Today Senator Even Bayh became the latest fly dropping from the liberal leftist swarm of politicians with his announcement that he would not seek reelection this November.  He joins fellow Senate insects Chris Dodd, Byron Dorgan, Ted Kaufman, and Roland Burris on the I’m-sure-I-could-win-really-I-just-don’t-feel-like-running ground.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Bayh’s decision appeared to catch party leaders off guard. The senator has plenty of cash in the bank for his re-election bid, and recent polls showed him with big leads over two potential Republican challengers, including former Sen. Dan Coats, who is seeking a return to Capitol Hill. Mr. Bayh is a respected lawmaker, a former governor who has often been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate.

Mr. Bayh called Mr. Reid early Monday, a few hours before his public announcement in Indiana.

“It says something that an incumbent senator with $13 million in the bank decides to retire this late in the process,” said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Ms. Duffy said as many as seven Democratic seats might switch hands this year, and suggested even more could be put in play if Republicans find strong candidates.

I’ll tell you what it says.  It says that the government growing, tax raising, the-system-works liberals know that their goose is cooked.  For those lefty politicians running in the 2010 elections, well, try not to cry too hard into your Cheerios on November 3rd.

Afternoons are crazy in my house.  Just after 2, Thing 2 will wake up screaming from her nap, if she went to sleep at all.  If not, then I’ll usually rescue her from her evil crib at that time.  Then we fight over what she should have for a snack.  She always wants a cupcake.  And I always say, “No cupcake!”  At which point she collapses into a fit of sobs and tears.  Eventually she’ll decide that she really does want the cheese/fruit/triscuits/other tasty wholesome snack, pick it up off the floor where’s she’s thrown it and eat it.

After that debacle, it’s usually time to go pick up Thing 1 from school and run an errand or two.  Today we had to get some new tires for my truck.  We went to Costco because I had some giftcards, plus you can get ice cream while you wait.  Into the tire center.  I know I need two at least, but think, “Hmm, do I really want to be back here in 3-6 months to replace the other two?  Nope!”  So I order up four new tires.  The very polite service guy rattles of a price of eight hundred dollars and change.  I’m not sure exactly, he lost me at eight hundred.  Two new tires will be just fine thankyouverymuch.  I tried not faint or choke or vomit as I forked over enough money to buy a plane ticket to Hawaii.  Then I spent some time day dreaming about Hawaii.

Of course I was slammed back to reality when Thing 1 tipped over Thing 2’s stroller in the tire department at Costco.*

Thankfully there was no line, so it was only a 45 minute wait.  We got some ice cream to share and I got a diet coke.  I haven’t been buying it regularly any more, because I can’t find find a twelve pack for less than $5, and let’s face it: that’s extortion.  I blissfully sipped my chemically caffeinated goodness while Things 1 & 2 raced to see who could eat more ice cream faster.  Turns out Thing 1, although she paid for it dearly with a massive brain freeze that I refused to listen to her whine about.

New tires, sugared up children, and a broke Jenny headed home.  I opened up my laptop and tweetdeck, trying to ignore the cacophony of, “I don’t want to do my homework!!!” and “Cupcake!” surrounding me.  And I saw avatar pics of terminator sheep with glowing red eyes.  And lots of tweets with the hashtag #demonsheep.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

So I tweeted: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is with the #demonsheep??

And I was immediately rewarded with links.  I love Twitter.  It satisfies my impatient nature.

The evil terminator demon sheep appear in an ad for Carly Fiorina, a sometimes fiscally conservative running for the republican nod to run against Senator Please-Don’t-Call-Me-Ma’am-Boxer in California.  The ad slams an even more liberal republican than herself, Tom Campbell. And for some reason, it’s filled with demon sheep.

It made my whole day.

Demon Sheep

*No toddlers were harmed in the making of this post.  Unless you consider cupcake denial to be harmful.  In which case, it was torturous.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been watching in awe as Scott Brown has exploded onto the national scene.  To think it was just over a month ago that I first learned his name, scoffing at the irrelevance of it.  Why even have a special election for the Senate seat left vacant by Ted Kennedy’s death?  Seriously people, it’s Massachusetts.  Just give the thing to Democrat Martha Coakley.  But niceties (not to mention policies) must be observed, and if Scott Brown thought he had a shot at winning the thing, well more power to him.

The man hit the ground running.  He campaigned all over the state in his pick-up truck, winning over the electorate with his common sense approach to government and politics.  He took advantage of new media, establishing an online presence through sites like Facebook and Twitter.  He raised funds from all over the country using the slogan 41st Vote (He would break the Democrat 60-seat super majority in the Senate if elected).

Meanwhile, Coakley went on vacation.  And members of her staff pushed reporters down instead of answering questions.  And we’ve been learning all sorts of crazy things about her record as an Attorny in Massachusetts (which she can’t even spell, by the way). Things like releasing a man without bail after he raped his 22 month old toddler with a curling iron.  Or plea bargaining with a pedophile priest, allowing him to molest again.  You know, silly stuff like that.

Even with her soft spot for disgusting vile men who like to violate and irreparably harm children, there’s still a shot that she’ll get elected for her position on the health care bill currently making its rounds in Congress.  She says she’ll vote for it.  Scott Brown says he won’t vote for it.

Ms. Coakley failed to realize that her advantage might just be her downfall.  Massachusetts already has government health care.  And it’s not working.  And the voters know it.

So go forth, Massachusetts!  Go forth and vote for the man that will kill the health care bill that will do nothing but hurt our country’s prosperity!  We’re counting on you.

Well, it looks like the Senate has its 60 votes to pass the health care bill through.  A bill so fantastic that votes had to be bought by Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), Rep. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Lord knows how many others.  There were a few whose votes couldn’t be bought.  So the Democratic leaders resorted to threatening their family members unless they supported the bill.

Not only is the health care bill so stellar that Senators had to be bribed and threatened into voting for it, but it’s going to be voted on at 1 o’clock in the morning, four days before Christmas.  Some perspective for you- no one will see any benefits from this bill until 2013 (if ever), yet it’s being rushed through in the middle of the night during a time when most Americans have turned off their TVs and put down their newspapers in the hopes of having a joyful holiday season with their friends and family.  I understand doing what we have to do, but this is NOT something that couldn’t easily wait until January.

During debate on the Senate floor today, Senator Tom Coburn made some excellent points and observations on why this health care bill is not a health care reform bill, but only an unsustainable health care coverage expansion.  Sen. Coburn is one of only two practicing physicians in the Senate (the other is Senator John Barrasso), so he speaks from the unique perspective of being both a doctor and a politician.

Sen. Coburn pointed out that there are zero guarantees that taxpayers won’t finance abortions, zero prohibitions on the rationing of health care, and zero Senators required to enroll in either Medicaid  or another government run option.  The Republicans proposed amendments to disallow the use of federal funds to finance abortions or the rationing of health care, but the Democrats voted down the measure.  Let me ask you this: If funding for abortions and rationing of care aren’t part of the plan for this bill, why wouldn’t the Democrats put those amendments in?  That’s like a bookie betting on a game to get others to bet as well, without actually putting any money into the pot.  The bookie ends up making money, and I’ve read enough crime dramas to be pretty sure that that’s highly illegal, not to mention immoral.

What does this health care bill do besides use tax payer money to provide abortions and limit care to those the government deems “unworthy” due to age or lifestyle or previous health?  It creates ten new taxes, and seventy-one new government programs.  There are 1,697 times that the Secretary of Health and Human Services will write regulations, and 15,000-20,000 new government jobs will be created to carry out this legislation.  That’s funny, I thought the idea was to create more DOCTORS to treat more patients at an affordable price, but I guess a job-is-a-job-is-a-job, right?  Maybe those four out of ten doctors that said they’d consider quitting the practice of medicine if this bill passes can apply for a job with the government.

Another thing in the bill is the word shall.  It’s in there a lot- 3,607 times at last count.  What’s significant about the word shall?  It takes away your options.  The bill does not say, “You may choose to purchase health care insurance in the event that you become ill or injured,” it says, “You shall purchase health care insurance, whether you want it or not!”

That’s the individual mandate that you’ve been hearing about.  It is the first tax in United States history that will tax you for simply existing.  It’s not based on your work or purchases or decision as to whether to take the toll road or surface streets.  It’s a tax that you can choose not to pay by choosing not to breathe.  And even though I’m not a doctor, I’m fairly certain that breathing is pretty important.

That’s not right! You may be saying to yourself.  No, it isn’t right. It’s completely unconstitutional. And more likely than not, it will be completely unenforceable in court.  Which means that no one will buy health insurance until they are sick or injured. And given that the bill will require health insurance companies to provide coverage for pre-existing conditions, and place limits on how much they may charge their customers, they will inevitably go bankrupt.  Leaving the only option the government option.  That, my friends, is called socialized health care, and it has never worked well.

The government is not compassionate. We already see rationing in government run health care systems like Medicare and Medicaid.  The government already comes between elderly and/or underprivileged patients and their doctors, deciding what treatments and procedures may be done, regardless of the patient’s personal history or the doctor’s recommendation.  Why on Earth would it be a good idea to expand government control of health care, when Medicare and Medicaid are inarguablly broken and on the verge of bankruptcy?

People are compassionate. Doctors are compassionate. Neighbors and family and benefactors are compassionate.  Let’s focus on incentivizing the prevention and treatment of chronic disease, creating transparency so that we can choose and purchase our own health care insurance based on value and quality, and assisting those facing tough times that need some extra help.  That’s true reform.  This bill is nothing but smoke and mirrors to lead our once liberty-loving country into a single-payer health care system.

In the words of Ronald Reagan during a 1961 radio interview:

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.

The government is not compassionate.