Stop Me Before I Vote Again

(CNSNews.com) - Americans will hear a lot about "donut holes" in the days ahead, but it has nothing to do with the nation's obesity "epidemic."

Democrats and some liberal interest groups are furious that the government's new prescription-drug entitlement program forces some senior and disabled citizens to pay the full tab for their own prescription drugs -- beyond a certain dollar amount. They argue that the cost of prescription drugs is still too high."

Story link: http://tinyurl.com/rgxnl

Here's the House vote, with just enough Democrats to make sure it passed, when it could have been defeated.

http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2003&rollnumber=669

And the Senate vote, with -- yes! -- once again enough Democratic votes to tip the scales.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00459

This pattern repeats itself over and over. Greedy corporate welfare queens roll out the big perception management guns, get a few shills on board -- AARP, in this case -- and the Democrats provide just enough votes to make sure the very worst things happen. Afterwards, the Democrats who cost everyone so much time, energy and money are welcomed back into the fold, just like nothing happened. Then a bunch of hopefuls run against something that was preventable in the first place.

What makes this particular issue so awful is the predatory use of our elderly brothers and sisters and the clear prior knowledge that this was a terrible thing to do. Several states were forced to delcare emergencies to cover the havoc created by this legislation.

"About 20 states, including California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and all of New England, have announced that they will help low-income people by paying drug claims that should have been paid by the federal Medicare program.

"The new federal program is too complicated for many people to understand, and the implementation of the new program by the federal government has been awful," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a Republican. On Saturday, he signed an emergency executive order making the state a "payer of last resort" for the out-of-pocket drug costs."

Story link: http://tinyurl.com/mtlpm