There’s a late session tonight (with James Lileks, Andew Klavan, and S. E. Cupp), but I’m frankly worn out by the steady roll of the ship (due to steady 30+ knot winds blowing from the east) and we’ve got an 8:30 snorkling excursion in the morning (we arrive at Grand Turk around 7 am). I may yet run down to listen a bit, but I’m whipped. ..bruce..

…film at 11. Or thereabouts.

Foolish, foolish man. He will forever be known (and not kindly) as the reason Obamacare passed the House. And, of course, Obama has such a great track record of keeping promises. ..bruce w..

P.S. Poster hat tip to Moonbattery, c/o American Digest.

…you’ve lost, period:

WE UNDERSTAND the administration’s sense of urgency on health-care reform. But what is intended as a final sprint threatens to turn into something unseemly and, more important, contrary to Democrats’ promises of transparency and time for deliberation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday that she is leaning toward a parliamentary maneuver under which the House would vote on a package of changes to the Senate-approved reform bill, and the underlying Senate bill would then be “deemed” to have passed, even though the House had never voted on it. That may help some House members dodge a politically difficult decision, but it strikes us as a dodgy way to reform the health-care system. Democrats who vote for the package will be tagged with supporting the Senate bill in any event. Why not be straightforward about it?

More worrying is that Congress and the country have yet to see the changes, for which Democrats hope to win quick House approval and which they then hope to speed through the Senate under a procedure that would bar filibusters. These changes — the so-called reconciliation bill — are not all minor “fixes”; some could have far-reaching consequences. Such changes deserve to be fully understood and debated before they are voted on. The speaker’s office says the week-long “conversation” that Nancy Pelosi promised to have with members is taking place and that they are waiting for the final word from the Congressional Budget Office before releasing the package; in any event, they say, lawmakers and the public will have 72 hours to consider the changes. But why be so secretive about it? Any number of measures — including versions of the health-care bill itself — have been unveiled without CBO scores.

The health-care debate has been going on longer than a year, and House members want to get it over with. They don’t want it hanging over them during the Easter recess. President Obama wants progress to have been made before he leaves for Indonesia on Sunday. These are understandable desires, but they don’t outweigh the need for a reasonable process on a matter of such importance.

No wonder the moonbats see the WaPo as a right-wing rag — something I find quite humorous, having subscribed to and read the WaPo print edition every morning for six years while living in DC.  ..bruce w..

Well, you've won my vote.

President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi seemed determined to bend, twist, and subvert the rules and procedures of government — and possibly the Constitution itself — in order to pass Obamacare, which they seem to see as more important than any of those things. Their “whatever is necessary, the ends justifies the means” approach brings to mind the following passage from one of my favorite plays, “A Man for All Seasons” by Robert Bolt:

Alice:   While you talk, he’s gone [referring to Richard Rich, who is a potential threat to Sir Thomas More].

More:   And go he should if he was the devil himself until he broke the law.

Roper:   So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law.

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper:   I’d cut down every law in England to do that.

More: Oh? And when the last law was down — and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws being all flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — Man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.

Being in my mid-50s and an avid reader of history, I tend to take a long-term view on politics; I’ve seen the pendulum swing any number of times. But Reid and Pelosi’s plan, encouraged by Obama, to use reconciliation and the so-called Slaughter Solution to get health care through Congress and onto Obama’s desk, strikes me as a profoundly dangerous and unwise approach, with implications that could last for decades.  ..bruce w..

If you’re not aware, the title of this post is how members of the United States Senate refer to themselves and their institution. I’d like to see any one of those 60 Democrats say that with a straight face anymore.  ..bruce w..

It looks like a major snowstorm is going to hit DC starting tonight, dumping up to 16″ of snow in the capital. As Webster can attest, DC siezes up with even an inch of snow, and at times in the 90s, rolled over and played dead for a week during a snowstorm of this one’s predected size (16″ total).

This is directly in the face of the Senates attempt at a 2:00 minute offense to pass the wreck of a healthcare bill before the Christmas recess. To have the party of global warming torpedoed by a snowstorm on their Marquee entitlement is just too funny.

From Accuweather:

Up to a foot of heavy snowfall this weekend for the Washington, D.C., metro area has the potential to impact President Obama’s health care initiative, which is set to be voted on by Christmas.

The snow could delay travel for many senators, who will need to be in the nation’s capital for what is expected to be a weekend full of several late-night and early-morning votes. The Senate may vote on health care as soon as Christmas Eve.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists are forecasting 6-10 inches of snow for the region, with potential for a foot or more as the storm continues to develop. The snow is set to begin late this evening and continue through the day on Saturday.

AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist and Expert Long-Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi said that the snowfall will be “paralyzing” from the Interstate-95 corridor and southeastward.

He also added the the eastern side of the Capital District will see blizzard conditions.

A spokesman for Congressman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said, “Washington [D.C.] is known as a place that gets three snowflakes and falls apart.”

Senator Reed needed every minute between now and Christmas eve to try and get their vote in. Now, he gets a snowstorm instead. Merry Christmas you goofballs! Do us all a favor and go home instead.

…can’t trust that day. Or the weekend, apparently. Video above courtesy of Gateway Pundit. Not what George Lucas had in mind, I dare say.

Backlash? What backlash? Once again, the “Serenity” trailer as a metaphor for the growing conservative rebellion. “No. They’re not going to see this coming.”

The poster below has been showing up all over the ‘sphere for some weeks now, most lately over at Instapundit:

The British press — which seems to be doing a much better job of covering the Obama Administration than the US press — notes the growing hints of wistfulness for Bush, even among Democrats. Heck, at this point, I miss Bill Clinton — words I never thought I’d say.  ..bruce w..

Via Wesley J. Smith at Critical Condition (National Review Online) comes this ‘death panel’ tale from the health care paradise to the north of us:

Bonnie Cameron and Cindy Waters-Goodman do not know each other, but they have much in common. Both are feisty, small-town Ontarians who were young, busy mothers when hit with diagnoses of pulmonary arterial hypertension, an incurable heart and lung disease. Ms. Cameron’s verdict came after the day she felt constantly winded and her legs grew so swollen that she had to scissor off her jeans. A family photographer, Ms. Waters-Goodman found out after a flight of stairs at work rendered her faint, dizzy and slurring her words. Both were started on a regimen of drugs that are costly but slowed the pace of the disease, which is uncommon and often goes undetected. The province paid much of the tab, which the women estimate was about $100,000 a year each. Their lives improved drastically: They could play with their kids, cook meals and shower without fainting.

Then, last spring, out of the blue, both received letters informing them the province would no longer allow more than one medication. To continue receiving support, they’d have to stop taking combos. After much lobbying, Ms. Waters-Goodman won a reprieve and can stay on her combination of drugs for one more year. Ms. Cameron wasn’t so lucky. Forced to give up her secondary medication, she has suffered greatly, and this week slipped into critical condition after being moved to hospital in Toronto. With an intravenous line in her neck and several failing organs, she seesaws between life and death.

And this is where Congress and President Obama are steering us, whether they intend to or not.  Be sure to read the comments, including the first one — written by the husband of Ms. Waters-Goodman.  ..bruce w..

Yeah, the process scares me as well. Hat tip to Mark Tapscott at the Washington Examiner.  ..bruce w..

Philip Klein over at the American Spectator analyzes the Baucus Healthcare Bill and finds (surprise!) that the Democrats are playing fast and loose in order to get a favorable estimate from the Congressional Budget Office:

Given that the CBO only puts a price tag on the first 10 years of a piece of legislation, Democrats realized that they could simply delay the enactment of the major spending provisions of the bill by four years, thus creating the illusion of a bill that costs $829 billion over 10 years. But in actuality, the bill is projected to cost just $14 billion in the first four years, and $70 billion through its fifth year. . . .

. . . The red shaded area to the left of the line represents all of the spending in the first half of the 10 year period the CBO evaluated, and everything to the right of the line represents spending in the second half of that 10 year period. About 98 percent of the spending comes in the last six years, and 92 percent comes in final five year period. Thus, the true 10-year cost of the Baucus bill is well above $1 trillion, and according to estimates cited by Republicans, it’s actually $1.8 trillion.

Time to fire up the phones and fax machines.  ..bruce w..