"WE THE PEOPLE" ARE HEARD IN MISSOURI

The people of Missouri voted yesterday and sent a clear and unmistakeable message to The Boy King about his health care bill's provisions.

With most of the vote counted, Proposition C was winning by a ratio of nearly 3 to 1. The measure, which seeks to exempt Missouri from the insurance mandate in the new health care law, includes a provision that would change how insurance companies that go out of business in Missouri liquidate their assets.

"I've never seen anything like it," Cunningham said at a campaign gathering at a private home in Town and Country. "Citizens wanted their voices to be heard."

About 30 Proposition C supporters whooped it up loudly at 9 p.m. when the returns flashed on the television showing the measure passing with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Did The Usurper get the message? Somehow I doubt it. His self regard is impenatrable as far as I can see. He is truly made of teflon!

MY NEW HERO!

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma warns House members that switching votes will have consequences:

11:03 a.m.: Senator Tom Coburn:

“I want to send a couple of messages to my friends in the House. If you voted no and you vote yes, and you lose your election and you think your nomination to any federal position isn’t going to be held up in the Senate, I’ve got news for you. Number two is if you get a deal, a parochial deal for you or you district, I’ve already instructed my staff and the staff of seven other Senators, 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.”

The man has cojones, that's for sure! And he knows how to make his point.

I'M PROUD TO BE A VIRGINIAN!

Not only do we have the death penalty - and use it, but now this:

Cuccinelli's office confirms Virginia will sue over health care

A spokesman for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) said this afternoon that Virginia will file suit against the federal government if the Democratic health care reform bill is approved by the U.S. Congress.

Cuccinelli has long said he was examining the legal issues and suggested he would likely file suit. Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for the office, said this afternoon that a lawsuit is now a definite. Gottstein would provide no details of the legal rationale for such a suit, indicating the process is "still being worked out."

Virginia last week became the first state in the country to pass a state bill declaring it illegal for the government to require individuals to purchase health insurance, a key part of bills under consideration on Capitol Hill.

OUR FAVORITE WINDBAG BLOVIATES!

And no, I'm not referring to Bill O'Reilly, although heaven knows he qualifies. Does he even listen to people when they're speaking or is he so enthralled with his own self-perceived brilliance that he's busy formulating his next interruption or snide remark?

However, the windbag to whom I refer is one "Plugs" Biden, vice president of the United States, who has pronounced that:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If the U.S. Congress fails to agree on a healthcare bill soon, the opportunity for a sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion system will be lost for a generation, Vice President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday.

Biden was speaking just hours before Democratic lawmakers were to meet at the White House with President Barack Obama, who is pressing them to reach agreement and pass a bill on his signature domestic policy issue.

Obama has invested much of his political capital in trying to get the Democratic-controlled Congress to pass a healthcare bill by the end of the year. The bill has been passed by the House of Representatives, but Democrats have struggled to win the 60 votes they need in the Senate.

From your mouth to God's ear, Vice President "Rosary Joe" Biden. The healthcare reforms being considered in both the house and the Senate are egregiously flawed and don't deserve to see the light of day - or the acquiesence of our erstwhile President!

And just as an afterthought, God is truly great and good, Vice President Biden. It's the only explanation for how one with your limited intellectual abilities was able to rise to such a lofty office!

UPDATE: Over at Contentions, Jennifer Rubin has an excellent take on the matter!

SENATE HEALTH CARE REFORM DEBATE

It is more likely that Jon and Kate Gosselin will reunite and go off into the sunset as a happily married couple than it is that the varying personalities and constituencies of the various Senators will unite to pass any kind of meaningful health care reform bill. In other words, those of us who consider any of the bills presented so far to be disastrous will be the winners if nothing gets passed into infamy!

33% of the Senators are up for re-election in 2010. ALL of the members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election in 2010. The American public has spoken - loudly - and continues to so speak and at some point (probably after the first of the year) it is going to dawn on these clowns that - if they want to keep their jobs - they are going to have to be more thoughtful and more intelligent in their approach to reform. A good start would be tort reform. It is long overdue. That alone will cut health care costs significantly.

I cannot support anything that removes from me the opportunity to continue to consult the team of physicians who have gotten me through 3 serious health care crises during 2009. I have carefully scrutinized their bills and do not find them to be outrageous. I don't have any issues with my insurer either. So why would I want any kind of change? I'm not an idiot. What I do think is necessary is the tort reform and I am expressing that opinion based on a couple of years as a legal secretary in a personal injury defense law firm. Some of the lawsuits were just plain asinine and yet, the insurance companies had to pay to defend them. Just as one example, a woman with a sick baby case who had had gonnorrhea three times during her pregnancy and had smoked and had consumed alcohol AND drugs non-stop throughout that selfsame pregnancy. Her baby was born brain damaged and she had the effrontery to blame the doctor! Talk about brass balls! These are the kinds of baseless lawsuits that must be curtailed in order to reduce costs. People who have experienced genuine injury at the hands of careless physicians certainly should retain their right to seek redress, but people like the sick baby complainant described above - she should be incarcerated in solitary confinement for a lengthy period as her punishment for the egregious harm she deliberately and stupidly inflicted on her own child. Fair comment: I was born unable to bear children and thus have absolutely no patience with women whose ability to bear children is intact and who abuse their bodies or their offspring in some way!

DEALING WITH ILLNESS!

Over the last few months, as regular readers will attest, I have been dealing with the effects of a long, enthusiastically lived life that involved - sometimes in equal parts - wine, good (or not so good) men and really good food. Once upon a long ago, I was an athlete and that, more than anything, may be what has kept me alive, despite myself!

In August and again this month, I have had the carotid arteries in my neck, both right and left and in that order, taken into an operating room (with me attached of course) and a roto-rooter job has been performed on them. My overall health is better than I deserve, but my poor beleagured arteries are showing the effects of too many quarter-pounders!

That my overindulgence has not killed me may be a testimony to my generally good health. I am as strong as an ox in most ways and am kept active thanks to Sam the Wonder Cat.

For what it's worth, I am immensely grateful to modern health care and to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia for doing their part to care for me after the enormously talented (and rather cute) surgeon, Dr. Victor D'Addio cleaned up my self-made mess!

Would this excellent care been available to a woman of 67 years of age under the Obama health care scheme? I rather doubt it.

So crack open the pinot grigio kids. Thanks to privately held medical coverage, I'll live to bedevil our current administration at least another few days! Sam the Wonder Cat is very grateful. And I am very grateful for all the prayers that came my way. Their effect was definitely felt.

STOLEN WISDOM:

From Andrew Koenig:

Obamacare:

The efficiency of the Post Office

The compassion of the IRS

The frugality of Amtrak

What’s not to like?