With a one-two punch, voters rejecting health care bill

The first reviews are in concerning the government-mandated health care bill passed in March, and it's not looking good for President Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson denied the federal government's motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the massive federal health care bill passed. Judge Hudson ruled that Virginia does indeed have a standing to bring its lawsuit seeking to invalidate the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and ruled that injury had been suffered by the Commonwealth since the federal law would invalidate the Health Care Freedom Act. Strike one for Obama and the Democrats.

On Tuesday ObamaCare was put before the citizens of Missouri. "Proposition C" sought to exempt Missouri from the insurance mandate currently demanded by the federal bill. In an overwhelming defeat, voters approved of Proposition C, with 71% turning their backs on ObamaCare and the Democratic health care bill. One voter even referred to it as the "vote heard round the world." Strike two for Obama and the Democrats.

The voter opposition should come as no surprise to the Obama administration and the Democratic Party. Their original goal was to push nationalized health care and have it passed by the summer of 2009. They did not expect the tremendous outpouring of negativity from the American people who protested at summer recess town hall meetings and participated in the 9/12 March on Washington in which upwards of 1.2 million citizens protested federal health care outside the Capitol in the fall of 2009.

After much arm-twisting and deal-making, the bill was finally passed in March 2010 against the will of the majority of the American people. Many vowed to have the bill repealed and went to work contacting their representatives even as naysayers suggested that, once in place, such a massive mandate could not be reversed.

Could this week's results in Virginia and Missouri begin a tsunami across the nation leading into the November elections? Political pundits have taken notice and wonder if Missouri could be a bellwether of the mid-terms.

Poll after poll have suggested Republicans may sweep into office by the dozens this fall. Opposition to nationalized health care and Democratic attempts to override state governments on issues such as illegal immigration is growing. Voters, tired of being ignored, are letting their voices be heard at the ballot box.

Could 2010, as suggested by Washington Examiner senior political analyst Michael Barone, be another 1966? Are Democrats heading for a political disaster?

Cross-posted at The Washington Examiner

Virginia wins first round in federal health care battle in Va.

Tune in to Fox News Channel's Greta Van Sustern tonight at 10:00 to hear Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli as he discusses today's ruling on the Commonwealth's lawsuit against the federal government. More from the Washington Examiner.

UPDATE: "Read the Bill" still going ... thousands listen in

"Read the Bill" is continuing into Wednesday evening as volunteers from around Virginia read the 2,409-page health care bill out loud for what is now estimated to take 60 continuous hours. Listen in at www.RPV.org/ReadTheBill.

RPV Chairman Pat Mullins kicked off the event Wednesday morning at 8:00 ... RPV Western Vice Chairwoman Trixie Averill read from 1-1:30 Wednesday afternoon ... my mom read from 3-3:30.

Other readers have included Sen. Steve Martin and other elected officials, congressional candidates such as Verga and Ferrin, and other Party leaders including State Central Committee members and Jennifer Byler Institute graduates. It will probably be Friday night before the end of the bill is reached.

I pulled a 30-minute shift this morning from 10-10:30, reading pages 66-90 ... 24 pages of goobly-gook like this:

(ii) establishes a standard (as described under subsection (a)(1)(B)) or associated operating rules (as described under 3 subsection (i)(5)) for any other financial 4 and administrative transactions.

The first 500 pages were read by 25 volunteers from 8:00 am - 7:00 pm Wednesday. RPV's "Read the Bill" live-stream had received over 2,000 unique visitors as of 7:00 Wednesday evening.

As word spread, RPV fielded press calls from the Washington Examiner, the Glenn Beck show, national bloggers, and locals throughout the state. Many state GOP parties across the country forwarded the RPV Read The Bill site to their email lists ... it has been tweeted out on Twitter.

Reading will continue around the clock until Friday evening or until the 2,409 pages are read.

Call Congress and tell them to kill the bill.

Please call these Virginia Congressmen and ask them to vote NO:
Congressman Tom Perriello - (202) 225-4711
Congressman Gerry Connolly - (202) 225-1492
Congressman Glenn Nye - (202) 225-4215
Congressman Rick Boucher - (202) 225-3861

Thousands and thousands protest ObamaCare

Tim Phillips with Americans for Prosperity was in Washington for the Code Red rally on Tuesday. This is Tim's report....

Yesterday, we asked Americans in targeted congressional districts to turn out for events to let these undecided members of Congress know just how strongly the folks back home oppose this health care takeover.

Thousands upon thousands of Americans took time away from work and family - often right in the middle of the day - to drive to the district offices of their representatives.

In Aliquippa, PA, local leader McKay Sailor had this to say in an email to me: "The rally today was a smashing success! We had upwards of 700 people show up to send the message of ‘NO' to Cong. Altmire."

In North Carolina, hundreds more turned out at noon for a rally at the office of Congressman Etheridge led by AFP's Dallas Woodhouse (click for pictures and click for video).

In Cincinnati, 450 more turned out for a tea party to send a message to Rep. Steve Driehaus (pictures).

500 fired-up activists led by AFP-NJ State Director Steve Lonegan swamped the office of key swing vote Congressman John Adler (pictures).

In Tuscon, AZ, the sound of blaring horns sent a resounding "Honk Against the Health Care Takeover" to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Click to see it for yourself: video 1, and video 2.

I was on the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. for a rally hosted by our good friends at the Tea Party Express. FOX News, CNN, CBS Evening News and many others covered the event.

Click here for our Fox News coverage.

An elderly couple from near Indianapolis grabbed my arm and the lady told me, "Tim, we drove 7 hours, missed our granddaughter's dance recital because we want Congress to know we're still in the fight."

The Left continues assuring the media and each other that they have the votes in the House. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs even declared last weekend that health care "will be the law of the land" by this Sunday. Speaker Pelosi says "we just have to pass it to find out what's in it."

If that's true and if there is so much support for the Senate bill, then it's odd that Speaker Pelosi is scrambling to devise a parliamentary trick that will allow House Democrats to pass health care without having to vote on the actual Senate bill!

It's being called "The Slaughter Scheme": Speaker Pelosi has publicly said no one wants to vote for the Senate bill. So instead she is going to use a House rule that will allow representatives to vote on the reconciliation "fixes" and then "deem" that vote to also cover passage of the Senate bill. This is another procedural trick to shield reluctant House Democrats from their constituents. It will not work; we will make sure everyone knows that a vote for that rule is a vote to pass the Senate bill.

Predicting what the House of Representatives will do is impossible.

But know this: they are experiencing intense, sustained grassroots pressure from back home. Their phone lines are swamped. Their email boxes are filled. Their district offices are seeing foot traffic like never before! Our television and radio ads continue to play in targeted districts. Internet banner ads with their names displayed prominently are everywhere.

They've got the president still traipsing around the nation holding canned "town hall" meetings with carefully selected audiences. And, members of Congress are hiding out carefully avoiding public events as well. They know their constituents oppose this legislation.

We're going to keep up the fight straight through the vote ... whenever they finally hold it.

Eric Cantor on Democrats' Easter deadline for health

"If the Easter break deadline passes and they've not done anything here, there will be a repeat of August on the part of the American people. And again, I think the people will do whatever they can to have their voices heard at townhall meetings and the rest to try and convey their dissatisfaction with this bill."
-- Rep. Eric Cantor, R-VA

Politico Pulse keeps score of health care Dems

Good for Republicans ... bad for Democrats: three "yes" Dems now sitting on fence. Here's a thought ... maybe they're waiting to be bribed like Ben Nelson and Mary Landeau. Politico Pulse reports:

FOR THOSE KEEPING SCORE AT HOME – Not a great day for House Democratic leaders trying to keep their members in the “yes” column. Three “yes” votes on the House bill – Reps. Maffei, Owens and Arcuri – all switched to undecided Monday. But Arcuri said last week that he was a “no” vote on the final bill, so moving him into the undecided column was a partial win for supporters.

The abortion issue reared its head again Monday with Reps. Lipinski and Oberstar, both “yes” votes on the House bill, having said they would vote “no” on a bill that doesn’t include the Stupak language. The disclosure boosts Stupak’s claim that he has about a dozen members who will vote against the bill unless the restrictions on federal funding for abortion are tightened. Meanwhile, Reps. Artur Davis, Mike Ross and Dennis Kucinich stayed planted firmly planted in the “no” camp. “On the Bubble” has more details below. And, you can check out an updated list throughout the day on Live Pulse.

Read it all.

Health care: pick up the phone and call

Erick Erickson says, "I can't make it any easier for you":

Go here.

Enter your zipcode.

Your Congressman’s name and phone number will appear.

Call him and tell him to vote against the Senate’s health care plan.

How hard can that be?

For Virginians, call and ask they vote NO:

Tom Perriello (VA)
(202) 225-4711
((434)293-9631

Glenn Nye (VA)
(202) 225-4215
(757) 326-6201

Gerry Connolly (VA)
(202) 225-1492
(703) 256-3071

ATTN Congress: Read the bill!

Congress doesn't want to take the time to READ THE BILL. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) sees no reason to read the bill. President Barack Obama promised not to rush through bills ... and has now reneged on that promise.

If you want to read all 1,018 pages of the bill, CLICK HERE for the pdf file. And urge your representatives to read the bill!

Nationalized health care ... only for the young?

Three questions, stunning in their implications. Three answers which should make the skin of all lovers of liberty crawl. I’m again left imagining Jefferson, Madison and Monroe listening in on this with unbelieving looks of horror on their faces. The irony is, their opposition to this incredible power grab by government would again leave them in the category of “radical”.

So ends this post from McQ over at QandO with questions asked of President Barack Obama ... and disturbing responses from him concerning end-of-life decisions for the elderly in this country and the consequences of nationalized health care. Would government be the final decider as to who lives and who dies ... who receives treatment and who does not?

Read and ponder ... the Obama administration is going places some never imagined and others thought they would never see.

This post was passed on by a young twenty-something who was alarmed at what he read. We should be, too.

H/T to "Yoda"