And if we weren’t living under a socialist tyranny before, well, Merry Christmas, suckers.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats won a crucial test vote on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, putting them on track for passage before Christmas of the historic legislation to remake the nation’s medical system and cover 30 million uninsured.

All 58 Democrats and the Senate’s two independents held together early Monday against unanimous Republican opposition, providing the exact 60-40 margin needed to shut down a threatened GOP filibuster.

Let’s do away with the idea that there’s no difference between Republican and Democrats. Yes, they’re both generally full of weaselly, myopic, corrupt bastards, but this would not have happened with a President McCain.

The vote came shortly after 1 a.m. with the nation’s capital blanketed in snow, the unusual timing made necessary in order to get to a final vote by Christmas Eve presuming Republicans stretch out the debate as much as the rules allow. Despite the late hour and a harshly partisan atmosphere, Democrats’ spirits were high.

"Today we are closer than we’ve ever been to making Sen. Ted Kennedy’s dream of universal health insurance coverage a reality," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said ahead of the vote, alluding to the late Massachusetts senator who died of brain cancer in August.

"Vote your hopes, not your fears. Seize the moment," Harkin urged colleagues.

And so, the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill shall pass. And those of us who hoped there was a principled member of the Democrat caucus in the Senate now have our fears confirmed. We hoped our taxes wouldn’t go up. We hoped there wouldn’t be an individual mandate. We hoped the federal government wouldn’t fund abortions. We hoped they wouldn’t extend government-enforced health care to tens of millions of people without “creating or saving” a single doctor or nurse. We hoped they wouldn’t complete their framework for a complete government takeover of the economy.

The part that I keep thinking about is that my health care was already pretty good. If it ain’t broke, “fix” it til it is, I guess.

The AP is wringing its hands over whether “moderates” are welcome in the Republican party. The irony is thick. I think that moderates are more than welcome in the Republican party, if they can win. In fact, the Republican party actively supports liberal Republicans who endorse their Democrat opponents when they lose, so moderates are probably golden.

The better question is whether conservative voters are going to roll over and let Republicans represent Obama-lite. So far the answer is no.

This Scozzafava chick was piece of work. Good riddance, you sexy thang.

Saving Freedom by Senator Jim DeMint

Saving Freedom, by Republican Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina, is chock-full of arguments for conservatism, capitalism, and free markets. The book does a fine job of laying out a coherent conservative philosophy, much as Mark Levin’s Liberty & Tyranny did earlier this year. What separates Saving Freedom is its positive tone and its proposal for an affirmative agenda that, should Republicans pick it up and run with it, will give them an opportunity to clearly distinguish themselves from the Democrats’ agenda of big government, big spending and big taxes. Where Liberty & Tyranny was a fighting manifesto that clearly defined the sides in the battle for the future of our country, Senator DeMint has laid out a plan that could do for 2010 what Newt Gingrich did in 1994: provide a unified voice and message for Republicans that will allow them to turn sleepy, mid-term elections into a loud, powerful national campaign.

Senator DeMint lays out the following components:

Education Choice: The A-PLUS Education Act, which seeks to removes the strings attached to federal education grants to states and allow the states to decide for themselves how to spend their education dollars. The plan supports charter schools and vouchers, which would weaken the government monopoly of education, increase private sector involvement and allow the free market to influence the quality of education.

Tax Reform: Simplify the tax code to a two-level flat tax. All income under $50,000 would be taxed at 10%, and anything over that would be taxed at 25%. It would eliminate taxes on interest, capital gains, dividends and death taxes. Talk about a freaking economic stimulus? Here you go, folks. Also, the corporate income tax would be changed. The plan proposes that instead of taxing profits, businesses would pay a tax based on what they consume. According to this plan, “every business would have ample incentive to maximize profits and minimize expenses (which is the opposite of our current tax code).”

Individual Health Plans: Reform the health care system, yes. But make it more free, not less. Take control of health coverage decisions away from employers and let individuals make their own decisions. Offer portable plans that individuals can keep if they change jobs. Provide a tax exemption of $5000 per family so that they can evaluate and purchase their own insurance, regardless of whether they’re employed or not.

Medicaid Reform: In addition to the health plans above, states could supplement that amount for low-income people who currently are enrolled in Medicaid with the money the federal Medicaid money they already receive. It allows low-income people to still choose their health plan and make the health choices that are best for them, but still continue to mooch off of the rest of us as they always have. In other words, we’ll still have moochers, but at least they’re participating in the market, and not just acting as passive government slaves, as well.

Medicare Reform: Same as above, but seniors would receive $9500 to pay for their own private health care plan. This is the current average amount Medicare pays per recipient. Again, this expands freedom and allows the market to work on its own, rather than being micromanaged by “experts” and bureaucrats in D.C.

Social Security Reform: Allow people who are 55 and younger to contribute part of their current payroll taxes into a personal savings account. Right now, all of the money we pay gets spent directly by the federal government. There is no trust fund or “lockbox.” There are only IOUs. With this plan, we would each have our own money set aside in our own accounts for our future retirements.  The libs hate this kind of crap, for some reason.

These are some of the biggest issues facing our country over the next half a century, and this plan increases personal and economic freedom, it puts people in charge of their destinies as opposed to enslaving ourselves to the federal government, and they will free up money for entrepreneurship and investment to spur economic growth.

This is solid. This is, as the Senator calls it, a freedom plan. Conservatives should read this book, understand the arguments, understand the plan, and communicate why this is a better choice for the future of our country. We should rally around Senator DeMint and his plan, because it truly offers a real alternative to the extremist Democrats in 2010 and 2012.

Here’s a great learning opportunity, kids.  It’s a great chance to learn about how NOT to behave as a high-profile grown-up.

Over Father’s Day Weekend, the governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, a Republican, told his staff and apparently his wife that he was going hiking all alone in the wilderness.  Just to get some “me” time, I guess.  It turns out that he flew to Argentina to meet a woman he’d been having an affair with.

I’m not sure how someone comes to the conclusion that something this bizarre is a good idea, and then actually executes that idea.  You’re a governor.  You’re a potential 2012 presidential candidate.  You tell everybody you’re going hiking, but you actually drive your car to the airport and fly to Buenos Aires.  You’re missing for 4 days.  You come back and say you were just down there for a drive.  But it’s clearly a load of bull, so the next day you admit an affair.  You lied to the people who work for you.  You lied to your wife and kids.  You undermined your party.  You undermined your values.  You undermined your country.  YOU.  CANNOT.  DO.  THIS.

But it’s done.  I hope everybody can learn something meaningful from the idiocy that’s been revealed here.