"It's all going to be on C-SPAN.  The American people will be watching." H/T: NewsAlert Previous post on this issue

On December 28th, the Politico web site ran a long article entitled “Wielding influence in health care fight” which lays out the influence and impact of various lobbying groups on the health care “reform” debate.  The groups, including organizations representing “Big Pharma", hospitals, health insurance companies, and the medical device companies each have described their lobbying strategy and tactics and the outcome for their group.

C-SPAN has sent a letter to Democratic leaders asking that the closed-door negotiations between the House and Senate on health care be televised.  Congressional leadership is already going around the usual reconciliation process to avoid public scrutiny and this request is an important reminder of the need for transparency.  

From the business section of the New York Times comes this profile of medical care in Richmond since 1996.Since 1996, the Richmond area has lost more than 600 of its hospital beds, mostly because of state regulations on capacity. Several hospitals have closed, and others have shrunk. In 1996, the region had 4.8 hospital beds for every 1,000 residents. Today, it has about three. Hospital care has been, in a word, rationed.

As I predicted a week ago, the Democrat’s budget-busting socialist big-picture plan to have a full government takeover of medicine, with Senator Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) bribe as the camel’s nose under the tent, is coming to light.

With less than a week of planning, on a bitterly cold December night, just hours before a Christmas Eve vote, some 40 diehard activists made their way, candles and signs in hand, to Senator Webb's office in Northern Virginia.They hand-delivered letters from friends and neighbors, sang songs to keep warm, and passed out cookies and hot cocoa, while the evening traffic rolled by and drivers honked their support.All to oppose a health care "reform" bill that is rife with political favoritism, unfunded liabilities, and constitutional relativism.

The following email was sent by FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe to FreedomWorks members yesterday:

Even though Congress isn't in town this week, and many people using these normally carefree days between Christmas and New Year's to spend time with family and recharge batteries for 2010, we're hearing from many folks who want to continue the fight against the government takeover of healthcare right through the holidays!  Everyone is wondering, what can I do this week?  Here are three things you can do to keep up the pressure:

A few quick thoughts for this lazy weekend about health care "reform":