The Day After

So the health care bill has now passed. My wife watched the vote with me and as soon as it passed she gave a nice loud "DAMN IT!!". After a minute she looked at me a little surprised to see my lack of emotion. It was due to a lack of surprise. I figured this would happen.

Being a Massachusetts conservative, I'm used to overwhelming opposition to my views. Today, I feel motivated. As an American I feel like I'm in a boxing match with Congress. Last night Congress hit America with one hell of a left hook. It feels like we have been knocked down for an 8 count.

However, this fight is far from over. For anyone who may feel down about last night's vote. Look at the bright side. Liberals have practically handed control of Congress to Republicans in November. Let's make sure it's Conservatives more than just Republicans. Also, Obama has most likely guaranteed himself to be a one term president.

If you need more inspiration, make sure you let everyone hear this. Reagan's speech back in 1961 seems pretty relevant to today's health care situation. Many on the left honestly don't think they stand for socialism, but that's only because those same people don't seem to understand socialism. Liberals don't understand Conservatism either of course. Well, how can you understand Conservatism if the only people who've ever explained it to you are Liberals?

Liberals trust good intentions rather than actual results. Then they blame the bad results of their own programs on Conservatives, or Republicans. When this health care turns out to be a disaster make no mistake that they will say it's because it didn't go far enough. Then when they want to add more to it, like the inevitable "public option" that is designed to shut private insurance down, they will try to paint the opposition as unreasonable extremist who are in bed with insurance companies.

Just as they say Conservatives who want to reform food stamps or welfare hate the poor and want to starve people. What I want is to stop welfare from being a lifestyle. I want to assist people who need help without killing people's will to help themselves. It's that simple.

I remember what a Conservative America was like. I know why I'm a Reagan Conservative even though I was 6 when he left office. I have studied enough of our past, (even though I'm always still learning), to understand what must be done in our present to preserve a bright future for my kids.

Perhaps this video will help re inspire you. Now dry the tears that may be in your eyes after that video, (I'm certainly not too ashamed to admit mine), and get back in the fight. If I can stand against a tidal wave of Liberal opposition here in Mass then you can surely stand as well.

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Rush vs. Kevin...Both Were Right, Both Were Wrong

I've got a lot to catch up with due to a computer crash that left me offline for a bit. I just wanted to make a few points about something I caught on Rush's radio show the other day. I don't listen to radio all that much due to my work schedule but I did happen to catch something interesting that I had to comment about.

The subject was food stamps. Rush received a call from a man named Kevin from Ohio. Kevin started with a little anti-Rush ranting and some mocking of Rush listeners etc. but then it got interesting.

Apparently Rush had commented recently about people on food stamps buying alcohol with the food stamps. Kevin pointed out to Rush that you can't buy alcohol with the food stamps, (now "EBT" cards - Electronic Benefit Transfer), since the purchase will not be approved if you try to buy alcohol with the card. This put Rush on the defensive, proving Rush had in fact said that you could. Like the title of this post states, they are both wrong and both right. Let me explain.

You can in fact buy alcohol etc. with the ebt cards but you have to know all of the rules. Some people with EBT cards have what is called "cash benefits". How this works is explained here.

As you can see this clearly tells people with EBT cards how to get cash at an atm or a store using cash back just as those with Debit cards can. Here's where Kevin was wrong.

With the cash benefits getting alcohol etc. is rather simple. All you have to do is go to an ATM or supermarket, withdraw cash with the cash benefits, then take the cash into a liquor store and buy alcohol or whatever else you wish. In my food stamp post last year I explained that cash benefits should be done away with for this very reason.

So even though he didn't realize it, in a way Rush was half right. In another way Kevin was half right. Now you know how it works.

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Rep. Bill Delahunt (D) - (MA-10) to Retire

The Boston Glob reports that Rep. Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts' 10th district will announce his retirement tomorrow.

Delahunt's seat encompasses the South Shore, as well as the Cape and Islands. The district is the most conservative in the state, and has been trending in that direction. The South Shore itself is a conservative stronghold; Scott Brown carried many towns by a 2 to 1 or even 3 to 1 margin. It carries a Cook PVI of D+5. This will be a very competitive race in November, and the Republicans have a great chance for a pickup.

Allahpundit has further analysis.

The only declared candidate at this point is State Rep. Jeff Perry, who represents a few towns on western Cape Cod. He looks to be a fairly solid conservative in the Scott Brown mold. He may even be to the right of Brown - Perry voted against RomneyCare. You can check out his website here.

We will have more info on potential candidates for the seat soon.

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ObamaCare: Where Do We Stand?

Today, President Obama has officially endorsed using the Senate tactic of budget reconciliation to force an up or down (50 senators plus the vice president to break a tie) vote on healthcare reform. This leaves the Republican minority with only two realistic options to delay or stop the bill from coming to a vote. The first is a series of parliamentary objections - essentially challenging whether or not various portions of the bill are actually budgetary (they aren't, but it will be interesting to see if the Democrat appointed Senate Parliamentarian will agree.) The second (and probably more effective) tool the Republicans have is the ability to offer unlimited amendments to the bill. Each amendment would eat up about 30 or so minutes of floor time, between explaining the amendment and vote time. Offering hundreds or even thousands of amendments could delay a vote for months. The longer this drags out, the worse things get for the Democrats.

But this talk of reconciliation in the senate is a tool of the White House. Their goal is to put all of the focus on the senate, where the Democrats have the upper hand - needing only 51 votes. They want us to focus on reconciliation. Why? Because the real battle is in the United States House of Representatives.

The healthcare bill originally passed the House by a vote of 220-215. The one Republican to vote for it, Joseph Cao of LA-2, has said he will not support the bill again, declaring the abortion language in the bill unacceptable. Bart Stupak of MI-1 has said the same. Jack Murtha died last month. Robert Wexler of Florida and Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii have retired. Shelley Berkley, who represents NV-1 (Las Vegas) has stated she will not support the bill because she does not trust the Senate to pass the "reconciliation fix." That is a loss of 6 votes for the Democrats, enough to stop the bill. In addition, Bart Stupak claims to have 10-15 pro-life Democrats who voted for the bill the first time, but will not without the Stupak language in the bill.

Dick Morris has a list of vulnerable congressmen who voted YES last time, and are wavering this time. Some of these people are ultra-socialist members of the Democratic party from Republican districts that are almost certain to lose, like Alan Grayson (FL-8). Some are moderate Democrats who voted YES last time and are from Republican districts (Zach Space from Ohio, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Earl Pommeroy of North Dakota.)

I think its unlikely to convince any of the socialists like Grayson and Shea-Porter (NH) to switch - they are hacks who will gladly sacrifice their careers to pass healthcare. Those congressmen will not be reelected anyway. But there are many Democrats from Republican districts who can be convinced to change their vote.

I encourage any of you to check out Dick Morris' list and contact your congressman if he or she is on that list. This will be a great insurance policy in the event that some of Stupak's pro-life coalition collapses or if Pelosi is able to find votes elsewhere.

Either way, the place to stop this is the house. Forget reconciliation and the Senate for now.

Update: SusanAnne Hiller at RedState has more info on why the real battle is in the House.

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