Can Conservatives just propose 1000-page amendments ad nauseum?

[longeyes]

I'm with you there, but first we have to stop the runaway train, no?

[zahc]

yes, I suppose. I'm just wary of proposed strategies, usually republican ones, of merely attempting to limit damage while the 'other side' actively seeks gain ground. It's a losing strategy.

[MicroBalrog]

yes, I suppose. I'm just wary of proposed strategies, usually republican ones, of merely attempting to limit damage while the 'other side' actively seeks gain ground. It's a losing strategy.

"They'd rather whine like what P.J. O'Rourke calls "bedwetting liberals", they'd rather wring their hands and bemoan their fate, than plan and execute a counterstrike in this culture-war they talk about incessantly. All it seems they can do lately is whimper about the horrible things Hillary and Janet have done to us already; the horrible things Hillary and Janet are doing to us now; and the horrible things Hillary and Janet are about to do to us -- instead of concentrating on doing it back! "

L. Neil Smith, writing back in 1994.

[makattak]

yes, I suppose. I'm just wary of proposed strategies, usually republican ones, of merely attempting to limit damage while the 'other side' actively seeks gain ground. It's a losing strategy.

Actually, I thought this would be a great strategy. Make their massive bills be read in full. Make Republican bills two pages long. (e.g. We repeal GCA 1968.)

They can spend the time reading amendments. Nothing else gets done. We pass the repeal.

Do it again. Repeal happens, but it takes a long time. The Senate is SUPPOSED to slow things down.

[longeyes]

There are times when all you can do is climb the mountain and hunker down with the protected manuscripts.  This is feeling like one of those times.  If we can do something constructive, we should, but we'd damn well better try to stop as much of the onslaught as we can, even if we have to gum up the works.

[Perd Hapley]

Thousands of years of gridlock is not enough. We need to remove the unjust laws that are already on the books. I am not content with things staying the way they are now forever.

With the current Congress and President?  Let's get real.  No one is proposing that reading amendments is the be-all and end-all long-term strategy that will resurrect the spirit of Patrick Henry (or whichever FF strikes your fancy).  But if it offers an opportunity for more "bed-wetting" about how the Republican Party isn't somehow scheduling recall elections, then of course certain people will take that opportunity.

There are times when all you can do is climb the mountain and hunker down with the protected manuscripts.  This is feeling like one of those times.  If we can do something constructive, we should, but we'd damn well better try to stop as much of the onslaught as we can, even if we have to gum up the works.

You said a mouthful there.   

[RocketMan]

It would appear that Harry Reid got his sixtieth vote for cloture.  Nelson sold out.

The story on Fox News is here.

Moment of Truth for Health Care in Senate After Deadline Bargaining

AP

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to unveil a final package of changes in the long-debated legislation on Saturday "and is confident that it will prevail," his spokesman, Jim Manley, said in a late-night statement.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats appear within reach of the 60 votes necessary to pass President Barack Obama's health care legislation after a long year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining with holdout Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Emerging from marathon talks with Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House officials late Friday night, Nelson said "real progress" had been made toward his call for greater restrictions on abortion within the legislation.

Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to unveil a final package of changes in the long-debated legislation on Saturday "and is confident that it will prevail," his spokesman, Jim Manley, said in a late-night statement.

Reid made no comment to reporters, but Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., another participant in the talks, sounded pleased. "I've been in Harry Reid's office for 13 hours and I'm glad to get out of there," he said. "But I'm particularly glad with what has happened in that office."

[makattak]

From the above article:

The measure would require insurers in the individual market to spend 80 percent of premiums on medical care. The requirement for group policies would be 85 percent.

That would limit overhead and profits. Children could not be denied coverage for health problems.

In other words, we've decided just how much money you're allowed to make. Once they kill the insurance industry, then the "ONLY" solution is for the government to take it over! Those evil insurance companies just wanted to STEAL YOUR MONEY!

[charby]

What about provisions to cap the $$$ amount of malpractice lawsuits?

[Monkeyleg]

I wonder what percentage of the money we pay into Social Security actually goes into the trust fund, and what percentage is spent on the bureaucracy. Same thing for our income taxes paying for defense, roads, etc.

I suspect the government is making a lot more than 15% in "profits."

[RocketMan]

What about provisions to cap the $$$ amount of malpractice lawsuits?

There are none.  There is no tort reform in either bill.  They don't want to antagonize one of their best sources of campaign cash.

[longeyes]

America is a nation built on The Law, and, apparently, it is by The Law and by lawyers we will destroy ourselves.

When the "government" can use its power to intimidate for partisan gain and can bribe the enemies of the people with their own money we have reached a very sorry point in our political history.