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FRIST HAILS LAST MINUTE PASSAGE OF HEALTH PACKAGE
Most Significant Health Package This Congress

December 9th, 2006 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., (R–Tenn.) made the following after the Congress passed a succession of health related bills:
“I am so glad that at this early hour the house was able to pass a succession of health related bills which will improve the quality of health for millions of Americans. This is the most significant health package of the 109th Congress and one that I am very proud to see completed.”
The bills passed tonight were the Ryan White HIV Treatment Modernization Act of 2006, the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2006, the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006, SCHIP Extension, Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act, The Preemie Act, and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Quality of Life for Persons with Paralysis Act.

Maybe the bills listed above provide some solutions for some citizens. But why is it Congress cannot effectively deal with something like universal health care? Why are they so reluctant to give ordinary Americans health insurance like they have? Rather than accept campaign and lobbyist money from the medical industry, the public might be better served if Congress would wield their significant influence to legally extort needed changes from health care providers, insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The reverse has been true for too long. It is especially annoying when Bill Frist MD, operating as Bill Frist, Senator, provided no more leadership toward those ends than some possible involvement with the bills listed in the press release. This country claims to have the best health care in the world, if you can access it.


Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

There are already indications that the Democratic majority in
Congress will be no better than any of the previous impotent
legislatures residing in Washington. With terrorism, border
security, immigration, health care, social security, oversight,
ethics, campaign and general political corruption the current
partial list of significant issues to address, Pelosi and the other
Democrats do not seem prepared to offer solutions.

After their 100 hour agenda, Dems will attack tax cuts for the
wealthy and the Bush fast track for trade agreements. One tired
old argument designed to appeal to the most liberal among us
and an empty gesture for damage already done. On top of this
the Dems will proclaim all new spending must be paid for. Nice
idea but impossible. All spending to date has this country so far
in the red that no other spending can be paid for.



With Steny Hoyer being characterized by lobbyists as someone
you can talk to and Pelosi meeting with labor unions, reasonable
expectations of any changes in politics as usual in Washington
appear dead. Other rumors that Republicans will give President
Bush nothing throughout the lame duck session only serves to
confirm the likelihood of pure politics and no solutions.



After a gap in legislative matters due to “district work periods”,
a record breaking lack of workdays and the midterm elections.
the House has passed six resolutions and rejected one since Sept
30th, all in November after the midterms. The rejected item was
related to trade with Viet Nam. The following is what they passed
since September between November 13th and 15th:


HR 3085 to amend the National Trail System Act
S 819 Pactola Resevoir Reallocation Authorization Act
HR6314 Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance
HR 864 Program to Prevent Underage Drinking
HR5585 Financial Netting Improvements Act
HR 1078 Congratulate winners of the Baseball World Series


The Senate pass/fail ratio is nearly the inverse of the House. They
passed two and rejected five. The Senate passed appropriations
for the military and an act to provide nuclear technology to India.
The following is what the Senate rejected most recently in their
short work year:


Sen Amdt 5174 to limit the President’s waiver authority
Sen Amdt 5178 in support of UN Resolution 1172
Sen Amdt 5181 to ensure IAEA eqp not used for espionage
Sen Amdt 5183 to dissuade India from nuclear weapons
Sen Amdt 5187 to limit Presdent’s waiver authority on India deal
all the above related to S 3709, modifying the Atomic Energy Act
of 1954 to allow the nuke deal with India.



With all the rhetoric suggesting terrorism, national security, border
security, immigration and foreign policy as primary issues, passing
legislation to supply India with nuclear power technology confirms
the President and Congress have lost their collective minds. Of all
the issues they could take action on, this is totally absurd. Outrage
expressed by countries not friendly to the United States is difficult to
defend against when the Federal government acts irresponsibly.



The Democratic majority offers little hope thus far. If minimum wage,
prescription drug prices, Big Oil tax breaks and student loan interest
are the 100 hour agenda of the Dems, we’re all screwed. The Dems
have an opportunity and they will blow it. The Republicans had an
opportunity and they blew it. And a term-limited President without
a default nominee for 2008 (the VP won’t run) leaves the American
public with a federal government that doesn’t give a damn.


If the American public does not bring to bear the only weapon we
have in response to this, nothing will change. Most of you will opt
to ignore it or merely dismiss public outcry as ineffective. Public
displeasure expressed in sufficient quantities and directed to elected
representatives is effective. Even if you do not get involved with an
organized effort to lobby your representative, your individual contact
to express a complaint or applaud a favorable action does matter. A
contact with your elected representatives gets translated into public
opinion. Enough public opinion is translated into votes and does get
the attention of politicians. How do you think the NEA or other well
known organizations get what they want? It’s not only contributions
to campaigns, it is votes represented by expressed public opinion.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Bush, Mexico’s Calderon to work on immigration
Reuters -
… W. Bush and Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon
pledged on Thursday to work together for a comprehensive
solution to curb illegal immigration from Mexico …

If it was not a plot by both Houses of Congress to introduce
HR4437 knowing it would never get through the Senate, then
the fine new Senate of the 110th Congress should be able to
finish strong reform starting in January 2007. Similar to the
fact that Immigration Reform of 1986 was never enforced, in
their grand wisdom, politicians have improved on their deceit
by creating a better strategy. Work together just long enough
to satisfy mutual goals and fool the public in believing you really
give a damn. Like Democrats conceding Presidential 2004
elections by nominating John Kerry when John Edwards wsa a
much more viable candidate. Kerry was a sacrificial lamb and
the only one who did not know it was Kerry. He still doesn’t.

We hope all you smiling Democrats are enjoying your victories.
We hope all you Republicans are understanding your arrogance
that led to this. And we hope you both as well as all of America
is prepared for a continuation of porous borders, unrestricted
immigration and a complete breakdown of national security.

If you haven’t noticed, the resignation of Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and previously mentioned items absolutely elated the
Muslim world. Al-Jazeera and the rest have been celebrating
since November 7th, 2006. Thank you one and all. NOT!

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Some immigration news provided as elections near.

With all the corporate influence through lobbyists, both parties
wanting cheap votes from anyone and anyway, the American
public is probably screwed after the mid terms regardless of the
outcome. The political process in this country is so out of line
that one election won’t change it. But if the voting public would
remove all or most incumbents and do it every election at least
term limits would be working. Then maybe politicians would
start listening to the public and we could slowly change things
for the better. But that may only be a dream. Sad if it is.

Frist, you rotten b*****d !!! We really don’t care if it’s
the Democrats who drive this one up your stethescope.
If you’re so ethical, why is a doctor, one, a politician and
two, have you been involved in any health care reform?
Don’t lie, we know you haven’t. And we’re not talking
about that pathetic excuse for reform called the Medicare
Part D drug plan. We hope it did help Americans who do
not have any other help. But it was useless for many and
we’re all paying for it. Instead of tackling useful health
care reform, you keep sticking your nose into immigration.
Either pass HR4437 or shut the hell up. Your want of
brown nosing Bush or whining about Dems is your only
claim to fame other than butting into private health matters
in a public forum for headlines. Shame on you, Senator,
retire already.

Frist wants immigration vote this week

By HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated PressWASHINGTON — Maneuvering toward a pre-election showdown on immigration, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Sunday said he would seek passage of legislation to secure the borders and predicted Democrats would resist.

“Right now I got a feeling the Democrats may obstruct it,” said Frist, R-Tenn.

The bill is all that is left of a comprehensive immigration proposal generally backed by President Bush that included provisions for a guest worker program and ways for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to work toward legal status and eventual citizenship.

Again as with Senator Frist, Indiana GOP Representative Mike Sodrel,
who is up for re-election in November, assumes the position. His PR
posture on border security is as lame as the rest of Congress. Calling
this 700 mile boondoggle meaningful is just one more repetitive dance
to convey a false message that Congress will do anything about national
security, border control and immigration enforcement.

Each sound bite, press conference or campaign message about protecting
the U.S. and enforcing the rule of law is an empty promise. The proof is
unenforced laws of the psat, including immigration reform from 1986 and
not passing HR4437 in the Senate. However, it may have been a moot
point based on the track record of no enforcement.

We suggest, as difficult as it might be, to vote against every incumbent on
the ballot. You may not wish to abandon your expectation of voting for a
candidate based on what you think they can do for you personally. But if
you really think about it, unless you are one of a select few with enough
power and influence to be of use to politicians, you likely have not or will
not benefit from voting for an incumbent. You would be better served in
this one election to send the only message Congress will understand.

Vote them out of office. Perhaps their replacements will be smart enough
to take the hint. That they have one term to prove themselves. The easiest
term limit tool is the ballot.

Here’s an excerpt and link to The Hill’s Congress Blog and a
post by Senator Frist to which we took exception. The first
item to which we took exception is in bold below as well as a
copy of our comments post which may or may not be on The
Hill’s website.

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