Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

�

Click here for the Secret Decoder Ring to this issue!

Forget About Repeal

Rich Galen

Wednesday March 24, 2010

Click here for an Easy Print Version

I have received a couple of thousand e-mails from people and organizations who want me to donate to the cause of repealing the health care legislation which the House passed on Sunday night.

Forget it. Ain't gonna happen.

President Obama signed the bill into law yesterday at the White House complete with Vice President Joe "Potty Mouth" Biden dropping the F-bomb in the President's ear, in the White House, in front of an open microphone.

That Biden. What a frat-boy.

SIDEBAR

Remember when Vice President Cheney used the F-word on the hallowed floor of the U.S. Senate during a conversation with Sen. Patrick Leahy back in 2004? It only became known because some Senate staffers showed themselves to be the weenies they truly are when they raced up to the press gallery to tell all.
The next day the Washington Post assigned not one, but two reporters to get to the bottom of the outrage which was generally condemned as the end of civilization as we know it.
Cheney said shortly after the exchange: "I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it."
I feel better just writing about it.

END SIDEBAR

No matter what happens to the reconciliation bill in the Senate - and I think it will pretty much sail through - the underlying bill is now law. Full (as the British say) stop.

The only way to repeal a law is to enact a new law cancelling the first one.

The only way to enact a new law (as we all re-learned last week) is for the House and the Senate to pass identical bills which are then combined, signed by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem of the Senate, sent to the White House, and signed by the President.

Except �

Even if Republicans were to win control of both the House and the Senate in November the House might pass a repeal bill, but such a bill would need 60 votes in the Senate, which would not happen.

Even if the repeal got 60 votes in the Senate it would still need the signature of President Barack Obama, which would not happen.

President Obama would veto such a bill and it would require 2/3 votes in each the House and the Senate to override the veto.

Which � Would � Not � Happen.

So, before you sign a check to help some group which claims it will help get the health care bill repealed, consider just how difficult that will be.

NEW TOPIC

I am officially changing my search engine from Google to Bing. Why? Because I , er, Googled myself on Bing.com and got this result:

1-10 of 3,170,000 results

If Microsoft can find 3.1 million entries for me, I'm their guy.

BOOK PLUG - You, Me, and the U.S. Economy by Stacy Carlson

Now that President Obama has reformed health care, he and his pals in Congress are turning their attention to reforming the financial system, although one reform is already one too many for most of us.

As you may know I'm still cranky about the paying off AIG's counterparties at par (I only know what that means because of Stacy's book). Reform is probably necessary but not as a synonym for more government control and larger government bureaucracies.

In September of 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis, I wrote some pretty good stuff explaining why, even though we all hated it and Wall Street, the bank bail-out was a necessary evil.

Here's an example:

As far as I'm concerned Moe, Larry and Curly couldn't have done any worse than these Wall Street jerks with their slicked back hair, tailor-made shirts and suits, custom-fit shoes, gold cufflinks, and Hermes ties.
And that's just the women.

Mull-Pal Stacy Carlson was Hank Paulson's speech writer at Treasury and was in the building the whole time. She has written a book about it that was simple enough for me to understand, with humor, and with a handy crisis glossary.

"You, Me, and the U.S. Economy" available at Amazon.com. Take a look by clicking HERE.

On the Secret Decoder Ring today: A link to the Washington Post's breathless coverage of the Cheney-Leahy Senate debate, a Mullfoto which shows why Easter Break is the worst time to be in DC, and a pretty funny Catchy Caption of the Day.

Become a
Paid Mullings Subscriber!

(To join the FREE mailing list or to unsubscribe Click Here)

Current Issue | Secret Decoder Ring | Past Issues | Email Rich | Rich Who?