Thursday, October 29, 2009

Just In Time For Halloween! The 2000 Page Monster.

Pelosi & House Dems reveal their version of the health care bill today, although apparently it won't be available for any of us to look at until early next week (why is that?). Although, if you try to read it next week, be prepared to be reading (at a minimum) for days, if not weeks, and even then you are likely to understand very little of it. And since Pelosi intends to have the House debate begin on this thing next week, and to ram it through to a vote before November 11, I'm left to wonder exactly the extent of the wool that the dems are trying to pull over our eyes here. Politico.com has the following sample of some of the wonderfully crafted language of the Pelosi bill -- and this is just one sentence:

“(a) Outpatient Hospitals – (1) In General – Section 1833(t)(3)(C)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(t)(3)(C)(iv)) is amended – (A) in the first sentence – (i) by inserting “(which is subject to the productivity adjustment described in subclause (II) of such section)” after “1886(b)(3)(B)(iii); and (ii) by inserting “(but not below 0)” after “reduced”; and (B) in the second sentence, by inserting “and which is subject, beginning with 2010 to the productivity adjustment described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)(II)”.

By the way, I took just a few minutes today to look up the page lengths on a few other pieces of important law and legislation from the past and present, which really does help to put into perspective just how completely absurd a 2000-page health care bill really is (unless the goal is to hide a lot of the things included within the bill):

-The Declaration of Independence: 3 Pages.

-The U.S. Constitution, as ratified in 1789: 23 Pages.

-Title 28 to the U.S. Code, which includes 100's of individual statutes governing the federal judicial branch and the federal court system: Approximately 600 pages.

-The first 155 Chapters of Missouri's statutory code, which includes 100's if not 1000's of individual statutes on myriad different topics and comprises approximately one-fourth of Missouri's entire statutory code: Approximately 1500 pages.

I can't imagine sitting down and fully digesting and understanding all of Title 28 in less than a month, and it would probably take longer. And the first 155 Chapters of the Missouri statutes? Months. But these house members are going to understand the 2000-page monster within the next 10 days or so? One word: Please.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28904.html