Some slick politicians in Washington would like to have you believe that in the wake of the third quarter’s economic growth numbers released early this month, the recession is over and a strong economy is right around the corner. If we continue on the current course, however, this will not be the case.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1337279116&play=1

Last night in Portland, Oregon we had hundreds upon hundreds of grassroots activists in a downtown park protesting Al Gore's (without a doubt the largest emitter of hot air in the nation) pro-cap-and-trade speech.

What does Senator Reid's health care bill mean for patients and doctors? It means, fundamentally, a loss of control for all of us over our own health care.

by Phil Kerpen, FOXNews.com, November 19, 2009

In the fantasy-world that is Washington, D.C., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will claim today that his proposed health care legislation will actually save the country money. He'll do this with the imprimatur of Congressional Budget Office and despite the fact that his legislation creates a vast new middle-class health care entitlement that will add 15 million people to the Medicaid rolls and create a bureaucratic army to micromanage every decision made by every doctor in the United States. Reid will no doubt make his claim with a straight face and even tout the supposed deficit reduction as a benefit of the bill. Don't be fooled. It’s a farce. This bill is an enormous budget-buster and it's coming at a time when the American economy is still reeling.

Read the rest at FOX Forum.

Listen to today's KerpenCast on this subject.

Last night in Portland, Oregon we had hundreds-upon-hundreds of grassroots activists in a downtown park protesting Al Gore's (without a doubt the largest emitter of hot air in the nation) pro cap-and-trade speech.

As the health care debate continues to boil in Congress, lawmakers desperate to force through this unprecedented legislation have tried to rush to passage. Getting something – anything – in place before the tide of public opposition makes its way to the voting booth is now the priority.

Yesterday, a federal panel decided that self-exams and some mammograms are no longer necessary for women in their forties and should only be administered every other year for those in their fifties and sixties. Despite being said to reduce cancer deaths by about 15% in women ages 39-59, the federal panel based their decision to change the guidelines because they concluded too much money was spent on “unnecessary tests.”

A few things we know for sure:

• Medicaid is quickly heading toward insolvency and threatening to bring many state budgets down with it.
• Current health care legislation in both the House and the Senate seek to expand the defunct Medicaid program to millions more by raising the eligibility levels by as much as 50% (150% of FPL in the House bill and the Senate HELP bill and 133% in the Senate Finance proposal)
• To finance the expanded coverage, proposals seek $500 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for it.

The U.S. Government is spending money at an unprecedented rate. According to Louis Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP, it burns money at an average of over $100 billion per month. That's far more than government revenue and so the Treasury is forced to turn to the debt market. Fiscal year 2009 saw the government rack up an astounding $1.4 trillion in additional debt, while the Treasury Department is openly predicting $1.5 to $2.0 trillion in debt for fiscal year 2010, which started in October.

The free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is taking its nationwide Hot Air Tour to former Vice President Al Gore in Portland on Wednesday, November 18, to expose the extreme economic costs of cap-and trade-legislation to the American taxpayer.

Coming less than a week after the House of Representatives passed its Health Care legislation Gallup’s latest poll shows that a majority of Americans are against a government take over of Health Care. The new numbers show that 50% believe it is NOT the government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have health coverage and only 47% thinking it is their responsibility.

At 1,990 pages, the health care bill passed in the House last Saturday is complex, imposing, and expensive. The massive bureaucracies and restrictions it would create are ringing in at more than a trillion dollars and counting. Save the world, one tax dollar at a time. And one alarming aspect of this bill is the power it gives the government to reallocate income from the country’s youth.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The proverb encompasses two philosophies of the role of government: nanny state vs. infrastructure. By ramming through the House version of the healthcare bill on Saturday night, the message is clear from the government: “Gone Fishing”.

We are a nation of consumers. Every day we make choices: what outfits to wear, which route to take to work, should I call that person back or wait until tomorrow? These are the mundane freedoms of our daily life; each choice is made freely and can have a variety of effects. One year ago, voters across the country made a choice for new leadership in Washington. Last week, voters in Virginia and New Jersey did the same but for opposite reasons.

The real fight is still to come, and we're going to win.

I won't sugarcoat it: We lost tonight, and it hurts. It was down to the wire, but Nancy Pelosi's outrageous trillion-dollar-plus budget-busting, tax-hiking Washington takeover of health care passed the House tonight.

But keep it in perspective, because this defeat gives us great hope for ultimate victory.

ABC NEWS, the Note, Tea Service: Energy served in unequal portions, as health care vote approaches

The Foundry, 10,000 Rally Against Obamacare

Washington Times, The Grassroots is Growing

Click here to see the pictures.