundreds of millions in the "stimulus bill" for birth control funding. The aging hollow-eyed hippie has an explanation. We are supposed to stop having children in order to reduce costs. Stopping women from having children will "help states meet their financial needs." Yeah .. they have all those expenses from health care and education. New human beings are bad for the economy.

Wake up, my friends.

The 111th Congress convenes today. Oh joy. It will be a Congress led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Nancy Pelosi, by the way, is trying to re-write the House rules, reversing Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America." The purpose behind the new rules promulgated by the aging hollow eyed hippie from Haight-Ashbury is to completely emasculate the Republicans - somehow I think she has a lot of experience along these lines. The new rules say no alternative bills from GOP members, no amendments to Democrat bills and no guarantee of open debate. This will be the Congress that will allow funnyman Al Franken to take a seat but deny entry to Roland Burris. The fact that Al Franken has been declared the winner is, by the way, an atrocity. You remember, I hope, the details of that "recount" in Minnesota I shared with you yesterday. Anyway .. the game is on. BOHICA.

Come on, you have to be kidding me. Yeah ... I've heard all of this nonsense over the weekend about the Democrats blocking the door to the U.S. Senate to prevent Roland Burris from being seated. Yeah ... sure.

So what if Governor Blago appointed Burris while he was under a rather dense cloud of suspicion. Are you forgetting the most important point here? Burris, in case you haven't noticed, is black. When he is seated he will be the only black in the Senate. Now you tell me that the Democrats are going to prevent the swearing-in of the only black in the Senate. Don't hold your breath. Political correctness will rule; just as in the forthcoming appointment of Caroline "you know" Kennedy.

Fact is, since Blago hasn't stepped down, he still has the legal right to appoint Obama's replacement. And he did .. despite his own party's wishes. He appointed former state attorney general Roland Burris. As far as Burris goes.. we'll get into him another time. Like the fact that he is an advocate for a national handgun ban. But again .. I digress.

So Harry Reid decides that he isn't going to allow Burris to be seated. Reid says that he has the "legal authority" under the Constitution to bar anyone that is selected by Rod Blagojevich. He points to Article I, Section 5 which says that "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members..." Reid's interpretation of this is, "We determine who sits in the Senate. And the House (of Representatives) determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do. This goes back for generations."

You'll be interested to read this piece in the Wall Street Journal about a legal precedent for cases like this, set by the Supreme Court back in 1969. Like it or not, the only way Harry can get rid of Burris legally would be to allow him to be sworn in and then get two-thirds of the Senate to vote for his expulsion.

Enter the race card. Yep, so Roland Burris is black. As we have been reminded many times .. Obama's seat was supposed to be filled by a black man. I guess that's some sort of a law. Blagojevich held up that end of the bargain. But aides for Burris are now saying that Harry Reid won't allow Burris to be seated because of his race. Who didn't see that coming? A senior consultant to Burris told Politico, "It's interesting that all those who are viable are white women and the ones who are unacceptable are black men." Oh, you didn't hear about that? Apparently Harry Reid talked to Blagojevich about who should fill the Senate seat just six days before Blagojevich was arrested. During that conversation, Reid didn't want any of Blagojevich's suggestions (which all happened to black men) and favored two women who happen to be white. So there's that ..

We operate under a rule of law here ... Seat Burris. Uphold the Constitution.

Did you know that Harry Reid has decided to slip a little something extra into this auto bailout for the Big Three? What auto bailout, you ask? Oh ... there will be an auto bailout. The unions demand it. We just have to wait to get rid of a few more evil Republicans in the congress and one in the White House. Anyway ... Harry wants to include something in an auto bailout. What might that be? Well, how about a pay raise for federal judges.

Tricky, huh? Before we go any further, let's address one thing. Did you know that your Senators and your Congressmen are getting a $5,000 raise on January 1st? That must be for all of the great work that they have done spending your tax dollars and putting your grandchildren on the hook for trillions and trillions of dollars. Now this federal judge raise is a COLA - cost of living adjustment - but let me ask you this .. how many of you out there who own your own business are giving $5,000 cost of living adjustments to your employees right now? How many of you have worked for years without a raise that won't even keep up with inflation? Or a raise at all?

But Congress is getting one. And if this bailout bill passes, these US District court judges will be getting an "adjustment" to their pay .. all thanks to your tax dollars. That this would be on top of the 2.8% raise that the judges are "expected" to be rewarded next year.

Government. How are we going to rein these people in?

Never mind that the new Visitors Center in Washington DC cost the taxpayers $621 million.  Oh and that was ONLY $550 million more than the project was originally supposed to cost.  Not to mention the fact that it was supposed to open three years ago .. but it was a government operation.  What do you expect?  I definitely want to put these people in charge of my healthcare and my retirement plan.

Anyway for Senator Harry Reid that $621 million was worth it.  You know why?  Because now he doesn't have to smell the BO from you, the great unwashed, who paid for the darn thing. 

He says, "My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway ... In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

Leave it to Harry Reid to talk about how tourists smell.  You see, in his home state of Nevada they have a dry heat and people don't sweat and smell as much.  Perhaps he would like to move back there? 

So now we have shelled out $621 million to make sure that the tourists have air conditioning and aren't offending Harry Reid.  They also have access to bathrooms and souvenirs.

Maybe the gift shop should capitalize on this one ... sell t-shirts in the souvenir shops: "Helping tourist smell better for just $621 million!"

... and 70% of the American people do not.

Democrats are insisting on bringing an auto bailout to the table, even though the Bush administration says that the $700 billion bailout was not intended for this purpose ... and even though it is going to be a very tough fight for Harry Reid in the Senate. But fight they will and this week on Capitol Hill we will hear from auto executives and the United Auto Workers.

Nancy Pelosi came up with a plan that she believes will be enticing enough to get enough Republican support. This plan includes adding certain strings to the auto bailout: new fuel-efficiency standards, development of new technology "to compete in the domestic and global market" and restructuring company finances. The Democrats also want to include limiting executive pay. In other words ... the Democrats feel that they, rather than the consumers, are the ones who know just what kind of cars the manufacturers build. All this is going to do is force the automakers to build cars that the American people have already shown that they just do not want to buy.

The Democrats also want to limit executive pay ... but what about the over-inflated pay of the workers at these auto companies, thanks to union contracts. I've told you this statistic before, but $1,600 of every GM car you buy goes toward the healthcare costs of union workers. For companies like Toyota that aren't unionized - that cost is only $200 per car. GM also spends another $1,000 per vehicle on holiday pay, work rules, plant-shutdown-pay and line-relief to UAW workers. Those are costs that auto makers such as Toyota don't have to worry about. The average Ford, GM or Chrysler union worker makes about $71.00 or more per hour. For Toyota, Nissan and the rest ... about $48.00 per year. Do you detect a small problem here?

If the Democrats are truly concerned about "restructuring company finances" they should start with union contracts. What is clear from this situation is that these companies can no longer handle the burden of unionization ... so why should the Democrats allow this practice to continue if they succeed with their bailout? It will be the taxpayers funding the system that broke these auto companies to begin with.

Of course, this is not how United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger see things. He said over the weekend that union contracts are not the problem. He says the problem is out of his control because these auto makers are suffering from the housing slump, credit crisis, etc. He says, "The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract ... We're here not because of what the auto industry has done ... We're here because of what has happened to the economy."

Nonsense. The bailout would only delay the inevitable.. and unless something is done right now about the union stranglehold on the auto industry the inevitable is bankruptcy. Let them go bankrupt. That doesn't mean they go out of business ... it means that union contracts can be voided unilaterally by the auto manufacturers and they can then get about restructuring their businesses based on consumer wants rather than political mandates.

By the way ... have you heard of the auto worker's "Job Banks Program?" Well, click here, read this, and then tell me how much you support a bailout.

Speaking of stepping up to the trough .. Congress is gearing up to bailout the auto industry. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to "review the feasibility . . . of providing temporary assistance to the automobile industry during the current financial crisis." Temporary? Yeah, sure. Check back with us in a year or two. The Pelosi/Reid part of the Troyka They want Paulson to use the bailout money for the auto industry because "a healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market security." Sorry, don't buy that one either.

The newly empowered Democrats seem eager to comply. If the request is granted, it would expand the federal government's role in private enterprise far beyond what we have seen in the financial sector. Obama's transition team says they are working on "policy options to help the auto industry adjust, weather the financial crisis and succeed in producing fuel-efficient cars." They will do this under existing laws or by passing "additional legislation."

And you'll love this ... don't forget that Congress has already voted to give $25 billion in low-interest loans to the auto industry to help them produce fuel-efficient cars and meet emissions standards. But in typical government fashion, this money "has been hung up by red tape."