Scherzer said the bill’s emphasis on punitive measures for physicians not following government-prescribed treatment methods under Medicare would increase his anxiety level to the point he would no longer be able to practice medicine. The maximum fine was previously $10,000; under the bill it will now be capped at $50,000. Scherzer said the fine system makes seeing a Medicare patients a difficult and stressful exercise.

“Doctors have actually committed suicide over these things. There’s no insurance to cover it,” Scherzer said, calling the fine system “tremendously complicated and Frankensteinian.” “It’s absolutely impossible to be certain you’ve complied. I feel like when I see a Medicare patient I have the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.”

Gautham Nagesh, The Daily Caller

Dr. Scherzer reported his experience with Medicare to Neil Cavuto on Fox this afternoon. He said that when Medicare become so unmanageable he discontinued taking Medicare. As a result he lost 90% of his Medicare patients. It is his experience that unless a patient has insurance he will not be able to be treated, so going to a cash basis with his practice once Obamacare goes into effect will not be an option.

What will the government do when more and more doctors leave their practices? There are not enough doctors now and throwing 30 million more patients into the system won’t make it any better. Is it Obama’s plan to force the doctors to practice medicine?  Maybe that’s why he says he needs a national police force.

“Well, in fact, where he lives, in Mount Dora, which is in my district, many, many of the Democrats who live in Mount Dora happen to be African-Americans,” Grayson said on CNN. “So, by saying that he will not treat somebody who supported Obama, he’s saying that he’s not going to treat a large number of African-Americans in the community.”

“How many people walked in — walked up to his front door, saw the sign, and turned away?” he asked. “How many people referred from other physicians in the community, including primary care physicians, how many patients saw that sign and walked away?”

Asked what kind of punishment Cassell should receive, Grayson said “Well, whatever the medical authorities think he should get. But it is a clear violation of ethics, and it’s a particularly ugly one. Why is it that the right wing is so preoccupied with denying people health? Why is that?” TheHill.com

Grayson is as dumb as he is bigoted. How could Dr. Cassell be charged with racism since he set up his practice in Mount Dora, who according to Grayson himself is an African-American community. If the doctor didn’t want to treat blacks why would he pick such a neighborhood for his practice?

We need more citizen journalists like Adam Sharp, a member of the St. Louis Tea Party, who caught this on tape.

Sign on FL urologist clinic

Do Democrats value life? It depends on whether it happens to be their life. Cave-in Stupak said this when he was interested in protecting life:

“If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.” AIP News

Do you remember when Sarah Palin was demonized for suggesting that the healthcare package would result in death panels? Well to hear Paul Krugman tell it, she was not only right, but it will be an excellent way to save money.

You had better find you a good doctor now, like Dr. Jack Cassell, a Florida urologist who decorated his door with the picture above. When contacted he clarified that he would of course see anyone needing help as long as he could remain in practice, which could prove doubtful under Obamacare.

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform “a miracle” and a major victory for Obama’s presidency, but couldn’t help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.

“We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama’s) government,” Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president’s hand against lobbyists and “mercenaries.”

But the Cuban leader also used the lengthy piece to criticize the American president for his lack of leadership on climate change and immigration reform, and for his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, among many other things…

“It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence … the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago,” Castro wrote. AP

Don’t worry, Fidel. Climate change and immigration legislation is right around the corner. We know how important those issues are to you revolutionaries.

Look for more accolades to come from other dictators and thugocrats as Obama and the Progressives suspend the Constitution and establish their totalitarian government here in the USSA.

CINCINNATI, OH

Why would Vice President Joe Biden come to Cincinnati to help raise funds for Ohio 1st District U.S. Congressman Steve Driehaus?

It has been reported that voting for the Health Care Bill would be a problem for some in Congress in terms of reelection this fall, and maybe later. However, it won’t be a problem for Steve Driehaus. Just days before the vote was to be held for the Health Care Bill, Joe Biden comes to Cincinnati to help raise funds for a guy who couldn’t get elected “Dog Catcher.” Joe knows that. Joe also knows, “If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”

Is it possible an inside deal of some sort could have happened? It is a fact, that Steve Driehaus suddenly changed his vote and supported the Health Care Bill.

To quote an American Communist “If it looks like a duck, and if it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck”.

As more details about payoffs emerge we encourage our readers to report them here at the NIP.

But that latter bet is not far off, it turns out. Don’t know how we missed it, but this video (HT Hanen) from last fall reveals that Stupak was all set to vote for the bill all along, regardless the abortion provision. He played it hard to the end, but it appears now it was all theatrics. Watch him explain to a sparse but very disappointed audience last october how he would vote “his conscience” even if the healthcare bill excluded the abortion ban:

In another interview with Fox’s Megyn Kelly around the same time, Stupak was essentially calling the President and Democrat leaders liars. He was bluff and confident, claiming he and his “pro-life” Democrats could kill the bill in November. Kelly expressed surprise that he would challenge the President’s words, pointing out that Stupak was no “blue dog” Democrat, but presumably an Obama supporter, and had a 95 percent liberal rating from Americans for Democratic Action. Read more…

Pro-life Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak has said he can block proposed health care reform legislation unless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) allows a vote on a Hyde Amendment to the bill.

The Hyde Amendment, named after the late U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) prohibits taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortions. The current health care bill, H.R. 3200, is under fire for measures that allow federal funds to circumvent the Hyde Amendment and also mandate insurance coverage of abortion.

Rep. Stupak of Michigan claimed he has as many as 39 Democratic allies who could join Republicans to block the complete legislation from coming to a vote unless the House leadership allows a vote on a Hyde Amendment.

“If you don’t give us a vote, everything is off the table,” he said in an interview with CBN. He added that he didn’t want any “backdoor policies” on abortion. Catholic News Agency

Today Stupak sounded disingenuous when he insisted that Obama has promised an executive order banning federal funds being used for abortion. He’s prevaricating, plain and simple. Here’s why:

1. Obama hasn’t signed the order, and once the vote is taken there is no provision to force Obama to do so.
2. The executive order added nothing to the bill.
3. Executive orders are meaningless in light of federal statute. Even if Obama does sign such an order it will have no impact.
4. If this isn’t a “backdoor policy” on abortion, then nothing could be.
5. No pro-abortion proponents objected to Stupak’s so-called “deal.” If the executive order would have any impact the pro-abortionists would surely have objected.
6. $700,000 in federally funded airport improvements in his home district were announced on Friday. What other payoffs did he receive for sacrificing America’s unborn?

Stupak caved, and today he sounded like every other Congressman who protests like Mary Landrieu, “I can’t be bought.“

The Capitol Police “made no arrests.” The article goes on to quote the Police spokesman: “Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the U.S. Capitol Police said in an e-mail later: ‘We did not make any arrests today.’” So did the incident even occur?

From the very beginning, this story has stunk. Anyone who has ever attended Tea Party rallies knows that this is a decent bunch of folks – ordinary, decent, hardworking Americans taking time away from work and families to come to Washington in the firm belief that we are being betrayed by our lawmakers. Just compare pictures of the aftermath of the 9-12 march with the aftermath of any other large Mall gathering. 9-12 protesters left the place spotless. These people would condemn on the spot anyone spitting or engaging in any other untoward behavior.

But nevermind, despite no evidence provided that the spitting incident even happened, the article repeats without question this same Congressman’s claim that racial epithets were shouted at him as he made his way to the Capitol:

Missouri Democrat Emanuel Cleaver was making his way through a group of angry protestors when the incident occurred. It was one of several ugly incidents in a day of protests against President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul measure, which faces a House vote on Sunday. Cleaver, who is black, was also one of several lawmakers who faced racial epithets as they walked to the Capitol to vote.

“Racial epithets.” We all know what that means. Except that didn’t happen either. How do we know? From the following video, posted at Biggovernment.com by Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit:

As is readily apparent from the clip, protesters are shouting “kill the bill!” and simply shouting “boo!”

And for those who think this may have happened at some time before or after this clip, here’s another, with an accompanying article by Rick Moran:

There is a good piece over at the American Thinker blog that evaluates the likelihood of Cleaver’s charge:

When I heard the accounts of Cleaver, Congressman Lewis and others, I did not necessarily disbelieve them, but I decided to check the source, a piece in the notoriously liberal McClatchy papers by one William Douglas, and I began to see how the record was being twisted. Douglas reported, “said he was a few yards behind Lewis and distinctly heard ‘nigger.’ ‘It was a chorus,’ Cleaver said.”

“It was a chorus.” Where? Where is the chorus? Furthermore, this would have been picked up in multiple places and plastered far and wide in the Leftist media if there were a shred of evidence. There is not. This is out-and-out media fraud. Can the AP ever be trusted to report the news anymore?

Businessman and Examiner.com columnist James Simpson is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst. His writings have been published in American Thinker, Washington Times, WorldnetDaily, FrontPage Magazine, DefenseWatch, Soldier of Fortune and others. For complete analysis of this article visit Jim’s column at the Enquirer.com

About 10,000 people came to the Hill on Saturday for the Code Red rally according to those who attended. (I did not get down until later in the evening). Some friends attended a second, impromptu rally on the Capitol steps with a number of Congressmen for a few hours in the evening. Their advice for Sunday (today) was: show up! Members of Congress were shocked at the size of Saturday’s impromptu rally and it had an impact. They say do not let up. We should continue calling, faxing and e-mailing.

The schedule for today is as follows:

At 11 am there will be a church service in the Capitol Rotunda. This is the first church service held there in 100 years. House floor proceedings will begin at 1pm and the vote is at 2pm (as of now.)

I sat in the House gallery last night until almost midnight. A number of Republican members had stepped up to the podium and the last hour was taken by Louie Gohmert. He was clearly tired but made a last minute impassioned plea to the Democrats to forego this destructive legislation.

Who knows, some may listen…

Businessman and Examiner.com columnist James Simpson is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst. His writings have been published in American Thinker, Washington Times, WorldnetDaily, FrontPage Magazine, DefenseWatch, Soldier of Fortune and others.