thank you mr brown .... i thought nixon was a good guy i don't care what they say about him and i don't see how taxing and spending is any different now than it was then..this administration wants to force ins companies to do things that none of them will do with the american dollar and that is to spend it on them...the people....the taxpayers!! its a joke to say  we are going to take 80-85 cents of every premium dollar to make sure its spent on healthcare when these very same people have no intention of spending that same money raked in by fines and taxes on anything except getting reelected.  its disgusting.  i still think the gas lines sucked but im sure you probably made quite a bit of money on it back then.

looks like the bill arrived just in time ...if i get that resistant TB and lose my job and my health insurance i am so glad that you all will subsidizing  my 500,000 buck treatment bill for the TB treatment that may or may not work.. do i have a guarantee on that ????? and say will i get a tax refund too??that would be nice and i would like assistance with insuring my entire family also since i was the breadwinner and if i go down so does the ship... so to speak. 

and as for fines or taxes being collected  if the congress can make a law that states how much money the insurance industry spends of its premiums on healthcare than surely a law to make the politicians spend at least that much of every tax dollar collected on actually running the country would be a small kind gesture for us poor folks caught in the middle of their school yard fight.

oh and i don't consider earmarking 3 million bucks for a field mouse habitat research grant "running the country"..barbara ...shame on you!

i dont care whose president i predict mickey mouse could do this job as well if not better than most and as for the stimulus ..worldwide economists are a dime a dozen and if they are so good then goes the question why in the hell did they not see it coming??i did especially the housing collapse... what a joke

keep telling yourself  this is not a political game but what i have seen is self serving people doing more of the same regardless of party affiliation and mr brown i really don't think it matters anymore who is in charge what needs to happen now is that the ones like the 2 senators you mentioned with the earmarking need to get the big ol boot ! and without some laws being enacted on the books it appears we can't even do that. what a crock of poop.

Mr Brown, you cannot make anyone like BO just because he is president. Why doesn't everyone get over blaming Bush for everything.

He is not responsible for the crookedness that is going on right now. When it is ok to have so many crooked people in the administration then it is quite Ok to have so many crooked things surrounding this bill.

Why don't you watch Fox for another view.

politician=crook ....is that naming enough names for you????never in my short life have i met so many whiners...get it straight the only people who have sense enough to handle this situation are the ones keeping their mouths shut...if anyone in congress had any truely original thoughts they died a long long long like a hundred or more years ago. my disdain for them mr brown has been from the very beginning and it started with jimmy carter and the panama canal Ha Ha well anyways as always nice getting some good steam off!!and i look forward to the new era of healthcare.....taxing ....oops i meant to say reform!!!ha

i don't think i will have to do much to change things ....as long as the crooks in DC keep pooing where they eat ...it won't be long till they all get typhoid or something equally as bad ...then they land in my hospital and from there...well who knows??????????

alas another optimist ....good for you and exactly how to go about killing the golden goose???...that is the question...does the little taxpayer ever get the goose ???......no frigging way i say ...they will never let it happen! never never never . i mean is there  really any way for the people of the land to control what the feds do or don't do????

You know how they keep doing it? Because the overwhelming majority of voters really like these trolls bring the bacon home to the district they live in. Voters like you Kelly and like me and others. It is easy to pay lip service and say you are against pork and earmarks. But when it comes time for the rubber to meet the street people vote in those who take care of them. It's that easy.

Now I included myself in the above so as not to attack anyone. But I assure you I vote the issue and not the politican.

Now, how come a third (or fourth or more) alternative party doesn't rise up and take advantage of this political unhappiness? Capitalism. Capitalism and capitalists. The very system you say you like and approve of uses you. Uses you to make money for the rich. Make money to sponsor these political fat cats. Use that money to ensconce lobbyists of every ilk in Washington DC and your state capitol.

Does the name Jack Abramoff ring a bell? It does for ol' Uncle Tom DeLay. DeLay - the conservative of conservatives from Texas - the home of the most conservative. "The Hammer".

For those who get their news and form their views on sound bites - and you are easy to identify - check the link out below. Yes I know that you know lobbyists are bad. How do you know though? I mean do you really know? Know names and games? My guess is 90+% of you do not.

www.cato.org/pub_display.php

Now CATO is neither left nor right. And this particular author leans heavily toward Libertarianism. But I'm sure that somebody here will disavow his knowledge and credentials and views regardless.

Folks, your enemy are the rich. Oh go ahead and defend them because, deep in your heart, you just know someday you might be one of them. Never. Know the difference between old money and those who got rich by themselves or winning a lottery?

If you don't you'll never know that you will NEVER be one of "them". The rich are the ones who finance the untold numbers of lobbies and lobbyists. To make sure they stay rich and stay in power and white trash like you (and me) never darken even the entrance to that country club.

PEASANTS! How dare ye think ye will e'er be on me level? Peasants!

And so, fellow peasants, we stay victims because the majority of all of us, come election time, vote either R or D. And it really is that simple. You're scared your vote, if cast for some write-in candidate, will be wasted. And with the rich running the game while writing the rules, you are right.

Only when "we" wise up and contribute even small amounts to someone who is different than those we know already, we are doomed to suffer the consqequences.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Look at the dateline on that story and tell me who was President and what party was in charge of Congress when that article with its solid facts and figures was written. In charge of Congress when the crimes took place.

i would venture to guess that the reason there are so few write ins is because ...most can't write much less work or vote!!!EEEEEEYOWWW that was nasty...but seriously i understand what yu are saying mr brown and our voter turnout is most disgusting so as you have so well put ...we get what we deserve ...pretty much. how very very sad ...which is why i am watching and waiting for an implosion of crap because that my friend is most certainly coming !

kellyj says ...

alas another optimist ....good for you and exactly how to go about killing the golden goose???...that is the question...does the little taxpayer ever get the goose ???......no frigging way i say ...they will never let it happen! never never never . i mean is there  really any way for the people of the land to control what the feds do or don't do????

Kelly, I really am not an optimist in regards to the term limits. I said that is what we need. I know we will never get anything like that. The crooks will never go for that. It is more wishful thinking on my part.

I have not really been for any of the presidents in my adult lifetime, none have proven to be very good. I do think that President Obama has a lot of good intentions, and I for one am willing to give him a chance. After all we gave GWB a chance and he failed.  The Health Care Reform bill is not perfect, but it is an attempt to help out those who have no insurance.  It is apparent that the insurance companies are not going to help them out, so Obama is trying to. Yes it is going to cost a lot, but if we tax the rich like Obama wants to, we can pay for it.

Kelly it's up to those of us who care to shame these suckers into voting if all else fails. In Texas and New Mexico there is early voting. I don't know about other states. Go at your leisure to the places where early voting takes place and do it. I have voted weeks ahead of the day of the general election.

"By God people, if our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines can go and die to protect us and what rights are ours it ain't asking too d***ed much for you to get off your lazy a** and go vote!"

That's what I generally tell them and it works most of the time.

yes i agree with you on that one mr brown and maybe his socialistic tendancies have brought him more trouble than he bargained for but he has the authority to appoint whomever he so pleases to the these czar postions and to the supreme court as well and he is doing what all good politicians do....appointing his buddies and that is where he has gotten himself into some trouble even within his own party ranks!

he would do well to avoid men and women who have not paid their taxes that would be a good start and maybe even make a show of kicking out the ones who are now in power like nancy pelosi and harry reid and appointing some more shall we say....normal everyday taxpaying citizens to these political positions. that would go a long way in bolstering his point of being the president for everybody not just the special interests but alas of course i suppose there is no way for him to even do that small thing

Read the list and defend them. The story below the link is not related. It is different and relevant.

www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/2009/01/18/the-top-43-appointees-who-helped-make-bush-the-worst-president-ever/

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2004 /U.S. Newswire/ -- John Gage, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), issued the following statement in response to a General Accounting Office report showing that over 27,000 defense contractors are evading taxes:

"Over 10 percent of defense contractors refuse to pay back taxes that they owe to the federal government but continue to win new contracts. It is appalling that federal law allows government agencies to send new business to tax cheats while dedicated tax-paying civilian employees are being laid off. This is just another example of the Administration putting cronyism before common sense.

"Even more distasteful is the fact that most of these cases involve payroll taxes. Payroll taxes are funds collected by businesses from employee salaries to be handed over to the federal government. Businesses never actually own these funds. If contractors cannot be trusted to even act as a go-between, why would we ..."

Ahem, who was cap'n at the helm then?

My whole point is this - so many here really cry and whine and howl about Obama. Where was their outrage when the very same stuff happened with Bush? Why the non-productive squealing now? When one's attention is taken up fighting shadows the truly evil crap slips by unnoticed. That is my whole point about Fox News in fact. They let this whole TARP speech by Obama go by and their main concerns, illustrated by their direct questions and comments at that time, had to do with his allowing stem cell research and the fear of a global currency.

That plays right into the hands of slippery politicans. Take up the press time answering those absolutely presently unimportant points and the TARP program rolls on.

Can you tell me what is going on with it right now? But you can tell me about a Medicaid deal with some Senator.

Why is that? Because the rich, including Rupert Murdoch, want those troubled assets removed from their portfolios by you and me. And so they will be. "Oh by the way, did you see where he's going to allow stem cell research?"

"Hang them for that. Off with their heads".

Oh and did you see where they have plans for a global currency? And you know what it says about a global currency in the Bible signaling the end times!

"Oh my God, he better tell us why he's planning that".

Meanwhile the government relieves the rich of a bad investment they made attempting to get richer. It failed and so we must bail them out. After all many are down to their last few hundred million. When they lose, we lose. When they win, we still lose. Heads they win, tails we lose.

There is no going back too far, Margaretellen. In fact it's when we fail to remember and learn from all "that" that we set ourselves up for more and more of the same.