Senators’ Attempt to Prevent Debate on Medicare Bill ~ A Win for Gun Owners of America?

While the Main Stream Media is a-buzz with the health care debate, Afghanistan (should we or shouldn’t we?), Phillies fever, and who knows what else, a little known bill, S. 1776, was recently saved from “cloture” by 53 U.S. Senators. First, for those who are unsure and ask, “What is cloture?” Here it is straight from the Senate’s website:

cloture - The only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. Under the cloture rule (Rule XXII), the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, but only by vote of three-fifths of the full Senate, normally 60 votes.”

Say that again, “…vote to place a time limit on consideration…” What?! Cloture in layman’s terms, “let ’s close the debate, sweep this under the carpet, and push this bill through.” The bill, S. 1776, according to Gun Owners of America is an end-around attempt by the gun grabbers to fund the gun related provisions of Obama’s health Care reform legislation. The bill titled “Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009 ” seeks to create a new physician medicare payment schedule. The contention of those opposed to this legislation, is that it is an attempt to fund the  $247 billion in spending removed from the health care reform bill, shift the source of funding, and reduce the face value on the health care reform proposal. See?! No deficit spending here! The chief concern is that it will open the door to the funding of certain provisions of the proposed health care reform through the Medicare system. The provisions are said to include requirements for the specific reporting by participants regarding their firearms…”Doctor,  you want to know what about my firearms?”… I don’t think so. Opt out, pay a fine. I don’t think so.   Read the GOA summary here.

According to the AMA who was in full support of cloture, “Senate leadership says S. 1776, the “Medicare Physicians Fairness Act of 2009″ will serve as the Senate legislative vehicle for eliminating the SGR and laying the foundation for establishing a new Medicare physician payment update system through health system reform or other legislation. The bill would repeal the SGR permanently and set future payment updates at zero…Those who vote for patient access will support cloture, and those who would rather see chaos, physician practice closure and a lack of access for patients will be opposing cloture.“ Read their take on it here.

Is the AMA just another powerful lobby? Representing the interests of…who? An interesting side note, in a recent Fox News special report, Sean Hannity reported that only 17% of the nation’s doctors are  members of the AMA. And that the AMA (with a litttle help from their friend Uncle Sam) has managed to maintain a monopoly on the control and use of the CPT codes used by medical practitioners for procedure identification and billing. (Here is an article from 2001 addressing this issue) My understanding is that the AMA has revenue in the neighborhood of $300 million as a result.

Every time you try to wrap your mind around one issue you wind up further down the rabbit hole…So many pieces of legislation, so many opinions, so much information, too much spin. Maybe if our legislators in Washington, and the 50 state houses, read and then followed the U.S. Constitution, and the Constitution of their respective states, then 90% of this s#!t stuff would go away! Remember, both Pennsylvania senators voted YEA in favor of cloture of S. 1776, and both are in support of a government takeover of nearly 1/5 of our economy. Not from the Keystone State? How did your senator vote? See here. Finally, regarding Gun Owners of America (GOA), a wise man once referred to them as, “the ONLY no compromise gun lobby in Washington.” I tend to agree.

Campaign For Liberty ~ Leading the Charge to Audit The Fed ~ What can YOU do?

As the American people awaken, and the grassroots groundswell grows, many fed up Americans are finding themselves and their political ideology. Long time activists, and newbies alike, are sharpening their debating skills, and the once taboo,  “talking about politics in social settings”, is now the norm as everyone has a proverbial axe to grind. Finally! My “axe” is well honed, as I have had my nose to the grindstone, silently, for many years. I no longer have to bite my tongue.  Out of hiding, I am educating and waking as many people as I can. Many who once classified themselves as apolitical, or were arbitrarily apathetic about politics are now engaged, and in a big way. People are calling, writing, faxing, and emailing their congressmen/women, and their senators like never before in the history of this country. I am hopeful, and have personally dedicated my life to the cause of liberty.

As the fervor increases, two things remain certain for me. First, I do not debate politics, as it always breaks down to an exchange of rhetoric, falsehoods, twisted perceptions, and misconceptions (not mine of course). I prefer to stick to the TRUTH. For that, there is no dispute or debate. Second, I remind people that I am a single-issue, single-cause voter. My cause? Liberty, of course. Vote for liberty and you are the champion of all causes, all needs, and all humankind (so long as the aforementioned hypothetical “all causes” and “all needs” do not infringe on the rights of others as a means to their end.)

So what does this awakening and my trumpeting about being a single issue voter have to do with the Campaign for Liberty leading the charge to Audit the Federal Reserve? The answer, although very simple, can be very exhausting and time consuming to lay out in front of you in its entirety. I will keep it short and pray that if you, the reader, are in need of the facts or feel the need to debate you will first go down the path that myself and many others have gone. Do your homework, educate yourself and acquire an in-depth understanding and acute knowledge of the creation of “The Fed” and the power, control, influence and corruption it has, and continues to exert over our economy, our banking industry, our currency, and our government, both directly and indirectly through its multitude of affiliated and sympathetic, globalist NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Whew…

What is occurring is that the politically awake and the informed are attacking the root cause of the economic collapse, The Creature from Jekyll Island, responsible for devaluing the dollar, and stealing our wealth and the fruits of our labor through inflation since 1913. This is really a call to action for the awake. A mission to educate people about the Federal Reserve and have them, help us, pressure our representative legislature to take decisive action and demand a full GAO audit of the Federal Reserve. The vehicle, or the means to our end are two pieces of legislation HR1207 and S604, the house and Senate bills drafted to do just that.

So the simple answer, the mission, is to find allies in this endeavor. And by way of petition have them sign on to the cause. My basic spiel as it were, to anyone politically active or wiping the sleep out of their eyes is as follows:

“As I am all in for liberty, I support your cause as long as it does not infringe on my rights or the rights of others. Either way I at least support your right to pursue it. In turn, will you consider mine?….You see, one of the organizations that I work with on the grassroots level is the Campaign for Liberty, a group comprised of individuals from all over the country, and in no less than 100 countries worldwide. We are dedicated to educating our fellow citizens about the virtues of limited constitutional government, sound money, free markets, individual liberty, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. That is after all. the original vision and intent of the Founders.“ Pause……..

I continue, “If you look at the Campaign for Liberty mission statement which comprises the five key ideals that I just mentioned, all of those ideals have been steered off track. At the root, is the Federal Reserve System. It is (indisputably, undebatably) the driving force behind the out of control deficit spending by Congress. The recent bailouts are just a symptom of the much larger picture. The Federal Reserve in conjunction with our Treasury has more than doubled the money supply in the last year alone! There are TRILLIONS of dollars that remain unaccounted. When questioned under oath, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has stated he has no intention of revealing the whereabouts….(all a set up for the big question) Would you like to know where trillions of dollars that we are on the hook for, has gone?”

Any answer other than “Yes.” and I am searching for the nearest AED (automated emergency defibrillator). At that point I whip out my previously concealed clipboard and ask them to sign my petitions for both HR1207 and S604 the current legislation in the House and Senate respectively to Audit the Federal Reserve. While they are signing, someone else is stuffing literature into their free hand, a constitution in their back pocket, an Audit The FED sticker on their forehead, slapping them on the backside and sending them on their way with words of encouragement, ” Go out there and save the world! Buy gold, silver, seeds, and brass. NEXT!!”

The final question, what can YOU do about it? To support the cause, fight the fight? First, you can choose to follow my model above, or you can devlop your own style. The bottom line is that 75% of Americans believe that a complete GAO audit of the private Federal Reserve System is necessary for complete transparency. As of today 285 Congressmen/women in the House have cosponsored HR1207 and 24 senators have cosponsored the companion bill in the Senate S604. That being said, here is your to do list:

• Print 100, 200, 300…petitions.
• Like the Avon Lady, start with family and friends.
• Go knock on the doors in your neighborhood.
• Are you taking a bus to DC or some other prominent location for September 12th? Get everyone’s signature on the bus!
• Get everyone’s signature in DC (except John Tate)
• Are you staying close to home? Find an event, a gun show, a bowling alley, a ball game and take fliers and petitions.
• Participate in the mass action day rallies at every senator’s office coast-to-coast

Whichever path you take, enjoy the journey, but, join the rEVOLution!

For liberty,

Rob

Another Day, Another Town Hall Meeting…this time with Charlie Dent

It has been a busy week, month, summer…It seems like the days are just flying by. Here it is Thursday, September 3rd. Labor Day is fast approaching and so is the end of Congress’ summer recess. August’s news was filled with stories of town hall meetings and protests from across the country. September is already providing more of the same. The town hall meetings with our elected representatives have for the most part been emotionally charged. The hot topic appears to be health care “reform” aka: HR3200. Is this really the button that has America so engaged or is it merely just the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back?

For those that are still caught in the false left-right paradigm parroted by the pundits and talking heads in the main stream media and the polished party loyalists, the divides are growing, the battle lines are being drawn, the accusations are flying. Grass roots, AstroTurf, SEIU, Obamacare, Socialism, Marxism, death panels, rationing…Truth be told, it is no longer about Left or Right, it is about right or wrong. No matter how you slice it, peel away the rhetoric, and for many of us there is a much greater issue to confront…that is, the future of our republic. In case you haven’t noticed, the gloves are off, and the second American rEVOlution has begun.

So here we are, another day, another town hall meeting. This past Monday’s was unique. I was one of approximately 30 local business owners, business managers, and members of the Upper Perkiomen Chamber of Commerce, invited to attend a town hall meeting with Republican Congressman Charlie Dent. In these historic times, sometimes it seems as though we are nothing but observers, or unheard bystanders  in our own political lives. Not this time.  The event was sponsored by the chamber, and hosted at Brown Printing in East Greenville, part of the Pennsylvania’s 15th district represented by the congressman. In attendance was an excellent cross section of people from our community, a chief of Surgery from a local hospital, school administrators, the president of a local commercial roofing and industrial real estate development company, a real estate broker, representatives from Brown Printing, Blommer Chocolate, executives from a family owned industrial and safety supply company, many others, and myself a family man, and business owner. In that group, I know that we had Republicans, Democrats, and a couple of small “l” libertarians.

Relative to the health care debate, my personal experience and perspective is that our business provides the premier health insurance products in the marketplace to our employees. We offer 100% coverage to most of our employees and their dependents. We know first hand the affects of rising costs, and the burden on small business.   We have worked hard to reduce our health insurance costs from a projected $280K this year to approximately $200K. I personally believe that government intervention, overreach, and over regulation is the culprit and the leading cause of the spiraling costs of health care. (Not to mention the inflationary, regulatory, and immoral policies of the unconstitutional Federal Reserve. I’ll save that for another rant.)

I was among the last to arrive, and as I was making my way down the hall to the conference room where the event was held, I encountered Congressman Dent. I took the opportunity to introduce myself and to thank him for his recent support of HR1207, Congressman Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve. I also, expressed my concern that I believed our views differed considerably on the subject of health care. My interpretation of Charlie’s Medical Rights and Reform Act is that while it is well intentioned, it provides for the creation of a new government agency, new government programs, calls for “incentives”, and the acceleration of  Health Information Technology. Sorry Charlie, I do not want my medical information computerized for ANY government agency or bureaucrat to access. In Charlie’s defense, he also sponsored HR2516 in May. This bill puts forth some measures protecting the doctor patient relationship, and the ability of individuals and employers to make their own health care decisions without fear of government coercion, or the use of federal funds at the hands of federal employees interfering.

It was a relatively uneventful town hall meeting. Being invite only, this was a controlled environment, and we were a subdued group. No shouting, no sign waving, no union thugs. A relaxed atmosphere, and just good, candid discussion. Seated at the head of the conference tables shaped in a large “U”, Congressman Dent addressed the group. He showed us  copy of HR3200 and explained his understanding of what he believes is wrong with he bill. The size and scope is enough to give you pause. Everyone who had concerns was given the opportunity to air them and receive feedback from the congressman. We discussed several key issues that dramatically increase our health insurance premium costs: lack of competition across state lines, the need for TORT reform, the rampant fraud in the current socialized medical programs, and state mandates that drive up insurance premiums. Sadly, none of these issues are confronted by the current legislation, and it is highly unlikely any bill that gets passed will address these major factors contributing to the high cost of health care.

Given several opportunities to speak, I shared my concern that there is a misnomer that health care is a right. Reminding everyone that our rights are inherent, and as our founders declared, we are endowed by our creator. As our rights are unalienable, they can not be taken away, nor granted by government. To the contrary, if health care can be given or taken away by government, then it is not a right, but a privilege. Of course, I reminded him of his oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. And that it is his primary duty. Everything that congress does should be measured by their oath, and the constitutionality of the action. I also questioned the constitutionality of the current socialist government programs Medicaid and Medicare, “Are they constitutional?” To which Charlie answered, “We have them.” I raised the fact that nowhere in the 18 enumerated powers granted to Congress by the people in the Constitution’s Article I, section 8, are there provisions for “health care”. And added to that, the congress has a duty under the often misused and abused “Commerce clause” to actually step in and enforce the Constitution allowing competition across state lines, dramatically increasing competition, promoting the free market, and lowering costs to the consumer.

By and large, the attendees addressed aspects of this issue that are important, but a little more benign than my argument for upholding the Constitution. Charlie agreed with the group and echoed their concerns across the board, and said he had no intention of voting for HR3200 or any similar piece of legislation. His preferred approach would be to introduce and pass separate, smaller bills addressing the key opportunities for cost reduction in the marketplace. I hope we can do that. However, I believe that we will see a metamorphosis of the current proposal, and through the system of incrementalism, the Fabian Socialists will continue to gnaw at the remnants of our republic. We will continue to experience government intrusions, and incursions on our individual liberty, and the forceful confiscation the most precious of all of our property, the fruits of our labor. Or will we? The question that I have is: do the citizens of the once sovereign commonwealth of Pennsylvania have what it takes to stand up and truly hold their representatives accountable? Can we reclaim our servant government, and restore it to its original intent and design, of the people, by the people, and for the people,  from the ground up?

Oh, I almost forgot. Before leaving the venue. I had a follow up conversation with Charlie Dent and gave him Campaign for Liberty flier on the health care issue highlighting several important pieces of legislation HR1495, HR2630, and HR2629. I managed to hand out about a dozen or so to the other attendees. And I had a good conversation with Bob Mensch my representative in the statehouse. Bob is a cosponsor of the 10th amendment resolution introduced by Sam Rohrer, and also against real I.D. He is taking a run at the state Senate seat recently vacated by Rob Wonderling….More on that later.