Obama set on bankrupting states

How bad has it gotten for states in the current economy? Unlike the federal government, the state governments can't just print more money when they need it. They have to rely on infusions of cash from the feds or raise taxes.

Yes, it's gotten so bad that Maine is actually gearing up to tax clown and juggler performances.

Ominously, this is all pre-ObamaCare. No one is sure how much health care reform will cost state governments, but the estimates have gone up steadily. If the bill functions properly, 16 million new people will be pushed onto the Medicaid rolls, for which states will pick up part of the tab. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger believes ObamaCare will cost California an additional $3 to $4 trillion per year. The Golden State is already collapsing under a budget deficit of $6 trillion with no foreseeable way out.

Everyone knew this was coming. When Massachusetts enacted its own health care reform plan, which ObamaCare was modeled after, costs to the government skyrocketed (and so did premiums to the consumer). Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill has said that the program would have singlehandedly bankrupted the state if it weren't for federal funds bailing them out.

White House aides tried to stop ObamaCare

Barack Obama has previously declared himself a "pragmatist" rather than an "ideologue" and insisted that he listens to all points of view. Not so, according to a recent White House expose by Bloomberg. According to the article, several of Obama's closest advisors tried to talk him down from his health care dreams, worrying about the practical and electoral consequences. The president, a profile in stubbornness, refused to listen.

-- Rahm Emanuel, the most moderate of Obama's advisors, "suggested the president consider a scaled-back version and declare victory" after Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts. Obama refused. Earlier on, in a meeting shortly after Inauguration Day, Emanuel also warned the president about taking on health care reform.

-- Joe Biden is described as being "pessimistic" about health care reform from the very beginning. At the post-Inauguration Day meeting, Biden "said Americans didn’t care enough about health-care coverage to make it a priority".

-- David Axelrod "voiced caution" at the same meeting. Later on in the debate, he confronted the president and explained, "The polls are difficult and there’s a lot of grousing on the Hill about it, and this is going to cost a lot politically in the short run." Obama still refused to back down.

-- Even Ezekiel Emanuel, a rationing-obsessed budget advisor to the president, was skeptical. After Scott Brown emerged victorious in Massachusetts, he wrote in an e-mail that health care reform was "dead...F---ing dead."

In the end, Obama ignored all of them, along with countless Democrat legislators and a majority of the American people. He did have one key ally though. Politico has reported that the president was pushed hard by Nancy Pelosi to ignore Emanuel's concerns and still pass the bill. Ultimately he sided with her over virtually everyone else.

The health police cometh

Along with countless others, we've been warning for months that socialized health care will mean socialized health. When every is paying for everyone else's medical bills, your personal fitness will become everyone else's business. Consequently, the state will crack down on unhealthy habits to try to save money.

Health care reform passed a week and a half ago and it's already happening. The FDA has announced strict new regulations on tobacco that will go into effect June 22.

The rules prohibit

sales of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to individuals younger than age 18;

sales of cigarette packages with fewer than 20 cigarettes;

sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in vending machines, self-service displays or other impersonal modes of sale, except in very limited situations;

free samples of cigarettes;

tobacco brand name sponsorship of any athletic, musical, or other social or cultural event, or any team or entry in those events;

gifts or other items in exchange for buying cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products; and

sale or distribution of items, such as hats and tee shirts, with tobacco brands or logos.

The new regulations also limit distribution of smokeless tobacco products and require that audio advertisements use only words with no music or sound effects.

In other words, tobacco companies are essentially no longer allowed to advertise their product, unless they want to pay for the equivalent of a radio public service announcement. Regulations on cigarette PR were already tight, but this latest clampdown makes it almost impossible for tobacco companies to do business. Congress also passed an anti-smoking bill last year that outlawed sweetened and light cigarettes, among other changes. Couple that with punitive state and federal excise taxes that have driven cigarette costs in New York up to $11 per carton, and you have an industry where it's almost illegal to sell a product.

Despite the fact that Obama is a former smoker and has struggled with quitting himself, his administration seems hell-bent on just making smoking illegal, period. It's the next logical bend on the road to socialized medicine.

Sebelius gets in on the intimidation game

Looks like the entire White House has gone to war with American business over health care reform. Last week, the insurance industry pointed out that the ObamaCare bill didn't require them to cover children. Alarms were quickly sounded across Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill.

Under the new law, insurance companies still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem, said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the main congressional panels that wrote the bill Obama signed into law Tuesday.

However, if a child is accepted for coverage, or is already covered, the insurer cannot exclude payment for treating a particular illness, as sometimes happens now.

That an error like this could slip through simply proves that no Democrat actually bothered to read the bill before it passed, including Obama himself. Democrats attacked Republicans constantly by drawing the cloak of The Children around them. The implication was that conservatives who opposed ObamaCare for any reason were opposing children's health. It took the insurance companies to point out that they completely forgot to extend the ban on preexisting conditions to children without health care.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was not pleased...with the insurance companies for embarrassing her. She fired off a threatening letter to Karen Ignagni, head of the insurers' trade association.

Unfortunately recent media accounts indicate that some insurance companies may be seeking to avoid or ignore a provision in the new law that prohibits insurance companies from excluding children with pre-existing conditions from coverage.

Health insurance reform is designed to prevent any child from being denied coverage because he or she has a pre-existing condition. Leaders in Congress have reaffirmed this in recent days in the attached statement.

Sebelius indicated she would provide additional regulations in the coming weeks to clarify that all children with pre-existing conditions must be covered.

But the insurance companies weren't planning on further denying coverage. If they wanted to, they wouldn't have announced the loophole to the entire American press. They were merely seeking clarification on a new regulation. Sebelius can beat up the insurers all she wants, but she might try actually reading the bill next time.

Rahm, Jarrett bully businesses

Last week, several businesses announced that they would sustain massive losses because of ObamaCare and would likely have to fire workers. These included giants like Caterpillar, Verizon, AT&T, and Deere & Co. Caterpillar announced they would lose $100 million in the first year alone. AT&T put its cost at $1 billion. With polls showing a solid majority of Americans think passage of ObamaCare was a bad thing, the White House can't take this lying down.

"These are Republican CEOs who are trying to embarrass the President and Democrats in general," says a White House legislative affairs staffer. "Where do you hear about this stuff? The Wall Street Journal editorial page and conservative websites. No one else picked up on this but you guys. It's BS."

On Friday White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett were calling the CEOs and Washington office heads of the companies that took the financial hits and attacked them for doing so. One Washington office head said that the White House calls were accusatory and "downright rude."

This is political intimidation in its finest form, both of journalists and businessmen. Emanuel is a master of the threatening hissy fit and Jarrett has played her share of hardball politics as well. Still, for a presidential administration to try to shut companies up for something as simple as reporting losses is unprecedented in our history.

And it's not just the White House.

Waxman of California, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak of Michigan released letters they wrote to the executives, saying their plans to record expenses against earnings as a result of the law contradict other estimates. The lawmakers requested the executives appear at hearing Stupak plans on April 21.

“The new law is designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions are a matter of concern,” Waxman and Stupak, both Democrats, wrote in the letters yesterday. “They also appear to conflict with independent analyses.”

In other words, Waxman is outraged because what his friends at the Center for American Progress said would happen with their "independent analyses" isn't actually going to happen.

The problem here is in Medicare Part D. Previously the government had offered tax subsidies for all companies that offered Part D to their retirees. Businesses like Caterpillar and AT&T quickly signed on, seeing it as a cost-effective way to take care of their retired employees. ObamaCare cuts these subsidies because the president wanted a way to make the bill appear deficit-neutral to the CBO. When Republicans warned that Medicare cuts could hurt seniors and companies, they were shouted down by Obama and company. Now that their warnings are playing out in real life, the White House is desperately trying to cover up the evidence.

The Glue Man puts another New York Democrat on notice

Patrick Gaspard, Obama's behind-the-scenes clean up man in New York, warned a wavering Blue Dog Democrat to get in line during the health care debate.

Rep. Mike McMahon defied a high-level arm-twisting campaign to vote no on health care, leaving some White House aides furious with the Staten Island rookie.

The Daily News learned that President Obama's political director, Patrick Gaspard, dispatched a prominent New York donor last week to warn McMahon his campaign contributions would dry up if he sided with Republicans.

"The message was that a 'no' vote could cause you a problem in the fall, but the other side of it was we can help you raise money," said a knowledgeable source. The Tammany-style squeeze play was delivered at a Democratic Club lunch in Washington last Friday by Alfred E. Smith 4th, great-grandson of the former New York governor and 1928 Democratic presidential candidate.

McMahon later voted no, the only congressman from the New York delegation to do so. It was a rare loss for Gaspard who usually gets his way in the Empire State -- his fingerprints have been on everything from Kirsten Gillibrand's success to David Paterson's implosion. But in defying Gaspard, McMahon may have saved his political career. His Staten Island district is being targeted by Republicans this year.

The unions were also outraged at McMahon's decision. One unidentified union boss growled, "He's going to lose in November, and I'm going to enjoy helping make it happen."

Is ObamaCare a huge payback to the health industry?

Barack Obama spent the past year demonizing health insurance companies in an effort to pass ObamaCare. But something funny happened when he signed the bill yesterday, as the Washington Examiner reported.

[E]ven before the president spoke, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America -- whose $26.1 million lobbying effort in 2009 was the most expensive by any industry lobby in history -- hailed the health package as "important and historic."

The second-biggest industry lobby in America, the American Medical Association, also cheered, as did the American Hospital Association, the No. 5 industry lobby. Throw in the goliath senior lobby AARP and Beltway powerhouse General Electric, and you realize Obama's underdog tale is all bark and no bite.

The close ties between Obama and the AARP and GE have been detailed here before. Obama's friend A. Barry Rand heads up the AARP and cleaned up thanks to the stimulus. Jeffrey Immelt, president of GE, runs the Obama-obsessed cable network MSNBC and has been appointed by the president to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve.

But why is the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America, the American Medical Association, and the American Hospital Association hailing ObamaCare? Aren't these the very industries Obama wanted restrained? The fact is that when ObamaCare goes into law, it will become much more difficult to start a health insurance or medical company in America. The new regulations in Obama's plan will cost businesses millions. The industry behemoths, like Blue Cross Blue Shield, can easily pay that bill. Smaller companies and new start ups don't have that kind of money. It's why PhRMA struck a deal with Obama so early in the health care fight. They knew his plan would shore up existing business and preserve the status quo by keeping smaller businesses at bay. And with an insurance mandate requiring everyone in America to get health insurance, the big boys will have millions of new potential customers.

The Examiner points out the other goodies for big business in the bill.

Taxpayers will subsidize drug makers even more.

Employers will be forced to give prescription-drug insurance to workers.

Generic versions of biologic drugs will be kept off the market for 12 years.

States will be forced to subsidize drugs through Medicaid.

Americans will still be prohibited from importing cheaper drugs from China.

Medicare will continue overpaying for drugs.

So why would Obama sign into law a bill that's a boon to the very industry he claims to despise? These are the lists of the top 20 industry contributors to Barack Obama and John McCain during the 2008 campaign, taken from OpenSecrets.org.

Obama

1 Lawyers/Law Firms $43,154,642

2 Retired $42,892,978

3 Education $22,976,126

4 Misc Business $16,500,999

5 Securities & Investment $14,891,735

6 Health Professionals $11,746,631

7 Business Services $11,503,771

8 Democratic/Liberal $11,106,487

9 Real Estate $10,422,031

10 TV/Movies/Music $9,004,072

11 Civil Servants/Public Officials $8,807,391

12 Computers/Internet $8,521,003

13 Women's Issues $6,906,664

14 Misc Finance $6,398,267

15 Printing & Publishing $5,968,031

16 Other $3,669,123

17 Hospitals/Nursing Homes $3,339,099

18 Commercial Banks $3,316,351

19 Non-Profit Institutions $2,974,895

20 Construction Services $2,915,255

McCain

1 Retired $32,672,270

2 Lawyers/Law Firms $9,926,121

3 Real Estate $8,871,369

4 Securities & Investment $8,698,635

5 Republican/Conservative $6,787,091

6 Misc Business $5,921,718

7 Health Professionals $5,258,836

8 Misc Finance $5,210,724

9 Business Services $3,368,914

10 Insurance $2,447,206

11 Oil & Gas $2,402,937

12 Commercial Banks $2,293,748

13 General Contractors $2,023,286

14 Civil Servants/Public Officials $1,994,145

15 Misc Manufacturing & Distributing $1,848,756

16 Education $1,744,451

17 Computers/Internet $1,478,327

18 Construction Services $1,261,227

19 Lobbyists $1,227,875

20 Accountants $1,216,728

Obama received $6.5 million more in his campaign coffers from the health industry than did McCain, as well as an additional $3.3 million from hospitals and nursing homes. This was during an election in which he vigorously supported the same health care reform plan that he signed yesterday. The big corporations knew all along what Obama was up to and they donated big bucks. After yesterday, they'll reap the rewards.

Abortion executive order today, states prepare to sue

Barack Obama will initiate his biggest kickback on health care reform today. The executive order clarifying that ObamaCare can't fund abortions will be signed by the president at a private ceremony this afternoon. Bart Stupak and other pro-life House Democrats will be reportedly be in attendance. The signing won't be open to the press, presumably so the feathers of Obama's pro-choice allies aren't ruffled any further.

Meanwhile immediately after Obama signed health care reform into law yesterday, attorney generals representing 13 different states filed a lawsuit.

"We are convinced that this legislation is fundamentally flawed as a matter of constitutional law, that it exceeds the scope of proper constitutional authority of the federal government and tramples upon the rights and prerogatives of states and their citizens," David Rivkin, Jr., an attorney representing 13 of the states, told ABC News.

The challenges to the legislation focus on the mandate that requires an individual to buy health insurance. The states are also worried about the extent to which the statute imposes a financial burden -- in resources and personnel -- on them.

The states headed to court are Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington. Their case specifically focuses on the unconstitutional individual mandate, but their underlying concern may be something very different. If ObamaCare stays law, states will see their Medicaid bills skyrocket as people become eligible for subsidies. After health care reform was implemented in Massachusetts in 2006, the state was nearly driven to bankruptcy and was only saved by an injection of federal funds. The same could happen in every state across the nation if the attorneys general aren't successful.

The lawsuit represents the most significant challenge to the federal government by the states since the Civil War.

Obama's NASA kickback to be revealed April 15th

The White House has announced that Obama will hold a press conference on April 15th at the Kennedy Space Center to discuss the future of NASA. Then we'll know how one of the largest kickbacks in the health care reform bill will pay out. During the ObamaCare debate, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, Democrat of Florida, met with the president and demanded more funding for the Kennedy Space Center which is in her district. It was never revealed whether Obama cut a deal, but Kosmas voted yes last night. The president's current budget only provides cash-strapped NASA with $19 billion for KSC, which is slated to lose 9,000 jobs this year.

Kosmas may be politically damned regardless of what she did. One of her Republican challengers, Craig Miller, has already accused Kosmas of being "bought off in some way." Floridians might revolt over Kosmas' selling of her vote the same way Nebraskans were outraged over the Cornhusker Kickback, even though it benefited their state.

Either way the president can't be expecting a warm reception at the press conference. Obama has targeted NASA for huge budget cuts, including axing the Constellation and Ares rocket programs altogether. Privately, one senior administration official scoffed, "We certainly don't need to go back to the moon." Needless to say, American exceptionalism and exploration have never played well with the president. The space community isn't happy with the president lately. As a blogger for Discover magazine chided, "[S]pace exploration is important. I find it difficult to believe Obama doesn’t know that."

Meanwhile Obama also may be planning to foist an inexperienced new NASA Administrator on them. Word last week was that, in exchange for his vote on health care, the president promised Rep. Bart Gordon the head NASA position. Gordon ultimately voted yes. He has no space experience whatsoever, other than serving on the House Committee on Technology and Science.

Boehner shreds Obama and Pelosi to pieces

Moments before the health care boondoggle passed last night, John Boehner took to the House floor and ripped Democrats a new one. In his own words, "Shame on us, shame on this body, shame on each and every one of you who substitutes your will and your desires above those of your fellow countrymen."

Pelosi now one vote short thanks to unions

Rep. John Boccieri, Democrat of Ohio, just announced that he'll switch his vote from no to yes, and it's not hard to see why.

He is one of four Democrats to switch from no to yes in the past few days as Obama and Democratic leaders try to corral enough votes for the legislation. A vote is expected on Sunday.

Boccieri has been pressured on the issue. Labor unions and other groups backing health care reform ran ads in his district.

Boccieri voted against health care reform the first time around. A Blue Dog moderate and former pilot, he's been remarkably principled in his deliberations over ObamaCare, even turning down a ride on Air Force One with the president. But Boccieri represents a heavily blue collar congressional district near Cleveland. The union pressure proved to be too much.

With Boccieri in the yes column, Fox News counts 215 votes in favor of health care reform. Pelosi and Obama need just one more.

Melt their phones

Here's a rundown of the 22 Democratic congressmen who remain undecided on ObamaCare. Their votes will determine the fate of our country. Melt their phones before the vote on Sunday.

Some quick tips:

-- Since the list was compiled, Betsy Markey became a yes. But she's in a very vulnerable district and might still listen to angry constituents.

-- Jason Altmire has said angry constituents in his western Pennsylvania district have affected his thinking and will probably influence his vote. He needs to hear from as many of them as possible.

-- John Adler comes from a rare conservative district in New Jersey and is extremely vulnerable right now.

-- The two most objectionable provisions of the bill for Blue Dogs are the individual mandate and the excise tax. Be sure to mention those in your call.

-- Address congressional staffers politely and professionally, but make it clear you're angry and will vote against their boss if a yes vote is recorded.

Robert Gibbs won't rule out Slaughter Solution for future bills

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was questioned by Fred Lucas of CNS News yesterday about whether the Slaughter Solution would be used to pass large bills in the future.

Gibbs' dancing around the question speaks volumes about Democrats' plans to get around Republicans in the future. The Slaughter Solution, also known as "deem and pass", is a congressional procedure by which a bill is deemed to be passed by the House if an amendment receives a majority vote. It's been used to ram bills through since the 1970s, but usually only on amendments to legislation. The latest proposed use on the entire package of reconciliation amendments to ObamaCare is unprecedented.

The health care battle has soured relations between both political parties. If Democrats want to pass anything in the wake of ObamaCare, they may have no choice other than deem and pass.

Bribery we can believe in

As the Sunday deadline for passing ObamaCare swiftly approaches, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are desperately doing whatever they can to convince fence-sitting Democrats. They'll stop at nothing at this point, including bribery. We already saw how effective political kickbacks can be in the Senate, where Ben Nelson was bought off with full Medicaid funding for his state. Now special dealmaking has come to the House. Here are just a few of the bribes that have been dangled in front of jittery Blue Dogs' noses.

Rep. Bart Gordon: Gordon is retiring and word on Capitol Hill yesterday was that Obama had offered him the job of NASA administrator if he voted for the bill. Gordon has served on the House Committee on Technology and Science, but otherwise has absolutely no scientific experience whatsoever. Meanwhile a provision was inserted in the reconciliation package that gives higher Medicaid funding to Tennessee hospitals that treated uninsured patients. Gordon flipped from no to yes yesterday.

Rep. John Tanner: Another retiring Tennessean, word has it that Tanner was offered the position of U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Tanner served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, but otherwise has no foreign policy experience. The deal for Tennessee hospitals likely played a role in Tanner's switch from no to yes as well.

Rep. Suzanne Kosmas: Kosmas met with Obama at the White House last Thursday and reportedly sought out her own deal. Talking with the president, she kept switching the conversation to NASA. Kosmas, a Floridian, represents the Kennedy Space Center and is unhappy that the president's budget is "only" providing KSC with $19 billion next year. Kosmas has yet to make up her mind, but it wouldn't be surprising if she voted yes after Obama guaranteed more generous funding.

Rep. Jim Matheson: Matheson was summoned to the White House earlier this month to meet with the president about ObamaCare. Mere hours before the appointment, Obama announced that he was nominating Matheson's brother, Scott, to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The bribe doesn't seem to have worked; it triggered a public outcry and Matheson is still undecided.

Meanwhile several other congressmen have been wooed by the president with abject lies. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who opposed the bill from the left, was convinced by the president's stories about Natoma Canfield. We now know that these stories were a lie and that Canfield likely qualifies for Medicaid, among a dozen other options. The optimistic CBO report, which fails to take into account the bill's accounting trickery, may also sway some votes.

Obama lies about his role in the Cornhusker Kickback

The president went on Fox News yesterday for a rare interview with a network his former communications director once described as not practicing news. Obama's interviewer was Bret Baier, who asked tenaciously about the special deals and procedural tricks that have been used to push ObamaCare through Congress. This is perhaps the first time Obama has ever been directly asked about the procedural details of the bill.

At one point, Baier pressed the president on the Cornhusker Kickback, the infamous deal that would have paid off Nebraska's Medicaid bills indefinitely and forever. The deal was struck to persuade Sen. Ben Nelson to vote for ObamaCare despite his hang-ups about abortion. Regarding the Cornhusker Kickback, Obama declared, "I have said that there's certain provisions, like this Nebraska one, that don't make sense and that needed to be out. And we have removed those."

This is simply untrue. The White House was almost certainly the architect of the Cornhusker Kickback. After Nelson announced his concerns over the abortion language in the bill, Obama began persistently meeting with the Nebraska senator at the White House. Nelson had a number of private one-on-one sessions with the president, with whom he was close friends. It was after these meetings that the Cornhusker Kickback was announced and Nelson switched from a no to yes vote. Of course, the idea could have been proposed by Harry Reid or another Senate Democrat, but it was certainly inserted in the bill with Obama's blessing. Obama's claim that he was above all this dealmaking is false. This is his Chicago politics.

The Cornhusker Kickback was never actually removed from the Senate bill, as the president claimed. The president toyed around with the idea of paying off all the states' Medicaid bills, but only after Nelson's deal became so politically toxic that even Nelson came out against it. The reconciliation sidecar does away with the Cornhusker Kickback, but only after the deal was conveniently used to bribe Nelson to help break the filibuster.

Baier's full interview with the president was riveting and contentious. Here's the video:

Mark Levin plans to sue if ObamaCare becomes law

Mark Levin, the popular conservative radio host and constitutional lawyer, announced on his radio show yesterday that he would immediately file a lawsuit if Democrats passed ObamaCare using the Slaughter Solution.

Levin's legal complaint quotes Article I, Section 7, clause 2 of the Constitution, which necessitates that, "But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively.” Levin plans to argue that because the House will vote for the reconciliation sidecar rather than the actual Senate bill under the Slaughter Solution, health care reform will have been passed unconstitutionally. The lawsuit, which will be filed by Levin's Landmark Legal Foundation, directly names Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner, Eric Holder, and Kathleen Sebelius.

Levin won't be alone. C.L. "Butch" Otter, the governor of Idaho, signed a bill today mandating the state's attorney general to sue the federal government if ObamaCare becomes law. Otter is specifically targeting the individual mandate, the unconstitutional provision that would force every citizen to buy health insurance or face a punitive fine. As we reported yesterday, other states are actually considering nullifying health care reform if it becomes law.

CBO gives BHO the green light on health care reform

There's a very, very good chance that ObamaCare will become law now.

Most congressmen sitting on the fence are Blue Dog Democrats who were waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to score the new reconciliation bill. The fiscally conservative Dems had two requests: They wanted the total bill to weigh in under $1 trillion and they wanted it to reduce the deficit over the next ten years. Moments ago, the CBO released its final analysis.

Senior Democratic aides Thursday provided a snapshot of what they say the Congressional Budget Office has found after evaluating the latest revised version of the health care bill — including the package of fixes.

House Democrats say the legislation will cost $940 billion over 10 years and will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion in that first decade.

As has been repeated at length and chronicled here, none of this is true. ObamaCare is chock full of double accounting and financial tricks that have led many to compare it to Bernie Madoff. The CBO can only grade the bill that's put in front of them. They're forbidden from making even common sense predictions outside of the language of the bill. Somehow Pelosi and company managed to twist the bill's provisions enough to squeeze out a cost estimate below $1 trillion.

It's still impossible to know what will happen, but it seems almost certain that some wavering Blue Dogs will finally fall in line with Pelosi. It's much easier to vote for a $940 billion bill than a $1 trillion bill -- as the blogger Allahpundit pointed out yesterday, it's why things are priced at $99.99 rather than $100.00. The Hill's whip count found that the bill would fail 207-224 yesterday, but those numbers are highly speculative and likely to change today. House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn has already said, "We are absolutely giddy" over the CBO numbers. If the Democrats finally do have the votes, we could see a final House vote as early as this weekend.

States plan to revolt if ObamaCare becomes law

If Obama manages to ram his health care bill through Congress, he could face something almost unprecedented in our history: a peaceful state revolt against the federal government.

The New York Times painted a picture of the coming prarie fire this morning.

On Thursday, Wyoming’s governor, Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, signed a similar bill for that state. The same day, Oklahoma’s House of Representatives approved a resolution that Oklahomans should be able to vote on a state constitutional amendment allowing them to opt out of the federal health care overhaul.

In Utah, lawmakers embraced states’ rights with a vengeance in the final days of the legislative session last week. One measure said Congress and the federal government could not carry out health care reform, not in Utah anyway, without approval of the Legislature. Another bill declared state authority to take federal lands under the eminent domain process. A resolution asserted the “inviolable sovereignty of the State of Utah under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.”

It's not just traditionally libertarian western states either. Virginia's pro-life attorney general announced he could sue the federal government if his state is forced to comply with ObamaCare.

The pro-abortion government-run health care bill would find itself the subject of a lawsuit from Virginia officials should Congress approve it and Obama sign it into law. A lawsuit from the state could join another potential suit if Democrats use the Slaughter Rule to pass the bill without voting on it.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a pro-life Republican, made the comments about the potential lawsuit in an address to the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

He said the Healthcare Freedom Act awaiting Gov. Bob McDonnell’s signature would “will give us more basis to challenge” challenge the legislation, he said, according to the Martinsville Bulletin newspaper.

Although federal law typically trumps state law, if McDonnell signs the Virginia measure, Cuccinelli said “I intend to file suit” to challenge the law’s constitutionality."

But perhaps the most stunning solution is taking shape in Arizona, which is actually planning to nullify the individual mandate in the health care bill.

[T]he Arizona State Senate voted 18-11 to concur with the House and approve the Health Care Freedom Act (HCR2014). This will put a proposal on the 2010 ballot which would constitutionally override any law, rule or regulation that requires individuals or employers to participate in any particular health care system.

HCR2014, if approved by voters next year, also would prohibit any fine or penalty on anyone or any company for deciding to purchase health care directly. Doctors and health care providers would remain free to accept those funds and provide those services.

Finally, it would overrule anything that prohibits the sale of private health insurance in Arizona.

Five other states — Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming — are considering similar initiatives for their 2010 ballots.

Nullification of this type isn't a new idea. When the states got wind that the federal government was planning a national ID card scheme in 2005, more than a dozen passed laws refusing to implement the plan. The feds quickly backed off and REAL ID died on the vine. But for states to actually nullify a codified law, especially one with the scope and fanfare of ObamaCare, is unprecedented. The nullification referendum is also very likely to pass in deep-red Arizona, where polls indicate the public loathes health care reform. If that happens, the nation could face a constitutional crisis not seen since South Carolina tried to nullify federal tariffs in 1832.

The courts generally recognize the supremacy of the federal government over the states, but the Constitution's Tenth Amendment reserves all powers not specifically enumerated to the states. The only possible way to justify ObamaCare under the powers of the Constitution is the Interstate Commerce Clause -- except health insurance companies are forbidden from trading across state lines in the first place. Beyond that, the legislation seems downright unconstitutional, as does the Slaughter Solution that will be used to pass it. As anger at the state level continues to brew, Obama could find himself unable to force his health care plan on the nation.

Obama's latest health care sob story a lie

In his final push for health care reform, Obama has been turning to Natoma Canfield, a leukemia-stricken woman in Ohio who watched her insurance premiums skyrocket. Here's video of the president's speech in Ohio yesterday. Skip to 4:45 to hear Natoma's predicament.

It's a genuinely sad tale, but it's also not the entire story. Fox News checked with Cleveland Clinic, the medical center treating Canfield. A spokesman said that Canfield wouldn't be left out on the streets because of her leukemia. In fact, she was likely eligible for a host of options, including Medicaid and charity.

Lyman Sornberger, executive director of patient financial services at the Cleveland Clinic, said "all indications" at the outset are that she will be considered for assistance.

"She may be eligible for state Medicaid ... and/or she will be eligible for charity (care) of some form or type. ... In my personal opinion, she will be eligible for something," he said, adding that Canfield should not be worried about losing her home.

"Cleveland Clinic will not put a lien on her home," he said.

Obama lied about Canfield losing her home, but he also lied when he made her out to be helpless. Ohio has fairly generous Medicaid requirements for low-income individuals. We can't be sure how much money Canfield makes or has made, but she likely qualifies for something. Lack of knowledge about Medicaid eligibility is a serious problem plaguing the health care system. According to the Independent Institute, of the 47 million people who allegedly don't have health insurance, around 10 million qualify for Medicaid assistance and don't know it. Medicaid was established for the express purpose of helping low-income American afford health care. Obama could have pointed this out to Canfield. Instead he chose to use her condition for his own political purpose to promote health care reform.

Blue Dogs' saving grace: Obama threatens not to campaign for Dems voting no!

With the fate of ObamaCare in the hands of nervous Blue Dog Democrats, Obama has decided to do what he does best: strongarm Chicago politics.

The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill.

...

Mr Obama's threat came as the year-long debate over his signature domestic policy entered its final week.

Mr Obama is personally telephoning congressmen who are still on the fence this week, in between several personal appearances devoted toward swinging public opinion.

It will be interesting to see if moderate Democrats actually vote no based on the president's threat. Most Blue Dog Democrats are from fiscally conservative districts where Obama's approval rating is in the toilet plumbing. Keeping the president away during election season, as Obama threatened, has to be a top priority. This isn't mockery or hyperbole: Last week vulnerable Democrats in Pennsylvania and Ohio skipped scheduled speeches by the president on health care. Every serious poll shows that voters will be far more likely to vote against a Democrat if he or she votes yes on health care reform, and Obama is the front-and-center face of health care reform. This is one arm-twist that might actually backfire.