Believe it or not, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the course of promoting passage of the Senate version of ObamaCare, said that they need to pass the bill in order for people to really know what's in the bill.

Yes, really...

“You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other.  But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket.  Prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting. 

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."

We're not exactly sure why the bill would need to be "passed" in order for people to "find out what is in it".  Maybe because, once it's law, people can read it...since the US Code of Laws is actually a public document?

Leave it to the always insightful Michael Barone to put things in perspective.  Case in point is his column today discussing how the Democrats have put themselves squarely in the middle of the mess they are currently in...and his take on the complaints that the reason why they can't get something done (despite their big majorities) is Republican opposition.

There's a reason it's hard to pass unpopular legislation on party-line votes. It's not the Senate rules. It's called democracy.

Exactly.  And, given the latest polls on the issue - and on the coming elections - you could take that one step further and say "public opinion".

The biggest (political) problem with ObamaCare is that the public doesn't want it, as poll after poll after poll has demonstrated.  The latest comes from Rasmussen, which shows (ominously for Obama) that the more Congress and the public focuses on the issue, the more opposed they become to it. 

Currently, 53% of Americans are opposed to the pending Senate version of the bill, and only 42% support it.  Keep in mind that these numbers come AFTER Congress spent over a year working on the issue, Obama made dozens of speeches and town hall appearances, and after the highly covered health care "summit" meeting with Congress that Obama sponsored.  55% think Congress should scrap the whole thing and start from scratch.

In what seems like a more and more familiar tale, a high school teacher in San Diego was told by his school board that he could no longer hang signs or banners in his classroom with phrases like "One Nation Under God", "In God We Trust", or "God Bless America". In fact, even a direct quote from the Declaration of Independence, "All men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator", was put on the school district's naughty list.

And it's not as though this was a new thing.  It turns out that the teacher in question, Bradley Johnson, had been putting up such signs in his classroom for over twenty-five years without complaint.  San Diego's Ponway Unified School District leadership complained that the signs "over-emphasized" God, "conveyed a Judeo-Christian viewpoint", and that they might "offend" others.  At the same time, teachers in the district were allowed to display signage celebrating or promoting other things, such as gay rights.

We fail to see why anyone (least of all Americans) should be "offended" by things like our national motto or Declaration of Independence.  And, believe it or not, a federal judge in the liberal 9th Circuit agreed.

Now that the Obama administration has decided to double-down on health care and demand passage of the Senate version of ObamaCare...and the White House has set a timeline of two weeks to get it done...it's safe to say that we're about to see some of the most severe arm twisting in political history. 

In fact, if you thought it looked bad the first time around, (when the House version passed by only 3 votes, and the Senate version passed that chamber by the bare minimum), you haven't seen anything yet.

Why is that?  Because the Democrats decided to forget about a conference committee, (the usual process of ironing out differences between House and Senate bills), and push the existing Senate bill through the House.  The problem is that it must be passed WITHOUT any amendments or changes whatsoever.  This is because, if it is changed, the Senate would have to approve it all over again...and this time there are 41 Republicans, (thanks to Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts), that can sustain a filibuster.

As we move into what should be the final (and most important) phase of the debate over ObamaCare, it's of course critical that members of Congress hear from as many of their constituents as possible.

And given Obama's speech outlining how he wants Congress to move forward, and Nancy Pelosi's recent statements, it looks like they intent to move forward with using the trick of the Senate budget reconciliation rule to pass this monstrosity.  This puts the near term focus on the House.

Below you'll find a list of the names and contact numbers for what appear to be the "swing votes" in the House on this issue.  If one of them is YOUR Representative it is VITAL that you contact them now and let them know how you feel.  If you would rather send them (or even all members of Congress) a fax, click here.

Contact them today...  Then pass it on!

Voters in Texas made it unmistakably clear how they feel about their right to publicly acknowledge God in their primaries yesterday.

In the course of voting for (or against) nominees for public office, Texas Republicans were presented with a series of ballot questions.  Among them, Question 4, stating:

The use of the word “God”, prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be
allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as
well as be permitted on government buildings and property.  YES OR NO

The result? 95% YES, 5% NO.

How's that for being clear about where the people in this country stand on questions of religious liberty?  I think it's safe to say we have a consensus on this issue...despite what the folks who run radical left organizations like the ACLU and the Alliance for the Separation of Church and State may say.

It looks like the American public is going to have to endure (and oppose) at least one more version of ObamaCare before we can finally be done with it.

The White House announced that Obama would pitch the newest version of his "plan" tomorrow.  Essentially, it looks like that plan will be "part" of the existing plans, with the addition of a few ideas that they call "Republican" ideas.

Of course this goes on against the backdrop of talk by the Democrat leadership (and the White House) that they will now look to use the budget reconciliation process to pass the bill.  Which means they're going to attempt to get around a Republican filibuster by using a rule that was designed for the budget process...not legislation that can remake 1/6th of the US economy.

But you're not likely to hear Obama (and even few Democrats) use the word "reconciliation"...or any talk about using the special rule to pass his big program.  Instead, they're rephrasing the talking points to use the term "simple majority".  Of course, they're quick to overlook the fact that their proposal doesn't even come close to having a "simple majority" of support among the American people.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken the retooling of euphemisms to the next level, saying that "The bill can be bipartisan, even though the votes might not be bipartisan".

Now that last week's big health care "summit" has come and gone, it's a good time to take a look at what kind of impact it had on American public opinion about the Democrat's proposed reforms.

Short answer?  Still opposed.  The latest survey by Rasmussen shows 52% of voters opposed and 44% in favor.  And remember, that's AFTER all the fluff coverage it received from the summit.

The more interesting numbers however, (and the ones that the politicians up for reelection this year should pay attention to), are those that demonstrate the passion and intensity people have about the issue.  The survey shows 43% of voters being "strongly opposed", with only 22% "strongly in favor".

Not good for Democrats who have voted for it already, much less thinking about using the budget reconciliation process to get around a filibuster and pass it with a simple majority in Congress.

Some other interesting items:

In what's starting to look like a case of history repeating itself, a contestant in the upcoming Miss California pageant has let it slip that she's opposed to gay marriage. And liberals are having fits.

In this case, the city council of Beverly Hills - the very city which Lauren Ashley will represent - has condemned her views and is demanding that the pageant not allow her to use the moniker "Miss Beverly Hills" in the competition.

Via Fox News:

Former Miss California Carrie Prejean isn't the only beauty queen open to expressing her objection to same-sex marriage. Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley is also speaking out in support of traditional nuptials.

Miss Beverly Hills and upcoming Miss California contender Lauren Ashley spoke out to Pop Tarts earlier this week against gay marriage -- and as a result she has been publicly condemned by the City of Beverly Hills.